A Transit Miracle on 34th Street
NYC DOT is proposing to turn Manhattan's 34th Street into a river-to-river "transitway."
In what she half-jokingly called "probably the first-ever co-presentation" between their two agencies, Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan stood with New York City Transit President Howard Roberts earlier this week to unveil the city's current Bus Rapid Transit program in its entirety -- including a plan that would "redefine the public realm" on Manhattan's 34th St. by redesigning it as the city's first "transitway."
At a forum co-hosted by the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, Transportation Alternatives, the Pratt Center for Community Development and the Straphangers Campaign, over 100 people gathered at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx Tuesday morning, just a few blocks from where the city is poised to launch its first BRT project on Fordham Road, to hear international experts explain how other programs work, and don't work, around the world. Walter Hook, executive director of New York's Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, profiled elements of BRT models in cities like Jakarta, Indonesia and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where his organization has served a consultatory role. Oscar Edmundo Diaz, also with ITDP and once a senior advisor to former Bogotá Mayor Enrique Peñalosa, detailed the workings of the wildly successful TransMilenio, which Hook described as state-of-the-art in Bus Rapid Transit.
Outlining New York's plans, Sadik-Khan previewed big changes for some of the city's major corridors.
The block between 5th and 6th Aves. would be reserved for buses and people, with cars traveling away from the CBD on either side
- 34th Street, Manhattan: DOT will repave and restripe for five lanes between Third and Ninth Avenues by the end of this year, with painted bus lanes on the north and south sides and three auto lanes in the center. Service hours will also be extended. Phase 2 calls for a 34th Street Transitway, closing the street to cars between Fifth and Sixth and installing pedestrian plazas. On either side of that block, there would be two lanes for cars heading in one direction -- toward the rivers -- while on the other half of the street, buses would have two extra-wide lanes separated from traffic. In other words, buses would constitute the only through traffic on 34th Street. According to Sadik-Khan, 34th Street BRT will eventually tie in to new East River ferry service (details to be announced next week). Here's the 34th St. slideshow.
- Hylan Boulevard, Staten Island: BRT will run from Richmond Avenue across the Verrazano Bridge. The route will include a reversible center-lane protected busway with raised boarding stations. We hope to have more on this soon.
- Fifth and Madison Avenues, Manhattan: On Fifth, dual bus lanes will be installed from 23rd to 59th Street, while dual lanes on Madison will be extended from 42nd Street to 23rd.
NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly has pledged a unit dedicated to bus lane enforcement, Sadik-Khan said. But she added that the city needs Albany to approve bus-mounted cameras as well. Though the program lost $112 million in funding with the defeat of congestion pricing, Sadik-Khan said the city has applied for federal funds to expedite BRT build-out. While the timetable for some projects is still undetermined, Bx12 Select Bus Service will launch in June as planned, and Phase 1 of 34th Street will be completed this year.
Sadik-Khan and Roberts acknowledged the gap between New York BRT and other world-class systems, where six-door, articulated, level-boarding buses travel in buffered lanes, taking on up to 42,000 passengers per direction per hour. For one thing, Roberts said the MTA has yet to find a manufacturer that can produce a bus that both meets modern BRT standards and can stand up to the city's demanding transit schedule (this bus wasn't mentioned). So for now, the city is moving ahead with components it can put into place relatively quickly: pre-board payment, signal prioritization, more buses, fewer stops, and painted (mostly curbside) lanes.
"We're not Curitiba and we're not Bogotá," said Sadik-Khan, "but we're getting there."
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How to untie the Gordian knot!! With a bold stroke!! No cars on 34th between Fifth and Sixth. Nice move JSK.
Comment by Glenn — April 17, 2008 @ 11:09 am | Link
Fantastic! Great work, DOT.
Re the bus-mounted cameras, I wonder if the anti-CP forces will revisit their "surveillance" argument?
Comment by Mark — April 17, 2008 @ 11:11 am | Link
This is really exciting. I was just having a conversation with a co-worker about the bus system in NYC. Even to seasoned subway riders, the bus system in NYC is still very opaque.
But imagine a NYC where buses move quickly & reliably through the streets on dedicated lanes; i t could really transform the way we think about moving around the city.
