Let me start by saying that I enjoy the Longwood Galleria and its restaurants and am a regular patron and encourage others to go there. But what did they have in mind by hiring this billboard truck to drive through the Longwood area to advertise?Why would anyone elect to send a truck through the intersection of Longwood and Brookline Avenues, one of the most congested intersections in the City of Boston?
Traffic congestion is measured by Level of Service, as reflected in the chart below.
As you travel down Brookline Avenue on the route taken by this truck, you approach the intersection of Longwood Avenue. It is rated as Level F in the morning and level D in the evening. Here's what the Level F ranking looks like.
It shows an average delay of over 80 seconds (often over 5 minutes), a volume/capacity ratio greater than 1.0, and a queue of almost 400 feet of vehicles waiting to get through the intersection.There has to be a better way to generate business for these excellent restaurants than by contributing to the congestion.
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ReplyDeleteI really hate those trucks that drive around spewing greenhouse gases for the sole purpose of advertising. Not Yummy is right.
Well I missed that particular congested intersection on my recent Boston visit, but I am interested in your measurement metric, clearly reflecting your infrastructure background. I see that HCM stands for Highway Capacity Manual (which I never heard of before), and then a visit to the FHA website disclosed all sorts of congestion-measuring metrics.
ReplyDeleteNever know what you're going to learn about what subject on this blog; thanks.
nonlocal
Clearly an effective piece of marketing. For one, presumably while sitting in traffic, you noticed. Second, you've commented on it. Finally, you've started a debate on not just the effectiveness of the campaign or environmental impact, but the quality and speed of their offerings as well.
ReplyDeleteWhat if every Chief of a medical department were responsible for documenting quantitatively provider and patient traffic flows (not just patient volume) within their service, and then to review them periodically for progress with a systems engineer. Hospitals would be guaranteed to be surprised at the blocking trucks you find, and the waste you can eliminate.
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