NYC buses are among the slowest in the world. Buses travel more slowly than other mobility options like bikes or scooters. This results in unreliable service, frustrated users, and a less preferred mode of mobility. In a city where rising construction costs have become prohibitive, buses pose a more accessible and cheaper alternative to fill in the gaps in NYC transit. “Buses are Too Slow” is a comparative study of bus speeds among selected cities around the world. The study utilizes GTFS data published by bus operators and standardizes the formatting to create comparable subsets. The aim is to find the reason behind unexpectedly slow bus speeds in NYC and learn from better examples like Paris, where a denser city manages to operate buses with speeds that are 15% higher, or cities like Bologna, where the bus speeds remain relatively unchanged throughout the day. This study utilizes data from OpenStreetMap and combines bus routes with the obstacles and stops they encounter, such as traffic control measures like stop signs and traffic lights.

Collaborators: Marco Chitti