actualtext t1_j30x97t wrote
Reply to comment by Miser in Traffic study by former head of NYC DOT reveals what he says is ultimate cause of congestion by HEIMDVLLR
So what are you proposing the DOT do? They aren't in charge of the subways. They can help with dedicate bus lanes but that's about it.
jcliment t1_j310pw7 wrote
Protected bike lines. More of them.
actualtext t1_j31p5j5 wrote
That will provide alternative transit options but I don't believe it will make a meaningful dent in traffic congestion. But it's something the DOT should do regardless.
jcliment t1_j31ppod wrote
Traffic congestion is a problem of induced demand. With more protected bike lanes more people will bike around the areas where they exist and mobility will improve. The remaining car lanes will be congested no matter how small or large the amount.
I lived in NYC for 10 years and all of them i used my bike(s), and all the conversations i had when i encouraged other people to do the same were encountered with fear of biking in the city due to traffic and bike lanes not being safe.
actualtext t1_j31tlpt wrote
Protected bike lanes and more bike lanes in general will lead to more biking. But will it lead to a meaningful decrease in traffic? I'm not talking about eliminating traffic altogether. And emphasis on "meaningful". It's possible that this is all that is within the purview of the DOT. But my point in my original comment that I was trying to illustrate is that the DOT isn't really going to be the department where we see meaningful impact on traffic congestion.
I do think reducing taxis of all sorts would definitely lead to less traffic. That would fall under TLC.
I think more and improved public transit options would lead to more people opting to use it. Increasing tolls into the city would also have an impact. Those would fall under the MTA which falls under the state. The NYC DOT can help here as it pertains to bus lanes.
There's the city ferry system that might also have some impact but I personally think it's a huge waste of money for the amount of people it can take and what we're spending but nonetheless it's a city controlled service.
I think more bike lanes (regardless if they protect them all) will be minimal to the impact the other options will have on traffic congestion.
jcliment t1_j31u1y6 wrote
Again, the congestion is a problem of induced demand. You believe that less taxis will lead to less traffic. How so? And why more bike lanes, which means less people using cars, will not achieve the same results?
actualtext t1_j31vxqx wrote
There are a bunch of taxis that are often idle in the streets or just driving around looking for hails via apps. And they make up a substantial portion of car traffic. Even before the pandemic, there was complaining because the number of taxis increased and was impacting public transit ridership. The city froze the number of TLC licenses because it was actually causing less people to take public transit. This was all pre-pandemic. So yes I do believe that reducing taxis would force more people to take the subway and reduce traffic in the process in a much more meaningful way than bike lanes.
jcliment t1_j31wgpq wrote
Or would encourage people to take their car because there will be "less traffic".
Without meaningful alternatives (more bike lanes, more MTA options) many studies tell us that removing taxis (or any other way of only reducing cars) is not a viable solution.
D14DFF0B t1_j326ibo wrote
- Road diets
- More car-free streets and plazas
- Bus lanes + automated enforcement
- Bike lanes + automated enforcement
- Remove parking for loading zones, Citi Bike docks, trash zones, etc
- Congestion charging and tolling
Basically anything to make driving less pleasant. This will reduce demand.
22thoughts t1_j32t4mk wrote
“Basically anything to make driving less pleasant”-And that’s why drivers say there is a war on cars.
D14DFF0B t1_j32zppt wrote
Good. Cars are destroying the planet and drivers are killing and maiming bikers, pedestrians, and themselves.
22thoughts t1_j33cioz wrote
Cars aren’t going anywhere buddy, they’ve brought mankind pretty far along. We’ll have electric cars before you know it and those will harm the environment less than current ones but for the love of god get off your high horse
gamelord12 t1_j33ri0h wrote
No one is trying to uninvent the car. It just needs to be used far less for jobs that it's bad at; that excessive use is what leads to inefficient spending, climate change, and needless traffic violence and deaths, not to mention congestion.
InfernalTest t1_j32ubpc wrote
reduce demand for people who think like this is more likely the result.....
actualtext t1_j336o5z wrote
Thanks for offering a bunch of answers to my question. I can definitely see idea 6 being perhaps the most impactful followed by idea 3. But they’d all add up and would certainly fall under the purview of the DOT.
yasth t1_j31rudm wrote
The congestion charge is basically an attempt to make it more annoying to travel within an area while not actually making it gridlocked. Of course they are doing that as well.
Other than that they can push for more enforcement and more automated enforcement.
actualtext t1_j31ucae wrote
I thought the MTA was going to be responsible for the toll system and not the DOT.
ctindel t1_j35kcbw wrote
The only true solution would be determining a maximum number of cars we want in manhattan at any point in time and increasing the toll to enter towards infinity as the car count approaches the limit. When people start seeing $50, $100, $500, $1000 whatever tolls they’ll turn around.
It’s a fucking island controlling the number of cars present is very straightforward. Catalina does it to a smaller scale but the idea is the same. All entry points to the island have cameras already so counting the number of cars is easy.
Die-Nacht t1_j33y8vo wrote
Reduce supply. The less space there is for cars, the fewer ppl will drive. Essentially, limit traffic to a few areas, and make most of the city (not just manhattan) traffic-free. That will reduce the number of cars (simple geometry) and alleviate traffic.
This is what they did in Amsterdam in the 70s, and now they barely have any traffic whatsoever. I visited recently, it was crazy. A lot of the city looks just as dense and lively as any random neighborhood in Manhattan or BK yet there's no honking or cars just stuck there not moving. There is traffic, and there are cars, but I never saw a car stuck in traffic.
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