Seventy-five new buses hit the streets of Queens in May, but none of them have transit signal priority technology, proven to improve travel times, on board.
Vincent Barone reports: "None of the 75 blue and yellow buses that rolled out in Queens this May -- part of a fleet of 2,042 coming to city streets over the next six years -- are equipped with technology known as Traffic Signal Prioritization, or TSP."
TSP software uses GPS give buses more green lights and fewer reds. "As buses approach intersections, the city’s traffic control center can hold green lights or speed up a red light cycle to prevent idling," according to Barone.
According to the New York City Department of Transportation, TPS is already installed on several routes around the city, resulting in travel time improvements between ten and 15 percent. Barone notes that the priority on WiFi, rather than the service performance improvements enabled by TSP, does not reflect the desires of bus users, as reported in a survey by TransitCenter released in July.
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