The Long, Ugly Road to a Federal Transportation Plan
Come September 30, Congress has to have a plan in hand to fund the nation's trains, buses, bikes, bridges and roads -- or pass an extension of the 2005 federal bill, locking in the same spending patterns that have nurtured Americans' addiction to the automobile. But the odds are that you haven't heard much about how the process works. What has to happen in order for Congress to meet that September deadline? Let's break it down a bit.
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Urbanis
In the first design, I like that the cycle track is bi-directional, which provides more commuting flexibility for cyclists. The only drawback is that pedestrians might be tempted to walk in the bicycle lanes (as can be seen all over Broadway) because they border the overcrowded sidewalks. To prevent this, I would make the bus shelter island adjoin the sidewalk and move the protected bike lane between the bus lane and the automobile lanes.
in response to World-Class Avenues for the East Side: What Great BRT Looks Like
Glenn
I think the whole local bus to SBS transfer thing is over-rated, but depending on how many SBS stations there are, the local bus could come over for just those stops. For instance, if SBS is only 96th, 79th and 57th Streets, it would be easy. If it also includes 86th, 72nd, 68th, then it might be harder to go back and forth. It might also be up to the driver's discretion whether the traffic is too great to attempt a cross-over...
in response to World-Class Avenues for the East Side: What Great BRT Looks Like
shishi
Contraflow would work so much better for the BRT on both Avenues. In the first example you could have one bus lane, a cut in for the local and express to pull over, and a single bike lane. Since the Avenues are one-ways for traffic this would create options in both directions. With the bike lane/track in the middle with bike traffic lights you can easily accomidate all the modes of transit easily.
in response to World-Class Avenues for the East Side: What Great BRT Looks Like
Lindsey
"Taking the first one that comes" will be a thing of the past when the MTA employs countdown clocks, web apps and a call-in service that will track when the next bus will arrive. check out: http://trimet.org/arrivals/index.htm
in response to World-Class Avenues for the East Side: What Great BRT Looks Like
Glenn
Interesting designs, but I don't really like the buses being so far away from the curb.
My favorite idea from east to west on Second Avenue's 7 lanes would be:
1. bike lane
2. Protected SBS lane
3. SBS station/parking
4-6. Traffic lanes
7. Local Bus stops/Parking/Peak hour local bus lanes
in response to World-Class Avenues for the East Side: What Great BRT Looks Like
Galls
Just make the stations long enough for the eventual introduction of Light Rail, BRT mixed traffic. And put bike racks on the front.
It is a busy enough corridor.
in response to World-Class Avenues for the East Side: What Great BRT Looks Like
tacony palmyra
Having the SBS and local bus board on opposite sides of the street makes it difficult to employ the "take-the-first-one-that-comes" strategy of transit riding. It's sort of like the bus version of my biggest complaint about the 4/5/6: you can't transfer across the platform between the express and the local anywhere between 42nd and 125th. I'll be that idiot rushing across the street against traffic to make the bus on the other side.
in response to World-Class Avenues for the East Side: What Great BRT Looks Like
Kaja
The scariest aspect of Nanterking's post is that he is correct that felony /charges/ are sufficient to ruin your life. Your life will be ruined whether or not the state can prove the case; it will be ruined even if they drop the charges. The charge alone is disqualifying.
Prosecution used to be about noticing that a crime has been broken, and finding who did it. It is increasingly about deciding who to go after, and then finding a law they've broken.
in response to Today's Headlines
Ardent
Catalyze me baby
in response to World-Class Avenues for the East Side: What Great BRT Looks Like
Mike Epstein
Why a center median on a one-way street? How would cars cross from one side of the median to the other for turns, etc.?
in response to World-Class Avenues for the East Side: What Great BRT Looks Like
Lindsey
In the first design, the local bus would run on the opposite side of the street (the West side). Only the Select Bus Service bus (express) would travel in the dedicated lane on the East side of the route. This is a design for 1st Avenue.
