Select Bus Service's new low-floor buses will make it easier for seniors to get on and off the bus. Image: Second Avenue Sagas.

Last night the MTA and DOT continued their tour of East Side community boards, presenting plans for better bus service and safer streets to the Manhattan CB 11 transportation committee. Attendance was low, but the community board made clear that its chief concern was the plan's impact on senior citizens.

CB 11 represents the area east of Fifth Avenue between 96th and 142nd Streets. Because the MTA and DOT are still determining whether buses will run next to the curb or in an offset lane in this district, Joe Barr, DOT's director of transit development, noted that he's looking to hear specifically where the bus lane should run. The committee lacked both a quorum and its chair, however, so a more thorough discussion of the two designs was tabled until next month's meeting.

The few questions that surfaced from CB members mainly underscored concerns for seniors. Concerns that were, for the most part, easily resolved. After Barr mentioned that the sidewalk on bus bulbs would be raised to make boarding more level, one board member asked whether bus riders would have to step up onto the higher curb. Her worry dissipated after Barr explained that there wouldn't be a step up, only a gradual slope.

It didn't come up in the Q&A session, but older New Yorkers stand to benefit from the plan's safety improvements, with pedestrian refuge islands creating shorter, more manageable distances to cross on the East Side's wide avenues. 

Another issue that didn't surface last night but falls right in the middle of the CB 11 district is street safety near the Triborough and Willis Avenue bridges. When the East Side plans were first presented last month, Elena Conte of the Pratt Center for Community Development suggested that planners consider improvements for pedestrians and cyclists who use the Willis Avenue Bridge and encounter extremely hazardous conditions near the foot of the Triborough.

"It would be a mistake if they don’t look at the bike-pedestrian safety around the Triborough Bridge, even though it technically might be outside the scope" of the project, Conte told Streetsblog. "That area is crying out for it, it’s a horror show, and it’s important to both the South Bronx and East Harlem."

The presentation did reveal a few new details about the plan. Barr said planners are looking at creating a midday window when regulations against parking in the exclusive bus lanes would not be in effect, so businesses can receive curbside deliveries. Under current plans, he said, SBS service would run on weekdays until 11 p.m.

In addition, Benson told the crowd that some of the pedestrian refuge islands would only consist of paint at first. "We won't be able to build them all in one season," he said. "We'll be playing a bit of catch-up." Finally, while the renderings of the design still show flexible bollards between the bike lane and the floating parking lane, those bollards are no longer part of the plan. Instead, there will only be paint, as on Grand Street.

The Kent Avenue lane at work, with squad car. Photo: i'm not sayin, i'm just sayin.

Convened by City Council members Yassky and Reyna, the meeting got off to a rough start after MTA reps delivered news about service cuts that will affect the neighborhood. The tone was set for a contentious discussion of Kent Avenue. "Business owners came out against it," said Sholom Brody, a member of TA's Brooklyn Committee. "The problem is 'no standing'; they're really upset about the stretch between Clymer and Division Avenue," a small portion of the lane's full length.

The parking situation has already been through community board review. In April, CB1 approved plans for the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, which would offset the removal of parking spots on Kent by identifying new spaces on side streets. (The current bike lane is a stopgap until the Greenway is built.) All told, DOT made three presentations to the community board about the project [PDF]. Opponents now say this process was insufficient.

An NYPD ticket blitz immediately after the parking rules took effect appears to have inflamed opposition, and the usual canards, of course, are in full effect. According to Brody, one bike lane opponent claimed to have seen only 20 cyclists use the lane over the course of a full day, a figure that DOT refuted with its own 12-hour count -- 500 cyclists.

Streetsblog regular Dave "Paco" Abraham inspected the new lane on a recent ride organized by the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative. Any hindrance to drop-offs and deliveries caused by the "no standing" rule need not give rise to a hot-blooded confrontation, he says. "The problem is very workable and the BGI and CB1 supporters readily admit it should be addressed and corrected."

Fine-tuning is already underway. "DOT has been working with local businesses and the community to address changes brought about by the project and will continue to look for ways to minimize any impacts," said spokesman Scott Gastel. The agency has set aside a bus pickup and drop-off zone outside one school and approved a loading zone for a local business.

