The problem here is we don’t fully know where people’s incentives lie. These people are experts in their fields and absolutely have earned credibility when they speak on a given topic.
However, the problem in this case is the problem here isn’t strictly limited to a public transit problem. It is political, it is financial, it is an urban planning and many, many more. People are more likely than not in expert in one, maybe two of the challenges, but not all. Experts who criticize the REM are probably correct that (for example) putting a viaduct over R-L is not the best possible outcome for urban integration or for quality of life (although comparing it to the Metropolitain really hurts their credibility in my eye). They’re probably correct that in the long run, the PPP model can certainly present some challenges with financing. The question is, what’s the alternative?
We are, immediately, facing a housing crisis, congestion everywhere on island and a climate emergency. We don’t have a government that prioritizes transit over other modes, who often prioritizes suburban voters over city folk, and we have have a political system that arguably gives a veto to people who have little or no incentive to see these projects succeed all while we are experiencing an exodus of people from the city because quality of life isn’t improving as much as it should. It’s all good and well to want better, but can we in a realistic timeframe and at a reasonable cost, attain these goals? Right now, I seriously have my doubts.
Their expertise and incentives lie solely in their domain. They have their own incentives that might not necessarily align with everyone else’s. They want to build the best possible transit system, with less importance on the cost. Is 1G$ better spent on buring a viaduct or in hiring nurses and teachers? Sure the trains going over head will affect some people, but there are other, probably more pressing issues that can be addressed. The transit professional’s job is not to think about those tradeoffs. We also live in a society with finite financial resources and a political system which allocates them.
I am a firm supporter of expertise in a decision making framework, but their advice needs to be balanced appropriately other external factors such as finances, politics and context, which at least based on what I’ve seen, was not there.
Comme mentionné avant, il y avait une forte majorité de citoyens qui avaient une opinion favorable au projet. (Voir les sondages)