Countdown clocks, a common sight in DC’s Metro system and at some bus stops in the region, may be making their way to New York City’s bus stops. In New York City’s latest city-wide budget vote, nearly 11,000 people voted to specifically fund more countdown clocks at bus stops.
While the connection between to increased bus ridership may not always be clear, Next City’s Will Doig explains that it reduces the “waiting penalty” feeling of waiting longer than one has actually been waiting:
Transit authorities quantify this penalty and take it into account when planning their systems. In New York, the MTA believes that the waiting penalty is 1.75 minutes. In other words, a minute of waiting feels like one minute and 45 seconds of riding, which is why a would-be bus rider might easily give up on waiting for the bus and hail a cab instead.
… Interestingly, Boston’s transit authority, the MBTA, thinks the ratio is higher — it says one minute of waiting feels like a full 2.25 minutes of riding. This could be because Boston’s transit system is simpler than New York’s, which makes Bostonians less accustomed to transferring. Or perhaps the MBTA thinks Bostonians are simply less patient than New Yorkers.
Either way, if the waiting penalty theory holds, it means countdown clocks have a utility that goes beyond simply calming nerves. Should New York successfully roll them out, they might actually put more passengers on the bus.