MTR 303, New York Behind the Curve on HOV Lanes

Issue 303

February 5, 2001

New York Behind the Curve on HOV Lanes

Standards other cities set for traffic flow in HOV lanes suggests that the New York State DOT is behind the curve in managing special use lanes. Specifically, heavy congestion in the Gowanus Expressway HOV lane, and consequent daily delays for thousands of express bus riders and carpoolers would not be tolerated in cities with clear policies that keep HOV lanes free-flowing. NY State DOT's lack of guidelines for avoiding HOV lane congestion has led to the present situation in the Gowanus HOV lane. A 1999 NYS DOT study said speeds in the Gowanus HOV lane averaged 22 miles per hour. Bus drivers say it's often slower than that.

Experience in other cities with difficult traffic congestion problems suggests stricter HOV lane standards result in more passengers getting to work faster:

In San Francisco, the California DOT (Caltrans) creates both HOV-2 and HOV-3 lanes. The higher standard is used on highways where the average occupancy of all vehicles on a highway is 1.8 persons. On the Gowanus, high numbers of bus riders boost the average vehicle occupancy to 2.7 people (as of 1999).
In Houston, the Metro Police and the Traffic Management Dept. changed HOV-2 lanes to HOV-3 on the Katy Freeway in 1991 and U.S. 290 in 1999 because speeds in crowded HOV-2 lanes had slowed to about 20 miles-per-hour. With HOV-3 lanes, speeds increased to 55 mph and within a year the lanes were moving the same number of people in fewer vehicles.
In Los Angeles, legislators recently forced Caltrans to change an HOV-3 lane to HOV-2. Speeds in the lane plunged from 65mph to 35mph. Even worse, the HOV-2 lane moved 2,000 fewer people per hour than the HOV-3 lane, 5,000 vs. 7,000. The failure of the move has resulted in Caltrans re-instituting the HOV-3 lane, with the legislature's blessing.

A 1999 NY State DOT study found that by far, the greatest number of people in the Gowanus HOV lane are transported by vehicles with three or more passengers. Seventy-nine percent of people traveling in the lane were transported by bus, 9% by three-plus passenger vehicles, 11% by 2-person carpools and 1% by vehicles with one passenger (cheaters). The bus share of passengers in the lane has likely increased since the DOT study, because of service increases and robust express bus ridership. Some Staten Island routes posted rider gains of 30% or more from Jan. 1999-Jan. 2000. By making express bus and carpool travel faster and more reliable, it's most likely the Gowanus HOV would move many more people if its access rule is increased to 3-or-more.

NY State DOT leaders have refused to consider changing the Gowanus HOV lane's access standard despite repeated requests by bus riders, Brooklyn community leaders, Staten Island transit advocates, elected officials and regional environmental groups. The DOT has admitted, however: "At a certain [traffic] level, the HOV ceases to function well, and we know from the report that we are approaching that level."