Reducing the cost of US Transit

The cost to build and operate transportation infrastructure, including mass transit, in the United States is consistently higher than it is elsewhere in the developed world. As America’s population becomes increasing urban, addressing this issue will become increasingly important. This study seeks to understand why this cost discrepancy exists, and what to do about it, through a review of existing cost data (using operations costs from the US and International governments, and capital cost data from prior studies) and a comparative case study analysis. Two light rail systems, MAX (in Portland, Oregon) and Metrolink (in Manchester, UK), share many design and operations characteristics, and recently completed two similar capital projects. While MAX’s operations and capital costs are lower than the national average, they remain above comparable costs for Metrolink. This similarity in specifications, combined with a divergence in cost, provides an opportunity to understand why US transit is comparatively expensive and what to do about it. In regards to capital costs, the associated recommendations include: 1. Reducing abuse and misuse of the environmental review process, 2. Clarifying project governance structures to ensure a confluence between project authority and project responsibility, 3. Developing comprehensive transit design standards, 4. Avoidance of overdesign 5. Developing a public database of unit costs for transit projects. 6. Embracing unit price contracting over lump sum contracting, and keeping risk in the public sector Additional information regarding this project is saved here: https://c2smarter.engineering.nyu.edu/reducing-us-transit-costs-an-empirical-review-and-comparative-case-study-of-portland-manchester-rail-systems/