Buses across the Tappan Zee run infrequently, even at rush hour. Photo: Dani Simons

Even if Westchester’s transportation infrastructure is set up to funnel workers into New York City, more than 70% of commuters traveling across the Tappan Zee are on their way to jobs in the suburbs. Westchester residents [...]]]>  

Buses across the Tappan Zee run infrequently, even at rush hour. Photo: Dani Simons

Even if Westchester’s transportation infrastructure is set up to funnel workers into New York City, more than 70% of commuters traveling across the Tappan Zee are on their way to jobs in the suburbs. Westchester residents work in Nyack, people from Orange go to jobs in White Plains.

As an MTR reader, you might wonder why more of these folks don’t just leave their cars at home and take transit between counties. I decided to find out for myself.

On an early morning in December, I made my way to the White Plains TransCenter, where thousands of commuters transfer between local and regional buses and Metro North. The Metro-North side of the center pulses to the beat of the train schedule. One moment, it’s completely still, and the next, it’s choreographed chaos, each commuter seeming to know exactly how long it will take them to buy coffee, walk up the stairs, and catch the train before the doors close.

Waiting to get on the bus. Photo: Dani Simons

Metro-North is great if you’re going north-south, but my goal was to go cross-county, east-west, so I headed over to the bus terminal side. There, I found myself not dancing but rather racing around to different stops, frantically reading signs posted by the various bus operators, to figure out the departure time and locations of each service provider. There’s no real-time bus departure information display, as there are in many other cities, which can help put passengers at ease, and also enable multiple bus companies to use the same stops.

Once I got my bearings, I found that I could take the OWL or the Tappan Zee Express across the bridge. The TPZ Express runs three eastbound buses across the bridge during the morning rush, and the OWL offers five more options. Luckily, I made my bus—if you mistime your commute, you’re liable to wait half an hour or more. Traffic, an uncooperative child, or a surprise phone call could be enough to make you miss your bus and start your day behind. If your boss needs you to stay a little late, you might be stuck for an extra hour at the TransCenter.

As I waited for my bus, I watched long lines of people queue up for arriving buses, waiting to pay their fare or flash their pass. I thought about how pre-board fare collection (as the MTA is starting to use in New York City on Select Bus Service routes) could speed things up.

After I got on board, my trip across was actually quite pleasant. It was getting to the transit center, figuring out where and when to catch the TPZ Express, when it would leave, and when I could get back that was 90% of the battle. Most days, the traffic is much worse, and unless you happen to work at the Palisades Center Stores, it’s likely that you’ll still have to transfer to another bus or walk a decent stretch to reach your final destination. And your boss is probably already waiting there.

Not only do today’s cross-country transit options often take longer than driving, they’re also more expensive. The TPZ Express will run you $3 each way, and though frequent riders can get discounts, even this is more expensive than paying the toll on the Tappan Zee Bridge.

With conditions like these, it’s no wonder that nearly 8% of commuter trips within Westchester County are by transit, but only 1.4% of cross-county trips are.

Employment growth in the three counties closest to the Tappan Zee is projected to grow by between 19-35% by 2025. Unless there is a better transit option, this means more cars on the road, more traffic congestion and a decreased quality of life for commuters and bystanders alike. And congestion will ultimately threaten this region’s growth.

Click here to read more about the proposals for Bus Rapid Transit on the Tappan Zee and ask the Governor to Restore Transit to the Tappan Zee plans.

Dani Simons is a sustainable transportation advocate working in the tri-state area.

Westchester County’s Bee-Line bus system hit record ridership numbers last year (32.3 million), and a recent survey has revealed a transit-dependent and diverse ridership that relies on the system primarily to get to work. Unfortunately, at a time that riders’ incomes have taken a substantial hit, the bus [...]]]>

(Click to view the survey.)

Westchester County’s Bee-Line bus system hit record ridership numbers last year (32.3 million), and a recent survey has revealed a transit-dependent and diverse ridership that relies on the system primarily to get to work. Unfortunately, at a time that riders’ incomes have taken a substantial hit, the bus they ride to work faces an uncertain future. The continuing local, state and federal budget battles could translate into service cuts and fare raises for a demographic, and community, that can hardly afford it.

AJM Consulting conducted the 2010 Bee-Line System On-Board Survey, a follow-up to a similar survey done in 2007. There were 10,040 responses, distributed across the bus routes in the county. The survey found that riders are:

• Transit-dependent: 62% of riders don’t have access to a car. That compares to 15% of Westchester residents without access to a car, according to 2000 Census data.
• Diverse: Hispanics and African-Americans make up more than two thirds of the ridership, 34% and 38% respectively. That compares to the county-wide figure of 33.8% combined, according to the 2009 American Community Survey.
• Aging: The average age of riders was 37, up from 34 in 2007, and riders over 50 increased by 4% in the same time period.

