In 2009 I was the John J Marchi Visiting Scholar in Public Policy at the City University of New York. These are my slides from the public Marchi lecture I gave there focusing on justice in distribution of transit services, with Manhattan getting the lion's share compared to the other borough.

1. Ethical Conundrums:
Justice and Equity in New
York City Transportation
Dr. Cameron Gordon
John J. Marchi Visiting Scholar in Public Policy
City University of New York – College of Staten Island –
Philosophy, Economics and Political Science Department
Center for the Study of Staten Island
Senior Lecturer in Banking and Finance
University of Canberra (Australia)
Faculty of Business and Government

2. A note on data and maps
Data and maps for this presentation
(unless otherwise noted) were
produced by the High Performance
Computing Center (HPC) at the
College of Staten Island – City
University of New York
Weblink:
http://www.csi.cuny.edu/cunyhpc/

3. Item
6% of toll revenues in
the US are collected
on the Borough of
Staten Island...
...yet Staten Island
consistently has one of
the worst average
commute times in the
country.

4. Item
More than a million people in the
borough of Queens live more than
a half mile beyond a subway stop
because of population expansion
beyond where the subway stopped
expanding circa 1940....
...yet the MTA is spending over $17
billion to build the Second Avenue
subway, the first leg on the Upper
East Side of Manhattan paralleling
the Lexington Avenue 4,5 and 6
line.

5. Item Despite the MTA's
current budget crisis,
the New York City
government says it is
committed to providing
perhaps more than
half the funds for the
$2.1 billion 7 line
extension to the west
side of Manhattan,
(though scaling back
that line by eliminating
the 10th
Avenue
stop)...

6. ...yet because of that same budget crisis has
proposed cutting service in half on the only
subway line that does not go through
Manhattan, the G train from Brooklyn to Queens

7. Speaking of doomsday budgets…
• The MTA budget just passed contains the
following:
• Starting May 31, subway and bus fares will
be $2.50 and the 30-day cards will be $103,
up from $81. Express bus fares will rise from
$5 to $6.25
• 35 bus routes will be eliminated and two
subway routes, the W and Z. Off-peak and
weekend subway, bus and commuter rail
service will also be cut. The G train will no
longer serve Queens.
• Commuter rail fares will increase on June 1,
and bridge and tunnel tolls will increase in
mid-July, the maximum Verrazano Bridge
fare to $13(!).

8. Ethical transport conundrums

The items presented above can be said to be
ethical transportation conundrums.

They represent difficult and intricate problems of
seeming unfairness of treatment between different
groups.

Their starkness – and persistence – suggest that
they have long since become rhetorical questions
rather than problems to be solved.

Their occasional absurdity makes some ask, in
classic New York parlance: “What gives?”

9. Equity in New York City
Transportation

In this lecture I will focus on a single question:
how equitable is transportation in New York City?

I will not give simple answers to this question as
there are none but I will identify where some of the
answers may be found.

Throughout this discussion I will refer to
conundrums that point to what we know, what we
don't know, and what we need to know to develop
a coherent policy that deals with transportation
equity, in New York City and beyond.

10. Keeping it simple

The simplest concept of equity is 'horizontal
equity' which is how people of similar
characteristics are treated with respect to a specific
policy; an example would be whether people with
similar abilities to pay taxes in fact bear similar
levels of taxation.

I will thus define transportation equity as the
degree to which people throughout the city have
similar access to transport services and pay the
similar costs per unit of those services.

This resonates with notions that individuals are
equal under the law and that transportation is a
basic right and requirement of citizenship.

11. A measure of equity: the Lorenz
Curve

A technical note: one
example of an equity metric
is the Lorenz Curve (LC).

Here is a typical LC
showing how much of total
income that a portion of
total population has.

Perfect equality is a
situation where the
proportion of total income
and proportion of total
population is equal at all
points.

12. But is it fair?

Should there be absolute equality between
population and income … or transport services …
or housing … or anything?

This is an important question that I will not be
addressing in this lecture.

Nonetheless, the starting point is to ask: is there
inequality in the transportation system and if so
how much and in what areas?

Having established the “what is” we can then
address the “what should be”.

13. Measuring transportation equity in New York City

So how would one define 'horizontal equity' in
New York City transportation?

Keeping it simple I will do the following:

(1) Take the total population of New York City

(2) See what proportion of that total population
lives in each borough

(3) See what proportion of total transportation
system 'costs' and 'benefits' are borne or enjoyed
by the total population in each borough.

If (2) and (3) match then we can say there is
rough horizontal equity in transportation.

This is very crude but I'll go with it for now.

14. Population and area per borough
•The 2000 US Census shows that the largest borough in
terms of population was Brooklyn, accounting for almost
one-third of the City's total; Queens was a close second,
the two containing 60% of the total.
•Queens meanwhile contained more than one-third of the
City's total area.
County Population % share Area % share
Sq Miles
Bronx 17% 42 14%
Brooklyn 31% 71 23%
Manhattan 19% 23 8%
Queens 28% 109 36%
Staten Island 6% 58 19%
NYCTotal 100% 303 100%
1,354,068
2,488,194
1,546,856
2,237,815
457,383
8,084,316

15. A Question…
• So do the boroughs get
proportions of the services
– buses, trains, and
subways – that the
transportation system
offers that roughly match
either their share of total
population or total area?

