Philip Plotch is the author of the book, Last Subway: The Long Wait for the Next Train in New York City published by Cornell University Press. The book is the fascinating and dramatic story behind New York’s struggle to build a new subway line under Second Avenue in Manhattan and improve transit services all across the city. Dr. Plotch reveals why the city’s subway system, once the best in the world, is now too often unreliable, overcrowded (before the COVID pandemic), and uncomfortable. He explains how a series of elected officials have struggled to raise the necessary tax revenues to ensure that the city is able to adequately maintain and significantly expand its transit system. Last Subway offers valuable lessons in how governments can overcome political gridlock and enormous obstacles to build grand projects. However, it is also a cautionary tale for cities. Dr. Plotch reveals how false promises, redirected funds and political ambitions have derailed subway improvements. Given the ridiculously high cost of building new subways in New York and their lengthy construction period, the Second Avenue subway (if it is ever completed) may very well be the last subway built in New York for generations to come.