Work trips were cited as the main reason people took the bus, with 67% traveling to or from work, and 73% being frequent users (5 days or more). The executive summary concludes, “more than anything else, the Bee-Line’s role in Westchester County can be described as facilitating employment.”

The County has been hit substantially by the recession, as evidenced by increased vacancy rates on “Platinum Mile” and high unemployment rates—going from 3.3% in December of 2006 to 7.8% in February 2010. It is therefore not surprising that one of the biggest changes revealed by this survey was the income distribution of the riders. In 2007, 23% of riders earned less than $10,000 annually; in 2010, that figure jumped to 32%. The number of people earning between $10,000 and $25,000 also dropped significantly, from 31% to 15%. Assuming that someone earning less than $25,000 a year would have a difficult time affording a car, this survey reveals that over 50,000 riders could have a tough time getting to work every day if their bus were cut.

Funding for Bee-Line is a mix of discretionary local contributions that vary year to year, and state funds which are set via a formula that NYSDOT has called outdated and inadequate. Last year, Bee-Line was barely spared service cuts. County Executive Astorino, who used layoffs and internal efficiencies to avoid cuts, noted in a release, “coupling these savings with other efficiencies means no cuts in Bee-Line service are necessary at this time. But they could be necessary at a later date if state aid is further reduced over the course of the year.”

As Governor Cuomo moves into a new phase of his tenure touting “jobs, jobs, jobs,” Westchester County’s political and business leaders need to send the clear message that jobs and transit go hand in hand. For suburban transit systems like Bee-Line, some sort of new funding deal between the state government and the responsible county and city governments needs to be struck in order to establish predictability for the riders, and the businesses that depend on them.

Westchester County is roughly a year away from completing the first phase of a plan to speed up buses on Central Avenue between White Plains and the Bronx, county officials said recently. The county is using state funds [...]]]>

The Bee-Line's No. 20 and No. 21 buses connect White Plains, Yonkers, and the Bronx.

Westchester County is roughly a year away from completing the first phase of a plan to speed up buses on Central Avenue between White Plains and the Bronx, county officials said recently. The county is using state funds to install signal priority technology that will give the No. 20 and No. 21 buses the ability to trigger green lights early if they are behind schedule, taking 6-10 minutes off of what is now a 60-90 minute trip.

This couldn’t come at a better time, as ridership on the routes is booming, according to county statistics. The Central Avenue routes saw 4.5 million trips in 2010, compared to 4.1 million in 2008 and 3.1 million in 2006. Much of the increase is due to growth at the Cross County Shopping Center and Empire Casino in Yonkers, county officials told the Journal News.

Westchester County has big plans for Central Avenue, but is rolling them out on a lengthy, multi-year timetable due to financial constraints. Further improvements include bus-only lanes, roomier buses, and pay-before-you-board fare collection (similar to NYC’s Select Bus Service) and a new “in-line” bus station and pedestrian overpass that would let buses drop passengers off at the Cross County Shopping Center without looping through the mall parking lot. These would cut travel times by over 40% during congested periods, according to county studies, and potentially anchor new development in the corridor.

Photo: Via Westchester Dept. of Public Works and Transportation.

Local governments in New York are still waiting for the state to distribute tens of millions of dollars from the federal Transportation Enhancements (TE) program, which is primarily used for bicycle and pedestrian projects. The last round of grants [...]]]>

Transportation Enhancements money was used for part of NYC's Ninth Avenue complete streets redesign.

Local governments in New York are still waiting for the state to distribute tens of millions of dollars from the federal Transportation Enhancements (TE) program, which is primarily used for bicycle and pedestrian projects. The last round of grants came in April 2009, and the last time NYSDOT solicited applications from municipalities and other eligible entities was more than two and a half years ago, in January 2008.

This is actually typical; solicitations are usually announced only every 2 or 3 years. But when Tri-State contacted NYSDOT’s Transportation Enhancements office to find out the timeline for the next round of awards, we were told that it was “currently under discussion internally.”  Sounds like solicitations won’t be announced any time soon.

It’s not even clear how much TE money the state has to give, and state officials did not respond when asked. Since the last round of TE grants, New York has received another $29 million in TE contract authority (the maximum the state is allowed to spend in a federal program) through an extension of the federal transportation law, SAFETEA-LU.

States can only spend about 90% of the federal transportation apportionments they receive. States can spread their obligations evenly, funding all federal programs at about 90%, or fully fund some programs while underfunding others. In New York, Transportation Enhancements is one of the programs that suffer.

New York City typically gets short-changed in the distribution of TE funds despite having greater rates of walking and cycling than other parts of the state.  While the State DOT’s Region 11 (NYC) office represents more than 40 percent of the state’s population, it received only 25 percent of TE funds in the last round of awards.  And none of those awards were made under the stimulus act, which offered the advantage of not requiring a match to the federal dollars.