16. • Here is a summary look
at the transit rail network
in New York City.
• The network was mostly
built before 1940 so
Manhattan is obviously
very well served, much of
Brooklyn, parts of the
Bronx and some of
Queens is reasonably well
served.
• But Staten Island does
not have a subway and
the rail it does have
misses much of the
Island’s population.
• Eastern Queens is
also poorly served.Source: NYMTC

17. • Here’s a particularly interesting set of maps from
New York City DOT.
• Here the gaps in the city subway are especially
clear, and the gap in the regional commuter rail
network is even more stark.
• Buses look better but Manhattan definitely has
much denser bus network than the rest of the
City.

18. * Here’s an analysis of the borough-by-borough spread of
bus routes and bus route miles.
* This measure shows that in terms of numbers of buses
and routes there is rough proportionality between share
of population and share of bus service in the Bronx and
Manhattan.
* Brooklyn seems relatively under-served and Queens is
especially short-changed.
* Staten Island, on the other hand, seems to be making
out very well.
ANALYSIS BUS ROUTES 2002
County Population % total Local % total Express % total Buses % total Route % total
Routes Routes Miles
Bronx 1,354,068 17% 40 19% 0 0% 877 19% 255 12%
Brooklyn 2,488,194 31% 54 26% 5 13% 1393 31% 520 25%
Manhattan 1,546,856 19% 42 20% 4 11% 883 19% 203 10%
Queens 2,237,815 28% 40 19% 5 13% 704 15% 309 15%
Staten Island 457,383 6% 31 15% 24 63% 709 16% 822 39%
NYC Total 8,084,316 100% 207 100% 38 100% 4566 100% 2109 100%

19. * Here are the subway stops and route-miles by borough.
* Here the proportions look a bit different from buses.
* Staten Island appears more proportionate in terms of route miles,
less in terms of stops. Brooklyn appears to be well ’subwayed’, the
Bronx less so, and Queens really comes out as a loser on this
metric.
* Manhattan really does well relative to its population.
MTA Subway Routes and
Stops
Borough by Borough
December 30th, 2008
Subway Route
Miles
% total Subway
Stops
% total
Staten Island 0.260765 6% 19 4%
Brooklyn 1.210744 29% 185 34%
Manhattan 0.907594 22% 164 30%
Queens 0.658569 16% 94 17%
Bronx 0.517803 13% 74 14%
Total 4.129092 100% 539 100%

20. What’s the benefit?
• These are very crude measures but revealing in
the sense that the nature of transportation
alternatives varies rather widely across the
boroughs and does not match where the
population is located.
• But how much does this matter? If everyone
can get to where they are going at roughly equal
speeds and levels of convenience then
differences in distribution of number of
trains/buses etc. may not matter too much.
• How do the boroughs stack up here?

21. * US Census figures show that the relative availability of transit
options does radically affect how people get to work.
* New York City uses transit much more than the rest of the US
but Manhattanites and Brooklynites use it more than people in
other boroughs.
* And here is a big kicker – commute times in the outer
boroughs is much worse than Manhattan – and worse than the
rest of the US.
PERCENTAGE MODAL SHARE – TRIPS TO WORK
USA Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island
Drove Alone 73.2% 27.0% 22.5% 7.6% 34.3% 54.3%
Carpool 13.4% 9.3% 8.8% 3.4% 10.2% 12.1%
Public Transit 5.3% 53.7% 58.0% 59.6% 47.4% 28.4%
Bike or Walk 4.3% 7.5% 8.6% 22.8% 5.9% 3.1%
Motorcycle or other 0.9% 0.6% 0.5% 0.8% 0.4% 0.5%
Work at home 3.0% 1.9% 1.6% 5.8% 1.8% 1.7%
COMMUTE TIME (MINUTES
Average Commute 25.5 43 43.2 30.5 42.2 43.9
Mass Transit
Commute
47.7 54.2 51.8 34.4 54.3 68.6

