Forget Free NYC Buses: Just Build 41 Miles of New Subways
Fare-free bus service in New York City would cost around $1 billion per year. A new report proposes spending that on a “transformative” transit expansion instead.
Subway trains lined up at the MTA Transit Yard in Flushing, Queens in New York City.
Photographer: Gary Hershorn/Corbis News via Getty Images
How much New York City subway can you build for a billion dollars? Historically, not a lot: The first phase of the Second Avenue line, which opened in 2017, came in at $2.5 billion per mile. Phase two of the project, now under construction, is projected to cost over $4 billion per mile.
But the Transit Costs Project, a research group that’s part of the NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management, says the city could lay down more than 40 miles of new subways and elevated transit lines over the next 40 years for far less. The projects envisioned in the group’s latest report include long-dreamed-of routes, like a subway connection to LaGuardia Airport and the southern extension of the Second Avenue Subway through Midtown East, along with more novel proposals like a new cross-Bronx line and several extensions to the far reaches of Queens. All of this could be built with an annual investment of $1 billion per year, in 2025 dollars, the researchers say.