The actual study found that the increases in speed were unfortunately mostly negatively offset by the number of additional stops because there were more riders, Boston saw the same thing. But it did have a bunch of other good benefits, reduced traffic along the routes, fewer driver altercations…
Interesting, I wouldn’t have guessed it would offset so heavily but I’m glad so many people flocked to the free service from alternative bus routes. Do you think this would diminish if the policy was citywide rather than targeted at pilot routes?
It’s tough to say, and it’s also noteworthy that congestion pricing was supposed to kick in last June, and the extra funding from that was supposed to help improve bus service all around; but because it was delayed, the MTA had cuts that slowed bus service across the board during this period.
One big detail is 22% made a trip they otherwise would not have. That is lot of people who can’t afford the $6 ($3 if they apply for half fare) to round trip across town to visit a friend or family.
I could see that in the system-wide comparison but since the system is there as a control it shouldn’t impact the study no?
The funding for the MTA was cut systemwide because the additional income from congestion pricing wasn’t coming in, and the state did not help make up the difference.
Yeah I get that I’m just saying that this is also reflected in the systemwide numbers so it’s captured by a DID analysis