22. Comparison of Trip Times Jonathan Peters Based on Scheduled Trip Time and Road Milage
NYC Transit - Outer Boroughs The College of Staten Island
Versus Other Systems 30-Mar-05
Origin Destination Mode Road Travel Time Mode MPH
Mileage Minutes Shifts
Tottenville, SI, NY
42nd Street & 5th
Avenue
SIRT - SI Ferry - 1&9
Subway 33.2 83 3 24.00
St George, SI, NY
42nd Street & 5th
Avenue SI Ferry and 1&9 Subway 17.6 41 2 25.76
Tottenville, SI, NY
42nd Street & 5th
Avenue Express Bus - X-22 33.2 97 1 20.54 * 8:05 AM Bus
Tottenville, SI, NY
42nd Street & 5th
Avenue Express Bus - X-22 33.2 72 1 27.67 * 5:00 AM Bus
Eltingville Transit Center, SI,
NY
42nd Street & 5th
Avenue Express Bus - X -1 20.8 100 1 12.48 * 8:05 AM Bus
Eltingville Transit Center, SI,
NY
42nd Street & 5th
Avenue Express Bus - X -1 20.8 70 1 17.83 * 5:00 AM Bus
Castleton Ave & Jewett, SI,
NY
42nd Street & 5th
Avenue Express Bus - X-10 17.3 109 1 9.52 * 8:06 AM Bus
Castleton Ave & Jewett, SI,
NY
42nd Street & 5th
Avenue Express Bus - X-10 17.3 78 1 13.31 * 5:35 AM Bus
Victory Blvd, Travis, SI, NY
42nd Street & 5th
Avenue
S-62 - SI Ferry - 1&9
Subway 19.3 82 3 14.12
* 8:35 AM Bus - Misses
Boat
Victory Blvd, Travis, SI, NY
42nd Street & 5th
Avenue
S-62 - SI Ferry - 1&9
Subway 19.3 96 3 12.06 * 8:35 AM Bus - Actual Travel Time - 9:30 Boat
16th Street, San Francisco Freemont, CA BART 38.8 52 1 44.77
16th Street, San Francisco,
CA Bay Point, CA BART 39.1 59 1 39.76
Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn
42nd Street & 5th
Avenue #2 Subway 9.5 44 1 12.95
242nd Street, Bronx
42nd Street & 5th
Avenue # 2 Subway 13.2 50 1 15.84

23. Where the growth is
•
There is another element here – where has the growth in
population and transport needs been and where is it heading?
As these figures show, population growth has been mostly in the
boroughs.
Manhattan has lost population from 1950-2000.
Yet system investment has not been going to those outer
boroughs.
1950 to 2000 Population Growth
United States: +86.0%
New York State: +28.1%
Manhattan: -21.5%
The Bronx: -8.1%
Brooklyn: -9.9%
Queens: +43.9%
Staten Island: +132.6%

24. • Here’s another way of
showing this: the ‘center
or population’ or
‘geocenter’ per borough.
• If you could somehow
place all the population on
a flat plane with each
person possessing an
equal weight and space
but distributed in different
areas, the ‘geocenter’
shows where that plane
would balance.
•As population spreads
out so does the geocenter.
•Look at where these
centers are – very far out
– often far from transit.

25. * Here is a very recent study of growth in traffic at
subway stops (by the Center for Urban Futures).
* Note the lines that have the stations with the
fastest growth.
* Most of these have heavy service to Queens
and Brooklyn.
* The ill-fated G has 4 fast growing stops.
* But again investment is mostly not going where
needed.

26. At what cost?
• We’ve been focusing on system benefits.
• There is also the issue of cost. Who pays how
much?
• So Staten Island, as an example, has a very
large share of express bus service overall –
63% of total bus routes in 2002.
• But these buses costs $5, with a proposed
increase to $6.25.
• And Staten Islanders drive across the bridges
more and are much more subject to tolls.

27. • Here is a
map of the
amount of
toll
revenues
collected
from people
in different
zip codes.
• Darker
colors
indicate
greater
burdens.
• Staten
Island and
Brooklyn are
especially
hard hit.

28. A bottom-line?

What these metrics indicate is that there is a
raw mismatch, overall, between the share of
total population per borough and the share of
facilities, service and costs per borough.

The level and quality of transportation
service varies widely across the boroughs as
well.

This is a very rough and patchy picture.

There are a lot more data to look at and a lot
more interpretation to be made.

But overall there does seem to be an issue
to examine further and change policy over.

29. More to know: data
•Number of subway stops per borough
•Subway-miles per borough
•Number of subway cars per borough
•MTA expenditures per borough: total
•MTA expenditures per borough: bus
•MTA expenditures per borough: rail
•MTA expenditures per borough: commuter rail
•MTA revenues per borough: transit fares
•MTA revenues per borough: commuter rail
•MTA revenues per borough: tolls
•Road expenditures per borough (excluding city streets): NYSDOT
•Road revenues per borough: Port Authority tolls
•Number of people living more than a half-mile from a subway stop, by borough
• Jobs/resident ratio per borough
•Travel times, average commute, per borough
•“Extreme commutes” per borough
• Frequency of bus service (scheduled) per borough
• Frequency of subway/commuter tail service per borough (scheduled) per borough
• Level of road service (LOS) per borough
• Road and street physical condition per borough (state of good repair)
• Etc...

30. More to know: concepts

For this particular lecture I have focused only on
simple and broad measures of horizontal equity:
population by borough matched against borough
shares of various transportation costs and
benefits.

We need more sophisticated measures of
horizontal equity that go down to lower levels of
geographic equity.

And completely undiscussed has been vertical
equity: how different groups of people – different
races, income classes, genders, ages – are
impacted by the transportation system.

That is the subject for the next Marchi lecture.