In the second design, the local bus has room to pull over and let the express bus pass.
in response to World-Class Avenues for the East Side: What Great BRT Looks Like
Jonathan
If there's only width for one bus at the stop, then limited-stop buses must wait for local buses and their proud-to-exit-via-the-front-door passengers. Please revise.
in response to World-Class Avenues for the East Side: What Great BRT Looks Like
James
A similar collision took place last Friday on this same stretch, backing up traffic on the Henry Hudson/Saw Mill Parkway well into Yonkers. I say "collision" instead of accident because most of these calamities are the result of homicidal maniacs willfully abusing the privilege of utilizing a two ton vehicle in a dense, crowded metro area. The behavior that takes place on these roads on a daily basis makes one marvel that this doesn't happen more often.
in response to Streetfilms Shorties: West Side Highway Crash Aftermath
Larry Littlefield
As for taking cars home, I would defend the practice.
When doing field work with colleagues at City Planning in transit inaccessible locations I would travel to the office, wait for the last person to arrive, travel to get a city car, go through the procedure to sign the city car out, and then travel to the location of the field work. After a few minutes work it was time for lunch. We had to repeat the whole ordeal at the end of the day.
When doing field work on my own I generally used my own car, to avoid that hassle, and didn't put in for reimbursement, to avoid THAT hassle, or used transit. I got eight hours of work done in an eight hour day.
in response to Today's Headlines
nanterking
Actually, the "couple of glasses of wine" resulting in someone ending up at the threshold of .08 is, in some individuals, not unlikely. That is the problem with "drunk driving" and the levying of the same penalties on all in that category. Those that are right at the threshold are not necessarily putting anyone at greater risk than someone who is driving while only sleeping for 3 hours the night before. Are you going to charge the latter with a felony? There is a tremendous difference between someone driving at a BAC of .20 and one with a .08, but positing that all should be charged with a felony makes no distinction.
Also, you are failing to recognize that "calling a cab" or "walking home" are not such simple alternatives in the majority of this country. Sure, they work in NYC, but this is a NY state law we're talking about. While this does not *excuse* driving while intoxicated, if we're being reasonable, we have to recognize that people go to dinner in suburban/rural environments not intending to become intoxicated, have two or three glasses of wine with dinner, and then drive home. That individual is not placing people at risk commensurate with the individual who goes out and starts taking shots, as jsd implies all who end up being charged are doing.
I am suggesting that we all express moderation in tackling this problem, instead of rushing to judgment and suggesting that a felony for everyone is appropriate. Felony charges are life-ruining for anyone who wishes to be a contributing member of society. The guy who has resolved himself to sling crack for the rest of the life may be non-plussed by another felony, but someone who is looking to be a teacher, doctor, lawyer, or businessperson will have his life ruined by a felony charge imposed after a few glasses of wine with dinner. I don't want to live in a society where we are willing to turn productive members of society into non-productive ones with no reasonable hope for the future over some indiscretion. I believe in second chances, and unfortunately a felony leaves one with no second chance.
in response to Today's Headlines
BicyclesOnly
Nanterking,
I take JSD's analysis to be directed at the issue of whether the elements of the proposed felony are well-tailored to the harm intended to be prevented or punished, not the issue of whether the punishment is proportional to that harm. A drunk driver with a 12 year old strapped into a seatbelt may well be less likely to harm that 12 year old, as compared to one that is an unbelted passenger in another car, or who is walking or bicycling nearby. If the harm intended to be addressed by the new felony is the harm that drunk drivers do to kids, without question that harm extends outside the confines of the drunk driver's car. So the question remains, why stop there?
in response to Today's Headlines
Todd Edelman
It’s great that this meeting happened, and I hope that Secretary LaHood does all he can to decrease the number of deaths and injuries on US streets. But this term “complete” really bothers me, just like “safer”, “everyone” and so on… Language is a powerful thing. More on my blog.
in response to U.S. DOT Secretary Gets a Message on Pedestrian Safety
Giffen
nanterking,
There is a simple issue that you're overlooking. Punishment should be proportional not only to the severity of the crime, but also to its avoidability and the certainty with which it can be proven to have occurred.
in response to Today's Headlines
jsd
I'm sorry nanterking, I simply have no sympathy for a drunk driver. I have lost more than one friend because of them. All were in the car that was hit.
