Business indices play a c r i tical role in summarizing the business conditions of the economy and
indicating the forthcoming of phase changes in business cycle. The useful indices should accurately reflect
the business reality and dynamic changes of the economy. In the pas t decades , signi ficant indus t ry
t ransformation from manufacturing to services has been observed in both New York State/Metro area and the
ent i re nation. The share of goods in US GDP has declined from 54% to 35% and the share of services has

NYMTC?s Princ ipals reached consensus on f ive Shared Goals to guide regional t ransport a t ion investment deci s ionmaking.
The Shared Goa l s ref l ect broad agreement on the need f o r reg iona l approaches to compl e x issues facing the
region. The Shared Goal s a re :

<p>New York?s northern and western borders with Canada have long served as important commercial and tourist gateways for the entire United States. With recent and projected growth in cross-border travel, and heightened security concerns arising from the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the transportation infrastructure in the border regions is being pushed to its limits.

Since the signing of the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993, rapid growth in crossborder travel has stretched the capacity of the border
transportation network. Heightened security since
September 11, 2001 and expedited clearance initiatives
have also placed new demands on the infrastructure.

Investment in transportation infrastructure is generally regarded as an effective means for inducing economic growth and employment in a region. However, the ability of such investments to achieve these objectives, to a large extent, depends on the degree to which travel results from these investments support or conflict with present travel patterns and needs in this region.

<p>Traffic Congestion interferes with the operations of bus service and imposes additional costs to the transit agency that provides the service. As traffic volumes or congestion increase, traffic speeds decrease, as established in traffic engineering formulas and curves that show speed as a function of the traffic volume to capacity ratio. This results in additional time being required to travel a fixed distance. Congestion also decreases bus speeds and increases the travel time for buses.

<p>Traffic congestion in Northern New Jersey imposes a substantial operational and monetary penalty on bus service. The purpose of this project was to quantify the additional time and operational costs due to traffic congestion. A regression model was developed that estimates the travel time rate (in minutes per mile) of a bus as a function of the car travel time rate, the number of passengers boarding per mile, and the number of bus tops per mile.

<p>Traffic congestion in Northern New Jersey imposes substantial operational and monetary penalty on bus service. The purpose of this project was to quantify the additional time and costs due to traffic congestion. A regression model was developed that estimates the travel time rate (in minutes per mile) of a bus as a function of car traffic time rate, number of passengers boarding per mile, and the number of bus tops per mile.

<p>Traffic congestion in Northern New Jersey imposes a substantial time operational penalty on bus service. The purpose of a project was to quantify the additional travel time that buses need because of traffic congestion. A regression model was developed to estimate the travel time rate (in minutes per mile) of a bus as a function of car traffic time rate, number of passengers hoarding per mile, and the number of bus stops per mile.

<p>The NJDOT TMA Grant Program gives qualified TMAs up to $400,000 annually to carry out traffic reduction and clean air initiatives. These dollars have funded the implementation of important national and state mandates. They have given the TMAs a stable financial base, diminishing the need for private funds. These subsidies however, have necessarily moved the TMAs away from a private focus. Consequently, the TMAs have less motivation to champion the needs of their private and local constituents.