PlaNYC Team Releases Transportation Technical Report

The PlaNYC team has released the technical report providing the detailed background data for the transportation recommendations made in Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s April 22 Long-Term Planning & Sustainability speech. It’s a big download — 25 megabytes and 166 pages — but if you are a New York City transportation policy wonk, it’s totally worth it. 

The report provides a comprehensive rundown, in one place, of all of the various transportation initiatives that are currently planned, underway or being discussed for New York City. Those who have been following the work of independent consultant Bruce Schaller will recognize some of this material. (Speaking of which: Is Bruce Schaller the Bill James of New York City transportation policy, or what? When is city government going to offer the guy a job?)

The report contains some really interesting maps and charts, like the one above, graphically depicting where Manhattan-bound car commuters come from. The map is broken down by census tract. Height represents the total number of single-passenger drivers and color represents the percentage of commuters who chose to drive alone to workplaces below 96th Street. A darker color means a higher percentage of single-passenger drivers and a lighter color means more people used transit, walked, carpooled or used a ferry or bike. It turns out that only 4.6% of New York City residents drive to work in the Manhattan core in single-passenger motor vehicle.

Here’s another great factoid from the report: If New Yorkers owned cars at the same rate as the rest of the nation, it would take 11,000 acres, or all of Manhattan below 136^th Street, just to park them end to end.