James Davidson
ORF 467
PRT Network
Total population / 489,049Square miles (land) / 185.29
Population per square mile / 2,639.34
PassaicCounty:
PassaicCounty, located in the northern section of the state, has diversified towns and population, including both urban and rural communities. It is surrounded on the north by New YorkState, to the east by BergenCounty, to the south are Morris and EssexCounties and to the west is SussexCounty. It would be well served by a PRT system enabling transportation from the rural and residentially zoned north to the dense urban development in the south of the county. PassaicCounty is noted for its large number of lakes and is a diverse area which ranges from city and suburban areas that offer a wide range of work opportunities, entertainment, dining, and retail shopping venues to the rural tranquility and beautiful vistas of the northern portion of thecounty.
Named for the PassaicRiver, PassaicCounty has an estimated population in 2004 of 500,427 which represents an increase of 2.33% from the 2000 census. PassaicCounty is made up of 16 municipalities, the most populous of which are Paterson, Passaic and Clifton in the south of the county. The remaining 13 municipalities have less that 20,000 people each except Wayne. The county is served by 3 college campuses and over 90 lower schools. There are roughly ten large parks, 4 hospitals, 13 churches and a number of retail areas within the county.
The county can be thought of as two distinct areas the southeastern half, characterized by dense population and is very flat, and the northwestern section, which is much more rural with a rugged and mountainous landscape. There is a large amount of forests and lakes and as a result there is much smaller population density.
Existing Transportation:
The vast majority of people within the county traveled via car, only around 12% used public transportation or walked to work. The mean travel time to work for driver was 26 minutes while for public transportation was 48 minutes. The county is criss-crossed with multiple highways, 23 and 20 traveling north south and 80 and 46 traveling east west. Also, the southeastern portion of the county is served by part of the Bergen County Line (with stations: Hawthorne, Paterson, Clifton, Passaic, and Delawanna) and part of the Montclair-Boonton Line (with stations: Mountain View, Little Falls, and Great Notch).
There are also existing transportation systems that were created to improve access to PassaicCounty. Meadowlink and TransOptions are joint private and public ventures operating in southern PassaicCounty affecting the majority of the population of the county.
PRT:
Size and Coverage:
The PRT network was designed so that 90% of all trips within the county would either originate or ultimately end within 3/8ths of a mile of a PRT station. As a result, the county’s PRT network ended up with 199 stations that ubiquitously cover the southern portion of the county which has a very dense population. The northern half is much more sparsely populated and as a result in an effort to maximize the amount of trips covered by each station. While covering 90% of all trips, the network was also designed to minimize the cost of building it out and as a result the fewest number of stations possible and the least amount of guideways that still served 90% of the trips was picked. The final amount of guideways required for the PRT network to cover PassaicCounty was 309 miles, of which approximately 100 were rural and 200 were urban.
One final note on the design was the intentionally placement of PRT stations in areas where there would be future development. As a result, in a few instances in the northern half of the county there were stations built were the land was not developed enough yet to warrant the station. Also the placement of stations and guideways was done taking into the ability to purchase the land it was placed on.
Cost of Building PRT Network:
With 199 stations 100 miles of rural guideways and 200 miles of urban guideways, the estimated cost of building the network will be roughly $900 M.
Service to Employment:
Employers are scattered about PassaicCountyand the vast majority of transportation to work is done by personal vehicle. The concentration of employers is within Paterson but also Clifton, Wayne, Passaic and Totowa have a large number of employers. The work force is made up of 210,380 people that take an average of 26.4 minutes to travel to work currently. The PRT network will be able to dramatically reduce this average.
MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION TO WORKWorkers 16 years and over / 210,378
Drove alone / 149,839
Carpooled / 28,352
Public transportation (including taxicab) / 16,944
Bicycle or walked / 8,585
Motorcycle or other means / 2,165
Worked at home / 4,493
TRAVEL TIME TO WORK
Workers who did not work at home / 205,885
Less than 5 minutes / 4,684
5 to 9 minutes / 19,269
10 to 14 minutes / 28,181
15 to 19 minutes / 33,258
20 to 29 minutes / 42,461
30 to 44 minutes / 44,566
45 or more minutes / 33,466
Mean travel time to work (minutes) / 26.4
Service to Retail and Recreation:
While there are not extensive shopping options within PassaicCounty, service includes the Willowbrook Mall, all town centers and a majority of the other lighter retail areas. The PRT network revolutionizes service to recreational areas including the counties 21 parks, museums and restaurants. The network will enable travel to these recreational facilities with less travel time than cars or long pedestrian commute.
