The MTA is run by New York State, and therefore at the whim of Albany cronyism [1]. This is why it’s so dysfunctional. I wouldn’t necessarily blame the transit unions.
Edit: also, there’s a history of multiple private subway companies in NYC, it didn’t work out.
Yes, combination of the misaligned incentives of government coupled with a public sector union.
Given the lack of a profit motive, a well run government needs incentive structures to motivate results towards societally good outcomes. Too bad none of the local, state, federal governments do. Would be easy to institute if the will were there though
Edit:
To address your edit, the private subway systems failed after NY instituted a price cap on fares, IIRC. And inflation destroyed their profitability over time due to this.
Once the subway system was made public, development pretty much halted entirely, outside of an extension every few decades.
It compounds them. Government has no incentive for real results, union leads to highly overpaid employees who are frequently caught not working on the clock.
Two separate problems for sure, both bad for the rest
Given the lack of a profit motive, a well run government needs incentive structures to motivate results towards societally good outcomes. Too bad none of the local, state, federal governments do. Would be easy to institute if the will were there though
Edit: To address your edit, the private subway systems failed after NY instituted a price cap on fares, IIRC. And inflation destroyed their profitability over time due to this.
Once the subway system was made public, development pretty much halted entirely, outside of an extension every few decades.
Subway systems are private in Japan