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> NYC subway is more expensive per meter? No shit. What's the ROI? How many passengers per day? What do you think are the economic payoffs for those investments?

I don't think infrastructure in NYC is cost-effective. For that matter, infrastructure in Seattle (where I live now) is not cost effective.

Its ROI is in fact negative, as it forces further unsustainable agglomeration of wealth in a small area, while starving smaller cities.

> What survey showed 80% of respondents preferring suburbs?

It's a metric that is pretty constant with only small variations: https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2021/12/16/america...

> A suburb versus what?

Dense urban areas.

> What happens if/when the cities stop subsidizing the completely financially insolvent surrounding areas?

Sigh. Cities do not subsidize suburbs. Most of the US wealth is generated by people living in suburbs.



For anyone reading my response to this incredibly bad faith commenter, note:

- that his own linked survey shows 46% preferring suburbs, not 80%

- that "it forces further unsustainable agglomeration of wealth in a small area" would suggest a very high ROI, actually (and "forces" is an interesting word choice vs "attracts")

- this Lafayette case study shows exactly how denser areas pay for themselves in tax revenue, and how the surrounding ones don't [0]

[0] https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/1/9/the-real-reason...




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