

New York City Subway Ridership Jumps - qzervaas
http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-city-subway-ridership-jumps-1429554995

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dankohn1
It is infuriating to have the life blood of one of the greatest cities in
history so utterly ignored by Andrew Cuomo, the person who is actually
responsible for funding it. The best and most practical plan for funding the
unfunded capital plan is Move NY [0], which is a form of congestion pricing.

[0] [http://iheartmoveny.org/](http://iheartmoveny.org/)

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copsarebastards
That looks pretty good. However, I don't think it's really reasonable in a
city the size of NYC for people to be commuting by car. I'd honestly rather
see the following:

1\. Bridge tolls raised to make things even rather than reducing some to make
them even. 2\. Exception for trucks which transport stuff that can't be
transported by train. 3\. Use the money to expand parking at suburban entry
points to the rail system and improve the rail system.

The way I see it, bridges are for trucks transporting goods, not for people
driving to work.

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WoodenChair
You may not find driving across bridges palatable for the environment or
congestion, but there are many situations in which it makes sense. For
example, there are people with disabilities who can't take trains. There are
workers who live in areas of Queens or Brooklyn not covered well by the
Subway. There are tourists who want to drive into the city from neighboring
states.

I speak from personal experience. I personally hate driving into the city but
I'm aware of many people/situations who for all practical purposes must.

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kchoudhu
* Access-a-ride exists for disabled people

* We should be building more subways in Brooklyn and Queens.

* Tourists can park in NJ or north of the city and hop on the trains.

Your thinking is either transit-centric, or it buys into car culture.

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nine_k
WRT more subways — I'm all for this, but it's _sort of_ expensive and takes a
lot of time. MTA is not exactly the fastest builder (see 2nd avenue line,
PATH).

Tourists driving onto Manhattan are probably a minor traffic problem. I'd
rather have them pick some "tourist pass" at designated locations on roads in
NJ than have them leave their car and hop onto a PATH train with all their
tourist gear (possibly not very light) or take a taxi to avoid a high bridge
toll.

Having lived in Jersey City for some time, I can sympathize with people who'd
rather take a car when they need a guarantee to get to NYC, because PATH can
be canceled "due to a signal problem" unpredictably at any moment.

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T-hawk
The PATH is not the MTA, it's the Port Authority.

And the PATH is reliable just fine. It doesn't get "canceled due to a signal
problem". I've lived in Jersey City or Hoboken and commuted on the PATH for
over ten years, with maybe five instances of any difficulty at all aside from
Sandy or blackouts. It's enormously reliable compared to the construction
messes that occur on the MTA subways, where entire lines shut down for entire
weekends.

And the PATH is only touristy on weekends, there isn't competition between
tourists and weekday commuters. Overall, NJ within PATH range is one of the
best options to live affordably with a short NYC commute.

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artursapek
Best thing I did for my mental sanity this year has been purchasing a bike. I
ride it door-to-door from my apartment in Greenpoint to my office in
Manhattan. I haven't taken the subway in almost 4 weeks. I am noticeably
happier and more positive.

~~~
oh_sigh
You're lucky your bike commute is so calm. I ride my bike to work 3/4 days a
week year round from the UWS to wall street, and the dedicated bike lanes are
filled with people walking in large groups, roller bladers, joggers, bikers
who don't know what they're doing, etc.

~~~
ptaipale
What you need is still: less complaining, more bikes. When the flow of bikes
is steady, the groups and joggers realise that this space is not meant for
them.

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kylelibra
1.75 billion customers last year which is a 2.6% increase. It would be helpful
to have the context of how much of the city's population has used the system
over time. A quick google search makes me think this increase is far outpacing
the population increases in the city.

~~~
epc
That does seem to be outpacing growth in both the City and metro area. The
City is now at approximately 8.5MM people [1], the metro area has
approximately 20.1MM people.

The City had 8.17MM people in 2010[2], so just a hair under 5% growth since
2010, maybe 1% per year?

[1] [http://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-
releases/2015/cb15-56.h...](http://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-
releases/2015/cb15-56.html)

[2]
[http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/36/3651000.html](http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/36/3651000.html)

~~~
heliodor
The population growth analysis would require further breakdown. The eastern
half of Queens doesn't have a subway network. And what about Staten Island?

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epc
I couldn't find any sub-regional breakdowns for this year’s census data yet. I
assume they’ll appear at the second link eventually.

Speculating but based on living here: much of the population growth has been
in Brooklyn and "inner" Queens. The Bronx and Manhattan have also had growth
but at slower rates. Outer Queens lacks subway but the LIRR (commuter rail)
has multiple lines hitting those neighborhoods. Not at all the same as rapid
transit but they're not totally lacking transit options, and typically connect
into key subway junctions.

SI lacks rapid transit to the core business centers in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
You can take express buses, drive, or the SI Ferry to lower Manhattan but then
you still (typically) have an additional commute.

Several of the NJ cities immediately west of Manhattan have also had decent
growth but aren't counted in the NYC stats.

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pavel_lishin
I find it interesting that the Howard Beach stop (where one gets off to go to
JFK airport) dropped by 42% since 2013, while the Aqueduct Racetrack stop -
which is the immediately prior stop - increased by nearly 200%.

Was the Howard Beach stop closed down for repairs during that time or
something?

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cylinder
Beach was damaged severely by Sandy and I believe parts of it were closed in
2013. Racetrack increased due to ResortWorld probably.

~~~
pavel_lishin
Oh, good call.

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magoon
Fares just went up 10%. Does that make sense?

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oh_sigh
There's so much bullshit in the NYC transportation situation, it's ridiculous.
Traffic cops spend all their time ticketing parked cars(usually for remaining
parked during the twice a week street cleaning, or not having paid the meter),
because it is the easiest source of revenue. Meanwhile, on the main avenues of
NY during rush hour, trucks double park and take up a half or a third of the
available traffic lanes, and very rarely get tickets.

