[Carfreeliving] NYC TA asks DPT for transport system performance indicators....

[Jeremy Nelson]

Interesting piece from NYC's Transportation Alternatives, describing their
efforts to have NYC's DPT establish performance indicators for the City's
transport system.

They seem to be suggesting that the most effective way for a city to change
it's transportation outcomes is to

1) Articulate a clear transportation vision for reduced congestion and
improved multimodal safety,

2) Set quantifiable goals that will help accomplish that transportation
vision,

3) Implement policy interventions that are most likely to achieve goals, and

4) Continually monitor progress towards the goals in order to measure the
effectiveness of policy interventions.

Intriguing approach.

===========================

Wanted in 2006: Real Transportation Goals

You can't fault the New York City Department of Transportation for not being
specific about what it wants to accomplish in 2006. In 2006 the agency aims
to:

- Install 1899 new parking meters;
- Conduct 285,000 street inspections; and
- Fix broken streetlights 2.9% faster.

Completely absent from the DOT's 2006 to-do list, however, are targets for
far more important indicators of surface transportation performance:

- Crash prevention;
- Reduced auto traffic; and
- Increased biking and walking rates and bus speeds.

New York's DOT stands in stark contrast to London's, which several years ago
began adopting smart performance targets such as:

- Traffic reduction: Reduce weekday traffic volumes by 15%
- Road safety: Reduce the number of children killed or seriously injured by
50%
- Bus Speeds: Reduce bus wait time by 28%
- Walking: Increase the number of walking trips for under 2 miles by 10%
- Bicycling: Increase cycling by 80%

These targets laid the foundation for London's successful walking, cycling
and congestion pricing plans.

Mayor Bloomberg, Commissioner Weinshall and senior DOT officials have, on
several occasions, spoken publicly about their desire to reduce traffic
injuries and fatalities, improve bus service and convert driving trips to
transit, walking and bicycling trips.

The time is long overdue to translate these laudable words into deeds and
turn ambitions into measurable short and long-term performance targets.
Until then, the DOT will continue to be good at installing parking meters
and fixing streetlights, and bad at moving New York City and its
transportation system into the 21st Century.