New York Governor Kathy Hochul has decided to scrap a $2.4 billion rail line to LaGuardia Airport. She did so after receiving a report from an independent panel of transportation experts who considered a variety of transportation options, including buses, an extension of the city’s subway system, and light rail. Ultimately, the panel decided that two bus lines were a better alternative, and the Governor has now implemented their decision. Compared to the bus options, the two-mile train link posed construction challenges and was not found to be cost-effective, even though the panel thought it would carry 4.7 million passengers annually.

As a transit agency in San Francisco moves forward with plans to build a $6.7 billion, 1.3‑mile subway extension, Bay Area stakeholders would benefit from a similar review. The new subway would extend service from San Francisco’s Caltrain station on the edge of the city’s downtown to the Salesforce Transit Center, a gleaming $2.2 billion terminal recently opened in the heart of downtown.

Unfortunately, San Francisco’s downtown is no longer thriving as it was when this rail extension was originally planned. With remote work and virtual business meetings now common, it is not clear how many riders would use the rail extension if it were to be built. Passengers alighting at Caltrain station can already reach other parts of the Central Business District by transferring to one of two light rail lines already serving the station.

Empaneling a disinterested expert group to estimate ridership and assess the cost-effectiveness of the project would be in the best interest of area residents who will have to fund much of the construction cost through taxes and tolls, not to mention taxpayers around the county who would cover the Department of Transportation grants being sought for this project.