R36 Combine Coach wrote: ↑Fri Sep 06, 2024 1:30 am
But why are New Yorkers so opposed to light rail compared to most American cities?
Most American cities do not already have a long existing rail and bus network like NYC does. While Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and New Jersey (PATH) have added Light Rail lines, their subway systems is not as extensive as NYC.
Why are NYers so opposed to light rail? Probably more reasons that I know or could state here (doesn't mean I won't try):
The the subway system dates back to before the first subway opened. There were elevated lines in Manhattan and Brooklyn. There was a network of streetcars and trolley lines in the Boroughs as well. When a lot of the the elevated lines were built in Manhattan, the land around it was somewhat undeveloped and houses/apartment buildings came soon after. In Brooklyn the elevated lines were actually preceded by private railroads so housing (and farms) already existed near them. When the BRT slowly took over all the bankrupt railroad (which had many many names but we know them as Culver, Brighton, Sea Beach and West End) more home were built along the ROWs. Once subway building began in Manhattan and the Bronx and eventually expanded into Brooklyn and Queens even more development (stores, housing etc occurred). Over the years the home to work, home to shopping, home to recreation habit developed and became somewhat 'fixed' in that you lived at once place and took public transportation to work/shopping as needed).
When the streetcar/trolley lines were gradually replaced by buses the fixed habit continued with people getting used to the change as the bus routes either paralled the older street rail routes or went even further. Once NYers create for themselves a habit of how to get somewhere it is very difficult to change that.
ANOTHER reason - Construction. NYers do not like to be inconvenienced for very long. The long term construction (with the dirt and noise) will not sit well in any community regardless of whether it will eventually benefit them. In saying that - Behold the RISE OF THE NIMBY (not in my backyard). Those people will be the first to yell, scream and protest. They may like the IBX idea - as long as it (the construction) doesn't cause any impact in their neighborhood. The NIMBY contingent alone can delay or even kill a project.
Still another reason - Politics. On one side you have people who don't want any new construction (like the NIMBYs) and they have their local elected representatives (City Council, State Assembly etc) who will fight any efforts to advance the project. Then you have the other side who want it and they have their own local elected representatives who will fight for it. Getting both sides to compromise is next to impossible. Look how long it took to build the 2nd Av Subway (over 100 years). THrow in the mix local business people who have influence on the elected officials. The book: The Routes Not Taken: A Trip Through New York City's Unbuilt - by Joseph B. Raskin goes into some detail about all the political infighting and as to why the NYC subway system isn't larger that it could have been.
Over the years I have read many proposals - particularly by the Regional Planning Association with recommendations on how to improve our transportation. I have also read (and will re-read) the IBX project presentations. All in all these presentations brought me to a conclusion - the people behind these recommendations, who would be considered experts in their field, has absolutely no idea about the real need of the community. I'll will bet that most of them have never even been on a NYC Bus or subway in their life (and would not go near one even if their life depended on it). They make their recommendations based on the concept of "If we build it, they will ride" (I know - paraphrased from Field of Dreams) with the intend of creating a need where one may not totally exist - at least not to the extend that they state. They look at other cities and say - 'It will work in NYC" without any real information to back it up.
I would ask them simple questions (which will probably get me a 300 page response) - Will the IBX supplement or enhance the already existing transportation system that is in place, if yes - how? Would it still require riders to switch to/from existing routes which they are probably doing right now? Will it be drawing resources away from the existing system? Will it actually benefit the amount of people you way it will or are the numbers just an estimate of what could possibly happen?
There I have had my say (It got so long I even bored myself reading it).
