Developers looking to the future have a new slogan: buses could be the new subway.
A new bus rapid transit (BRT) system headed for testing in the city could eventually spur more projects in the outer boroughs, because developers often follow new transportation lines.
As part of Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC initiative to develop a long-range strategic plan, the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the New York City Department of Transportation and New York State Department of Transportation jointly studied bus rapid transit options for New York City. The study has identified five BRT “demonstration corridors,” one for each borough, that would introduce the concept and test the MTA’s ability to implement it successfully. Two corridors would begin service late this year; the remaining three, by the end of 2008.
One such corridor would run from 125th Street along First and Second avenues all the way to Houston Street; another would run from Co-op City to Inwood via the busy “Bronx Quad” area, which includes the Bronx Zoo, Fordham Road shopping district, New York Botanical Garden and Fordham University.
Jeffrey Zupan, senior fellow for transportation at Regional Plan Association, recommends that development and real estate professionals keep a close eye on the city’s transportation plans.
“They can sniff out the really big opportunities of the next couple of decades by watching where investments are being made,” says Zupan. “In this city, we’re not building new highways. If you want new opportunities, you have to look at transit.”
Of course, New York City already has an ambitious expansion of its public transit system in the works. The MTA has begun or is about to begin construction on three huge, high-profile projects: East Side Access, bringing Long Island Rail Road trains to Grand Central; the long-awaited Second Avenue Subway; and the extension of the No. 7 train to the Javits Center and the far West Side. But each of these projects will cost billions of dollars and take years or even decades to complete.
BRT is considered faster and cheaper than subways in terms of unlocking the potential of outer-borough subcenters: dense concentrations of housing, jobs, shopping, entertainment and community services with strong transit links and a high degree of walkability. The most established subcenter in New York may be Downtown Brooklyn, often described as the region’s third-largest central business district.
Some subcenters, like Flushing and Jamaica in Queens, Harlem’s 125th Street corridor and the Bronx Hub, have all enjoyed substantial residential and commercial growth in recent years and are slated for much more. Others, such as Queens’ yet-to-be-developed Sunnyside Yards and St. George in Staten Island, are still waiting for their day to come.
In order to realize their potential, however, New York’s emerging subcenters need to be connected — not just to Manhattan, but also to each other and to the neighborhoods where most New Yorkers live.
“We don’t have a Manhattan-centric economy any more, so these links are getting more and more important,” says Teresa Toro, New York City coordinator for the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. “It’s no longer just Manhattan is where you work and Brooklyn or the Bronx is where you sleep.”
Bus rapid transit usually involves giving buses their own lane, separated right-of-way, or even tunnels to keep them free from traffic. Collecting fares at curbside stations and using all doors for boarding makes stops much quicker. Extra-long “articulated” buses, similar to those currently used on some Manhattan routes but with low floors for easy boarding, can carry twice as many passengers as standard buses.
Running more vehicles with less frequent stops and simplified routes makes BRT service much faster and more reliable than the average bus line. New Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technologies can hold green lights for buses and send updates to stations and cell phones. Finally, BRT lines often embrace branding, making use of colorful logos and well-appointed, futuristic-looking vehicles to distinguish BRT from sometimes stigmatized standard buses.
“The aim is to make buses act more like subways and open up a lot of new connections,” explains Neysa Pranger, coordinator for the transit advocacy group Straphangers Campaign. “Subways have historically been very difficult to build, and they cost something like $2 billion per mile. So the city has to look at alternative means of transit like BRT.”
Toro sounds a similar note. “Of course we should add subway capacity, but bus rapid transit can be implemented much more easily and inexpensively. It allows us to be much more creative in how we move people around.”
According to Kay Sarlin, a spokesperson for NYCDOT, the study has examined Los Angeles’ Metro Rapid Program and Boston’s Washington Street Silver Line as well as precedents in London and the Toronto area. At least 18 U.S. cities have introduced some form of bus rapid transit. Meanwhile, pioneering large-scale systems — like those in Bogot , Colombia; Curitiba, Brazil; and Brisbane, Australia — have helped sell the approach to cities worldwide.
Edward Cohen, director of transportation projects for SBLM Architects, observes that BRT could also boost the growth of subcenters by reducing crowding on subways and commuter rail lines. “There will be fantastic opportunities for public-private partnerships to create seamless transfers between the different transit modes,” he predicts, “and these can be centered around mixed-use retail, office and residential development.”
The bottom line, according to Cohen: “Build it and they will come.”
Some are unimpressed with the BRT plans laid out so far. Craig Hammerman, district manager for Brooklyn Community Board 6, argues that the proposed Nostrand Avenue corridor, stretching from the Williamsburg Bridge bus plaza to Sheepshead Bay, would do nothing for the booming brownstone neighborhoods in his district.
Like many others, however, Hammerman is concerned that car traffic caused by the lack of transit service in residential areas could choke the life out of growing subcenters like Downtown Brooklyn. “That whole section of southeastern Brooklyn that has no subway service at all — well, we’re the ones who get hit with most of the congestion topside. So anything that takes cars off the road is a good thing.”
Andrew Albert, a nonvoting MTA board member and executive director of the West Side Chamber of Commerce, agrees that the proposedécorridors seem a bit random. He adds that it remains to be seen how many BRT technologies will actually be incorporated. NYCDOT’s Sarlin confirmed that the corridors will not use separated rights-of-way, relying instead on marked lanes possibly enforced with cameras.
Still, Albert is bullish on bus rapid transit. “It’ll be really interesting to see how people respond,” he says. “If it’s successful, people are going to want more.”
Go to map: NYC Bus Rapid Transit Study Five Demonstration Corridors
G line extension benefits Brooklynites
In early December the MTA announced plans to extend G train service farther into Brooklyn, which will make it easier for riders to get from one part of the borough to the other on the only subway line that doesn’t pass through part of Manhattan.
The plan would extend G train service at the Brooklyn end of the line, which currently runs from Court Square in Long Island City, Queens to Smith-9th Street in Gowanus. Starting next year, the G will make five additional stops in Park Slope, Windsor Terrace and Kensington at stations currently served only by the F train. The new end of the line will be Church Avenue.
Brooklyn developer Eric Brody, principal of the Brody Group, points out that the service change means that Williamsburg and Park Slope, both destinations in their own right, will now be directly connected by the subway.
“I have lots of friends who live in Park Slope and go out in Williamsburg,” Brody says. “New Yorkers like to have entertainment options, and this will make Brooklyn options that much stronger.”
Some also see the new connection as a valuable amenity for buyers and renters who are wedded to Brooklyn.
“These days, we find that many people who live in Brooklyn work in Brooklyn,” says Roslyn Huebener of the residential brokerage Aguayo & Huebener. “There’s also lots of moving from one Brooklyn neighborhood to another, especially among the younger crowd, and that has increased over the years.”
Was this an early Christmas present for long-suffering G train riders? Not quite. The reason for the change is purely practical: Crews will be performing structural repairs on the elevated tracks where the G currently turns around to head back toward Queens. The work is expected to take at least a year; when it’s finished, the MTA plans to end the service expansion and revert to the status quo.
While the service change is currently considered temporary, it could become permanent. Charles Seaton, a spokesperson for New York City Transit, said the extension is part of ongoing efforts to improve G service. He said the agency would consider keeping the new stops if ridership is high enough.
Teresa Toro, founder of the Save the G coalition, thinks there’s more going on. “The MTA doesn’t tend to admit mistakes — they just have a change of plans,” says Toro, who is also transportation chair of Brooklyn Community Board 1. “It’s not that I don’t believe they’re extending the G to accommodate track work. But that’s as close as they get to admitting that ridership has gone up.”
Not so, countered Seaton, who said the service change is not being made because of a ridership increase but so that track work can be completed.