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Why transit suddenly costs so much.

Reece Martin · 31 Aug 2026

Read the piece on thetransitbrief.net ↗

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Reece Martin did not write this page.

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  1. Transit projects - from subways to bus rapid transit - in Canada, and in the English-speaking world writ large, cost far more than projects in many other developed and developing countries, even when adjusting for inflation and differences in the relative value of currencies and inputs.
  2. the problem leading to 5 or 10 times more expensive infrastructure in Toronto or New York is not generally that any one thing is being done ten times worse, but that factors are multiplicative - they compound.
  3. This is reflected by the fact that soft costs - that is, not heavy construction, but planning and engineering - now sometimes cost as much as the entire project might in a place like Italy or Chile.

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