New York MTA and Network Traffic
Recently, the New York MTA unveiled a $51.5 billion dollar infrastructure plan, hoping to alleviate congestion in the crowded urban space. The plan will be expected to take place during the years 2020-2024. A substantial chunk of this massively-funded project is allocated for the subway system, but it also calls for improvements in public buses, bridges and tunnel improvements. Some of the specifics include modernizing subway stations and adding 1,900 new subway cars and 2,400 new buses as well as extending Second Avenue Subway. If implemented correctly, this plan can improve the efficiency and reliability of millions of travelers’ experiences. However, many people are worried about the financial side of things, as this is the most expensive state infrastructure plan in history.
In lecture, we discussed network traffic, specifically about how adding new roads or passengers will impact the passengers’ average travel time. Since the MTA is planning on building new subway lines and adding more subway cars and buses to the roads, they need to make the necessary calculations to ensure that they shorten the average travel time. This should be a top priority for them because decreasing travel time will increase productivity and overall happiness. However, they ought to be careful because in some cases, adding a new route can actually increase the travel time because all the passengers, or in this case subway cars, will choose their most efficient route regardless if it slows others down. The MTA must design a robust system to prevent this from happening.
Article: https://ny.curbed.com/2019/9/26/20884191/mta-nyc-subway-capital-plan-approved
https://www.cityandstateny.com/articles/politics/ask-experts/ask-experts-mta-capital-plan.html