News and Views: A Century-Old Subway Promise Finally Delivered

In this bonus News and Views episode, Rick L'Amie breaks down four major transit stories: the historic groundbreaking for Phase 2 of the 2nd Avenue Subway in East Harlem, Illinois’ creation of a powerful new regional transit authority, Brightline’s looming bankruptcy, and Sonoma-Marin voters extending rail funding for SMART.

Taken together these stories show how public, private, and local choices are shaping the future of American transit right now — from century-old promises finally delivered to experiments that may be failing and voters who still back long-term rail investment.

Sources:

1. Second Avenue Subway Phase 2 Breaks Ground — ABC7 NY / Governor's Office of New York, June 8, 2026

https://abc7ny.com/post/second-ave-subway-project-governor-hochul-announce-phase-avenue-expansion/19256113/

2. Illinois NITA Act Takes Effect — Chicago Sun-Times, June 1, 2026

https://chicago.suntimes.com/transportation/2026/06/01/nita-rta-transit-law-cta-metra-pace

3. Brightline on the Verge of Bankruptcy — Streetsblog USA, June 5, 2026

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2026/06/05/fridays-headlines-are-getting-dim

4. SMART Measure B Passes — KQED, June 2–3, 2026

https://www.kqed.org/news/12085563/early-returns-show-strong-support-for-smart-tax-extension-in-sonoma-marin

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
A century-old promise becomes a construction site in East Harlem.

(00:03):
Illinois rewrites the rules of regional transit overnight.
Brightline wobbles towards bankruptcy and Bay Area voters say yes to more rail.
This is Transpertopia, the podcast exploring the past, present, and future of public
transportation, the built environment, and more.

(00:24):
Hey everyone, I'm Rick Lemieux.
Welcome to Transpertopia News and Views, our bonus segment between full-length
episodes where we break down what's happening right now across public
transportation, just the top stories, what they mean and why they matter.
Let's get into it.
We start in New York City, where one of the longest-promised infrastructure
projects in American history just stopped being a promise.

(00:46):
On Monday, June 8th, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Senate Democratic Leader
Chuck Schumer, Representative Adriano Espiad, and MTA CEO Janel Lieber broke
ground on phase two of the 2nd Avenue subway, extending the Q line about a
mile and a half north from 96th Street in East Harlem, with three new fully
accessible stations at 106th, 116th, and 125th Street.

(01:10):
The roughly $7 billion project will serve an estimated 110,000 new daily
riders and cut some commutes up to 20 minutes each way, in a neighborhood
considered a transportation desert.
The last time anybody broke ground on the 2nd Avenue subway in East Harlem was
54 years ago, a project then abandoned in the city's fiscal crisis.
The line itself has been on New York's drawing board since the 1920s.

(01:35):
Quick take?
More than 100 years of promises, now finally a shovel in the ground in East
Harlem, this is what it looks like when the system actually works.
Next is Chicago, where June 1st was one of the most consequential days in
American transit governance in a generation.
The Northern Illinois Transit Authority Act, or NITA, officially took effect

(01:56):
Monday, retiring the old Regional Transportation Authority and creating a
new, more powerful regional body with real authority over three area transit
agencies, Chicago Transit Authority, Metra, and Pace.
The law delivers roughly $1.5 billion a year in transit and infrastructure
funding, with the bulk coming from redirecting a portion of the gas sales

(02:18):
tax to transit operations, about $860 million annually, plus a quarter percent
regional sales tax increase that kicks in August 1st.
No fare hikes are allowed in the first year.
A unified regional fare system is mandated by 2030.
Quick take?
For years, regional transit in Chicago was three agencies tied together

(02:38):
with rubber bands and goodwill.
As of this week, somebody is finally in charge.
That alone changes the math.
Now to Florida, where the most watched experiment in American
intercity rail just hit a serious wall.
Reporting this week from multiple outlets confirms that Brightline, the
first privately owned intercity rail company in the U.S.

(02:58):
since Amtrak was formed in the 1970s, is on the verge of bankruptcy.
The diagnosis is a familiar one.
Trains that aren't quite fast enough to beat driving on shorter routes, fares
too high to compete on longer ones, and a tragic safety record because the
system shares existing rail corridors rather than building
dedicated grade-separated tracks.

(03:19):
Investors are now weighing whether more capital can save the model or
whether the experiment ends here.
Quick take?
Privately built intercity rail in America keeps almost working.
The lesson isn't that rail can't succeed.
It's that you can't build 21st century rail on 19th century right-of-way
and expect 21st century results.

(03:42):
And finally, to the Bay Area, where voters delivered a
different kind of win this week.
In Tuesday's California primary, voters in Sonoma and Marin counties
approved Measure B with roughly 72% support, extending the quarter-cent
sales tax that funds the Sonoma area rail transit system, known
as SMART, for another 30 years.

(04:02):
The measure generates about $51 million a year and effectively
secures the system for a generation.
Quick take?
When you tell voters exactly what their money buys, they often surprise you.
72% says the public still believes in rail.
The politicians should take the hint.
This week's ThruLine is what it actually takes to deliver transit.

(04:23):
In New York, after more than a century of promises, the federal-state
MTA pipeline finally put a shovel in the ground in East Harlem.
Illinois decided through its legislature and decided big.
The private market decided that Brightline, despite all the hype, isn't
quite working, and Bay Area voters, when asked directly, said yes to paying
more for the trains they already have.

(04:46):
Four different answers in five days, and three of them are good news.
The shape of American transportation policy is being argued
out right now at every level.
That's your Transportopia news and views for the week of June 1st.
Speaking of New York, if you missed it, our most recent full-length
episode dropped last week, also a New York subway story.

(05:06):
I rode the G train into Manhattan with my daughter, Lauren Lemie, and
talked about what 10 years of car-free life in Brooklyn actually looks like.
Here's a quick taste.
I would love to dispel all of the myths of New York being dangerous
and the train being dangerous.
It is perfectly safe, but I think a lot of people move here and

(05:28):
they'll just take cabs everywhere.
And I'm like, that would be my advice.
Don't do that.
You're limiting yourself.
You're also living in like a weird bubble that makes you
look and feel like a transplant.
Real, real New Yorkers are taking the train everywhere.
You can find the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.

(05:51):
Coming next week, my conversation with Aaron Ophir, CEO of Imagery, a company
that makes autonomous transit buses.
We'll talk about what's coming to American cities sooner than most of us realize.
You won't want to miss it.
Until then, thanks for listening to Transportopia, the intersection
of transportation and utopia.
Do me a favor, like us wherever you get your podcasts, leave us a review,

(06:15):
and visit transportopia.org for show notes, our blog, and more.
I'm Rick Lemie.
Goodbye, everybody.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai