Comments on: Bruce Schaller Profiles a “City in Flux”

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 07:24:04 +0000

More people should use http://www.GishiGo.com for medium trips, or even shorter ones to common destinations like events or to avoid hassle with airports. This method of travel is growing. GishiGo is outstanding network design.

By: carrie

carrie — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 14:36:04 +0000

"Autos account for an estimated 75% of vehicle miles traveled in the five boroughs."

It'd be good to know the percentage of commuters those autos carry v public transit.

By: JK

JK — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 12:57:39 +0000

This is the best, most concise, and insightful synthesis of NYC transportation. A must read for anyone who wants to understand what is going on the city's streets and rails. Schaller weaves together a clear eyed, statistical picture of the city that makes an overwhelming case for big changes.

Together with the Tri-State Transportation Campaigns "Citizens Plan" (which needs updating)this is the fundamental text for knowledgeable NYC transportation mavens.

By: WIll

WIll — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 11:52:10 +0000

I'd like to see this breakdown by borough or even by distance from midtown. It seems likely that those short car trips become far more frequent as you get further out and are relatively rare in the city center. For people further out, lets assume for a second they NEED a car - they have to pick up something that is too big for a bike say - the further out there aren't even cabs they could take which would at least provide street parking relief. You can talk to the Medallion owners about that. Outer borough physical infrastructure is also not conducive to changing these numbers, there needs to be more effort on rebuilding the outer boroughs like city villages to reduce the need to drive 5 miles to get a loaf of bread - thats going to be a while. Meanwhile 2/3 of a mile is roughly 13 Manhattan blocks. That's not a short walk.

I think this is far more complex than made out here - unfortunately. But damn straight they should support the pedicabs - they certainly are well positioned to reduce short taxi travel in midtown.

By: crzwdjk

crzwdjk — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 01:59:24 +0000

Cutting out private car trips that are 3 miles or less would reduce overall traffic in NYC by over a third. A 3 mile bike ride, even at very conservative speeds is somewhere around 15-20 minutes. I don't think that walking to the car, driving around, finding parking, parking the car, and walking the rest of the way to the destination is likely to be any faster than biking.

By: Aaron Naparstek

Aaron Naparstek — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 23:28:19 +0000

Thanks. I fixed the link.

By: epc

epc — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 22:28:17 +0000

I get a 404 for the PDF link here but found it here: http://www.schallerconsult.com/pub/cityinflux.pdf

By: d

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 21:03:41 +0000

"And here's another: 10% of auto trips are under one-half mile, 22% are under 1 mile and 56% are under 3 miles -- distances readily served by bicycle."

Or the pedicab. Too bad Quinn wants to limit their numbers.