It's interesting that everyone is saying it is a drastic change, when it says "Traffic is down by about 10%" (which doesn't sound like a drastic change to me).
I guess it is near a critical point where a relatively small change in traffic results in a large change in travel times, traffic jams, etc.?
Manhattan traffic was pretty much at capacity. Bumper to bumper most of the time, certainly during peak times.
Reducing traffic to 90% of capacity makes a huge difference. A little bit of room here and there allows for much smoother flow and a lot better experience for those who didn't get priced out. And almost certainly better flow for busses, which is helpful for a lot of people.
Yeah it's like fluid flow where once you reach choked flow or hit the sound speed, there's a discontinuous jump in resistance that fucks up everything.
I guess it is near a critical point where a relatively small change in traffic results in a large change in travel times, traffic jams, etc.?