Transportation and the Manhattan Central Business District

The only way to end traffic jams in Manhattan and the approaches to it is by making public transportation better, Regional Plan Association stated today (Feb­ruary 7, 1966).

As long as public transportation remains slower than traffic jams and more uncomfortable than a car, any additional highways and river crossings will fill up as soon as they open, leaving the motorist in the same position as he is today, the Association said in a policy statement.

“Today’s traffic in the central business district (south of Central Park) moves at an average speed of about 8 1/2 mph,” James S. Schoff, Regional Plan Chairman, commented. ​“On approach expressways to Manhattan during rush hours, speeds are as low as 13 mph in many places. But on the average, door-to-door travel by rail is even slower than by car.

“Since incomes are going up, and we are raising living standards in other parts of our lives, people are trying to improve their commuting conditions, too,” Mr. Schoff went on. ​“They can’t do that on subways and commuter trains, which are no faster and, on the whole, little more comfortable than they were forty years ago. So people are switching to cars.

“As incomes and the number of automobiles go up in the Region, the only way to raise automobile speeds is to raise public transportation speeds and attractive­ness. Then the man who must drive his car will find the streets free of those who can use rails.

“Regional Plan is issuing this policy statement now, though it is only part of a regional transportation plan due next year, because there is strong pressure to provide more highways and parking for the central business district on the one hand and for new funds just to maintain present rail service for the district on the other.”