2013-dot-sustainable-streets-lowres

RESILIENCYIn the days following Hurricane Sandy,transportation and power outages affected8.5 million public transit riders, 4.2 milliondrivers, and 1 million air passengers.BUS BRIDGESIn the days following HurricaneSandy, transportation and poweroutages affected 8.5 million publictransit riders, 4.2 million drivers,and 1 million air passengers.In response, the NYCDOTworked with the MetropolitanTransportation Authority (MTA)and NYPD to institute a series ofmeasures to limit the number ofcars coming into Manhattan. First,cars entering Manhattan’s centralbusiness district were requiredto have three or more occupants,including those crossing the EastRiver Bridges. Second, the NYPD,NYCDOT, implemented three newtemporary, high–capacity, point–to–point bus routes (which quicklybecame known as “bus bridges”),Bus bridges connected DowntownBrooklyn and Williamsburg withMidtown Manhattan, using 300buses that the MTA diverted fromother routes. As part of this, thelower level of the Manhattan Bridgewas turned into a bus only route.Third, the East River Ferry servicepattern was modified to increasecapacity and provide faster servicealong routes with the highestdemand, taking advantage of theinfrastructure already in place andthe vessels on hand.While no bus service can match thecapacity of multiple subway trunklines, the post–Sandy bus bridgesserved much of the demand. Themorning of Friday November2nd, 74,000 people crossed theManhattan Bridge by bus, foot,bike and private vehicle—overthree times the 22,000 figure onWednesday October 31st, whenneither the bus bridge nor HOV3+rules were in effect. On a typicalweekday morning, the ManhattanBridge serves 87,000 Manhattan–bound commuters, 87% of whomare subway passengers. Thecombination of the bus bridge andHOV3+ rules, in conjunction withincreased pedestrian and biketraffic, boosted the ManhattanBridge’s non–subway capacity byover 670%.These measures accomplishedtheir desired goal, moving over226,000 commuters across theEast River—almost triple thenumber able to cross before thesemeasures were in place. The busbridge is a template in case ofsubway outages in the future.TEMPORARY BUS BRIDGES AFTER THE STORMSustainable Streets: 2013 and Beyond203