New Report Reveals NYC Headed for Carmageddon
Transportation Alternatives analysis finds that New York City’s reopening comes with soaring levels of car traffic, new popularity for biking, and the risk of a dangerous mix on gridlocked streets
NEW YORK -- Transportation Alternatives (TA) released a new report analyzing New York City’s post-COVID transportation recovery. TA found dangerous levels of car and truck traffic, growing popularity of cycling, and limited recovery of transit networks.
Declaring “carmageddon” inevitable without executive action, TA called on Mayor Bill de Blasio to take measures to mitigate car-use by providing incentives for cycling and bus ridership — including protected bike lanes and bus lanes to improve the safety and efficiency of bike and bus transportation. New York City has the expertise to address these challenges, and a wealth of successful pilot projects waiting to be scaled to meet this moment, including those developed by de Blasio’s own Surface Transportation Advisory Council. A failure to do so will result in growing levels of congestion, inequality, pollution, and traffic violence, in addition to hampering NYC’s recovery efforts.
An analysis of transportation figures since New York City shut down in March found:
New Yorkers are avoiding trains and prefer the bus. Between March and April, subway ridership dropped 92 percent and bus ridership dropped 78 percent. While both numbers remain below pre-COVID levels today, bus ridership is currently down only 35 percent compared to the subway, which remains down 74 percent in August.
New Yorkers are driving more. While bridge and tunnel vehicle crossings dropped 69 percent in April, driving returned to near pre-COVID levels by June. Even though most New Yorkers are not commuting to work, traffic levels are only down nine percent from 2019 levels.
New Yorkers are also driving more dangerously. Automated speed safety cameras, which issue 94 percent of all speeding tickets in the city, have shown a 67 percent increase over pre-COVID levels. Speeding increases the severity of crashes to deadly effect. Already in 2020, 76 motorists have been killed, more than in all of last year, when 68 were killed.
New Yorkers are searching for driving directions more than ever, indicating inexperienced drivers on the roads. Even though most New Yorkers are not commuting to work, data from Apple Maps shows that requests for driving directions increased by 27 percent as the city reopened, surpassing pre-COVID levels, while walking direction searches are down 18 percent and transit directions searches are down 50 percent. Moreover, the gap between driving direction searches and walking / transit direction searches is growing.
New Yorkers are biking, and searching for bike information, more than ever, indicating new cyclists on the roads. Even though most New Yorkers are not commuting to work, in August, the number of daily weekday bike crossings over the East River was 23 percent higher than this time last year. Citi Bike use also rose, surpassing last year’s daily ridership for August, again even though most New Yorkers are not commuting to work as they would have been this time last year. Google searches for “how to bike” and “bike shop” were two and half times higher this summer than in the four years prior.
Transportation Alternatives calls on Mayor de Blasio to stem the Carmageddon by rapidly building a citywide network of protected bus and bike lanes, and advancing a transportation recovery plan.“Carmageddon is coming. Unless the mayor acts now to give New Yorkers safe and equitable transportation options, congestion, pollution, traffic violence, and inequality in the city will continue to soar,” said Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Danny Harris. “From the lifesaving effect of protected bike lanes to the congestion-busting power of the 14th Street Busway, New York City knows how to solve these problems. We just need Mayor de Blasio to build these successes to scale citywide. The pathway to New York City’s transportation recovery is in our streets.”