Anchor date

All counters accumulate from 22 March 2026 UTC, the date Andrew Lynch publicly identified a $43 million line item for QueensWay's Metropolitan Hub in Mayor Mamdani's preliminary FY27 budget (posted on Bluesky, reported by Streetsblog NYC on 25 March 2026).

This date was chosen because it is publicly documented in multiple primary sources, post-dates the Steer IBC release, and represents the most recent decision point relevant to the tool's framing.

Counter: Public value denied to New York City

1. Original figure: $6.78 billion in 30-year core-scenario monetized benefits (Steer IBC Tables 8.1, 9.1, 10.1). Comprises $5.0B transit + $1.0B health/QoL + $0.78B external benefits.
2. $6,780,000,000 ÷ 30 years = $226,000,000/year.
3. $226,000,000 ÷ 31,536,000 seconds/year = ~$7.17/second.

This spreads the 30-year present-value total evenly across time. In reality, benefits would ramp up with ridership growth (2%/year core scenario). The even spread is a simplification that under-counts later years and over-counts earlier years.

Counter: Per-resident time loss

The personal counter divides segment-level travel-time savings by segment population to yield minutes lost per resident per year:

Formula: [segment person-minutes per day] × 320 weekdays ÷ [segment population] = annual minutes per resident.

Sources: person-minutes from Steer IBC Table 4.5, p.42; populations from Steer IBC Table 2.2, p.16 (citing US Census Bureau ACS 2023 5-Year Estimates). Conservative because: spreads the benefit across all residents, not just riders; uses 320-weekday annualization; excludes weekend travel.

Steer methodology constants (Table 7.1, p.62)

• Value of Time: $22.35/hour (USDOT BCA guidance)
• Annualization: 320 standard weekdays/year (time savings); environmental figures use 365-day annualization
• Discount rate: 3.0% per year
• Evaluation period: 2035–2065
• Real terms: 2025 USD
• Ridership growth: 1–3% per year (2% core)
• VOT growth: 0–2% per year (1% core)
• Average vehicle occupancy: 1.48 persons (NYMTC)

Important note on interpretation

The IBC's 2040 ridership projection is applied from the anchor date. This is a counterfactual exercise: the counters show what would accumulate if QueensLink were operating at projected capacity from the anchor date onward. It is not a literal claim about present-day ridership or emissions.

Limitations

• All figures are projections from the Steer IBC, not realised outcomes.
• Ranges exist around every estimate. This tool uses lower bounds where ranges are reported.
• The IBC itself notes uncertainty in ridership, mode shift, and benefit monetization.
• The tool does not account for ramp-up time that would occur in any realistic construction and opening scenario.
• The per-resident counter divides total segment benefits by total segment population, not by riders alone. This under-states the per-rider benefit but over-states the per-non-rider benefit.