Despite signals that the kinks will be worked out, a vocal opposition based in the neighborhood's Hasidic community is not embracing a conciliatory tone, to put it mildly.

All indications are that the all-out war approach is a non-starter. "We often see issues like Kent Avenue turned into a referendum on bicycling. That doesn't get us anywhere," said TA's Wiley Norvell. "Turning Kent back into a dangerous truck route with no provision for the hundreds of bicyclists who use it every day would be reckless."

Some interesting nuggets are coming out of DOT bike coordinator Josh Benson's ongoing Q & A with readers of the Times' City Room blog. In yesterday's installment, Benson outlined upcoming additions to the Queens bike network: 

In Queens, specifically, we have a number of bike lane projects either under way or on the drawing board for the coming months, including:

• 35th Street, Astoria (1.7 miles)
• Linden Boulevard, St. Albans (3 miles)
• Sunnyside Connector to the Queensboro Bridge, Woodside, Sunnyside, Sunnyside Gardens (5.2 miles)
• Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City, Astoria (7 miles).

Then, responding to a question about the need for more indoor bike parking, he said a zoning amendment to mandate bike amenities in or around certain buildings is in the works (no sure thing, of course, but certainly encouraging). A City Planning spokeswoman told Streetsblog the department is aiming to introduce the amendment by the end of this year. Benson's full response comes after the jump.

Many readers have mentioned this issue and indeed a Department of City Planning study confirmed that one of the biggest obstacles to increasing bicycle commuting in NYC is not safety, but rather the lack of secure bike parking. That is why in PlaNYC 2030, Mayor Bloomberg committed to pursue legislation that would require large commercial buildings to make provisions for bicycle storage either on site or reasonably nearby. The Department of City Planning has been following through on this and they are working on a Proposed Bicycle Parking Text Amendment which will need to go through public review. This amendment would require bike parking in new buildings. Amending the zoning codes can be a long process, so we are also exploring the possibility of other legislative avenues.

In the meantime we are trying to lead by example in city government. As I mentioned, department headquarters provides indoor bike parking and the Department of City-Wide Administrative Services offers bike parking for all city employees in Lower Manhattan at 100 Gold Street and 280 Broadway.

I would encourage readers to begin a frank discussion with their building managers or owners about the importance of indoor bike parking to the health of the building’s employees and for the environment of New York City. As more property managers and owners become educated on this issue it will become easier for us to enact and enforce measures to ensure that indoor bike parking becomes the norm, not the exception.

A third round of answers is due out later today. 

A tipster sends this shot from earlier today of a newly-painted bike lane on Prince Street.

After the jump, DOT bike program coordinator Josh Benson answers a question from a City Room reader about painted lanes.

Q: I’ve seen green paint in the bike lanes in some neighborhoods (like Brooklyn Heights). How do I get them painted in my neighborhood? — Posted by Adamsky

A [Benson]: The high-visibility green bicycle lane on Henry Street in Brooklyn Heights is an experimental treatment we are testing on bicycle lanes where the potential for bicycle/motor vehicle conflict is high. It is our belief that the green markings will improve motorist awareness of bicycle lanes at key conflict points. Test locations include curbside bicycle lanes, such as Henry Street and Adams Street in Brooklyn, and Prince and Bleecker Streets in Manhattan and complex intersections such as Ninth Avenue and 14th Street in Manhattan. We are continuing to collect data on how the high-visibility green treatment affects driver and cyclist behavior as well as the durability of the treatment itself. If the treatment proves effective and durable, it will be integrated regularly into new bicycle lane projects to highlight points of potential conflict to motorists and cyclists. 

As of this writing, over 100 comments have come in since the thread opened yesterday afternoon. While many concern the usual stuff -- cars encroaching into bike lanes, problems finding secure parking, etc. -- some are more esoteric. One reader suggests a city tax credit for bike commuters, while another wants city-issued baseball bats to keep drivers in line. "Ed" wonders if Benson is BikeSnob, and "BikerGrl2008" cuts to the chase with comment #1:

There’s a spot open on my bicycle built for two. Will you join me?

