One transportation expert worries that the city already devotes too many resources to cars.
Alex Cruz, a transportation expert with Accenture in London, says competition within Europe is growing.
She laughed: "I mean, maybe I'm just a transportation expert at this point, but I think they're sleek".
And the Sunset Limited, according to Tierney, had been identified by a transportation expert as "the worst train of all".
For his part, Martin Robins, a transportation expert at Rutgers, said it was premature to judge the Hudson-Bergen line.
Mr. Walder grew up in Queens and became a transportation expert who transformed London's transit system into a world leader.
There are many reasons for this, but I have yet to hear any transportation expert cite the bike lanes as a factor.
"Last I checked, we had less than 200 air safety inspectors for the whole country," said Danang Parikesit, a transportation expert and president of the Indonesia Transportation Society.
To Robert Puentes, a transportation expert at the Brookings Institution, the problem of whether the ports are overbuilding for a Panama payoff is one of planning.
For two years, Jay Walder, an internationally known transportation expert, has been running the antiquated New York City mass-transit system with quiet efficiency.
"These systems can be pretty hard to implement politically," observed Naveen Lamba, a transportation expert in I.B.M.'s global services unit.