Meanwhile, demand for bicycle and pedestrian projects continues to grow, as evidenced by recently passed Complete Streets policies in communities as different as urban Buffalo and suburban Brookhaven.  Municipal transportation planners need to know when they might expect federal funding to be available so they can meet those demands.

Images: Top — Tri-State Transportation Campaign. Bottom — Surface Transportation Policy Project.

Supporters of Westchester County’s BxM4C Bee-Line express bus to Manhattan, which will be canceled in June under a cost-cutting plan proposed by County Executive Rob Astorino, are holding an organizing session today to discuss a planned rally and other ways to fight the plan. The session begins at 7 pm at [...]]]>

The BxM4C.

Supporters of Westchester County’s BxM4C Bee-Line express bus to Manhattan, which will be canceled in June under a cost-cutting plan proposed by County Executive Rob Astorino, are holding an organizing session today to discuss a planned rally and other ways to fight the plan. The session begins at 7 pm at the Grinton I. Will Branch of the Yonkers Public Library at 1500 Central Ave., Yonkers.

The session is being organized by the “Citizens Committee to Save the NY-Westchester Express Bus Service,” a grassroots group of BxM4C riders led by Virginia Sheahan of Yonkers that has gained additional support from Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner and the Transport Workers Union. County legislators have also come out for the bus, with Westchester County Board of Legislators Chairman Ken Jenkins saying it is important to maintain some level of service on the route.

The Westchester County DOT will hold a public hearing on the BxM4C cancellation and other planned cuts on April 14 at the County Center in White Plains.

Image: Flickr/dustytrails2divide.

The region’s summer of service cuts may now include Westchester County’s Bee-Line bus system.  Westchester DOT recently announced the following reductions in service, planned for July:

Westchester County is reportedly throwing away $4,000 that could be used to better link cycling and transit.  Bike advocates tell MTR that a $1,500 bike lid (a unit that provides secure [...]]]>

Bus-mounted bike racks are a common sight on buses run by other transit agencies, such as the Macon, Ga. bus shown here.

Westchester County is reportedly throwing away $4,000 that could be used to better link cycling and transit.  Bike advocates tell MTR that a $1,500 bike lid (a unit that provides secure shelter for two bikes) was donated by bikelid.com at the Westchester Bike Summit last April, but is still collecting dust 10 months later at the Westchester County Center where the Summit was held.  And the Journal News recently reported that Westchester County DOT is not installing two bus-mounted bike racks it purchased for $2,500 as part of a pilot project, but is planning to sell them instead.

Former County Executive Andrew Spano supported both measures, but progress now appears to be stalled at the Westchester County DOT, which is responsible for bike rack installation and the County’s bus system.  The bike lid was slated for installation at the White Plains Metro-North station, but the County never picked it up despite reminders from bike advocates.  Sources tell us that the County is planning on donating it to a local municipality that is eager to have it.

The bike racks on buses is another disappointment for bicyclists and transit users alike, especially given the County’s early interest in the pilot.  DOT Commissioner Larry Salley cited budget woes, saying (in the words of the Journal News’ Ken Valenti) that “Testing the racks might not add to the department’s costs, but a successful test would only leave cyclists eager for racks the county couldn’t afford anyway.”

With leadership from new County Executive Rob Astorino or the County Board of Legislators, this decision can be reconsidered. Instead of turning away such opportunities, the County could build on them by requesting that NYSDOT use some of its federal funds to pay for bicycle parking and bus-mounted bike racks. A recent report indicated that between 2005 and 2008, New York received $5.6 billion in federal funds — nearly all of which can be used for bike and pedestrian projects — but spent only 1% of these funds on such projects.

Image: Via Macon Transit Authority.

Westchester County’s Bee-Line bus system could be getting a “Queen Bee.” That’s the working title for the Central Avenue bus rapid transit service the county wants to run for 12 miles between White Plains, Yonkers, and the Bronx. The full report and a summary newsletter are available on the Westchester County DOT’s website.

An 'in-line' station means buses will no longer take a circuitous route through the Cross-County Shopping Center's parking lot, saving time.

The final concept for the route isn’t much different than what was unveiled at an open house last summer. It would take advantage of  transit signal priority throughout the corridor, bus lanes along selected parts of the route, pre-boarding fare collection, and one major routing change (see picture at right). Taken together, these features would cut travel time by 21%-42% compared to existing local service.

The county has also taken a serious look at using the rapid bus line as an anchor for transit-oriented development in the corridor.

