Why transit projects fail

Explain It to Me

Vox Media Podcast Network

Education, Politics, News, Society & Culture

4.4 • 7.9K Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2021

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Matt is joined by professor and transit researcher Eric Goldwyn to talk about why transit projects in the U.S. often fail. They discuss several high-profile cases, including the Second Avenue subway line in New York, the Green Line Extension in Boston, and the DC Streetcar. Why do cities spearhead redundant transit lines on top of existing rights-of-way? Why do cities in other countries spend so much less per mile on transit than American cities do? And, how can the political opposition to mass transit be met, to build the more accessible and environmentally-conscious transit infrastructure of the future? Resources: The Transit Costs Project "The Boston Case: The Story of the Green Line Extension" by Eric Goldwyn, Alon Levy, and Elif Ensari (Dec. 9, 2020) "Costly Lessons from the Second Avenue Subway" by Eric Goldwyn, New York Review of Books (Sep. 22, 2020) Guest: Eric Goldwyn (@ericgoldwyn), Program Director at the Marron Institute of Urban Management and Associate Professor in the Transportation and Land-Use program, NYU Marron Institute. Host: Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias), Slowboring.com Credits: Erikk Geannikis, Editor and Producer As the Biden administration gears up, we'll help you understand this unprecedented burst of policymaking. Sign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weeds-newsletter. The Weeds is a Vox Media Podcast Network production. Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a contribution to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts About Vox Vox is a news network that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Follow Us: Vox.com Facebook group: The Weeds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I'm Eliza Barkley, Fox's Science Health and Climate Editor.
0:05.0	This April, our podcaster teaming up to cover some of the most important issues threatening
0:09.3	life on Earth.
0:10.9	From sustainability to biodiversity to straight-up cool things about the natural world, we'll
0:16.3	focus on our planet and its limits in episodes throughout the month.
0:20.9	Tune in to today's Explained, Fox Conversations, The Weeds, Unexplainable, Worldly, Future Perfect,
0:28.5	and Fox Quick Kids.
0:30.3	Want to listen to all the shows?
0:31.9	Find them at Vox.com slash rhythmoth.
0:35.5	Hello, welcome to another episode of The Weeds on the Box Media Podcast Network.
0:54.4	I'm Matthew Glacias.
0:55.4	My guest today, Eric Goldman, is an assistant professor at NYU's Marin School of Urban Management,
1:01.2	and he's been working on a project on mass transit construction costs, which I think is
1:06.7	what we're going to talk about here, try to give people something a little bit different
1:11.6	in Vox Media's Earth Week paradigm here.
1:15.9	So hey, Eric, welcome to the show.
1:17.5	Hey Matt, thanks for having me.
1:19.6	So just as background in case people have never seen me rant about this on Twitter, the
1:26.8	basic thing here that we are talking about is that the construction of mass transit projects
1:33.2	in the United States is very expensive in international terms, right?
1:38.6	In a way that seems a little bit anomalous and maybe not that well understood by anyone.
1:43.4	That's exactly right.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Vox Media Podcast Network, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Vox Media Podcast Network and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.