There are easy examples of operational waste to be found; e.g. trains are overstaffed (relative to any international trains) with highly paid conductors, and we still have token booth employees who grumpily point you to the metrocard machine if you interrupt their candy crush.

http://nypost.com/2011/07/13/mtas-too-nice-pay/

Unlike construction, it's harder to find concrete operational numbers to compare to other more functional systems.

But here is an obvious one: Singapore (pop 5.4M) gives their MOT $2.3B for operational costs and and $4.6B for construction costs (the plan is to double the length of the MRT).

http://www.singaporebudget.gov.sg/budget_2013/expenditure_ov...

NYC (pop 8.4M) has operational costs of $13B, and no particularly ambitious construction plans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Transportation_Au...