This week, the MTA published a forward-looking needs assessment (PDF) for New York City’s transit system that was greatly influenced by our 2011 Behind the Curb study.

Our ground-breaking Behind the Curb report detailed that the number of outer borough residents who travel to work either within their own borough, or to another outer borough (for instance, from Staten Island to Brooklyn or from the Bronx to Queens) has been increasing much faster than the number who make the more traditional trip into Manhattan. The study also details that the four boroughs outside of Manhattan have accounted for most of the city’s new jobs over the past decade, thanks to rapid growth in sectors like health care and education. However, we showed that New York City’s public transit service had not kept pace with these trends and called on MTA officials to expand and improve transit service in the boroughs outside of Manhattan.

The findings from our report were echoed by the MTA’s new needs assessment, which focuses on several changes in New York commuting patterns, including more trips within the outer boroughs, the growth of outer borough jobs in health care, education and tech, and the rise of new regional business hubs. The MTA also announced a number of subway and bus improvements outside of Manhattan.