Mark Walker, I find that the between-car-darters usually appear not in the middle of blocks, but a few measly yards before a crosswalk. They amaze me as much as the people who will drop litter on the floor within sight of a trashcan.

Ignoring the bad-pedestrian behavior, this intersection sucks, and is extremely dangerous, given the sheer volumes of pedestrian traffic that cross this intersection at all times of the day & night.

It's not like most NYC intersections - the north side of First Avenue remains "don't-walk" for a significantly longer period than the south side, giving eastbound cars a left-turn signal to head north on First Ave. Meanwhile, pedestrians on the south side of the street are lit & free to cross during this period. Everyone in NYC is accustomed to start walking as soon as cars stop, this left-turn light is idiosyncratic & catches everyone by surprise. Sit at this intersection, and you'll see people habitually start crossing at every interval, and many are caught by surprise.

I'd argue that it's an extremely bad (and dangerous) design, and a complete holdover from the old DOT=Department-Of-Traffic days. Given what DOT has done at Atlantic/Flatbush, this intersection is a prime candidate for a redesign.

Furthermore, everyone drives like a lunatic through this intersection - especially those last few cars running the light to make that left turn on First Ave. I'd bet the CrashStat data on this intersection isn't pretty.

As I work harder each day to follw the TA "Biking Rules," my sympathy wanes for pedestrians who show no concern for their own safety by simply walking out into the roadway without looking, forcing the responsibility for avoiding a crash onto others. Without question, bicyclists must always yield to pedestrians (with or without the right of way) in order to avoid a crash, but that is very different from saying that pedestrians "always have the right of way."

How stupid, selfish and shortsighted can people be. We had a two decade experience of the effect of lower and higher gas prices.

In the 1970s the U.S. faced economic blackmail and stagnation due to soaring oil prices and embargoes. The result was a huge increase in conservation, extensive increase in local fossil fuel supplies, and extensive investment in alternative energy.

So OPEC crashed the price of gas, and within a decade the U.S. oil and gas industry was devastated, conservation disappeared, alternative energy went bust, and we ended up more vulnerable that before. And then prices soared.

People can't understand history over two decades? We just has the same cycle repeated over just two years! And still they won't put in place a tax system that keeps fossil fuel prices, particularly oil prices, high enough to make alternatives, conservation and domestic gas production profitable.

The MTA would not comment on whether funds, if they become available for operating costs, would be used to eliminate or reduce fare increases.

How about just reducing the damn deficit or even restoring the station agents, instead of resorting to yet another fare gimmick. "Look, we cut the fare! Yes, we're going to have to raise it next year, but we cut the fare!!!11!!1"