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What Alon Levy thinks about America

@alon-levy · 17 positions · 0 changes of mind

Mathematician turned transport researcher, a fellow at NYU's Marron Institute and a lead of the Transit Costs Project, which compares what it costs to build rail in different countries. Writes Pedestrian Observations.

Alon Levy did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

4 dated positions, 2023 to 2024, in their own words. Our reading of what Alon Levy has said — not written or endorsed by them.

4 positions so far — this page is not yet offered to search engines.

  1. Our readingThere is nothing to learn from any American transit project within living memory except what not to do.

    Their wordsThe truth is that there’s nothing that can be learned from American projects within living memory except what not to do.

    ↗Low Spanish Costs are not About Decentralizationpedestrianobservations.com 3rd of 4 in this piece

  2. 16 months earlier

  3. Our readingYou cannot make America build subways ten times cheaper while only ever talking to Americans.

    Their wordsYou can’t change the United States from a country that builds subways for $2 billion/km in New York and $1 billion/km elsewhere to a country that does so for $200 million/km if all you ever do is talk to other Americans.

    ↗Pete Buttigieg, Bent Flyvbjerg, and My Pessimism About American Costspedestrianobservations.com

  4. 7 months earlier

  5. Our readingAmerican transit agencies stay expensive out of incuriosity: the practices that would fix them are written in languages nobody in the room reads.

    Their wordsThis is not about precarity, because this is not a precarious project; this is about total ignorance and incuriosity about best practices, which emanate from a place that doesn’t natively speak English and doesn’t trade in American political references.

    ↗High Costs are not About Precaritypedestrianobservations.com 3rd of 5 in this piece

  7. Our readingCountries that build cheaply defer to engineers, even the ones with far more political patronage than the United States has.

    Their wordsImportantly, low-cost countries with more clientelism and politicization of the state tend to be more deferential to the expertise of engineers.

    ↗High Costs are not About Precaritypedestrianobservations.com 4th of 5 in this piece