Skip to main content

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

  • Challenges and benefits of adaptive signal control
    April 23, 2013
    Delcan’s Joe Lam, who managed the first computerised signal system in the world, provides an expert insight into adaptive signal control. There are no gadgets in the world that regulate our daily behaviour as much as traffic signals, except perhaps our mobile phones. It has been estimated that the daily commuter goes through at least 10 signals on his journey to work. However, unlike mobile phones, traffic signals cannot be ignored or switched off by their daily users, at least not without legal consequence
  • Abellio and Cubic Win at the SmartRail Europe Innovation Awards
    April 22, 2016
    Abellio Greater Anglia, a subsidiary of transport provider Abellio Group, and Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) have been awarded Product Innovation of the Year at the SmartRail Europe Innovation Awards 2016. The award, announced April 19 in Amsterdam, recognizes the best and most innovative products in the rail and metro industry.
  • SESAMES Awards 2014: And the winners are…
    November 3, 2014
    HARDWARE: Oberthur Technologies Lasink: integrated colour laser inside polycarbonate documents The first technology that allows personalisation of a colour picture with a single infrared laser inside a 100% polycarbonate document (passport or card). This technology also provides an extremely strong barrier against fraud and a clear and irrefutable authentication to the naked eye or under a magnifying glass.
  • Intertraffic 2016 Innovation Award nominees announced
    January 28, 2016
    Innovation and excellence will be rewarded at Intertraffic 2016, 5-8 April in Amsterdam, when the winners of the 2016 Intertraffic Innovation Awards will be announced. An international jury has scrutinised 91 potential candidates and after careful analysis and intense consideration has shortlisted 15 final entries. Awards will be presented in five categories – Infrastructure, Traffic Management, Safety, Parking, and Smart Mobility. One of these five winners will then be chosen as the overall winner of the 2