Back in February, I discussed the farebox recovery ratios of bus routes within New York City. Now commenter George K has prepared a guest post based on the data for Long Island Bus.
New York City's relatively high farebox recovery ratios can be explained by a combination of factors. One is the higher density within the boundaries of New York City compared with the suburban-type density of Nassau County. Another factor is the abundance of autoless households within NYC that are essentially transit-dependent.
Nassau County lacks both of these features. With a population density of 4,735 people per square mile (according to City-Data) and rates of auto ownership of close to 90%, Nassau County is very auto-centric.
Since there was only one route that turned an operating surplus (the N40/N41), I have decided to group the routes into categories based on their overall farebox recovery ratios (Note: This is before the service reductions were implemented).
>100%: N40/N41
75%-100%: N6
50%-75%: N4, N15, N16, N22, N23, N24, N31/N32, N35, N43, N48/N49, N58, N70/N71/N72
25%-50%: N1, N2, N3, N17, N19, N20/N21, N25, N26, N27, N28, N33, N36, N45, N46/N47, N54/N55, N57, N62 Industrial, N65, N79, N88, N94
<25%: N8, N14, N50, N51, N53, N62, N66, N67, N73/N74, N80, N81, N87, N93, N95
I notice a pattern in each category:
>100%: The N40/N41 connect the Freeport, Hempstead, and Mineola Long Island Railroad stations, essentially providing a crosstown service. These lines run perpendicular to the Long Island Railroad, connecting 3 major transit hubs.
75%-100%: The N6 runs between the Jamaica Transit Hub in Queens and the Hempstead Long Island Railroad station. Once again, the N6 feeds into 2 major transit hubs and goes into New York City where, as mentioned earlier, there is a higher population density, and a higher proportion of autoless households.
50%-75%: These routes are generally oriented towards the western part of Nassau County. Some of these routes (the N4, N22, N24, and N31/N32) go into Queens and connect with the subway. Others, like the N15 and N16 connect minor hubs (like Rockville Center and West Hempstead), and run on corridors with enough demand to be split between bus routes (like the N70/N71/N72)
25%-50%: These routes tend to radiate out of major transit hubs into areas with less demand.
<25%: These routes are the “coverage” routes, many of which have been eliminated. These routes tend to go from sparsely populated areas into minor hubs, meaning that there isn’t a lot of demand in those corridors.
As the Cap'n stated in another post about the G train, subsidizing transit would be more efficient if competing highways weren't also subsidized. On Long Island, there are a lot of open highways, which are much more attractive than buses in Nassau County. As a result, everybody suffers. Transit users suffer because only the bare minimum of service is provided and auto users suffer because they end up having to pay taxes because the farebox revenue doesn’t cover as much of the operating costs as it should.
I also calculated the cost per passenger and farebox recovery ratio (FRR) for all of the buses in NYC by borough. (I calculated this with a calculator, so there may be some mistakes)
ReplyDeleteManhattan weekday: $1.34 per passenger (85% FRR)
Manhattan weekend: $0.80 per passenger (161% FRR)
Bronx weekday: $1.25 per person (91% FRR)
Bronx weekend: $1.30 per person (100% FRR)
Brooklyn weekday: $1.38 per passenger (83% FRR)
Brooklyn weekend: $1.52 per passenger (85% FRR)
Queens weekday: $1.65 per passenger (69% FRR)
Queens weekend: $1.70 per passenger (76% FRR)
Staten Island weekday: $2.53 per person (45% FRR)
Staten Island weekend: $2.48 per passenger (52% FRR)
The farebox recovery ratio was calculated using an average fare of $1.14 weekdays and $1.29 weekends.
As you can see, Staten Island is actually similar to Nassau County in its suburban-type FRR, which is surprising because 80% of all households have a car, compared to 90% in Nassau. A good portion of it is due to buses on the South Shore section. There is where the density is lowest and, in addition to the high rates of auto ownership, there is a train (the SIR) that competes with the buses (it is also free for a good portion of the route, as the fare is only collected at 2 stations-Tompkinsville and St George). Once again, this suburban type living negatively affects everybody. In this case, the MTA makes up the lost farebox revenue in tolls on the Verrazanno-Narrows Bridge.
