The Suspicious Acceleration of Subway Repairs After the Election

Gothamist is bemoaning the massive disturbance to subway riders this weekend because of repairs. “18 out of the 19 major lines were mussed with leaving only the lonely M untouched.”

But what Gothamist doesn’t ask, and they should, is why all at once? Why not spread it out all last month?

I suggest the following possibility. Much needed repairs and upgrades were kept to a relative minimum until after the election. Because unlike the mayoral election, passage of Proposition #2 was not seen as a given, and service disruption could remind voters that the building of a new subway and East Side access for L.I.R.R. commuters would take a significant toll in terms of temporary inconvenience. So the M.T.A., who very much wanted Prop #2 to pass, waited until after the election to push ahead full throttle.

It was a smart strategy.