Why are bus stops in New York so close, and how does it affect speed

The distance between bus stops in New York is predominantly too short, and this affects the speed of public transport. To correct the situation, their number is planned to be reduced, but not everyone is happy with it, the newspaper writes. Gothamist.

While the New York bus system was in danger, transit advocates came up with a cheap and simple strategy to improve transport speed and reliability. To do this, it is proposed to eliminate some stops, thus increasing the distance between them.

According to a new report published by a coalition of transport experts, there are currently dozens of bus stops that do not meet MTA's own standards for intervals.

“32 pairs of stops are less than 79 meters away,” the report said.

At the same time, the MTA recommendations indicate that stops should be at least 228 meters apart, and in accordance with international best practice, at least 79 meters away.

“Meanwhile, the BX26 bus coming from the Bronx crawls at a speed of 10 km / h. After all, he makes consecutive stops on East Gun Hill Road, on Gunter and Allerton Avenues, which are only 63 meters apart, ”the source said.

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To draw attention to this issue, the NYPIRG Straphangers, the Tri-State Transport Campaign, and TransitCenter awarded the first ever Cozy Awards to this pair of stops on 7 October.

“Our analysis of the nearest bus stops in the city shows not only that there are too few stops in one block. Among other things, it highlights the general trend of bus stops - they are too close to each other, which slows down the speed of all buses, ”said Nick Cifuentes, Executive Director of Tri-State Transport Campaign.

According to him, the logic of balancing distances between bus stops is simple: the more time a bus spends on stops, the longer it takes people to their destination.

Another unsuccessful option of a neighborhood of stops was found on the B54 route in Brooklyn. There are a couple of stops on Myrtle Avenue between Vanderbilt and Clinton just xnumx meters apart. Such a close proximity reduces the speed to 64 km / h, while almost 8,3% of buses arrive at the same time, and therefore not on schedule.

In a statement, Craig Sipriano, acting president of the MTA Bus Company, admitted that in New York, "the distance between bus stops is less than in most cities in the world, which, combined with congested city streets, contributes to extremely low bus speeds."

According to the official, the current plan for the modernization of the urban transport system is focused on "studying this problem."

The MTA spokesman declined to share the list of stops that are under consideration for elimination, but said the final draft of the Bronx reconstruction plan would be submitted in mid-October.

MTA's past attempts to balance the distance between bus stops have sometimes come up against resistance from residents. For example, a little earlier this year, disabled advocates filed a lawsuit to ban the MTA from introducing Select Bus Service on 14 Street, leading to the elimination of 12 stops.

MTA's own research showed that most drivers maintain a reasonable balance of the distance between stops. As for the public, 63% of passengers prefer to reduce the number of stops against 37%, those who favor its increase.

“If the MTA does its job right, the 2019th may be the only year we will ever award the Convenient Award,” added Nick Cifuentes.