More Than You Wanted To Know About New York Traffic Congestion

A taxi cabs’ GPS system is a tool which gives urban planning geeks a look into Manhattan’s traffic patterns. The NY Times has gathered a few details on an official survey where traffic authorities traced the routes of tens of millions of cap rides over the past twenty-four months. The resulting database of speed and routes can be broken down by the minute, month and neighborhood.

What does some of the collected data say?

The average daily speed of taxis during the week is Wednesdays when cabs travel, on average, just over nine miles-per-hour. The fastest day, coming in at almost 12MPH — is Sunday.

November 13, 2016, a Thursday, was the slowest weekday of the year. The average speed was 7.5MPH — matching the speed of a typical jogger in Central Park.

Not counting holidays, the fastest weekday trip was Monday, September 28, 2016, when the cabs hit 11.7MPH. As to be expected, the United Nations’ General Assembly week turned traffic into molasses.

The four fastest days to drive in Manhattan? In order: New Year’s Day, Christmas, Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.

On a normal Tuesday night, around 13,000 taxis travel south from the Upper East Side to a destination somewhere between 14th Street and Canal. On Saturdays, roughly three-times as many — 38,000 — make the same trip.

Unlike other cities, Manhattan’s streets remain congested between morning and evening rush hours. Traffic authorities blame that anomaly on delivers.