Comment by Nick Grossman — April 17, 2008 @ 11:30 am | Link
Somebody pinch me.
Comment by Gargamel Tralfaz — April 17, 2008 @ 11:30 am | Link
If you check out the DoT slide show bear in mind that the BRT plan for Merrick was scrapped due to community opposition led by the Queens Civic Congress.
It's good to see this happening though, I hope we can find somewhere in Queens to roll out BRT.
Comment by Heffron — April 17, 2008 @ 11:31 am | Link
Any mention of bike lanes? It would seem so easy to add a bike lane to a BRT lane that's separated by traffic.
Comment by Batty — April 17, 2008 @ 11:37 am | Link
What, better mass transit opposed by the Queens Civic Congress?
You mean that they have been disingenuous about their desire to improve public transit all this time?
Shocking!
Comment by mike — April 17, 2008 @ 11:39 am | Link
This is great! I'm hoping it can be linked to dedicated bus entrances to the Queens-Midtown and Lincoln Tunnels.
Comment by Cap'n Transit — April 17, 2008 @ 11:42 am | Link
Holy $hit!
And it's not April 1st, right?
Comment by Christian — April 17, 2008 @ 11:42 am | Link
[checks calendar]
Nope, not April 1st again -- wow!!!
Comment by J. Mork — April 17, 2008 @ 11:43 am | Link
Haha, Christian. Didn't see your post before I posted. Glad to see someone else is on the same page though.
The only thing that's missing is the date for "phase 2".
Comment by J. Mork — April 17, 2008 @ 11:46 am | Link
WOW. I am genuinely impressed at how ambitious that is. Rather than starting at the edges and working up gradually, this plan is saying "Let's just fucking do it in the middle of the city, and if it works here it'll work anywhere else too."
Comment by Josh — April 17, 2008 @ 11:46 am | Link
This article could not be more aptly titled.
I smacked myself in the face a few times...sometimes pinching isn't just enough.
Comment by R2 — April 17, 2008 @ 11:51 am | Link
Why not just spring for streetcars?
Even so, exciting!
Comment by Ian — April 17, 2008 @ 11:52 am | Link
In Paris, bus lanes are open to bikes and taxis:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8594149@N06/523769024/
Comment by Angus Grieve-Smith — April 17, 2008 @ 11:58 am | Link
How do bicyclists use this street? The car lanes go away from 6th ave. Anybody biking from the Hudson greenway and heading east would have to ride with buses. These are long blocks and the buses will probably go fast between intersections. This is a really great plan for buses and pedestrians. But it looks like 34th has just been turned into a new go street for bicyclists.
Comment by Y Bike — April 17, 2008 @ 11:58 am | Link
Astonishing moment of clarity. I used to live at 35th and 5th and thought about this every...single... day. Thank you, gods of government, for finally seeing the light and putting this gridlocked street to good use.
Comment by uSkyscraper — April 17, 2008 @ 12:02 pm | Link
By the way, the answer for bikes is to use the sidestreets. I used my bike often and not once would I ever use 34th street. Too busy with people and vehicles. One way sidestreets are the answer - work on making those more bike friendly and leave 34th St to transit and pedestrians.
Comment by uSkyscraper — April 17, 2008 @ 12:03 pm | Link
Thanks for the coverage. I'm glad that these incredibly exciting NYC plans finally went public (and at our event)! I also want to point out that Tri-State has posted the ITDP presentations from Walter Hook and Oscar Edmundo Diaz on our website. Links are on the front page: http://www.tstc.org/
Comment by Steven Higashide — April 17, 2008 @ 12:04 pm | Link
Why is Phase 1 necessary? Can't they start with the Transitway?
Comment by anon — April 17, 2008 @ 12:04 pm | Link
I reviewed the presentation and could find no mention of bicycle lanes (separated or otherwise). How are cyclists to be integrated into this 34th St makeover? Can anyone shed some insight?
Comment by Urbanis — April 17, 2008 @ 12:08 pm | Link
Letting taxis use bus lanes is a fantastic idea, mainly because you would gain the support of taxi riders and most importantly the taxi lobby...of course that would mean extensive expansions of bus lanes would be necessary.
