The Beginnings of Public Transportation in New York: Omnibuses and Street Railways

2013 ◽  
pp. 53-61
Author(s):  
Roger P. Roess ◽  
Gene Sansone
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Street Railways

The Billionaire’s Ambitions

Last Subway ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 49-72
Author(s):  
Philip Mark Plotch
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
York City ◽  
Transportation Network ◽  
East Side ◽  
Legislative Session ◽  
Transportation Agencies ◽  
The City ◽  
Grand Vision

This chapter assesses the roles played by New York governor Nelson Rockefeller and New York City mayor John Lindsay, as well as William Ronan, in transforming the transportation system. Ronan, Rockefeller, and Lindsay all realized that improving public transportation was critical to strengthening the economy of the city and the region. They were also well aware of the benefits of a Second Avenue subway, since all three of them lived on the Upper East Side. After Lindsay failed to reorganize the transportation agencies, Rockefeller and Ronan developed their own grand vision for the region's transportation network, and in December of 1966, Ronan stepped down from his post as secretary to begin implementing their plan. At the beginning of the state's 1967 legislative session, Rockefeller and Ronan announced their two-pronged approach. First, they proposed integrating the New York City Transit Authority and the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA) into the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Authority (MCTA). In addition, Rockefeller and Ronan would seek voter approval to borrow $2.5 billion that would be dedicated for roadway and public transportation improvements across the state. In 1967, the governor and Ronan obtained the support they needed to transform the transportation network, a feat that Lindsay had not been able to accomplish.

Mid-Atlantic

2020 ◽  
pp. 64-163
Author(s):  
Cohen &
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
York Botanical ◽  
Smithsonian Institution ◽  
Botanical Garden ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Scientific Interest ◽  
Essential Information ◽  
New York Botanical Garden ◽  
Joseph Priestley

The chapter “Mid-Atlantic” discusses scientific and technological sites of adult interest in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC, including the Johnson Victrola Museum, National Cryptologic Museum, the Sarnoff Collection, New York Botanical Garden, Joseph Priestley House, and Smithsonian Institution. The traveler is provided with essential information, including addresses, telephone numbers, hours of entry, handicapped access, dining facilities, dates open and closed, available public transportation, and websites. Nearly every site included here has been visited by the authors. Although written with scientists in mind, this book is for anyone who likes to travel and visit places of historical and scientific interest. Included are photographs of many sites within each state.

scholarly journals Uber Takes the Passing Lane: Disruptive Competition and Taxi-Livery Service Regulations

Elements ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison Schneider
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Cost Burden ◽  
Fundamental Change ◽  
Significant Cost ◽  
The Public ◽  
Ride Sharing ◽  
Do So

It is rare that municipalities have the opportunity to remake a significant portion of key infrastructure, and to do so without significant cost burden on the citizens. The advent of Uber and similar entities that have moved the ride-sharing concept into the 21st century provide that unique chance in the public transportation arena. However, cities such as Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago are responding to Uber as a threat to established taxi-livery services and their accompanying regulatory structures rather than an opportunity for modernization. in order to capitalize on this transformative moment, cities and governments must rethink and address decades-old rules, regulations, and entrenched interests. The benefits to and acceptance by the public that surround the ride-sharing movement are unprecedented. Whether today's politicians and regulators have the courage and foresight to embrace this fundamental change will determine the long-term success and the meaningful evolution of our national transportation newtork.

Derailed: The Postwar End of New York City Subway Expansion

2019 ◽  
pp. 009614421989657
Author(s):  
Jonathan English
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
York City ◽  
Labor Cost ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Aging Infrastructure ◽  
Second World

New York City witnessed the construction of one of the largest subway systems in the world in the first four decades of the twentieth century. Expansion virtually ceased thereafter, and New York’s public transportation has since relied on a legacy of aging infrastructure. The explanation of this unexpected cessation is key to understanding the city’s current transit problems, and also offers valuable lessons for other cities experiencing infrastructure construction booms. Identifying the 1951 bond issue as a key turning point, this article argues that there are three convergent factors that brought about the end of subway expansion after the Second World War: political leadership distracted by disputes over administration and unable to plan for the long term; financial constraints imposed by construction and labor-cost inflation, the strained municipal budget, and declining ridership; and the New York transit authorities’ indifference to the growing demographic, political, and symbolic significance of the rapidly growing suburbs.

