NYC Transit System Needs Update

As urban areas have developed and expanded, more and more people have moved into cities, sharing limited resources. According to MTA statistics, NYC subway has increased over 100 million ridership over past 5 years, hitting 1 billion ridership in 2017. As a result, the transit system is reaching to a point where its capacity can no longer satisfy people’s needs. Massive train delays happen all the time during peak hours; Heavy congestion causes the average car speed in Manhattan is only around 9.35 MPH. The transit system in New York City has harmed the mobility and accessibility of this city.

New York City’s transit system is facing problems that result from many aspects including the density of population, policy-making, government budgeting, and infrastructure. Among all, weak infrastructure seems to be the fundamental concern to this problem. Some of the transit system’s key component, such as signal equipment, are deteriorated and significantly affect the efficiency and safety of the entire system.

NYC transit system needs to make its infrastructure up-to-date to avoid situations like crowding, waiting and derailment. In addition, driverless technology can be applied to public transportation to reduce human errors and optimize the efficiency of the system. By accessing riders’ commute data, transit system will be able to allocate its resources on demand and predict the development trend based on traffic pattern.