Summary of October 13-22, 2009 “Green Light for Midtown” Bus Service Assessment Executive Summary In response to traffic flow changes and street closings implemented on May 25, 2009 by the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) in the Times Square and Herald Square area, New York City Transit (NYCT) rerouted southbound buses from Broadway to 7th Avenue in this area. Buses that operated on Broadway between Columbus Circle and 14th Street were rerouted to operate on 7th Avenue. The M7 southern terminal was relocated from Union Square to 6th Ave/14th St. While northbound bus routings were not affected in the Times Square and Herald Square areas, buses operating on 6th Avenue northbound through Herald Square were favorably affected by the changes in traffic flow around 34th Street. In order to evaluate impacts, NYCT collected and analyzed data for the following bus routes: • M5 northbound from 6th Avenue/14th Street to 6th Avenue/34th Street (making limited stops). • M6/M7 northbound from 6th Avenue/14th Street to 6th Avenue/34th Street (making all stops). • M10/M104 southbound from Broadway/63rd Street to Broadway/42nd Street via 7th Avenue. Prior to May 25th, the M10/M104 operated via Broadway between Central Park South and 42nd Street. • M20 southbound from Broadway/63rd Street to 7th Avenue/14th Street via 7th Avenue. Prior to May 25th, the M20 operated via Broadway between Central Park South and 42nd Street. • M6 southbound from Central Park South/6th Avenue to 14th Street/Broadway via 7th Avenue/ 23rd Street. Prior to May 25th, the M6 operated via Broadway between 42nd Street and 14th Street. • M7 southbound from Broadway/63rd Street to 6th Avenue/14th Street via 7th Avenue. Prior to May 25th, the M7 operated via Broadway between 42nd Street and 14th Street. Figure 1 shows the routes as they operated on Broadway prior to May 25th and the revised post-May 25th routings. NYCT conducted this analysis based on three sets of travel time and speed checks on the roughly 3-mile segment of 6th and 7th Avenues to assess travel time and speed impacts, bus ridership, subway turnstile entries and bus to subway transfers. Data collection locations were selected to correspond with time points on the M6, M7, M10, M20 and M104 bus routes including 63rd Street, 42nd Street and 14th Street. Since there was no field data collection prior to the “Green Light for Midtown implementation, travel time data was analyzed to establish the “before” condition. In order to maintain a direct comparison, data was collected for subsequent checks at the same locations. Unfortunately due to checking cadre constraints, checking locations were essentially limited to a northern check point and a southern check point with the exception of the M20 bus route which has three time points. The travel time and speed analysis results are summarized in Table 1. This analysis indicates that travel time for northbound buses on 6th Avenue from 14th Street to 34th Street has decreased by 1 to 2 minutes. This travel time improvement is the result of the simpler traffic signal phasing at the 34th Street intersection which reduced the 6th Av/Broadway/34th Street intersection from three traffic signal phases to two. Bus travel speeds have increased by 0.7 mph, remaining improved compared to April 2009. Southbound buses show minor decreases or increases ranging from 1 to 7 minutes in average travel time throughout the day. These increases were greatest in the midday and afternoon peak, with routes showing smaller increases and even decreases in travel times in the morning. The increased travel time is likely due to longer routings and increased congestion on 7th Avenue, including the effects of the taxi stand on 7 Av at 32nd St and congestion from motorists making the left turn from 7 Avenue to 32nd Street in front of the Penn Station to re-access Broadway south of the closures at Times Square and Herald Square. The M20 south of 42nd Street has shown a decrease in travel time (2.5 minutes) but this is likely linked to the significant decrease in ridership the route has experienced since the reroute. Bus travel speeds have Figure 1 