Upper Green Side

CB8 Transportation Analysis

Posted by Glenn August 2, 2006 at 8:59 am in News |

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Percentage of Residents by Primary Mode of Travel to Work - US Census 2000

We’re preparing for the local Transportation Survey that Upper Green Side received a grant to conduct. In that preparation effort we have started to sort through whatever secondary data we can find about our neighborhood before going out to collect primary data. So in the first of what will probably be a number of posts about this subject, here are some charts contrasting our neighborhood, defined by Community Board 8’s Boundaries (zip codes 10021, 10028, 10044 and 10128) to Manhattan, New York City, New York State and the entire USA. Here is the breakdown on what I have found so far.

Percentage of Residents by Primary Mode of Travel to Work - US Census 2000

Not Surprisingly many more people take mass transit in CB8, Manhattan and to a lesser extent NYC. However, New York State (especially rural Upstate areas) have much higher commute to work rates which look more like the rest of the USA. Also of note is that while there is a higher percentage of people carpooling outside NYC, the percentage of all the people who commute by car who carpool is much higher. This means that the Upper East Side has one of the greenest transportation profiles in the country as very few are relying on automobiles for their everyday transportation needs.

However, that’s not the whole story.

Percentage of Residents by Primary Mode of Travel to Work - US Census 2000

CB8, Manhattanites and to a lesser extent New York City residents walk to work in much higher numbers than NY State and the rest of the USA. And despite the small percentages, CB8 and Manhattanites work from home at double the national rate.

But, despite having higher rates of almost every other form of transportation than automobiles, NYC on the average workday has nearly 1 million cars entering the Central Business district, which causes the most traffic in precisely the same place that more than 75% of people do not own cars or drive to work.

Passenger Entry into CBD by Entry Point and Mode of Travel

The load of people entering the Central Business District (CBD) by car is particularly high from the north (above 60th Street) where over 600,000 people (+50% of the total) people traveling by car cross into the CBD. Since CB8 only has about 230,000 people and of that about 130,000 or so are employed, they make up a small fraction of the drivers - probably less than 10,000 of the 600,000 that drive to Manhattan’s CBD from north of 60th Street. This means that despite having one of the greenest transportation profiles in the country, we have to live with the quality of life consequences of very environmentally unfriendly transportation decisions by people who live in the outer boroughs and the suburbs as they drive through our neighborhood everyday to get to work.

This is a good starting point for determining what questions to ask local residents about the impact of this level of traffic on their quality of life and what types of policy options they think would be effective improving the situation. Please send any ideas that you have about a topic area you would like to see included in the survey.