1. The Transit Cost Project report is excellent. The advice re too much being spent on consultants and inadequate in-house managers rings true in NYC.
2. Because KOP buildings are spread out, a bus loop to rail would work best. The latest KOP rail; proposal merely linked to the Norristown High Speed Line, which I love for a fan-trip, but only goes to 69th Street, not Center City.
3. As Reece suggests, the pot of money is only so big. There should be morte pressure to spend it effectively & efficiently.
I think part of the issue with KOP and a lot of projects is the assumption that your land use won't change with a transit project - which shouldn't be ok!
Practical Engineering did a great video about why construction projects always go over project and the problem is if you underestimate the cost an infrastructure project, the project will likely go over the initial budget, the public and governments become annoyed but if you overestimate the initial budget, the project is very unlikely to gain approval to go ahead.
Bingo - great analysis! Aside from the incredibly lengthy gestation process in the US for most projects, which ends up resulting in cost increases, I’d also note that lengthy court challenges to almost any transit project are almost inevitable here in the US, and while a legal challenge is low cost and risk free for those pursuing them, it’s high cost for the transit project itself given the inflationary impact on project costs in the interim while the challenge winds its way through the courts. In my dream world, those pursuing challenges unsuccessfully would be made to pay a share of the cost escalation.
I think it's actually good that these US transit projects are being cancelled - both Philly's King of Prussia extension and the LaGuardia AirTrain had poor benefits relative to their huge costs. Cancellation makes existing & future proposals look hard at the design decisions that are driving the high costs - such as deep tunneling & deep stations, expansive station space (in the case of NYC's 2nd Ave Subway Phase 2). Deep stations also prolong the construction period & disruption on the surface - shallower stations should have shorter disruption periods given there's a lot less spoil to excavate & concrete & material to pour in.
As a general note, society unfortunately these days sees rapid transit construction as a huge burden, whereas previous generations saw it as an investment for the future. Transit agencies need to continually trumpet the benefits to counter the NIMBYs and negative news stories about traffic delays, facile person-on-the-street interviews about construction complaints. Few of these people complain about office buildings going up!
I sort of agree, but not all of these are bad projects at all prices! And I worry that like in New York these cancellations will just lead to more idling about rather than progress!
I hope the LaGuardia Air Train cancellation allows for a re-exploration of the N train extension. But even then, I think dedicated shuttle buses that have luggage racks would be a good upgrade too.
Agreed. But everything is spread out at KOP and great resistance to land use changes would be likely. The projected ridership is inadequate for rail. In contrast, I believe the NY MTA has underestimated the potential IBX line ridership. People tend to move to locations convenient to transit.
In Phila, shifting available funds to Rooseveldt Ave. makes a lot of sense.
1. The Transit Cost Project report is excellent. The advice re too much being spent on consultants and inadequate in-house managers rings true in NYC.
2. Because KOP buildings are spread out, a bus loop to rail would work best. The latest KOP rail; proposal merely linked to the Norristown High Speed Line, which I love for a fan-trip, but only goes to 69th Street, not Center City.
3. As Reece suggests, the pot of money is only so big. There should be morte pressure to spend it effectively & efficiently.
I think part of the issue with KOP and a lot of projects is the assumption that your land use won't change with a transit project - which shouldn't be ok!
Practical Engineering did a great video about why construction projects always go over project and the problem is if you underestimate the cost an infrastructure project, the project will likely go over the initial budget, the public and governments become annoyed but if you overestimate the initial budget, the project is very unlikely to gain approval to go ahead.
It is far from the only factor, but it’s absolutely a real factor!
Bingo - great analysis! Aside from the incredibly lengthy gestation process in the US for most projects, which ends up resulting in cost increases, I’d also note that lengthy court challenges to almost any transit project are almost inevitable here in the US, and while a legal challenge is low cost and risk free for those pursuing them, it’s high cost for the transit project itself given the inflationary impact on project costs in the interim while the challenge winds its way through the courts. In my dream world, those pursuing challenges unsuccessfully would be made to pay a share of the cost escalation.
I absolutely think transit projects need to be protected from more litigation for societies benefit - but, they also need to be a lot better planned!
I think it's actually good that these US transit projects are being cancelled - both Philly's King of Prussia extension and the LaGuardia AirTrain had poor benefits relative to their huge costs. Cancellation makes existing & future proposals look hard at the design decisions that are driving the high costs - such as deep tunneling & deep stations, expansive station space (in the case of NYC's 2nd Ave Subway Phase 2). Deep stations also prolong the construction period & disruption on the surface - shallower stations should have shorter disruption periods given there's a lot less spoil to excavate & concrete & material to pour in.
As a general note, society unfortunately these days sees rapid transit construction as a huge burden, whereas previous generations saw it as an investment for the future. Transit agencies need to continually trumpet the benefits to counter the NIMBYs and negative news stories about traffic delays, facile person-on-the-street interviews about construction complaints. Few of these people complain about office buildings going up!
I sort of agree, but not all of these are bad projects at all prices! And I worry that like in New York these cancellations will just lead to more idling about rather than progress!
I hope the LaGuardia Air Train cancellation allows for a re-exploration of the N train extension. But even then, I think dedicated shuttle buses that have luggage racks would be a good upgrade too.
Agreed. But everything is spread out at KOP and great resistance to land use changes would be likely. The projected ridership is inadequate for rail. In contrast, I believe the NY MTA has underestimated the potential IBX line ridership. People tend to move to locations convenient to transit.
In Phila, shifting available funds to Rooseveldt Ave. makes a lot of sense.
Possibly, but Philly also needs to fix it's existing system
Flagging good Vox piece today “How to save America’s public transit systems from a doom spiral”. https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23653855/covid-transit-fares-buses-subways-crisis
See my video with a very similar title from last month, I discuss a lot of the same things: https://youtu.be/SBfEaer-YOQ
Yep, your video was why I was so pleased to see many of your points essentially replicated in the Vox piece!
Excellent Piece for sure