Service to Education:
With a population of nearly 130,000 enrolled in the education system, PassaicCounty’s PRT network serves the education system. Because the focus of the network is to serve residents not just visitors it is important to serve the daily travel.
Total / PopulationPopulation 3 years and over enrolled in school / 129,731
Individually
Preschool and kindergarten / 17,719
Grades 1-12 / 86,227
College / 25,785
Currently, the education system is accessed by either public school bus or personal vehicles. The PRT network has been designed to service the majority of the schools listed below within at least 3/8ths of a mile. As well the network has been designed keeping the three colleges in Passaic: PassaicCountyCommunity College, WilliamPatersonUniversity, and the Garret Mountain Campus ofBerkeleyCollege.
Municipality / Education (Elementary School, Middle School, High School)Bloomingdale / 2 ES 1 MS
Clifton / 13 ES 2 MS 2 HS
Haledon / 1 ES 1 HS
Hawthorne / 1 HS 1 MS 3 ES
Little Falls Township / 3 ES 1 HS
North Haledon / 1 MS 1 ES
Passaic / 16 ES 1 HS 1 Adult Education
Paterson / 32 ES 3 HS 1 Adult Education
Pompton Lakes / 2 ES 1 MS 1 HS
Prospect Park / 1 ES
Ringwood / 3 ES 1 MS
Totowa / 1 MS 1 ES
Wanaque / 2 ES 1 HS
Wayne Township / 9 ES 2 MS 2 HS
West Milford Township / 6 ES 1 HS
West Paterson / 2 ES 1 MS
Service to Housing:
The PRT network in PassaicCounty has station in or near most residential communities. Because the heavily populated residential areas are primarily in the south the network is much more densely populated. However, the sparsely populated northern half has some housing units that will not be near a station. In order to spare cost some areas were left intentionally out of the design. Most homeowners will be well served by the network. The network can access most housing areas, places of employment, shopping and entertainment areas.
Demographic breakdown:
Area in Square Miles / Density per square mile of Land AreaName / Population / Housing / Land / Water / Total / Population / Housing Units
Bloomingdale / 7,610 / 2,940 / 8.8 / 0.41 / 9.21 / 864.69 / 334.06
Clifton / 78,672 / 31,060 / 11.3 / 0.1 / 11.4 / 6,965.20 / 2,749.89
Haledon / 8,252 / 2,906 / 1.16 / 0 / 1.16 / 7,111.37 / 2,504.32
Hawthorne / 18,218 / 7,419 / 3.4 / 0.02 / 3.42 / 5,364.87 / 2,184.76
Little Falls / 10,855 / 4,797 / 2.75 / 0.07 / 2.83 / 3,941.83 / 1,741.96
North Haledon / 7,920 / 2,675 / 3.44 / 0.03 / 3.48 / 2,300.58 / 777.03
Passaic / 67,861 / 20,194 / 3.11 / 0.1 / 3.21 / 21,804.75 / 6,488.63
Paterson / 149,222 / 47,169 / 8.44 / 0.29 / 8.73 / 17,675.36 / 5,587.17
PomptonLakes / 10,640 / 4,024 / 2.97 / 0.19 / 3.16 / 3,585.73 / 1,356.11
ProspectPark / 5,779 / 1,889 / 0.48 / 0 / 0.48 / 12,043.70 / 3,936.76
Ringwood / 12,396 / 4,221 / 25.25 / 2.78 / 28.03 / 490.96 / 167.18
Totowa / 9,892 / 3,630 / 4 / 0.05 / 4.05 / 2,474.80 / 908.16
Wanaque / 10,266 / 3,500 / 7.98 / 1.23 / 9.21 / 1,286.78 / 438.71
Wayne / 54,069 / 19,218 / 23.82 / 1.37 / 25.19 / 2,269.52 / 806.67
West Milford / 26,410 / 9,909 / 75.44 / 4.97 / 80.41 / 350.09 / 131.35
West Paterson / 10,987 / 4,497 / 2.96 / 0.14 / 3.09 / 3,715.53 / 1,520.77
Value of PRT to PassaicCounty:
PassaicCounty would be well served by a Personal Rapid Transport network to connect the urban southern half of the county to the rural north. In the densely populated south the network the travel time would be dramatically decreased. The mean travel time to work has increased by 4 minutes since 1990 and the increasing population will mean an increased travel time if a more efficient transportation network is not developed. The network should serve roughly 90% of all trips from most origins and to most destinations.