Lowering the High Costs of Transit Investments

Brian M. Rosenthal reports:

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority could dramatically reduce its sky-high construction costs by rethinking how it manages projects, prioritizing efficiency over bureaucracy and ending rules that require far more workers than are needed, according to a new report based on two years of research.

The Regional Plan Association released the report, "Building Rail Transit Projects Better for Less" [pdf], earlier this week to highlight recommendations included in the Fourth Regional Plan.

"Among other factors, the report’s authors found that recent megaprojects like the first phase of the Second Avenue Subway on Manhattan’s Upper East Side have suffered from overly burdensome environmental reviews, repeated political interference, out-of-date work rules, 'excessive customization' and a lack of coordination, communication and accountability," adds Rosenthal.

The report reaches some of the same conclusions put forward in a December feature published by the New York Times, but the RPA also takes the additional step of providing 11 policy recommendations to rein in the MTA's capital spending. Rosenthal summarizes that list of solutions in the source article.