For instance, in CA, only about $100M a year out of the $100 billion a year budget is spent on transportation [1].
Because of prop 98 in CA, a minimum of 40% of the budget has to go to education [2].
In NY, it's only 4% spent on transportation [3].
[1] https://ballotpedia.org/Fact_check/California%27s_state_budg...
[2] https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_98,_Mandatory...
[3] https://openbudget.ny.gov/overview.html
If NYC is less expensive to manage per capita, I'm guessing that's reflected in a lower taxation rate. Don't they have a lot of room to raise taxes?