Examination of New York City Transit’s Bus and Subway Ridership Trends During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author(s):  
Anne Halvorsen ◽  
Daniel Wood ◽  
Darian Jefferson ◽  
Timon Stasko ◽  
Jack Hui ◽  
...  

The New York City metropolitan area was hard hit by COVID-19, and the pandemic brought with it unprecedented challenges for New York City Transit. This paper addresses the techniques used to estimate dramatically changing ridership, at a time when previously dependable sources suddenly became unavailable (e.g., local bus payment data, manual field checks). The paper describes alterations to ridership models, as well as the expanding use of automated passenger counters, including validation of new technology and scaling to account for partial data availability. The paper then examines the trends in subway and bus ridership. Peak periods shifted by both time of day and relative intensity compared with the rest of the day, but not in the same way on weekdays and weekends. On average, trip distances became longer for subway and local bus routes, but overall average bus trip distances decreased owing to a drop in express bus usage. Subway ridership changes were compared with neighborhood demographic statistics and numerous correlations were identified, including with employment, income, and race and ethnicity. Other factors, such as the presence of hospitals, were not found to be significant.

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-74
Author(s):  
Ryan P. McDonough ◽  
Paul J. Miranti ◽  
Michael P. Schoderbek

ABSTRACT This paper examines the administrative and accounting reforms coordinated by Herman A. Metz around the turn of the 20th century in New York City. Reform efforts were motivated by deficiencies in administering New York City's finances, including a lack of internal control over monetary resources and operational activities, and opaque financial reports. The activities of Comptroller Metz, who collaborated with institutions such as the New York Bureau of Municipal Research, were paramount in initiating and implementing the administrative and accounting reforms in the city, which contributed to reform efforts across the country. Metz promoted the adoption of functional cost classifications for city departments, developed flowcharts for improved transaction processing, strengthened internal controls, and published the 1909 Manual of Accounting and Business Procedure of the City of New York, which laid the groundwork for transparent financial reports capable of providing vital information about the city's activities and subsidiary units. JEL Classifications: H72, M41, N91. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian H. Herrin ◽  
Melissa J. Beall ◽  
Xiao Feng ◽  
Monica Papeş ◽  
Susan E. Little

2001 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivien Gornitz ◽  
Stephen Couch ◽  
Ellen K Hartig

2007 ◽  
Vol 135 (5) ◽  
pp. 1906-1930 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teddy Holt ◽  
Julie Pullen

Abstract High-resolution numerical simulations are conducted using the Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS)1 with two different urban canopy parameterizations for a 23-day period in August 2005 for the New York City (NYC) metropolitan area. The control COAMPS simulations use the single-layer Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Urban Canopy Model (W-UCM) and sensitivity simulations use a multilayer urban parameterization based on Brown and Williams (BW-UCM). Both simulations use surface forcing from the WRF land surface model, Noah, and hourly sea surface temperature fields from the New York Harbor and Ocean Prediction System model hindcast. Mean statistics are computed for the 23-day period from 5 to 27 August (540-hourly observations) at five Meteorological Aviation Report stations for a nested 0.444-km horizontal resolution grid centered over the NYC metropolitan area. Both simulations show a cold mean urban canopy air temperature bias primarily due to an underestimation of nighttime temperatures. The mean bias is significantly reduced using the W-UCM (−0.10°C for W-UCM versus −0.82°C for BW-UCM) due to the development of a stronger nocturnal urban heat island (UHI; mean value of 2.2°C for the W-UCM versus 1.9°C for the BW-UCM). Results from a 24-h case study (12 August 2005) indicate that the W-UCM parameterization better maintains the UHI through increased nocturnal warming due to wall and road effects. The ground heat flux for the W-UCM is much larger during the daytime than for the BW-UCM (peak ∼300 versus 100 W m−2), effectively shifting the period of positive sensible flux later into the early evening. This helps to maintain the near-surface mixed layer at night in the W-UCM simulation and sustains the nocturnal UHI. In contrast, the BW-UCM simulation develops a strong nocturnal stable surface layer extending to approximately 50–75-m depth. Subsequently, the nocturnal BW-UCM wind speeds are a factor of 3–4 less than W-UCM with reduced nighttime turbulent kinetic energy (average < 0.1 m2 s−2). For the densely urbanized area of Manhattan, BW-UCM winds show more dependence on urbanization than W-UCM. The decrease in urban wind speed is most prominent for BW-UCM both in the day- and nighttime over lower Manhattan, with the daytime decrease generally over the region of tallest building heights while the nighttime decrease is influenced by both building height as well as urban fraction. In contrast, the W-UCM winds show less horizontal variation over Manhattan, particularly during the daytime. These results stress the importance of properly characterizing the urban morphology in urban parameterizations at high resolutions to improve the model’s predictive capability.


1984 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 178-191
Author(s):  
Geraldine D. Chapey ◽  
Teresa A. Trimarco

The historical relationship between parents and the schools forms the background for this recent survey that examined the role that parents of gifted children now play in educational programming. Parents across the New York metropolitan area responded to survey items built on twenty-seven modes of participation. Analysis of the results included comparisons of responses by parents, officers in parent associations, and public/private school affiliations. The survey confirmed the hypothesis that parents of gifted/talented children have not yet achieved high rates of participation in these school programs.


2004 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 304-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl M. Paradis ◽  
Faith Florer ◽  
Linda Zener Solomon ◽  
Theresa Thompson

The present study assessed consistency of recollections of personal circumstances of the 9/11 World Trade Center attack and events of the day before (9/10), and the day after (9/12), in a sample of 100 New York City college students. The day before 9/11 represented an ordinary event. A questionnaire was administered twice, 1 wk. and 1 yr. after the 9/11 attack. Students were asked to describe their personal circumstances when hearing about the news of the World Trade Center attack and for the same time of day for 9/10 and 9/12. 18 students returned the follow-up questionnaire. Consistency of initial and follow-up responses for the central categories for both 9/11 and 9/12 of where, who, and activity was very high (9/11: “Where”-100%, “Who”-100%, “What”-94%; 9/12: “Where”-100%, “Who”-100%, “What”-80%). Recollections of 9/10 were significantly less consistent (“Where”-79%, “Who”-71%, “What”-71%). Analysis indicated that students formed vivid, consistent recollections during the events of both 9/11 and 9/12. It is likely that the events of 9/12 also became flashbulb memories, vivid recollections of traumatic events, because the emotional impact of the stressful events, i.e., police and military presence, disrupted schedules, relating to the 9/11 attack endured beyond the day of the attack.


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