Taconic State Parkway Rides Again

Ride-sharing for Everyone - Adapting the Taconic State Parkway to the Era of Global Warming

History:

Built during the nineteen twenties and thirties, the Bronx River Parkway and Taconic State Parkway were the earliest parkways in the United States, creating a precedent for highway planning and design that would influence road building throughout the country. An inexorable expansion in suburban and rural communities ensued.

Where we are today:

As suburban communities and small towns expanded by taking advantage of the new highways, commuting populations and driving distances grew in an era of cheap gas. As a result we now have mostly single-occupant cars (average 1.2 persons per car), overcrowded roads, and rising green house gas levels. What’s to be done?

Proposed paradigm shift:

We have park-and-ride programs in the metropolitan New York and Hudson Valley areas, developed by both public and private entities, that have not succeeded in weaning commuters away from ingrained driving patterns. What we need is vastly improved ride-sharing with all the properties of a public transportation system, i.e. a multiplicity of pick-up/drop-off points, and beginning-to-end delivery options that give riders an easy way to construct ride transfers, much like a bus or subway system.

Concept:

There are two critical requirements to make this work, a full complement of free park-and-ride lots and a way for riders to plan their trips all the way from home to the workplace, getting there at the right time, every time.
There are now just five (5) park-and-ride lots over the entire 90 mile length of the Taconic Parkway, three in Dutchess County and two in Westchester. With more than 40 intersections stretching from Valhalla in Westchester County to Route 90 in Columbia County, that’s just not enough. Is it any wonder that ride-sharing has not taken off? Creating a park-and-ride lot at each intersection on State owned land is a very feasible first step. In many locations, it could be set right next to an on or off ramp.

When one examines the way a public transportation system works, it is clear that one must provide great flexibility to accommodate the varying needs of its users . Bus and subway rides linked by transfers will get passengers where they want to go anywhere in New York City. If that’s what it takes to build a public transportation system, why can’t we make it work for a ride-sharing system? Development of multi-ride planning will not be easy, but it’s not rocket science. Software developers can add to existing internet programs to get it started. What it will do, is to come up with multiple matching rides, getting the rider from his home to his workplace, on-time. Park and ride lots provide the essential transfer points.

With the many thousands of commuters who jam the Taconic Parkway today, it seems very likely indeed that we have a population that is large enough to support the needed ride-matching connections. In an era of expensive gas and rising green house gases, I believe the time is right!

Al Landzberg, September 15, 2008