How Should The MTA Plan Changes To Its Bus Routes?
THE COMMUTE: There are two schools of thought on this. One is that changes should be made incrementally as the need arises. That is known as ad-hoc planning. The other is that changes should be made using a comprehensive approach by periodically studying all the routes for deficiencies, for example, once every 10 years, by performing origin-destination surveys and using other data.
I strongly believe in the second approach. The MTA believes the first approach is correct and the only bus data they use for planning are passenger counts and fare and transfer information from MetroCards. They only know how crowded existing routes are and what percentage of passengers require at least one transfer. No information is provided regarding walking distances, number of fares paid, or how long trips take. That data is only provided by origin/destination surveys, which are no longer performed. Also, there are no latent demand studies to assess demand for services that do not exist.
The problem with studying routes, individually or two at a time, as the MTA does, is that many routing problems remain unresolved and connections become cumbersome when only route extensions are made without routing revisions. The system has to be viewed as a whole, and routes studied in groups of about a half dozen at a time. Route need to be taken apart, piece by piece, and then reconfigured, much like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, in order for routing problems to be resolved. The comprehensive approach recognizes that the bus system is greater than just the sum of its parts.
By failing to understand that, every added extension makes the system overly complex and more difficult to use. That discourages occasional use of the system as well as necessitating indirect travel and inconvenient connections. When areas are developed without new routes to serve them serious service gaps become an issue or as Transportation Alternatives calls it “transit deserts.”
The Comprehensive Approach
In just over six months we will mark the 35th anniversary of the Southwest Brooklyn bus routes changes, the largest number of service improvements made on a single day, in which about 10 routes underwent major changes. A typical MTA change involves changes to only one or two routes.
The Southwest Brooklyn changes began as a comprehensive study of all local bus routes in Brooklyn by the Department of City Planning. Funding issues prevented study of the entire borough so it was scaled down to just the 86th Street corridor and a study of bus routes in East New York. The 86th Street portion was then increased in scope to encompass all of Southwest Brooklyn at the request of the MTA.
Although the changes that were made were massive, only approximately 25 percent of the study’s recommendations were accepted at the time. A few more were made at later dates, such as extending a Staten Island bus route from 96th Street to 86th Street, and creating an 86th Street route from Fourth Avenue to Manhattan Beach. (The Southwest Brooklyn study proposed the 86th Street route begin at Shore Road.)
Separate routes for Fort Hamilton Parkway (to serve Maimonides Hospital) and 13th Avenue and other recommendations were rejected due to cost factors. Then, as now, the MTA only considers additional operating costs without factoring in increased revenues, which would offset some of those costs.
Why Ad Hoc Planning?
After the completion of the Southwest Brooklyn Bus Study, the MTA completed its own borough-wide comprehensive studies in the early 1980s. They failed. In the early 1990s, the MTA embarked on several smaller comprehensive studies, which also failed. They then concluded that this approach just does not work and for the next 20 years proceeded to make only ad hoc changes, ignoring longstanding routing problems. The comprehensive approach was not at fault, but rather the MTA’s approach in dealing with communities was, in that the MTA refused all suggested changes to its plans. As a result, no changes were made.
In 2010, the focus shifted to service cuts. Now, with the budget situation improving, the ad hoc approach has made a comeback, with the MTA planning to implement five new routes or major extensions citywide in 2013. Are these enough? The answer is a resounding “No.”
What Is Needed?
The bus system still needs a comprehensive study, not only of local bus routes, but other changes as well. In 1980, the Transit Authority experimented briefly with Zone Express service in southern Queens. A zone express is like the way elevators work in skyscrapers, where most travel is destined for, or originates at, a single location — for elevators, that would be the main floor — or a railroad or subway station for buses. Some service operates local to the major destination while a zone express picks up and discharges in a single zone, then operates express to the destination. In the evening, the process is reversed, picking up at the origin and operating either local or express to the destination zone.
Zone express would be beneficial on some routes. Some routes are more suited to limited service or Select Bus Service. For other routes, local service is adequate. Sometimes, exclusive bus lanes are needed for only a few blocks or fare prepayment is needed at a few locations. Major commercial, employment or residential centers could benefit from express bus connections between them. However, the MTA has limited its options for changes to new local services at 30-minute intervals or Select Bus Service, its one size its fits all solution.
Public Hearing For Proposed B32 & B67 Extension In Downtown Brooklyn & Williamsburg, 4/29/13
The MTA held a public hearing to hear the public’s comments regarding these proposed changes. All information regarding these proposed changes have since been removed from the MTA website. Maps and route descriptions are still available on Subchat.
I attended and submitted the following testimony:
The MTA is being penny-wise and pound foolish with these proposed routes. How do you propose a new service like the B32 so that it only connects with one route, the Q67, while missing two other routes, the Q69 and the Q39 one block away? The B32 also falls short of connecting with five other routes by not terminating at Queens Plaza.
Similarly, the proposed B67 terminus falls short of Williamsburg Plaza missing connections there. If one didn’t know better, it seems that the MTA is setting these routes up to fail by missing vital connections and operating them only at 30-minute intervals to prove that the existing route structure works just fine.
Scheduling buses every 30 minutes is a huge deterrent to attracting new riders when other options are available, especially since 30-minute headways doesn’t even guarantee that a bus will arrive every thirty minutes. The actual wait will most likely be greater. Especially with the $40 million in additional funding that the MTA did not predict, these routes need to operate at 15 to 20 minute intervals for them to have a chance at being successful.
You will not accurately be able to determine demand at 30-minute intervals. At 30-minute headways, they will never be able to attract more than a half dozen riders per bus. The B4 in Sheepshead Bay carried 6 to 12 riders per bus at 20-minute intervals and you discontinued service in 2010 claiming there were not enough riders. So how many riders to you expect these new routes to attract?
If the 1978 Southwest Brooklyn changes, which I was responsible for, were implemented at 30-minute headways, they never would have been successful. Instead, we increased 15-minute service on Brighton Beach Avenue to every 10 minutes. Today with the extra school service, headways are as frequent as every 3 minutes. You don’t build patronage by being cheap with the service.
Did you even consider ridership in your budget projections with these new routes? If you did you would realize that a route operating every 15 minutes will attract twice as many passengers as one operating every 30 minutes or did you only consider operating expenses as you usually do?
Finally, the B67 should not be the route extended to Williamsburg. You should extend the B69 instead because it provides a more direct travel path from Park Slope. Why would anyone from Park Slope wanting to go to Williamsburg first want to make a time consuming detour to Downtown Brooklyn? The route makes no sense. If the MTA wants to better serve Vinegar Hill, they could reroute the B57.
The Commute is a weekly feature highlighting news and information about the city’s mass transit system and transportation infrastructure. It is written by Allan Rosen, a Manhattan Beach resident and former Director of MTA / NYC Transit Bus Planning (1981).
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