I was surprised at the weekend FRR in Manhattan. I guess it is because of all of the crosstown buses.
It seems as if the LI Bus routes would have a higher FRR if they were allowed to make regular stops in Queens. Currently, the buses run like express buses in Queens-they can only drop off going inbound and pick up going outbound. If the MTA combined LI Bus with its regular NYCT/MTA buses, it could probably save a good deal of money. There are a lot of redundancies (Q12 with the N20/N21 on Northern Blvd, Q43 with the N22/N22A/N26 on Hillside Avenue, N4 with the Q5 on Merrick Blvd)
By the way, one idea is to make the buses in Nassau County free for a day, or maybe a week. Maybe the people would be attracted to the buses because they are free and discover after a week, that, even though they are slower than cars, they offer their own anemities (such as the ability to sleep for 10 minutes while you are on the bus instead of being awake to drive, or being able to accomplish some work on the bus). Agencies with similar FRRs, such as LYNX in Orlando, Florida have tried this idea.
ReplyDeleteGeorge, it boggles the mind that the buses have a higher operating ratio on weekends than on weekdays. Are you sure you're not conflating weekend ridership with daily ridership on weekends?
ReplyDeleteI don't know what the story is with Manhattan. I'll try to figure that out later on.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the rest of the boroughs, if you look back to the post that The Cap'n is referring to, you can see that there are a lot of lines that have a higher FRR on weekends. The reason is that, on weekends, a higher average fare is paid ($1.29 vs. $1.14), probably because there are no Student MetroCards on weekends, and because people are in less of a rush (more people will take a one-seat ride, even if it is slower).
As far as LI Bus, if you go to the page showing the FRRs, you can see that buses tend to be cheaper on weekends, probabably because the stronger lines tend to survive on weekends, and because there is less, costly deadheading involved.
Wait, how does taking a one-seat ride increase MTA revenues?
ReplyDeleteA one-seat ride increases revenue, but not cost-eficiency.
ReplyDeleteFor example, the MTA spends $100 on a run that carries 200 people throughut he run. However, 150 of those paid with free transfers. The cost efficiency of the route is $0.50 per person, but the revenue from the route is $112.50 (50*$2.25)
The MTA spends $100 on a run that carries 100 people who paid the full fare. The cost efficiency is $1.00 per person, but the revenue is $225 (100*$2.25).
In this case, the first bus was more cost-efficient, even though it generated less revenue.
That is why I had the debate with The Cap'n about this same topic. I said that routes like the Manhattan crosstown routes and the B74 don't turn a true profit.
When he wrote that table, he felt it would be simpler to make it as if all routes had the same average fare paid, so routes with a lot of transfers balance out routes with fewer transfers. That was my point.
By the way, that was the reason that there was higher average fare paid on weekends than weekdays (fewer transfers), so you are correct. The average fare and cost-efficiency are 2 different things.
I still don't see the connection between your example and your explanation. If on weekends people take one-seat rides more, then they still pay the same amount in total.
ReplyDeleteThere are 2 parts to the fare recovery ratio that are separate from each other: The average fare paid and the cost per rider.
ReplyDeleteThe average fare is the average fare paid in the system. It is higher on weekends partially because people take more one-seat rides. Their $1.96 (bonus Pay-Per-Ride Fare) is going to one bus, as opposed to weekdays, when a two-seat ride splits the ridership between 2 routes, making the fare paid $0.98 on each of the 2 routes.
The cost per passenger is determined by dividing the cost of running the service by the number of people. The cost is slightly higher because of overtime paid on weekends and because fewer riders tend to ride on weekends.
However, the higher cost per person is made up for by the higher average fare paid.
Basically, on weekdays, the MTA has to run 2 routes to get you to where you need to go. On weekends, the MTA has to only run one route to get you where you need to go.
Of course, the bigger factor isn't one- or two-seat rides, it is the fact that more students, who pay a discounted fare (either $1.10 or $0.00), use the buses on weekdays than weekends.
George, I get this explanation. What I don't get is why it leads to higher farebox recovery. On weekends, the total fare paid doesn't increase because people take more one-seat rides; the average fare per boarding rises, but the average fare per passenger-km does not. The average operating cost does not decrease, unless the buses get fuller or people take shorter trips.
