Streetsblog New York City

Hmmm, let’s see…

Should we rely on the opinion of clueless Staten Island pols who know nothing about transportation policy and have generally been opposed to any mass transit improvement other than making the ferries free?

Or should we rely on data and experience from bus systems in other cities showing that the center-lane BRT systems work way better than bus lanes that run along side the curb?

I’m going to go with the Parisians and Colombians on this one. Bring on the center-lane BRT. Do it right, DOT and NYCT. Don’t let these idiot Staten Island pols ruin what could easily be one of the nation’s finest and most exemplary bus rapid transit projects.

BRT makes little sense compared to streetcars, which are cleaner, faster, easier to use, and cheaper to operate.

Can someone explain the BRT fad? Is it all about start-up costs?

When you look at a given stretch of Hylan Blvd, center-lane BRT makes little sense as pictured here- because it will leave a total of 3 lanes (both ways) for traffic, something unacceptable to Staten Islanders. That’s the pols’ short-sighted perspective. But, looking carefully over the whole length of the street, one can see that there are a number of extra-wide spots where the turning bays are, which can be converted into lane-wide stations. Some parts of the Boulevard may still need to be reconstructed, perhaps even at the expense of the sidewalk, but the problem looks solvable.

Having said that, does the center lane vs. curb lane argument even make any sense? Who will ride these buses?

The fact is, very few people live on Hylan or within a 10-minute walk of it. People will walk to the bus or take a local bus to the BRT only in rush hour, when there’s frequent service and lack of parking. All other times they will drive. The real problem is Staten Island pols’ (and Bloomberg’s, through the Staten Island Task Force) obsession with suburbanization, downzoning and parking lots.

For Manhattan-bound commuters, saving 10 minutes to get to the R (the slowest subway in the system) instead of taking an express bus is useless. At all other times driving is preferable because Staten Island is a suburb, and changing that, even if we threw out the zoning laws tomorrow, would require a decade and another real estate boom.

The North Shore is a different story. Over there they should save the North Shore rail bed for rail instead of converting it to BRT.

A Staten Islander’s opinion? The politicians of Staten Island represent the people of Staten Island very well. I reccomend that the money be spent somewhere else. Some place that it would be appreciate it.