NYC-WTC_000187725

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document ■^3E:KE3C*^

55 Questions posed for NYSTA framed the initial decisions taken regarding the scope of the study area, the appropriate dependent and independent variables, the analytical methodology, and the data sources and sampling adopted. We now describe the characteristics of the study area, and the data inputs and outputs of the model. Because of its geographic scale, range of densities and land use diversity, the study area contains some representation of nearly all development conditions surrounding rapid transit stations in the nation. As such, the model is designed so that it can be applied to any major urban area with a fixed route transit system for which comparable data can be obtained. Study Ar^ Unlike predecessor studies, this study is concerned with an entire rapid transit system in full operation, not a particular line or system, before construction or just after implementation. This advantage is coupled with the dominance of the MTA’s rapid transit and commuter rail system in the nation. Of some 983 subway stations nationwide, the New York City subway is comprised of 469 stations in four boroughs (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx) and the Staten Island Rapid Transit (SIRT) of 22 stations in the remaining borough. In addition, the Long Island Rail Road and the Metro North Commuter Railroad, which operate 252 commuter rail stations of roughly one thousand in the nation, have 37 stations located in the four major boroughs. The study area is defined by the four boroughs of New York City (excluding Staten Island) and contains 242 square miles (628 square kilometers) of developed land and park space, served by 506 transit and commuter rail stations. Average population density is 28,700 persons per square mile (11,100 per square kilometer) and average employment density is 16,500 jobs per square mile (6,400 I per square kilometer). Peak densities exceed 100,000 residents per square mile on Manhattan's East and West Sides and 200,000 jobs per square mile in Midtown and Downtown. Throughout the Manhattan Central Business District, which contains more than half of all employment in the four boroughs, average walking distance to a subway station is 1,300 feet. Unlike NYREG, the study area of NYSTA is not subdivided into land use zones. Rather, it is comprised of a large random sample of parcels geographically coded to the nearest transit station, and the stations are located along all fixed rail routes in the four boroughs. Data Inputs On the input side, the model has been supplied with a large sample of real estate transactions in the study area to which have been affixed four distinct types of data coded to the parcel level - parcel characteristics, neighborhood characteristics, public

CITY_21MC100_006662286

NYC-WTC_000187786