Why New York City traffic is getting worse

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - New York City traffic has never been worse than it is now. So why is that?

Transportation engineer Sam Schwartz would know. Known as "Gridlock Sam," he is one of the leading transportation experts in the country. He says a major contributor is the surge of car services such as Uber, Lyft, and Via in the past two years. Schwartz said these services have grown by 500 percent and have now eclipsed the number of trips that yellow taxi drivers make.

Compounding the problem are the constant delays and cancellations on the subway, the LIRR, and New Jersey Transit, which is driving more people to use the car services, Schwartz said. He said almost a direct correlation exists between the deterioration of the subway and the growth of car services.

On top of that, construction is going on just about everywhere you look and more New Yorkers are driving.

AAA's Robert Sinclair Jr. says the number of cars on the streets of New York City and the suburbs has skyrocketed. In the last five years, car registrations have grown by 149,000 in New York City and 93,000 on Long Island.

Sinclair also pointed to e-commerce adding to traffic because the as people buy more products online, more delivery vehicles -- FedEx, UPS, U.S. Postal Service -- are adding to traffic congestion.

Both Sinclair and Schwartz expect the gridlock to get worse. In fact, Schwartz says that traffic will get so bad that we'll look back on this as the "good old days."