Project F: A Better Commute - Recommendations for Improvement

Culminating project for coursework completed within Professor Joseph Chow's course on Urban Public Transportation Systems.

1. PROJECT F: A BETTER COMMUTE TR-GY 7133 PRESENTED BY JASMINE BRITTAN, JASMIN RAINBOW, AND JAKE SIGMAN 03/11/2025

2. BACKGROUND 01

3. IRT Interborough Rapid Transit BMT Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit IND Independent Subway System

4. Operating since 1940 Queens Boulevard Line, Sixth Avenue Line, Culver Line

5. 24 hours per day, 7 days a week Runs between Jamaica - 179th Street and Coney Island - Stillwell Avenue Avg. daily ridership (2025 so far ): 72,000 passengers Daytime service runs express in Queens Limited rush-hour peak-direction express segment in Brooklyn On-time performance: 70%* * 2024 12-month average, NY Post

6. Daytime vs. Overnight We will focus on daytime service

7. Signal Modernization Before discussing our work, it is important to mention the signal modernization efforts on the Culver Line since 2020 . C ommunications- B ased T rain C ontrol is anticipated to make a large difference in Brooklyn.

8. METHODOLOGY 02

9. GIS G eographic I nformation S ystem was used to conduct an in-depth analysis of our line. As discussed in class, G eneral T ransit F eed S pecification data was used to visualize our line in QGIS.

10. Data Collection & Processing Data Source Hourly Ridership MTA , via data.gov Station Information MTA, via data.gov Static GTFS (schedule & route information) MTA Developer Resources GTFS-RT MTA, via API call to BDFM GTFS-RT feed Ride Check (ridership, arrival times, dwell times) Primary collection Distances Between Stations QGIS “measure” tool, based on static GTFS plot Then… data wrangling and visualisation in Python using pandas , matplotlib , and numpy.

11. In-Person Survey Our team surveyed during the peak weekday morning hour based off of MTA hourly ridership data . A ride check was performed on 2/25/2025, arrivals and dwell times were timed on smartphones. Additionally, boarding and alighting passengers were counted, and it was assumed that the boarding and alighting passengers on each vehicle were the same.

12. Calculations

13. RESULTS 03

14. Ridership Data (MTA) Rank Day Time Mean ridership (2025) 1 Tuesday 17:00 30,428 2 Thursday 17:00 29,447 3 Tuesday 08:00 28,435 4 Wednesday 17:00 27,849 5 Thursday 08:00 26,011 6 Friday 17:00 24,885 7 Wednesday 08:00 24,561 8 Monday 17:00 24,228 9 Thursday 16:00 23,155 10 Tuesday 18:00 23,138 Peak morning hour for ride check

15. Supporting Evidence from Survey Scheduled Departures from Google Maps

16. Inconsistent dwell times , not always correlated with # passengers boarding/alighting Highest loads are between Queens & Midtown Ride Check Stop # Stop Boarding Alighting Passengers Onboard (P) Arrival Time Dwell Time (s) 1 Jamaica-179 St 35 35 08:13:00 22 2 169 St 10 3 42 08:15:15 17 3 Parsons Blvd 6 48 08:17:09 18 4 Sutphin Blvd 2 50 08:18:32 16 5 Briarwood 10 4 56 08:20:54 28 6 Kew Gardens-Union Tpke 2 2 56 08:25:12 35 7 75 Av 1 57 08:28:21 82 8 Forest Hills-71 Av 7 10 54 08:31:57 25 9 Jackson Hts-Roosevelt Av 22 5 71 09:01:05 40 10 21 St-Queensbridge 1 2 70 09:08:10 17 11 Roosevelt Island 8 78 09:10:13 17 12 Lexington Av/63 St 7 14 71 09:12:35 25 13 57 St 9 2 78 09:15:01 102 14 47-50 Sts Rockefeller Ctr 1 19 60 09:18:38 23 15 42 St-Bryant Pk 3 10 53 09:19:55 20 16 34 St-Herald Sq 7 6 54 09:21:45 23 17 23 St 1 7 48 09:23:22 16 18 14 St 2 4 46 09:25:10 16 19 W 4 St-Wash Sq 5 14 37 09:27:30 26 Long travel time between stop 8-9 (stop 8-9 distance ≈ stop 9-10 distance)

17. Key Survey Metrics Vehicle Capacity (11 R160 cars per train) 2706 passengers Line Capacity 35178 passengers per hour Line Length 50.39 kilometers Average Dwell Time 29.8 seconds Cycle Length 96 minutes Frequency 13 trains per hour Average Headway 4 minutes and 36 seconds Average Wait Time 2 minutes and 22 seconds Excess Wait Time 3.5 seconds

18. Load Profile ρ = 0.68

19. Time-Space Diagram (Scheduled) Note: The long travel time between Stop 8 & 9 found in the ride check is not that surprising given the schedule .