That you, Julia?

Photo: City Room

The Department of Transportation revealed plans for New York City's first-ever physically-separated bike lane, or "cycle track," at a Manhattan Community Board 4 meeting last night. The new bike path will run southbound on Ninth Avenue from W. 23rd to W. 16th Street in Manhattan. Unlike the typical Class II on-street bike lane in which cyclists mix with motor vehicle traffic, this new design will create an exclusive path for bicycles between the sidewalk and parked cars.

DOT's plan also includes traffic signals for bicyclists, greenery-filled refuge areas for pedestrians, a new curbside parking plan, and signalized left-turn lanes for motor vehicles. "The left turn lane will be immediately adjacent to the bike lane," DOT Bicycle Program Director Josh Benson explained to CB4 members. "As a cyclist you’ll know that if there’s a car next to you, that car is turning left." Likewise, left-turning drivers' view of cyclists will be completely unobscured. The bike lane is 10-feet wide to accommodate street cleaning and emergency vehicles.

DOT planners consulted with Danish urban designer Jan Gehl on the plan, according to Transportation Alternatives Deputy Director Noah Budnick. "They are drawing from international best-practice and being smart about talking to other engineers and planners who have implemented these types of designs," Budnick said. "They really thought holistically about everything that is going on on the street."

These types of physically-separated on-street bike lanes, increasingly referred to as "cycle tracks," are commonly found in bike-friendly cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam. Livable Streets advocates have long pushed DOT to experiment with this type of bike lane design in New York City. After Benson's presentation, Community Board 4's transportation committee voted to approve the DOT plan which is part of a larger pedestrian safety and public space initiative around the intersection of 9th Avenue and 14th Street.

The new bike lane design is a break from previously stated DOT policy. In March, during discussion of a possible Houston Street bike lane, DOT officials told Manhattan's Community 2 that physically-separated bike lanes should only be installed on streets with a maximum of 8 intersections per mile to ensure fewer conflicts with turning vehicles.

A copy of the presentation DOT made at last night's Community Board meeting can be found here.

This comes from Ian Dutton, a member of Manhattan's Community Board 2 who has been fighting to improve bicyclist safety on Houston Street:

Those of you who have been following the saga know that last year, Manhattan's CB2 and neighborhood residents called for DOT to implement safe space for bicyclists into the reconstruction project for W. Houston St.

At last month's CB2 Traffic & Transportation Committee meeting, Ryan Russo and Josh Benson of DOT presented an alternative proposal for a bike route based on parallel streets, Bleecker St. and Prince St., citing safety concerns particularly involving turning traffic and trucks on W. Houston St. The board initially was skeptical that there was nothing DOT could envision to make W. Houston St. safe for the many cyclists that use Houston St., but Russo and Benson were firm that the reason they could not propose a plan for Houston St. was safety-based and not on DOT's insistence of accommodating increasingly heavy traffic volumes.

Now this month, at the Tuesday, April 10 meeting of the CB2 Traffic & Transportation Committee, the second item on the agenda is a public discussion of the DOT's proposed alternative plan.

It is crucial that supporters of the plan make their feelings clear at this committee meeting to counter arguments that no one favors this plan for bike lanes or that there will be negative effects of removing parking from several blocks. This alternative plan in fact has many benefits for cyclists, allowing for designated space on streets that are much more pleasant to ride on than Houston St. while still creating a crosstown corridor that links to the Hudson River Greenway.

What you can do:

1. Attend the committee meeting and make sure that you voice your support! The meeting is on Tuesday, April 10, at 6:30pm, at the LGBT Community Services Center, 208 W. 13th St. between 7th Ave. and Greenwich Ave. (ask at the front desk for the room assignment).

2. Write a letter to DOT and CB2. Visit http://www.bikehoustonst.net to download a Word file -- the first page gives you some suggested points and the second page is an outline that you can fill in with a few sentences of your own. Then email it back to info@bikehoustonst.net.