Southbound NYCT Routes Before & After Broadway Closure " 6 3r d St Ce B n tr r al o Pa a rk d So w u " th a y M10 M20 M104 Broadway Traffic Rerouted Due to Closure at Times Square M6 M7 4 2n d S M10 t M20 M104 P en Sta n tio n 3 " 4t h St " v A h t M7 7 v M6 A h t Current Routing 6 M10 SB Route M20 SB Route M6 2 3r M104 SB Route d St M6 SB Route M7 SB Route S Former Routing v A M10 SB Former Route k " r M7 a M20 M20 SB Former Route 1 P 4t h M104 SB Former Route St Un S ion M6 SB Former Route q. M7 SB Former Route increased by 0.1 mph for M10, M20 and M104 trips and decreased by 0.2-0.3 mph for M6 and M7 trips compared to April 2009. Table 1: October 2009 Average Travel Times and Bus Travel Speeds Summary Daily Average Travel Time Daily Average Bus Travel Speed Before After Diff 10/09 Before After Diff 10/09 Dir Bus Route/Segment 4/09 10/09 vs. 4/09 4/09 10/09 vs. 4/09 (min) (min) (min) (mph) (mph) (mph) M5 Limited 9.1 8.2 -0.9 6.3 7.0 0.7 North- 6 Av/14 St to 6 Av/34 St bound M6/7 Local 14.0 11.9 -2.1 4.1 4.8 0.7 6 Av/14 St to 6 Av/34 St M10/104 14.6 16.9 2.3 4.7 4.8 0.1 Broadway/63 St to 42 St/Bway M20 15.9 17.1 1.2 4.6 4.8 0.2 Broadway/63 St to Broadway/42 St South- M20 18.8 16.1 -2.5 4.4 5.2 0.8 bound Broadway/42 St to 7 Av/14 St M6 34.4 41.7 7.3 4.5 4.3 -0.2 Central Pk S/6 Av to 14 St/Bway M7 35.41 36.3 0.9 5.1 4.8 -0.3 Broadway/63 St to 6 Av/14 St 1 Prior to May 2009 the M7 operated to 14 St/Union Sq instead of 6 Av/14 St. Except for early complaints regarding the proposed M6 discontinuance and the May to July 2009 M6 bus route via 14th Street, no significant public complaints have been received on the bus service changes associated with this initiative. However, one way to improve travel time and reduce delays would be to relocate the tour bus companies which share the busy southbound 7th Avenue, near side, 41st Street bus stop with NYCT. The tour buses block access to the bus stop, thereby delaying boarding and alighting on the M6, M7, M10, and M20 bus routes and creating a hazardous condition because when the curb lane is blocked, customers are forced to board and alight from the second lane and occasionally buses extend into the 42nd Street intersection waiting to make the stop. Relocating the two tour bus companies one block south, between 41st Street and 40th Street, would eliminate this condition. Travel Time Impacts Northbound Bus Travel Although the routings of northbound buses were not changed, traffic flow changes in the Herald Square area including the simplification of the 34th Street/Broadway/6th Avenue intersection and the resulting increase in the northbound green phase have positively affected the operation of northbound buses on 6th Avenue. This is due to a signal revision from 3-phases to 2-phases due to the closure of Broadway. As Table 2 shows, northbound travel times have decreased in this area on average by 11% to 18%, or 1-2 minutes. The M5 limited, which stops only at 23rd Street in this segment, operated an average of approximately 1 minute faster, with the PM peak period (4 pm-7 pm) showing the greatest improvement (25% or 2 minutes). The M6 and M7 local buses operated an average of approximately 3 minutes faster in this segment, with the greatest improvement (3 minutes or 20%) in the morning and midday period and the smallest improvement in the evening period (1 minute or 9%). Page 3 of 16 Table 2: Northbound 6th Avenue Average Bus Travel Times by Time Segment Before 4/09 After 10/09 Difference After - % Change After – Time (min) (min) Before (min) Before 800-1200 8.4 8.6 0.2 2.2% M5 Limited 1200-1600 9.4 8.0 -1.4 -17.5% 6 Av/14 St to 1600-1900 9.6 7.7 -1.9 -24.1% 6 Av/34 St Daily Avg1 9.1 8.2 -0.9 -10.8% 800-1200 13.8 11.5 -2.3 -19.6% M6/7 Local 1200-1600 15.1 12.6 -2.5 -19.4% 6 Av/14 St to 1600-1900 12.6 11.6 -1.0 -8.6% 6 Av/34 St Daily Avg1 14.0 11.9 -2.1 -17.7% 1 Daily average is the average of all trips from 800 to 1900. Southbound Bus Travel In the southbound direction, all buses that operated on Broadway were rerouted to operate on 7th Avenue (see Figure 2). This is a 0.2 mile longer routing between 59th Street and 42nd Street with additional turning movements.