Cubic and Mastercard study shows impact of New York’s car free day

Following a request from New York City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez to measure the impact of Car Free Day NYC held in April, Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) and Mastercard have now published their report about transportation demand and retail impact assessment resulting from the initiative. Rodriguez organised the initiative with a strong coalition of local support towards the goal of reducing single-occupancy vehicle use and stimulating dialogue around environmental issues. The assessment leveraged
November 17, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Following a request from New York City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez to measure the impact of Car Free Day NYC held in April, 378 Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) and 1756 Mastercard have now published their report about transportation demand and retail impact assessment resulting from the initiative.

Rodriguez organised the initiative with a strong coalition of local support towards the goal of reducing single-occupancy vehicle use and stimulating dialogue around environmental issues.

The assessment leveraged the Urbanomics Mobility Project, a Cubic-Mastercard co-developed data analysis toolset for fuelling smarter and more inclusive cities, based on public transportation data and insights derived from anonymised and aggregated transaction data.

Specific objectives of Councilman Rodriguez’s request included measuring changes in public transportation demand, traveller spend behaviour around car-free zones and the impact of redistributed traffic on business areas in proximity to car-free zones.

The one-day event resulted in an increase of more than 30,000 passengers than the season’s daily average on the MTA subway, while public data for other services like bike share also showed a statistically significant increase in usage.

For retail stores, there were no significant adverse effects on commercial activity in the surrounding areas, despite road closures created to facilitate and support the spirit of the event.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • New report indicates reduction in London’s pollution
    July 20, 2015
    A new report, produced by experts at King's College London, for the first time quantifies the health and economic effects of the air pollutant nitrogen dioxide (NO2), where all previous studies have focused on particulate matter (PM2.5). Combined together the effects of both pollutants reveal a higher health impact than previously estimated after taking into account this further pollutant. The study also found that nearly half the health impacts are caused by air pollution outside London such as diesel
    Read More
  • LowCVP calls on truck operators and others to focus on cutting truck emissions
    October 22, 2015
    To coincide with its participation in the new Freight in the City event on 27 October, the LowCVP is calling on fleet operators, local authorities and others to join forces in building the market for heavy goods vehicles which cut carbon, reduce emissions and lower fuel costs. In earlier research, the LowCVP has identified three main opportunities for cutting emissions from HGVs which pointed to the need for specific interventions: independent testing to validate the effectiveness of retrofit technology
    Read More
  • Incentive schemes target single occupancy commuters
    October 14, 2016
    Andrew Bardin Williams looks at state-run schemes to encourage green transportation habits with raffles, gift cards, competitions and frequent traveller points. The societal benefits of green transportation are obvious: less congestion, cleaner air and healthy economy. Equally the advantages for individuals are pretty clear too: a healthy lifestyle, freedom of movement and the feeling of being a part of something greater than oneself.
    Read More
  • Smartphone solution for parking performance
    March 31, 2017
    Automated parking offers optimised space utilisation and fewer damage complaints as David Crawford discovers. As cars become smarter, technology designed to make parking them more straightforward is developing in parallel. In turn, it is becoming clear that the places where vehicles spend much of their time will need to respond – more comprehensively than by supporting established aids such as smartphone-based parking location and reservation, or payment for time used.
    Read More

Highlighted Content