"The Marron proposal takes one's breath away. It sketches an even dozen subway extensions or new lines in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx. From a glance, the surrounding neighborhoods are almost certainly much poorer than those around existing subways (per Urban Economics 101). Incentivized by efficient rapid transit, those areas will, over a 40-year span, host a quarter of a million new homes without needing a single rezoning, according to the Marron team."
"One is buses; one is subways. One could start in months; the other will take years to study, plan and launch and will be lucky to achieve an average start of service in the late forties (as in 2040s). One is largely the city's purview; the other also depends on the governor and the MTA. One is single-purpose; the other could trigger a double-digit expansion (or close to it) in the city's supply of homes."
Two transit strategies—fast, free buses and a roughly 41-mile, 64-station subway expansion—target different timelines, authorities, and outcomes but complement each other. Free buses can launch quickly under city control and provide immediate mobility gains. A large subway expansion would take decades, require state and MTA involvement, and could spur substantial residential development—potentially a quarter-million homes over 40 years—especially in poorer neighborhoods. The subway plan has an unclear capital-financing bridge from proposed yearly savings to a multibillion-dollar construction cost. Aside from funding, the two programs fit together operationally and developmentally rather than competing.
Read at Streetsblog
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