Could traffic signal timings be causing “sticky” internal travel times? I’m not sure how NYC operates its signals, but in most places they’re calibrated every few years. Signal timings optimized for higher volumes would yield longer cycles and green phases that are longer than necessary to clear the queue at the signal. This is inefficient and could partly explain why travel within the zone hasn’t realized larger travels time savings.
great article! I work in a building with a view of midtown and I anecdotally have also seen much less traffic on 32nd/33rd st and 9th/10th aves.
A few additional points:
1) it looks like subway ridership is up 8% YoY and commuter rail ridership is up 13%. It makes sense to me because the portion of subway rides going into the congestion relief zone is probably smaller than for MNr/LIRR
2) to add to your section on queuing, the way I think about it is that impact of each marginal car on congestion is not linear. if a tunnel has capacity for 2,000 cars per hour, going from 1,500 cars to 1,600 probably won’t impact the flow of traffic at all. but going from 1,950 to 2,050 could create a significant slowdown
yeah i want to do a post about traffic and queueing. will be slow because substack doesn't allow inline latex which makes it hard for someone used to it.
YoY Numbers aren’t terribly compelling to me because most services we’re seeing linear increases in ridership through most of last year. Would be interested in a comparison to say the first week of November.
That runs into an issue because the first week of January is typically less crowded in the city due to generally lower levels of tourism after the holiday. for example, the first Wednesday in January in 2024 had 3.55M subway riders riders while the first Wednesday in November 2023 had 4.04M riders
A far better solution to more taxes on already the highest taxing city in the country is to clean up and enforce law and order in the subways. This will get people back underground.
A far better solution to more taxes on already the highest taxing city in the country is to clean up and enforce law and order in the subways. This will get people back underground.
Could traffic signal timings be causing “sticky” internal travel times? I’m not sure how NYC operates its signals, but in most places they’re calibrated every few years. Signal timings optimized for higher volumes would yield longer cycles and green phases that are longer than necessary to clear the queue at the signal. This is inefficient and could partly explain why travel within the zone hasn’t realized larger travels time savings.
great article! I work in a building with a view of midtown and I anecdotally have also seen much less traffic on 32nd/33rd st and 9th/10th aves.
A few additional points:
1) it looks like subway ridership is up 8% YoY and commuter rail ridership is up 13%. It makes sense to me because the portion of subway rides going into the congestion relief zone is probably smaller than for MNr/LIRR
2) to add to your section on queuing, the way I think about it is that impact of each marginal car on congestion is not linear. if a tunnel has capacity for 2,000 cars per hour, going from 1,500 cars to 1,600 probably won’t impact the flow of traffic at all. but going from 1,950 to 2,050 could create a significant slowdown
thanks.
yeah i want to do a post about traffic and queueing. will be slow because substack doesn't allow inline latex which makes it hard for someone used to it.
YoY Numbers aren’t terribly compelling to me because most services we’re seeing linear increases in ridership through most of last year. Would be interested in a comparison to say the first week of November.
That runs into an issue because the first week of January is typically less crowded in the city due to generally lower levels of tourism after the holiday. for example, the first Wednesday in January in 2024 had 3.55M subway riders riders while the first Wednesday in November 2023 had 4.04M riders
Anything you tax, you will get less of it.
A far better solution to more taxes on already the highest taxing city in the country is to clean up and enforce law and order in the subways. This will get people back underground.
Anything you tax you will get less of it.
A far better solution to more taxes on already the highest taxing city in the country is to clean up and enforce law and order in the subways. This will get people back underground.
It's incredible with just a few percentage points in traffic volume reduction will do for intersection capacity. The 7.5% drop has had a huge effect.