20. Time-Space Diagram (Real-Time) Note: This only includes trips that match across the static and real-time data, meaning that some scheduled trips are missing.

21. Headway & Excess Wait Time Ride Check Day + Schedule Data Option 1 Average Headway 4.61 minutes Standard Deviation of Headway 44.3 seconds Average Wait Time 2.4 minutes Excess Wait Time 3.5 seconds Option 2 MTA GTFS-RT Average Headway 4.3 minutes Standard Deviation of Headway 2.4 minutes Average Wait Time 2.8 minutes Excess Wait Time 40.2 seconds

22. RECOMMENDATIONS 04

23. Frequency The first step in creating meaningful recommendations for this line, our team determined the optimal frequency and headway . Using the load data obtained, and the third method in class, which provides both cost benefit and operational efficiency . Additionally, the desired occupancy was assumed to be half the train . The result is a slight decrease in frequency , but less trains operating could lead to higher occupancies and help to alleviate congestion around interlining stations (e.g. Jay St-MetroTech, 42 St-Bryant Park, etc.). 10 trains per hour Recommended Frequency 6 minutes Recommended Headway

24. Timetabling Jamaica-179 St 8:01 AM 8:07 AM 8:13 AM 8:19 AM 8:25 AM 8:31 AM 8:37 AM 8:43 AM 8:49 AM 8:55 AM 9:01 AM Kew Gardens 8:11 AM 8:17 AM 8:23 AM 8:29 AM 8:35 AM 8:41 AM 8:47 AM 8:53 AM 8:59 AM 9:05 AM 9:11 AM Forest Hills-71 Av 8:15 AM 8:21 AM 8:27 AM 8:33 AM 8:39 AM 8:45 AM 8:51 AM 8:57 AM 9:03 AM 9:09 AM 9:15 AM Jackson Hts 8:23 AM 8:29 AM 8:35 AM 8:41 AM 8:47 AM 8:53 AM 8:59 AM 9:05 AM 9:11 AM 9:17 AM 9:23 AM Queensbridge 8:32 AM 8:38 AM 8:44 AM 8:50 AM 8:56 AM 9:02 AM 9:08 AM 9:14 AM 9:20 AM 9:26 AM 9:32 AM Lexington Av/63 St 8:37 AM 8:43 AM 8:49 AM 8:55 AM 9:01 AM 9:07 AM 9:13 AM 9:19 AM 9:25 AM 9:31 AM 9:37 AM 42 St-Bryant Pk 8:42 AM 8:48 AM 8:54 AM 9:00 AM 9:06 AM 9:12 AM 9:18 AM 9:24 AM 9:30 AM 9:36 AM 9:42 AM Washington Sq 8:49 AM 8:55 AM 9:01 AM 9:07 AM 9:13 AM 9:19 AM 9:25 AM 9:31 AM 9:37 AM 9:43 AM 9:49 AM Jay St-MetroTech 9:03 AM 9:09 AM 9:15 AM 9:21 AM 9:27 AM 9:33 AM 9:39 AM 9:45 AM 9:51 AM 9:57 AM 10:03 AM 4 Av-9 St 9:14 AM 9:20 AM 9:26 AM 9:32 AM 9:38 AM 9:44 AM 9:50 AM 9:56 AM 10:02 AM 10:08 AM 10:14 AM Church Av 9:21 AM 9:27 AM 9:33 AM 9:39 AM 9:45 AM 9:51 AM 9:57 AM 10:03 AM 10:09 AM 10:15 AM 10:21 AM Kings Hwy 9:32 AM 9:38 AM 9:44 AM 9:50 AM 9:56 AM 10:02 AM 10:08 AM 10:14 AM 10:20 AM 10:26 AM 10:32 AM Avenue X - 9:43 AM - 9:55 AM - 10:07 AM - 10:19 AM 10:25 AM - 10:37 AM Coney Island - 9:49 AM - 10:01 AM - 10:13 AM - 10:25 AM 10:31 AM - 10:43 AM

25. Fleet Size The fleet size is calculated by dividing the total cycle length by the recommended headway . The cycle length was calculated to be 96 minutes, with an assumed terminal time of 5 minutes. 16 trains Recommended Fleet Size

26. Thank you for listening! WE OPEN IT UP TO ANY QUESTIONS