It’s true, the crumbling public transit infrastructure, over-crowded subway cars, and crawling highway traffic contribute to the longest commutes in the country. But the plan’s approach to alleviate the city’s transportation crisis – largely through the well-chronicled congestion pricing proposal and through expanding the region’s public transit network – misses an underlying cause of the problem: that the hour-long commute to work, while undesirable, has nonetheless become an accepted facet of urban life.
(Image from WNYC.org)
I would argue that a region in which lengthy commutes remain the status quo will inherently be one in which the transportation network and its associated infrastructure will remain forever congested and in poor condition. The expansion of both the public transit and the interstate highway systems made longer-distance commuting possible. Now both are being pushed toward their breaking points.
A focal point of plaNYC should be to stimulate job growth in the outer boroughs and surrounding counties, in order to shorten the commuting times for the region’s working population. Shifting future job growth away from Manhattan would bring jobs closer to where people actually live. Such an approach would: 1) shorten average commutes 2) redistribute traffic more evenly through the region, and 3) make alternative forms of transport such as bicycling and walking more practical.
The plan clearly depicts the need to address the poor state of repair debilitating the region’s roads and transit infrastructure, the potholed streets and antiquated train signaling system. It also aims to relieve the suffocating traffic congestion on the city’s streets and subways and the region’s commuter rail lines. The problem is that it intends to accomplish this, by and large, by augmenting the current transit system with additional travel options such as the Second Avenue subway line, the Metro North and Long Island Rail Road East Side Access project, an expanded Penn Station, and bus rapid transit routes. The plan is reminiscent of Robert Moses’ transportation projects of the 1930s and 40s – bringing more and more people into Manhattan, faster and faster. Whether the mode of transport be car, train, bus, or ferry, creating additional transit lines to accommodate the long-distance commuter will only contribute to congestion.
A solution that more directly attacks the source of the problem would be to redirect traffic flows throughout the metropolitan area, thereby reducing the total number of persons commuting at any point in time. Rather than providing commuters with additional subway and commuter rail lines and bus routes – the “better,” more environmentally-sensitive, cost-effective option – it seems a more logical response would be to provide individuals with potential destinations closer to home. I applaud the plan’s recommended creation of a Nassau County Hub transit route, which would connect LIRR lines. It is this type of initiative, coupled with strategies to create jobs along the transit way, that could ultimately reduce traffic into and out from New York City, and particularly Manhattan, and should be implemented in Brooklyn and Queens, New Jersey, and Westchester County. On the other hand, congestion pricing would only place further pressure on a public transit system operating nearly at capacity, even with redirecting the revenue generated into improving public transit.
Progressive planning advocates for alternative forms of transportation, such a bicycling or walking. But when so few people work within a reasonable distance of their homes, public transit and driving become the only feasible options. In 2005, only six percent of New York metro area employees walked or road a bicycle to work. Even within city limits, not even 10 percent walked or biked to work, according to American Community Survey data. More than 59 percent in the metro area and nearly 30 percent in the city drove to work, most of them alone. More than 40 percent cross borough or county lines to get to work, and more than half commute in excess of 30 minutes each way. Nearly 70 percent of those working in Manhattan, according to 2000 census data, came from outside the borough, with 38 percent coming from outside the city altogether. It’s no wonder that nearly a quarter of New Yorkers traveled more than one hour each way.
When people live far from where they work, long commutes – whether they be on Interstate-80, Long Island Rail, or the 6 train – are all but unavoidable. The plan should more strongly pursue initiatives aimed at developing more job centers throughout the city and region. Rather than developing strategies to facilitate long-distance travel routes, be they from Canarsie on the subway or from Suffolk County on the LIRR, why not develop job centers throughout the region, creating job opportunities closer to the homes of the region’s 18 million? Perhaps once Downtown Brooklyn, Jamaica, the Bronx Hub, the Nassau Hub, and other secondary central business districts have emerged as competitive, diverse job centers, it will become more practical for the region’s residents to walk or bicycle – or at least drive shorter distances – on their daily commutes, relieving the region’s traffic congestion. The Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn, for instance, would benefit from making office and retail space the emphasis of the project.
It is great that plaNYC would accelerate the establishment of 1,800 bicycle lanes in the city, expand ferry service, and achieve a good state of repair on roads and transit infrastructure. However, until commuters’ workplaces are more geographically dispersed throughout the city and region, I fail to see how it would become feasible for area commuters to choose an alternative to their cars or public transit, and it seems likely that transportation will remain an obstacle to growth.
