Teaching City Gov’t to Count More Than Just Cars and Trucks

Transportation Alternatives issued a new study by transportation consultant Bruce Schaller today called Traffic Information in NYC (PDF file). The report, according to T.A., "uncovers large gaps in what is known about traffic and transportation in New York City."

"The City," says Schaller, "is not collecting the basic information
necessary to redress current gridlock, much less plan for future
growth."
If New York City’s streets are ever to become managable, DOT needs to start doing more than just
counting the number of cars and trucks rolling down city streets. We need better data collection.

The report lays the groundwork for a legislative push on City Councilmember Gale Brewer’s Intro. 199, The Traffic Information and Relief Bill. Intro. 199 would compel New York City’s Deparment of Transportation to "develop and monitor performance targets with the aim of assessing and reducing the amount of traffic citywide and within each borough." City Council’s Transportation Committee is holding a public hearing on the Traffic Information and Relief Bill on Thursday at 10:00 am.

In addition to doing a better job of data collection, City Council’s Intro. 199 also compels DOT to set specific performance targets aimed at:

reducing commute time citywide; reducing household exposure to roadway emissions; reducing the proportion of driving to the central business districts and increasing the proportion of walking, biking, and the use of mass transit to the central business districts; increasing the availability of on-street parking; increasing the efficient movement of commercial traffic; and optimizing to no higher than full capacity the usage of existing transportation infrastructure.

From today’s press release:

The study finds that while the city does collect yearly information about how people are traveling to the Manhattan Central Business District, reliable information about travel to, and within, the growing business districts of the outer boroughs is virtually nonexistent.

The study finds a "paucity of comprehensive traffic data" and finds that the gaps are "particularly pronounced outside Manhattan."

The study identifies eleven key data gaps, including:

  • Incomplete citywide and borough-wide traffic volume data
  • No annual traffic volumes for congested corridors outside Manhattan
  • No information about the share of total trips conducted by the various modes of travel (transit, auto, walking, biking, etc)

The study recommends new data collection necessary to fill the gaps, including travel times and reliability by mode, travel cost, safety, comfort and convenience indicators for all modes of travel.

"If Mayor Bloomberg is serious about reducing commute times and reducing pollution, then the City must gather annual information about the transportation challenges that all New Yorkers face–not just about the minority who drive into Manhattan," says Paul S. White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Streetfilms: “We’re New York, We Can Lead”

|
Traffic Information & Relief Bill Press Conference  Running time: 4 minutes 3 seconds Transportation Alternatives held press conference on the steps of City Hall yesterday in support of Intro 199, a bill introduced in the City Council by Councilmember Gale Brewer that calls for better information-gathering about the city’s traffic and aims to "reduce the […]

Bloomberg Admin Misses “Golden Opportunity” on Intro. 199

|
In the latest issue of Mobilizing the Region, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign questions how the Bloomberg Administration’s purported commitment to long-term planning and sustainability squares with the Department of Transportation’s opposition to Intro. 199, City Council legislation aimed at collecting better data on how New York City’s streets are managed and used: Testifying before the […]

DOT Hires Bruce Schaller to Run a New Planning Office

|
This is the first of a number of exciting and heretofore unimaginable hiring announcements likely to be coming out of New York City’s Department of Transportation in the next few weeks: Today, DOT is announcing the creation of a new Office of Planning and Sustainability and the appointment of Bruce Schaller of Schaller Consulting as […]

The Known Unknowns of New York City’s Streets

|
Unlike New York, Copenhagen, Denmark’s planners measure city streets for much more than "Vehicular Level of Service." This map, for example, quantifies stationary activities on a summer weekday in the city center. From Public Spaces Public Life by Lars Gemzoe and Jan Gehl, 1996. As former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld would say, Schaller Consulting’s new […]

New York City’s Opinion-Makers Turn Attention to Traffic

|
Today’s Times Select, a subscriber-only web site, has published a lengthy manifesto on New York City traffic and transportation by Carolyn Curiel. It urges Mayor Bloomberg to listen to the ideas being generated by the Citywide Coalition for Traffic Relief, and suggests that his legacy depends on it. Increasingly, one gets the sense that the […]