A civilized commute, another deluded libertarian

Peter Gordon looks at commute time statistics and comes up with a bizarre conclusion: since New York has the longest average commute time and a large percentage of commuters, therefore, high density "smart growth" doesn't work. Let's do a rundown on what's wrong with this:

1. Geography makes New York a special case. Manhattan is an island and the only way on or off is through a bridge or a tunnel, creating dozens of bottlenecks. This has led to clustering and density on a level simply not sensible elsewhere. When people talk about density, they think of townhouses in lieu of gated suburban developments or McMansions, not 50-story office towers.

2. New York is bigger. Far bigger than any other city, actually. The NYC CMSA has nearly five million more people than the LA-Long Beach CMSA. I don't think spreading them out more would help much.

3. New York's infrastructure is far older than that of most other American cities. The main reason the NYC subway is so slow is because its switching system dates back to 1904. Unlike Washington's Metro, subway trains cannot go 65 miles per hour on straight tracks in the periphery, nor can the system handle the sort of headways Washingtonians can expect. Suburban commuters are hampered by bottlenecks at Penn Station (which they're upgrading) and at the Lincoln Tunnel (the main route to the Port Authority Bus Terminal for NJ Transit buses).

The highways are also unique. Unlike much of the country, the major highways were built around existing developments, often making contortions to do so. Take the FDR drive. Built in the 1930s when Manhattan was largely developed, it snakes along the East River under buildings. The lanes are narrow and the exits often back up for lack of room for traditional cloverleafs. You can't just add lanes, since doing so would require building what is essentially a pier the length of Manhattan. They're doing this on a small stretch in the 50s for repairs, but it certainly isn't fiesable for the whole length.

4. The transit system could be faster. The MTA gets far less subsidy than other transit systems. Combine this with decades of neglect only recently remedied and you have a recipe for slow trains.

5. Quality of life. New Yorkers spend 10 more minutes per day getting from Point A to Point B then do Los Angelinos. However, New Yorkers can sleep on the train. They can eat a three-course meal with a knife and fork. They can read. Unlike driving a car, time spent on the train isn't completely lost to the act of driving.