ReplyDeleteBut my point was that the average fare per passenger-km rises.
ReplyDeleteFor example, a person takes a bus for 2 miles and pays $1.96. On weekdays, they transfer to another bus for a half mile, and that transfer is free. On weekends, that bus may not run, or they might just get off and walk that extra half mile.
On weekdays, that person is paying $1.96 for 2.5 miles, or about $0.78 per passenger mile traveled. On weekends, that person paid $1.96 for 2 miles, raising the cost per passenger mile to $0.98 per mile. That person is paying more per mile on weekends than weekdays, which translates into more revenue for the transportation agency because they didn't have to provide the connecting bus.
Of course, like I said, the thing that makes a bigger difference is Student MetroCards. I just don't think that it could account for the whole difference.
Are you sure it doesn't go in the opposite direction? I'd guess that the effect of one-seat rides would be to make people not just walk more to a shorter transit line, but also to ride more circuitous bus routes.
ReplyDeleteBut fair enough...
By the way, this website has autoless households by borough, and congressional/assembly/Senate district: http://www.tstc.org/reports/cpfactsheets.php
ReplyDeleteI finally found the tme to check my math on the farebox recovery ratios and the new one I came up with for Manhattan buses on the weekends makes more sense. Here is the revised ratio.
ReplyDeleteManhattan weekday: $1.34 per passenger (85% FRR)
Manhattan weekend: $1.47 per passenger (87% FRR)
Bronx weekday: $1.25 per person (91% FRR)
Bronx weekend: $1.30 per person (100% FRR)
Brooklyn weekday: $1.38 per passenger (83% FRR)
Brooklyn weekend: $1.52 per passenger (85% FRR)
Queens weekday: $1.65 per passenger (69% FRR)
Queens weekend: $1.70 per passenger (76% FRR)
Staten Island weekday: $2.53 per person (45% FRR)
Staten Island weekend: $2.48 per passenger (52% FRR)
I ride the N31/32 and they are very crowded. I wonder why the fare box recovery rate is not higher. Could it have something to do with the fact that it has a very high rate of transferring to MTA bus or subways in Far Rockaway?
ReplyDeleteThat might have something to do with it. The average fare paid on all LI Bus routes is $1.38, but it may be higher or lower on certain routes, so the farebox recovery ratio may be higher or lower, depending on how many people use transfers and/or Unlimited MetroCards.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the buses may be crowded, but maybe they don't have that high turnover. Do the buses pick up a lot of people at places other than the Hempstead Transit Center and Far Rockaway?
I ma curious how they allocate fare box revenues when someone buys am unlimited metro card at say a MTA station but transfers every day to a LI bus like the N31. George most people do get on in Far Rock or Hempstead but their is some turnover along the route. People are unable to get on during rush hour sometimes so there is definitely a lot of traffic.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know, Jeremy, only the first swipe counts, not transfers. If travel patterns are symmetrical it shouldn't matter, but if people make a three leg trip or if they go back a different way it would. I don't think it's discussed in the report.
ReplyDeleteBut it is stil counted as a passenger boarding the bus, correct?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I also noticed that the best-performing routes are usually the most frequent (that trend probably holds true for most transit services, since people will gravitate towards a more frequent service even if it requires some extra walking).
ReplyDeleteYes, it's kind of a chicken-and-egg thing. People will choose a more frequent route, but bus planners will also increase service on a well-patronized route.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the MTA is planning even more cuts to LI Bus. Here is the 2011 ridership data: http://mta.info/mta/news/hearings/pdf/bluebook_libus.pdf
ReplyDeletewow they want to cut the N31. I counted this morning and it had 60 riders from when I got on in Far Rock to when i got off in Hewlett and the driver told me he thinks another 10 or so will get on in Lynbrook. Their is no way the N32 can handle that many more passengers during rush hour its packed as it is.
ReplyDeleteHopefully, they would add some additional N32 buses so that, even if the buses were crushloaded, they would at least be able to accomodate the people (though, obviously, everybody would be very uncomfortable).
ReplyDelete