You can always put a phone down, or stop looking for a sandwich. You can't stop being drunk. Consciously deciding to drink and then drive is more than a lapse to send a quick text (which is outrageous in it's own right). It represents a conscious decision to consume alcohol and operate a multiton vehicle in traffic, with hundreds of innocent drivers, passengers and pedestrians, for an extended period of time with no .
I see what you are getting at with the slippery slope argument. But give me a break with the "couple of glasses of wine" argument. Call a cab, or walk home.
in response to Today's Headlines
nanterking
Well, jsd, why don't we extend felony status to using your cell phone to send a text while driving? And for other distracted driving, like taking your eyes off the road to reach for a sandwich you have on the seat next to you? Research has shown that texting while driving puts you at greater risk of having a collision than driving with a BAC of .08.
Or, even better, since we're not worried about making our penalties commensurate with the severity of the crime, let's use an approach that works tremendously well as a deterrent in other countries: If you're caught with a BAC over .08, we cut off your hands. I'm sure that would significantly lower "drunk driving" too!
I mean, after all, who cares if we ruin a few lives if we keep those folks who had two glasses of wine at dinner off the road? They deserve it!
in response to Today's Headlines
flp
sorry to bring this up, but i'm certain that i'm not the only one with this in mind: how long until a car flips over the barrier separating cars and cyclists/peds? *shudder*
a recent late night/early AM crash sent a car down into riverside park near 74th street: http://gothamist.com/2007/04/16/fatal_car_plung.php
there was another crash that sent a car into the hudson RIVER just north of the 94th access path that leads to the cherry wall stretch (i think it was near there . . . . where the fence remained broken for months/years). i can't find the link to that story though.
in response to Streetfilms Shorties: West Side Highway Crash Aftermath
Tom Butler
Cap'n Transit nailed it. I like what she's trying to do, but she could be much funnier and more effective if she toned it down a bit.
in response to Streetfilms: Meet Veronica Moss, A.U.T.O. Lobbyist
Josh
Also, from across the pond, London Underground blogger Annie Mole wrote today about a talk she attended last night given at the London Transit Museum about how expansion of the London Underground drove suburban development (specifically, in the period between 1924 and 1939). Definitely worth a read on the subject of transit-driven (rather than auto-driven) development.
in response to Today's Headlines
Glenn
Rut-Row...Riverside Park is doggie heaven though.
in response to Streetfilms Shorties: West Side Highway Crash Aftermath
Moses Horwitz
"A picture is worth a thousand words," except when it is not.
in response to Streetfilms Shorties: West Side Highway Crash Aftermath
Cap'n Transit
Senator Kruger is a clown, no question about it. But there are other clowns in the Senate too, namely the Republicans who could form a grand coalition with the Democrats, bypassing Kruger y sus amigos, and actually get something done, but prefer instead to sit on their hands and watch the Democrats get all the blame.
The Senate Democrats who appear to never even have considered the possibility of reaching out to their Republican colleagues are also clowns. Basically, everyone in that body who puts their own power games above helping the people of the State of New York fits the definition.
in response to Today's Headlines
Josh
The cover of today's Daily News has a large picture of (if I'm not mistaken) the girl who was shot by a stray bullet in the Bronx last night. The headline reads "ENOUGH! Here's the face of latest victim of our city's gun plague". Now, I certainly think decreasing gun violence is a worthy cause for the local papers to champion, but wouldn't it be nice to see similar outrage about pedestrians and cyclists being killed by cars?
in response to Today's Headlines
J
I usually ride down Broadway from around 155th Street, which is usually pretty smooth. At 8am yesterday, though, traffic was pretty much stopped on Broadway and Riverside. It resembled the first day of the transit strike a few years ago.
in response to Streetfilms Shorties: West Side Highway Crash Aftermath
jsd
It’s obvious to me that while Leandra’s Law doesn’t go far enough, it is a great first step. I am assuming the logic behind the law is that a child under the age of 15 is not old enough to make the personal decision to not enter the car. Therefore the person driving is responsible for putting them in far greater danger than they ever had any control over.