Think about 3 or 4 lane bus/taxi lanes running through Midtown and even bus/taxi lanes on the Triboro and Van Wyck to get to the airports or the Bruckner for the express busses to the northern Bronx. With the addition of taxis the extra volume of traffic would allow for and demand the expansion of the bus lane system and further squeeze out private cars.
And for those who continually rail against taxis, remember they qualify as public transit as well and the 12,000 taxis on the streets of Manhattan take countless cars of the road. Many people who would otherwise never step foot onto public transport use taxis exclusively, without them they would drive.
And for the record, I take taxis about once or twice a month, if that.
Comment by Christian — April 17, 2008 @ 12:46 pm | Link
In Fulton Mall, Brooklyn bicyclists are seen regularly riding in the bus only corridor. I've done it many times, I am sure it won't be too bad to do that on 34th street if there is no bike lane.
Comment by Clarence — April 17, 2008 @ 12:51 pm | Link
Why should BRT service be at the mercy of taxi drivers stopping whenever they want? Where there are taxis there are stopped taxis. Allowing taxis would negate the whole point of this project. It makes zero sense. Having a bus carrying 60 people stuck behind a cab carrying one or two...where's the logic in that?
Comment by No, no taxis — April 17, 2008 @ 12:53 pm | Link
Phase II needs to be done now! I have one question, though: wouldn't it make more sense to have no cars on the block between 6th and 7th avenues? That's the block that's the most crowded with pedestrians. And do they mention removing the stupid anti-terrorism planters in front of the entrance to Penn Station? That section of sidewalk was already incredibly crowded without them and is now almost impossilbe to navigate.
Comment by kvnbklyn — April 17, 2008 @ 12:56 pm | Link
I would like to see all transit maps in all forms (posters, hand maps) include ALL modes to get everyone familiar with the system as an integrated whole. No more separate subway, bus, ferry and train information allowed!
Comment by Hilary — April 17, 2008 @ 12:57 pm | Link
I'm not saying on this project in barticular, and I'm not talking about proper BRT....
Please re-read my post.
All I'm saying is that if you allowed taxis in bus lanes such as those on Madison, 2nd, 3rd, etc then there would be a strong movement and a need to expand the lanes from 1/4 or a 1/3 of the street width to the majority of the street. Imagine bus/taxi lanes on 5 out of 6 of the lanes on 2nd Avenue. If the entire idea is to reduce car useage then taxis could be a powerful ally towards that goal
Comment by Christian — April 17, 2008 @ 12:57 pm | Link
The maps arent confusing enough already?
Comment by Mish — April 17, 2008 @ 1:10 pm | Link
This is really cool. I'm glad DOT is looking at these kinds of solutions.
One note of caution- in Pittsburgh (near Pitt I believe) there are (or were) a couple one-way streets where there is a one-way counter-flow bus lane. There used to be a few pedestrian accidents there every once in a while b/c vehicles were coming from an unexpected direction. Maybe separating the buses and making it a two-way steet will solve this, but it should be looked at carefully in an area where there are a lot of tourists.
Comment by mfs — April 17, 2008 @ 1:38 pm | Link
Incredible! Go JSK!!
Phase 3: replace the buses with sleek, low-floor electric light rail and eliminate cars across the entire 34th st corridor.
Phase 4: do the same thing on 42nd.
Phase 5: connect the trams on 34th & 42nd in a loop.
This has been studied: check it out at www.vision42.org
Comment by momos — April 17, 2008 @ 2:57 pm | Link
@momos: What I like about the 34th/42nd loop is that it links together three transit hubs: Penn, Port Authority, and Grand Central
Comment by Urbanis — April 17, 2008 @ 3:14 pm | Link
momos, I thought the exact same thing . . . the IRUM plan.
That plan used a light rail loop or streetcar system, but no reason you couldn't do the same with buses, and possibly upgrade to rail one day if merited.
Comment by Gary — April 17, 2008 @ 3:23 pm | Link
1) building the full transitway takes a lot of time and money. would you like to wait a few years for that or would you rather have something in the meantime?
2) "why not just spring for streetcars" - hope that's a joke. who will pay for/operate/maintain said streetcars?