The county’s implementation plan isn’t as rapid as it could be, though. While Westchester DOT foresees signal priority, bus lanes, small park-and-ride lots, and increased bus service in less than 3 years, off-board fare collection could take up to 6 years while other changes, like the “in-line” station, could take even longer. The report cites fiscal constraints as the rationale for the phased rollout. Capital costs for the entire project are around $33 million, and the report suggests that the county will seek money from the Federal Transit Administration’s Small Starts or Very Small Starts programs.

Last Friday, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and Regional Plan Association held a forum to discuss the creation of a MTA regional bus authority, one of the recommendations in the [...]]]>

(L-R:) TSTC executive director Kate Slevin, RPA vice president for research Chris Jones, Westchester DOT Commissioner Larry Salley, TWU Local 100 secretary/treasurer Ed Watt.

Last Friday, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and Regional Plan Association held a forum to discuss the creation of a MTA regional bus authority, one of the recommendations in the Ravitch Commission’s report. It was clear that Westchester elected and agency officials saw a lot of potential in regional bus — but had plenty of concerns as well.

Westchester County: We Want MTA Funding, Not MTA Control

As described in the report, the new authority would be “the single entity responsible for bus service in the metropolitan region.” MTA officials have said the new authority could assume full financial responsibility for Long Island Bus, Westchester’s Bee-Line Bus, as well as NYC’s MTA Bus Co. and NYC Transit.

Westchester County took its stance on regional bus early, issuing a press release 20 hours before the event declaring that it would oppose a Bee-Line bus merger. During the first panel, Westchester DOT Commissioner Larry Salley claimed that the public-private partnership that operates Bee-Line is more efficient than the MTA and that consolidation could even affect the county’s ability to evacuate residents during a nuclear incident. However, he said that a regional bus authority could help bolster Bee-Line’s service and ability to plan. “We’re looking for a better source of predictable funding,” Salley said. According to Salley, Bee-Line ridership has increased in the last two years — and so have its operating deficit and Westchester County’s contribution to the system.

Salley also brought up a consistent complaint of Westchester County, which is that Nassau County contributes only $10.5 million annually to Long Island Bus, a system with similar ridership volume and demographics to Bee-Line. Westchester contributed $30 million last year. It must be noted that LI Bus is managed and partially funded by the MTA, which could explain this difference even though the existing funding agreement between Nassau County, the state, and the MTA has its own problems.

Salley said he had been told that the regional bus authority could increase Bee-Line funding without a “takeover.” However, at Wednesday’s State Senate hearing on the Ravitch Commission proposals, Richard Ravitch testified that counties that were not interested in becoming part of the regional bus authority would not receive additional money.

Transport Workers Union Local 100′s secretary/treasurer, Ed Watt, also expressed opposition to a consolidation and said that potential efficiencies like combining NYC Transit and Bee-Line bus depots would have to be negotiated with the union. He agreed that the MTA takeover of NYC’s private bus lines had improved service, but said that the better service was only because the MTA had more money to run the lines.

The Ravitch report recommends fast rollout of bus rapid transit throughout the region as a way to significantly improve service quickly and at relatively low cost. During the second panel, international BRT expert Walter Hook gave an overview of bus rapid transit around the world and Westchester DOT’s Naomi Klein of Westchester DOT described the county’s plan to create a BRT corridor on Central Avenue (previously covered in MTR here and here).

Elected Officials: “Is Local Control Worth $30 Million?”

A panel of elected officials agreed that there were opportunities to improve transit. Mayor Noam Bramson of New Rochelle said that Westchester’s cities had embraced density over the last decade but that connecting transit service was lacking in places. Mayor Mary Foster of Peekskill described how her city had seen an influx of young couples from NYC who are not interested in a multiple-car lifestyle. Mayor Drew Fixell of Tarrytown said simply that, as mayor of a town overrun with Thruway traffic, he supported anything that would remove people from the road. Assm. George Latimer pointed out that Westchester County was a mix of urban, “classic” suburban, and exurban communities with very different transit needs.

Interestingly, multiple members of the panel expressed doubt that the MTA would fund Bee-Line without assuming some form of management control or standardization. The big question, as put by one elected official: Is local control of Bee-Line worth the $30 million county subsidy?

The Future of Regional Bus

Can a suburban bus agency like Bee-Line get funding from a regional bus authority without giving up any local control? Based on Ravitch’s testimony at Wednesday’s hearing, it doesn’t seem that way — but how the regional bus authority operates will be dependent on how it is defined in legislation.

In testimony at the same hearing, Tri-State executive director Kate Slevin noted that the major improvements in region-wide bus service envisioned in the Ravitch report could only occur if East and Harlem River bridge tolls (or some alternative raising the same amount of money) were passed along with the payroll tax. For residents of Westchester and Nassau Counties, passing the Ravitch plan would not only prevent MTA service cuts and reduce fare increases, it would also “put suburban carriers on a more stable financial footing and allow them to keep pace with rising demand and provide more intercounty service.”