If you are interested in contributing to the development and improvement of New York City’s bicycle network, show up at this meeting tonight:

The transportation committee of Manhattan Community Board 6 will hear a presentation by Josh Benson, the Department of Transportation’s Bicycle Program Director, regarding the river-to-river bike lane project for 20th and 21st Streets.

On 20th Street between First Avenue and the FDR Expressway (where Stuyvesant Town
and Peter Cooper Village annexed 21st Street), DOT will be removing a motor vehicle travel lane in each direction in order to stripe the bike lane and make the connection to the East River Greenway. You can be sure the Forces of Convenient Motoring will be there and they will not be happy about this one.

Come out, lend your support, and if it seems appropriate, give DOT a push to experiment with physically-separated bike lanes:

7:00 pm
NYU Medical Center
550 First Avenue
Classroom D

At the big Houston Street bike lane meeting a couple of weeks ago, DOT's Ryan Russo and Josh Benson told Manhattan's Community Board 2 that physically-separated bike lanes should only be installed on streets with a maximum of 8 intersections per mile. Houston Street has 18 intersections per mile which, they believe, makes it not a good spot for a Class I bike lane.

Ninth Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn has exactly 8 intersections per mile. It therefore meets DOT's own standards for when a physically-separated, on-street bike lane is warranted! On top of that, neighborhood people are upset about the idea of a bike lane preventing them from occassionally double-parking to load and unload their cars. A physically-separated bike lane might be an answer to those concerns and a real win-win.

The lanes could be put between the sidewalk and parked cars as is done in so many great biking cities around the world. Here is an example from Copenhagen, Denmark:

Another possibility would be to run both lanes between the sidewalk and parked cars along the southern side of 9th Street, away from the double-parking commotion in front of the grocery store, post office and car service station. Here is a two-way bike lane I saw in Paris, France recently (no one is riding because it is in the middle of a hail storm):

It's just Thermoplast. Can't we experiment in New York City?

Last Tuesday night Ryan Russo and Josh Benson from the Department of Transportation presented a plan to Manhattan's Community Board 2 to create a safer east-west bike route across Lower Manhattan. With three cyclists having been killed on Houston Street over the last two years and major reconstruction of the street currently underway, members of CB2 led by Ian Dutton have been advocating for  a physically-separated bike lane to be built on Houston Street.

I'm not going to have time to do the meeting justice right now and I hope that people will add to this report in the comments section. The gist of it is this: DOT argues that Houston Street, with its busy, multi-lane traffic and numerous cross streets -- 18 intersections per mile, Russo said -- wouldn't work all that well as a two-way protected bike lane. DOT's Powerpoint presentation is above (Is Streetsblog becoming some sort of New York City government agency Powerpoint clearinghouse?).

Everyone, however, agrees that Lower Manhattan needs a safe, convenient east-west bike route. But rather than directing bicyclists to Houston Street DOT proposes placing the bike lanes on less busy streets that parallel Houston -- Prince and Bleecker. The plan, Russo said, is similar to the Bike Boulevard program in Berkeley, California and the popular Dean and Bergen bike lanes that parallel Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. One other possible benefit to Livable Streets advocates: The proposal includes the removal of nearly 200 parking spaces.

Community Board members were impressed with the thoughtfulness that went in to DOT's study. Russo and Benson "changed some minds" and the presentation "was well received" according to transportation committee chair Brad Hoylman. "We reiterated our support for a Houston Street bike lane but stated that the alternative was a viable option that should be examined further with continued community input."

Bonus Weekend Essay Project: Compare and contrast the DOT bike plan for Lower Manhattan and the process that brought it about versus the one-way streets plan presented last night in Park Slope.

Update: We have a little bit more background on Benson. He served as the DOT Bike Program's Deputy Director in the early 2000's. Word has it, he left DOT to attend grad school. Even less reliable word has it, he got a master's degree in planning at Columbia and spent some time working the New York City Housing Authority before being invited back to DOT to take over as Director. As always, we are trying to confirm this information and have a call in to DOT's press office that is not being returned. If you know any more about Benson or have any educated analysis on what is now happening with DOT's Bike Program, feel free to drop a line to StreetsBlog.