Project Summary

The franchised bus lines that New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) has been subsidizing have been in place for 50 years without major adjustments or changes despite shifts in travel patterns, the growth of new traffic generators, increases in fares and fare structures, and the growth of competing modes such as the dollar vans.  Additionally, NYCDOT is dependent on the franchise companies for basic information about the franchise bus service, including ridership counts.

This work was structured into the following tasks

1. Development of method for vrifying ridership UTRC inspected existing counts provided by Green Bus Line to determine the best method for verification. Then they developed a sound procedure for counting riders. The methodology includes both a method of counting riders and criteria for choosing the places and times for counting.

2. Update of GIS map Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software a computer map of the relevant components of the transit systems in Queens have been updated; it includes all major streets, demographic data from the census, major traffic generators, subway and rail stations, and Green Bus Line bus routes.

3. Ridership Count After consultation with NYCDOT concerning the report from Task 1, the UTRC team verified ridership counts to determine the accuracy of the counts provided by the franchised bus companies.

4. Formulation of criteria for bus route UTRC analyzed existing ridership patterns and unserved travel, based on the ridership counts, analysis of modal shares (including the dollar vans), observation of the locations of major trip generators, and other input to establish criteria for determining the locations of bus routes. UTRC will process the data and develop modeling tools that will serve as guidelines for establishing routes.

5. Recommendations for changes to Green Bus Lines routes UTRC have used the guidelines developed in task 4 to analyze Green Bus lines route structure and, in consultation with NYCDOT, and made recommendations for changes.

Outcomes

The results of this research were incorporated into a subsequent phase of this study, titled "Bus Ridership Survey and Route Analysis."