Wrapped in a damning portrait of the present state of the NYC MTA is an endorsement of public transportation as the engine of progress and, strangely enough, capitalism. But for the simple fact of MTA fail, NYC would probably poach more businesses from Boston and surrounding than they already do. Agglomeration isn’t possible without a working public transportation system.
For all the changes in transportation technology since the first tunnels were dug — the rise of the automobile, the proliferation of bike lanes and ferries, our growing addiction to ride-hailing apps and dreams of a future filled with autonomous vehicles — the subway remains the only way to move large numbers of people around the city. Today, New York’s subway carries close to six million people every day, more than twice the entire population of Chicago. The subway may no longer be a technological marvel, but it continues to perform a daily magic trick: It brings people together, but it also spreads people out. It is this paradox — these constant expansions and contractions, like a beating heart — that keep the human capital flowing and the city growing. New York’s subway has no zones and no hours of operation. It connects rich and poor neighborhoods alike. The subway has never been segregated. It is always open, and the fare is always the same no matter how far you need to go. In New York, movement — anywhere, anytime — is a right.
Yeah, Boston did that first. We could still do it better. It’s up to us to actually, you know, do it. Here we are, on the eve of a storm that will likely paralyze the MBTA for the foreseeable, if not longer, we must remember, as the article tells us, we don’t have any other choice… nor should we wish for any other choice. If and when NYC fixes their system we should be prepared to best it with ours, or be prepared for Boston, and the CommonWealth, to decline and to stagnate…
I’d take a slightly worse system open 24 hours though and going to more points across the city and metro area.