The New Era of Transportation; Solving Problems with Revolutionary Ideas

Topic Supervisor: Jason Huang

Research Director: Angel Avila

Submission Manager: Quazi Azizur Rahman

Memo Topic

The lack of funding that the NYC transit receives and some ideas that can be put into action in order to resolve this problem.

Summary

Before Covid-19 hit, there were already many problems with the transit system. There were delays, overcrowding, as well as signal slowdowns. These problems were all because of the lack of funding that the NYC transit receives. Due to there already being many projects that had to be completed, the amount of money that the NYC transit has to work with isn’t much. There weren’t many projects being done to improve the NYC transit systems. Once covid-19 hit, the infrastructure of the transit systems began to decline. Even more money was required in order to repair the broken down infrastructures. Without enough funding, the NYC transit systems can’t do anything. What can we do to slowly alleviate this problem? What are some ways to obtain funding for the transit?

Discussion

Last year over 160,000 people passed the station every weekday and now, ridership is less than a quarter of that. During the rise of the pandemic, Subway rides, bus rides and car trips in New York City fell very drastically having the city entering a mandatory shutdown or “lockdown”. Some people could afford to leave the city for their second homes or rentals out as other alternatives, while for some of those who couldn’t afford to temporarily relocate, had to permanently relocate in a city or state that was less cost strenuous. The pandemic also started a new wave of jobs becoming remote where employees work from home, and many still have yet to return to their offices due to the benefits of working remotely. This led to ridership decreasing because people don’t have to travel to work anymore and even some companies have even closed permanently causing those to find work elsewhere. These changes have decreased the use of public transit drastically within the span of a year.

Before the effects of the pandemic arose, New York City’s subways were the city’s most popular and connected mode of transit. There were 1.7 billion turnstile swipes in 2019 by people who had a place to go. But, the last march, rideship fell 90 percent and even though it has recovered to third of what it was before now in the pandemic, a lot of money was lost during the process. The citywide decline in subway riders has wiped out a huge portion of the transit budget. Since last spring the M.T.A has been operating on a total of $8 billion in coronavirus relief payments from the federal government and an addition of $3 billion in short term loans. But that money will eventually run out, especially with a lot of that money being spent on the new M.T.A. sanitation procedures to keep the trains, subways, and train stations cleaner. The M.T.A will mostly require an additional $8 billion by 2024 to avoid dramatic service cuts and layoffs.

 Car travel was quicker to recover than any form of transit. Fewer people are making trips than before the pandemic, according to the analysis by INRIX and StreetLight Data, (two firms that specialize in mobility data) in New York City. With less driving overall, the city’s roadways have fewer traffic jams and higher vehicle speeds, which would increase the number of people having a Lyft/Uber to get the places they want to be. Also, bike shares and bike sales are growing rapidly in the city, which could reduce the amount of transit ridership even more. 

Even though the city has been up and running again, public transit isn’t making as much as it was pre-pandemic. There are still city restrictions for businesses with the curfews that have been implemented, which means ridership after a certain time is almost non-existent. There are so many factors that come into play that are and will affect public transit in the future. New cost-effective methods are drastically needed before public transit is affected to the point where it can’t be fixed.

Recommendations

A huge factor to take into consideration when talking about the monetary cost of a project is the cost of the materials and products being used. This is where most of the money will be used for, besides covering labor costs. When you think of trains, subways, and railroads, the first thing that comes to mind is steel. Stainless steel is one of the main products that are used to build infrastructure. Carbon steel is five times cheaper than stainless steel, non-combustible, resistant to inclement weather conditions, and resistant to changes in pressure. It’s also resistant to vibration shock too, making it great for laying under roadways. Carbon steel has a high tensile strength, which means that it can be bent, stretched, and shaped into a wide variety of components and parts without losing any of its strength. This can be used as an alternative for stainless steel to reduce the cost of funding needed to build more railroad passages that will increase the amount of passengers NYC transit is able to sustain. 

Another alternative low-cost replacement is replacing cement bricks. A materials engineer in Kenya introduced a new innovative product that produces sustainable low-cost materials made of recycled plastic waste and sand. One thing many can agree on is that we have a sanitation and waste problem in NYC. What if we were able to use that waste and turn it into a product that could be used to help construct the new infrastructure that is needed and repair the old. Now, one concern that might come to mind is the quality of the product, but this low-cost product is half the weight and just as strong, if not stronger than traditional cement bricks that are used. If we took time to explore this alternative it could be very beneficial and revolutionary for the transit system because we could reduce production costs by more than double. 

By using these alternative products, less money would be needed to maintain the infrastructure of public transit, which means any additional efforts can be focused on other options. If less money is needed for materials, then more materials could be bought, which could lead to public transit expanding. This would lead to new routes being created that give a more personalized experience for some, where the route is closer to where they need to go. This would lead to the trains and subways being less crowded because there is more space, which gives people less risk of catching COVID since there is more space amongst riders. All these effects would increase ridership and incentives to ride public transit. The money could also be used to maintain the same amount of staff they had before rather than cutting those they can’t afford, or could be used to decrease the price to ride public transit, which would also increase the incentive to ride. Cutting costs leads to more ideas that can be implemented because there are more available funds that can be used to support these ideas.

Another alternative to slowly alleviate the problem of lack of funding for the transit is by increasing the prices for transportation services. This can be a solution because the money that people use in order to take public transit is what funds and keeps it operating. Although people would be less inclined to take the transit if the prices were to increase, they ultimately would have to at some point. Many people rely on transportation services in order to get to where they want. For those that don’t drive and for those that work in a place that isn’t accessible by driving, taking the transit is a must for them. That’s why by increasing the prices of transportation services, the issue of lack of funding will slowly be resolved. However, to make this alternative more reasonable, the standard for taking public transportation would have to increase. Some reasons why some choose Uber/Lyft over trains is because they’re cleaner, more spacious, and quicker. However, as traffic increases, those methods become slower. So, what would be beneficial is if the trains and stations had a “makeover”. This would give more value in riding trains and subways. Other countries such as Japan, make sure everything is always clean and up to date, so excuses/reasons such as “the train is too dirty” or “the subways are too crowded”, are no longer reasons that decrease ridership.

In order to get more funding for public transit, these measures should definitely be looked into. This pandemic has exposed many flaws and problems that NYC public transit needs to address. The pandemic will cause NYC public transit to take revolutionary measures that’ll change public transit in many great ways, or it will be forced to become something of the past.

Works Cited

Barro, Josh. “Why New York Can’t Have Nice Things.” Intelligencer, Vox Media, 30 May 2019, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/05/new-york-infrastructure-costs.html 

Plastic Bricks in Kenya – NZAMBI MATEE – Young Champion of the Earth 2020 for Africa, Youtube, 18 Dec. 2020, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QbZKP4UAtL8.

MetroSteel. Carbon Steel – A Cost-Effective Alternative To Stainless Steel, MetroSteel Strength and Service, 7 Apr. 2020, https://www.metrosteel.com.au/carbon-steel-a-cost-effective-alternative-to-stainless-steel/.

“MTA Operating Budget Basics.” MTA, new.mta.info/budget/MTA-operating-budget-basics. 

https://new.mta.info/budget/MTA-operating-budget-basics.

Penney, Veronica. “How Coronavirus Has Changed New York City Transit, in One Chart.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 8 Mar. 2021, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/03/08/climate/nyc-transit-covid.html.
“MTA Blames Uber for Decline in New York City Subway, Bus Ridership.” Google, Google, 23 July 2018, 7:01 PM, www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/mta-blames-uber-for-decline-in-new-york-city-subway-bus-ridership-1532386865.