3) putting bikes on 34th st, as others have pointed out, makes no sense. the right of way is extremely narrow and it's already a scrunch job fitting everything in it that they're proposing. why not press for class 1's on 1-way side streets with their nice long blocks and mellower traffic?
Comment by bureaucrat — April 17, 2008 @ 3:25 pm | Link
Urbanis:
Exactly, you're so on point.
The genius of the 34th/42nd loop is it provides efficient cross-town transit for each main transit node in Midtown. This leverages all existing transit infrastructure for maximum efficiency.
The Vision42 study also shows that real estate along the 42nd corridor would appreciate $1 billion in value. That's tax revenue that could be plowed back into further street improvements.
Comment by momos — April 17, 2008 @ 3:28 pm | Link
Lots of cities have a loop of some sort: Chicago, Boston, Melbourne. Sure, let's do one too!
Comment by Gargamel Tralfaz — April 17, 2008 @ 3:36 pm | Link
@momos: Yes, and I would be in heaven if we could also have direct rail connections--and bicycle corridors!--from Penn/GCT to our airports: JFK, LGA, and Newark. The synergy of these greener transit options being linked together would exponentially improve our collective quality of life.
Comment by Urbanis — April 17, 2008 @ 3:58 pm | Link
It's fine with me if bicycles are prohibited from the proposed car-free block 34th St. There's always 33rd and 35th Streets. But if DoT goes forward with the plan, it would be nice if they employed signage that made clear that the prohibition applies to bicycles as well, rather than leaving bicyclists guessing (as they currently do on 5th Ave. bet. 59th and 110th, where the right lane is much safer for bicyclists, the signage says "buses only" in the right lane, but police will inconsistently advice bicyclists to ride in the bus lane or next to it).
As for the dual bus lanes on 5th and Madison. it's a great idea, I just wish they'd extend them north of 59th. won't there be a bottleneck at 59th when two lanes worth of rush hour bus traffic have to merge into one?
Comment by BicyclesOnly — April 17, 2008 @ 4:16 pm | Link
Theres no bigger rail fan here than me Urbanis, but JFK and Newark already have pretty good connections. I'm a regular A to air train user and don't find a lot of problems with that service. And the few times I have taken transit from Newark has been pleasant as well. LaGuardia is a different story but there is a bus connection that does work to get to that particular third world location.
The air train was over a Billion dollars when built and would be twice that today. So as far as exponents, the BRT service will be the exponentially greater service and further airport connections are a lot of dollars chasing very few asses in the seat.
Comment by Niccolo Machiavelli — April 17, 2008 @ 8:04 pm | Link
to bureaucrat: who will pay for streetcars? other cities have streetcars. Portland, OREGON, has streetcars. Last time I checked, NYC had a lot more money than Portland.
As far as bikes go, don't worry about restricting bikes from the transitway. It won't work. Bicyclists use one-way streets the wrong way. They use bus lanes, they use anything that's not an expressway. This is a good thing. Do you honestly think that a messenger wouldn't use this transitway to make deliveries or to simply cross town? And if they do it, anyone can do it, really. Might as well accomodate them (us), with sufficiently wide lanes. It works in Paris, VERY well.
When speaking of connecting the green modes, let's not make the mistake of inferring that the airports represent green transportation. They are least green, next to cruise ships.
And please, please pinch me. I love you, JSK!
Comment by Louis — April 17, 2008 @ 8:59 pm | Link
Hate to rain on the love-fest, but BRT was around before JSK, and the proposed roadway changes on 34th would surely be impossible without the blessing of one Darth Primeggia.
Comment by Tuna Loaf — April 18, 2008 @ 12:20 am | Link
Ah, but Tuna, 34th Street was not a part of the BRT project back when Iris Weinshall was in sitting on the project doing almost nothing to move it forward in a meaningful way. And that's a significant change.
Likewise, these creative, innovative street designs and physically-separated lanes were not a part of the project. In fact, it was the opposite. The MTA bus people were complaining that Weinshall's traffic engineers were reluctant to make the street design changes necessary to really make BRT work. I take that with a grain of salt since one of the easiest things in the world to do is to get MTA to talk smack about DOT and vice versa.
