Broadway ticket sales drop, industry reps blame pedestrian plazas

The Times Square traffic jams, scary Elmos, and naked painted ladies are scaring suburbanites away from Broadway.

A recent survey of Great White Way attendance found ticket sales have dropped dramatically among suburban ticket-goers to Broadway in recent years — and industry reps are blaming problems that have arisen since the city installed pedestrian plazas.

 

In 2010 — the year the pedestrian plazas went up and closed off huge swaths of Times Square — some 21% of all ticket sales went to people from Long Island, Westchester and Rockland Counties, and northern New Jersey, according to the Broadway League’s “Demographics of the Broadway Audience” survey.

That number has dropped since then to 15.6% in the 2014-2015 season, which just passed.

New York City ticket sales have remained steady — 17.1% in for 2010-2011 season going to 17.7% last year — while domestic and foreign tourists sales have climbed.

Sales to foreigners went from 14.1% to 17.5% during the same time, while attendance by American tourists went from 47.6% to 49.2%.

Charlotte St. Martin, president of the Broadway League, said that the suburban dropoff corresponds to the pedestrian plazas creation, which brought traffic jams and a “carnival atmosphere” to the area.

That atmosphere, she said, includes the topless panhandlers known as “desnudas,” aggressive CD hawkers, and money-grubbing costumed characters who take advantage of the pedestrian traffic.

“I call it the misery index,” she said.

She believes the dropoff is seen in suburbanites and not other groups because they tend to drive in, and they are therefore most impacted by the traffic jams that the plazas have brought.

Since they were instituted, Broadway was closed to cars from 42nd Street to 47th Street, and many east-west turns were prohibited.

Robert Sinclair, the manager of media relations at AAA Northeast New York Region, said the findings from the survey are no surprise to him.

Since the plazas were installed, “it’s extremely difficult to drive in and see a Broadway show in a car,” he said.

Part of the problem is construction around the plazas, which began as an experiment and are currently being made permanent.

That construction is expected to continue through the end of 2017.

Benjamin Goldstein, 42, was visiting the Crossroads of the World with his family from Florida on Sunday and said the “chaos” and constant horn honking is maddening, but that’s the allure of Times Square.

"I think I've had at least four costumed characters try to get me to take a picture. It's a bit strange. I get they're doing a job but it feels like you can't escape them."

Despite this he'd still come back.

"It seems like every time you come back, there's something new here. That's worth another visit."

The city has convened a task force to try to figure out ways to deal with the quality of life issues that have sprung up in Times Square in recent years.

Last week, a Batman character was busted for swiping $50 from an Irish tourist — the latest in a long line of costumed character to land in cuffs.