Customer Journey Time Metrics for New York City Bus Service using Big Data

2019 ◽  
Vol 2673 (9) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Graves ◽  
Sunny Zheng ◽  
Lauren Tarte ◽  
Brian Levine ◽  
Alla Reddy
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Service Management ◽  
Customer Experience ◽  
Additional Time ◽  
Customer Journey ◽  
Journey Time ◽  
Time Performance ◽  
Performance Measurement Systems ◽  
Bus Service

As data collection for public transportation improves and customers’ appetite for information grows, there has been a growing interest in performance measurement systems that better reflect customer experience and quantify the impacts of service while accounting for ridership. A fair amount of research has been dedicated to developing and refining these kinds of metrics, with a particular focus on comparing customers’ expected and actual waiting time on train platforms or at bus stops. Despite this, only a limited number of transit agencies have implemented such measures. This paper presents a set of metrics developed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) that calculates the additional time customers spend waiting for and riding buses in excess of the schedule, termed additional bus stop time (ABST) and additional travel time (ATT) respectively. Trip time performance, termed customer journey time performance (CJTP), is also computed. The methodology leverages MTA’s origin–destination (OD) ridership model and bus location data to calculate these values for each individual passenger. Measuring at the passenger level means that impacts of service delays or changes can be weighted by the number of passengers affected, unlike past bus-level measures. This enables the design of service management techniques that benefit the most riders possible. The form of the metrics, which puts service impacts in easy-to-understand terms that reflect actual customer experience, likewise provides the opportunity to better engage with customers. MTA is among the first to make these metrics regularly available to the public, and the first to publicly report them for buses.

Urban Planning

2019 ◽  
pp. 99-122
Author(s):  
Fran Baum
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Visionary Leadership ◽  
Urban Residents ◽  
Symbiotic Relationship ◽  
Development Processes

This chapter discusses the symbiotic relationship between urban planning and public health, examines the features of healthy and sustainable urban environments, provides positive examples of healthy urban planning and the blocks to conducting such planning. Consideration is given to how urban planning can contain sprawl and can create cites that rely more on public transportation, cycling, and walking. Examples of good practice from New York, Zurich, and Bursa (Turkey) are provided. Issues of governance, including public participation in planning and the importance of visionary leadership, are discussed. A perspective of cities as contested ground in which developers seek to maximize profits, often at the expense of urban residents, is developed. Conflicts of interest that arise in development processes are examined.

Saving the Subway

Last Subway ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 96-123
Author(s):  
Philip Mark Plotch
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
York City ◽  
Operating Costs ◽  
Budget Cuts ◽  
The World ◽  
Downward Spiral ◽  
Subway System ◽  
The City

This chapter describes how, in the 1970s, the New York City subway system continued the downward spiral of fewer riders, budget cuts, and reduced service, which led to a loss of more riders, further budget cuts, and even worse service. Despite carrying fewer passengers, the transit system's operating costs kept increasing. David Yunich's successor at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), Harold Fisher, failed to address the MTA's slide, although he claimed that his programs were making public transportation travel more efficient, comfortable, and safe. By 1980, New York City's subway riders had more to complain about than ever before. New York City's subway system was not just unreliable, crowded, and filthy; it was also the most dangerous in the world. Moreover, the ongoing deterioration of the subways was threatening the city's economy. The chapter then focuses on the role of house developer Richard Ravitch as MTA chair. Ravitch had no interest in restarting the Second Avenue subway, and the project was a low priority for many of the communities it would serve. Instead, under Ravitch's leadership, the MTA took care of the abandoned tunnels below Second Avenue. More importantly for the future of the neighborhoods that the Second Avenue subway had been designed to serve, Ravitch rescued the existing subway system and the city along with it.

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