TRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES
BRT PLANNING INTERNATIONAL
Executive Summary
The L Train, between Eighth Avenue in Manhattan and Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn, will be closed for approximately 15 months, beginning in April of 2019. This shutdown is necessary to finalize repairs to damages caused by flooding from Superstorm Sandy. The potential cataclysm that this represents cannot be overstated. The L Train, which moves an estimated 400,000 passengers a day, is one of highest demand subway lines in New York City and the US.
In December 2017, NYCDOT and MTA jointly released an L Train shutdown mitigation plan. The street design measures included in this plan are bold and necessary. The replacement bus routes serve the most adversely affected commuters and are direct and short. With minor changes, this plan could significantly mitigate the problem.
However, the scale of the shutdown is so considerable that even these bold measures do not go far enough. If more is not done to increase transit speeds, many L Train passengers will switch to cars and taxis, significantly worsening today’s already severe congestion. The current response to the problem relies heavily on Select Bus Services (SBS). Most SBS routes operate at between 6 and 7 mph. New York City can do better.
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems across the US average speeds between 11 mph and 17 mph. If the L Train replacement services take the form of SBS, this will be a significant improvement over standard shuttle buses, but not sufficient to avoid severe bus congestion on 14th Street. Bus speeds will drop below normal SBS speeds to under 3 mph; there will be severe traffic impacts across the city; and significant time loss for up to a hundred thousand daily commuters.
We therefore make the following key recommendations:
Recommendation 1: 24/7 operation of exclusive bus facilities.
High ridership on the L Train is not clearly limited to peak hours. L Trains are often packed throughout the day, and on nights and weekends, and congestion on 14th Street is constant throughout the day. Many of the sidewalk improvements included in NYCDOT/MTA’s plan are only viable if the exclusive busway operates 24 hours. If the peak period can handle the loss of a mixed traffic street, so too can the off-peak, when traffic is lighter. Local deliveries and parking garage access will still be possible via the busway.
Recommendation 2: Extend the 14th Street busway and add more bus lanes in Brooklyn.
The proposed routes extend well beyond the dedicated bus lanes. The 14th Street busway should extend from the Ferry Terminal to 9th Avenue and if extending it that far is too challenging, then to at least Avenue A. The highest bus ridership on 14th Street will be between the Ferry Terminal on the far east side, and Union Square in the AM peak. Berry and Roebling Streets in Williamsburg should also have dedicated bus lanes or bus speeds in Williamsburg will be extremely slow: Today, the Bedford L Station is one of the highest volume subway stations in New York City. The Grand Street shuttles should have a stop at or nearby Borinquen Place to better serve the large segment of population currently boarding at Lorimer Station, as well as many passengers displaced by overcrowding at the Marcy Avenue J/M/Z.
Recommendation 3: Design bus stops to handle much higher passenger volumes.
All bus stops on the 14th Street SBS and the Brooklyn shuttles will have very heavy passenger volumes. There will need to be two places where each bus can allow passengers to board and alight, with enough space in between for bus passing.
NYCDOT/MTA’s plan shows bus stops right up against the intersection, which can quickly jam up the busway. Bus stops should be set back at least 65’ and ideally 130’ from the nearest intersection to allow buses to clear the station for the next bus.
Bus stops should be level with the bus floor. At-level boarding can cut the boarding time for each passenger by about half a second and can save more than a minute and a half for each wheelchair user. It also makes for a more pleasant boarding experience.
Recommendation 4: Restrict vehicular turns across bus lanes.
Bus lanes in New York City allow mixed traffic to enter them to turn right. Wherever right turns are allowed across bus lanes (i.e., all planned bus lanes outside of the 14th Street busway), they will cause significant delay to buses. Hence, all turning movements that can be practicably forbidden across the proposed bus lanes should be removed.
Recommendation 5a: Make all 14th Street and Brooklyn shuttles free.
NYCDOT/MTA’s plan on the 14th Street Select Bus (SBS) Route is for passengers to pay off-board, with periodic inspections once onboard. As with the other SBS routes, inspectors must stop the whole bus to perform the inspection. Any delay on 14th Street will to lead to gridlock in the busway at those volumes. Further, it is not clear from the plans whether or not the M14A and M14D will also benefit from offboard fare collection. If not, they will continue to operate as pay on board, front-door only, meaning that the 14A and 14D will block the 14th Street busway, even if the other 14th Street recommendations are taken. No fare payment plan has been released for the Brooklyn shuttle bus routes.
Normally when a subway line is shut for repairs, it is replaced by a free shuttle bus. This helps offset the inconvenience of losing a subway line, but also greatly hastens the boarding process.
Recommendation 5b: Alternatively, implement pre-paid zones at all bus stops: If the MTA determines that it cannot afford to make all the services free, the other way to address the boarding delay is to create pre-paid zones. Like in a subway station, bus passengers would enter a bus stop or station by paying their fares, and then passing through a barrier (a turnstile, or even a painted line). This would allow all buses, including the 14A and D, to benefit from pre-paid all-door boarding and would avoid the problem of periodic inspection delays.
If these measures are implemented, travel time for passengers adversely affected by the L Train could be minimized to the maximum extent technically feasible given the time and budget. Moreover, as these measures would have the greatest chance of retaining transit passengers inside the transit system, they have the greatest chance of minimizing traffic congestion. Finally, they would also allow NYCDOT and MTA to simultaneously pilot several key innovations. Implementing these measures will be the difference between a mild inconvenience and a stuck-on-the-bus nightmare.
Download full version (PDF): The L Train Shutdown
About Transportation Alternatives
https://www.transalt.org
Transportation Alternatives’ mission is to reclaim New York City’s streets from the automobile and advocate for better bicycling, walking, and public transit for all New Yorkers. With 100,000 active supporters and a committee of activists working locally in every borough, T.A. fights for the installation of infrastructure improvements that reduce speeding and traffic crashes, save lives and improve everyday transportation for all New Yorkers.
About BRT Planning International
http://brtplan.com/
BRT Planning International, LLC is a certified WBE created in 2015. We are a boutique planning firm led by Annie Weinstock, former Regional Director for Africa and the US for the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) and Dr. Walter Hook, former CEO of ITDP. BRTPlan assists in the design and implementation of BRT systems and other sustainable transport projects around the world, bringing their expertise from projects in Johannesburg, Chicago, Guangzhou, Ahmedabad, Cape Town, and Dar es Salaam.
Tags: BRT Planning International, L Train Replacement Plan, L Train Shutdown, Manhattan, New York City, Transportation Alternatives, Williamsburg
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