The more significant take-away is that prior to JSK there was no real sense of partnership and collaboration between Iris and whomever the Howard Roberts counterpart was back then.
I'm sure some of the old BRT plans can be found here on Streetsblog and you can see for yourself: JSK and her people have vastly improved these plans. I think her admin deserves a ton of credit.
Primeggia is no longer such a big problem now that he's not running the agency, now that he has an actual boss who makes decisions rather than deferring everything to him.
Comment by Davis — April 18, 2008 @ 9:31 am | Link
This is quite possibly the most idiotic idea I have seen yet. 34th street is one of if not the busiest through street in Manhattan. It connects the Midtown Tunnel and the Lincoln Tunnel. It is considered the continuation of Interstate 495 and to cut off traffic on a section of that roadway would be asinine. Have these people ever seen how much traffic travels on that road and the ones surrounding it. The congestion in that area will only increase with the implementation of this pedestrian plaza. The greater reliance on buses in this area while better for the environment would not be a suitable replacement to taking away car traffic.
In an ideal world this is a great idea and would be great for the businesses on that stretch between 5th and 6th avenues. In reality this would be disastrous to commuters and businesses a like any where else. The city would be fooling itself if they think they can pull this off without suffering major consequences.
Comment by DOT MORONS — April 18, 2008 @ 9:37 am | Link
MORONS, the street will move more people back and forth, just fewer cars. Who benefits? The bus-riding majority of New Yorkers. The relatively few who drive through town on their way to and from elsewhere, contributing nothing but pollution and aggravation.
Comment by vnm — April 18, 2008 @ 9:55 am | Link
MORONS
Your reasoning is the same as that of Robert Moses, who concluded that leveling the Village to make way for a crosstown expressway was the best thing for commuters.
Fact is (and I know you know this), it's simply impossible to build sufficient road capacity for individual cars. Thus we must maximize what capacity we do have. This means using roads to move buses full of people, not cars with one person each. And as most people traversing 34th are neither in car nor bus, but are on foot, it's desirable to widen sidewalks to increase pedestrian capacity as well.
The "morons," my friend, are drivers in SUVs gridlocked on 34th: wasting time, blocking the street for buses and emergency vehicles, enriching the pockets of Middle Eastern dictators with each gallon of burned gasoline, and degrading the city's air and the planet's atmosphere.
Comment by momos — April 18, 2008 @ 12:46 pm | Link
MORONS: Use the "Thru Streets", you'll get there faster.
Why not just close all the major crosstown thoroughfares to cabs, cars, etc? Only BRT, pedestrians and bicycles.
Dedicate 2,500 police to traffic enforcement; the increased fines could pay for the extra police and fund transit. Vote on my poll!
http://bettertransitny.blogspot.com
Comment by Cameron Williams — April 18, 2008 @ 12:56 pm | Link
Wow, so this really is going to happen and not just another "study" or "proposal"? If so, this is great news! It's about time New York starts catching up to what countless other cities around the world are doing (taking their cities back from auto congestion and giving it back to the people and transit). And this is how you do it; little by little. A 34th Street project; the Fordham Road BRT, another greenway, BRT or ped/bike facility somewhere else. Before you know it, you can connect the system together and it creates a whole! This is how it was done in Copenhagen IINM.
BTW, a 34th Street busway could have REALLY come in handy last year when I worked in Midtown and needed to take the 16 from the east side to the Port Authority... ugh!!! I mean you want the definition of an excruciating experience, look no further! High-quality BRT seems like a no-brainer for a city with one of the most extensive transit systems in the country!
Comment by Johnny — April 23, 2008 @ 4:03 pm | Link
I'm sad to report that a woman on a Vélib' bike was hit by a bus and killed in Paris on May 3:
http://www.leparisien.fr/home/info/vivremieux/articles/A-PARIS-LE-PIEGE-DES-COULOIRS-DE-BUS-INTERDITS_298491735
It looks like the shared bus/bike lanes contributed to the problem. Or rather, the fact that it's not well-marked when cyclists are not allowed in a shared lane, as in this lane, because it's too narrow for a bus to pass a cyclist.
Comment by Angus Grieve-Smith — May 12, 2008 @ 11:57 pm | Link