But, using this same logic, shouldn’t felony status be extended to all drunk drivers, regardless of whether or not they have a child under the age of 15 in the car? Other drivers, passengers, bicyclists, and pedestrians have as much a right to feel safe on the street (or sidewalk) as passengers in the actual car itself. A 13 year old didn’t make the choice to be hit as a passenger in another car, and neither did the 47 year old bicyclist and 63 year old pedestrian. Driving drunk requires a significant enough leap in judgment (everyone knows it is illegal and extremely dangerous), that it should be classified as a felony in all cases. Just like robbery or assault. The driver often makes the decision before even leaving the home that he or she will drive drunk. Or perhaps they make a similar decision before taking that first shot. By the end of the night, they may be personally responsible for the death of another human being.
I understand this could result in a significant increase in the number of felonies the courts may have to handle, but it may finally result in a legitimate enough deterrent to keep drunk drivers off the road.
in response to Today's Headlines
BicyclesOnly
Glenn, is your dog named Rover?
in response to Streetfilms Shorties: West Side Highway Crash Aftermath
Chris O'Leary
What this video doesn't show is the miles-long backup of traffic as far away as Westchester County and New Jersey. This goes to show how letting cars drive into Manhattan's CBD for free has ripple effects for the whole region.
And then I wonder how many of these cars passing by contained a single occupant...
in response to Streetfilms Shorties: West Side Highway Crash Aftermath
Peter Smith
if it's a high-speed street, then it requires physically-separated bike lanes -- simple. if there's any room left over, then you can put buses out there or cars or whatever else, but pedestrians and bikes should be taken care of first, especially on the major travel corridors.
in response to Bus Rapid Transit Designs for East Side Avenues Still in Flux
Senate Clown Show
"The problem with the Senate is they're all a bunch of clowns who don't know what the fuck they're doing, and don't have the votes to pass anything; it's been like this all year," one Democratic assemblyman said of the Senate Democrats.
http://www.observer.com/2009/politics/carl-kruger-obstacle
in response to Today's Headlines
Nathan H.
Would that have been for paid parking, jass? Valuable parking that is given away for free doesn't have enough inventory to be usefully advertised. This app, if anyone uses it, will only make things worse by generating trips to further and further off spots that have already been snapped up by regular parking cruisers.
in response to Use Your Phone to Find Parking! Just, Um, Not While Driving.
Glenn
I was walking my dog in Roverside park just around this time and I was wondering why it felt so quiet, until the helicopter parked itself right over the park. Then it felt like a war-zone.
in response to Streetfilms Shorties: West Side Highway Crash Aftermath
Car Free Nation
New rules for curb cuts (yea!) but more off street parking...
http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/11/city_planning_t_1.php#more
in response to Today's Headlines
BicyclesOnly
Leandra's Law--the Times reports there were 37,695 convicted of drunken driving in NYC last year. A law that would saddle a group of the highest-risk NY motorists of this size, each year, with the stigma and significant (if not insurmountable) impediment of an interlock device, would be a huge step forward.
Sure, you can have someone else blow for you, but the bottom line is anyone who sees you have one of these things in your car will think twice about getting in (or letting their kid get in). I suppose the most popular means of circumvention will be to register a car in the name of a family member. If someone has a link to the current text of the legislation (or maybe I'm dreaming, I seem to recall from the congestion pricing debacle that the Assembly does not release legislative text to the public until after a bill is enacted or definitevely defeated), it would be interesting to see if it contains any provisions to prevent that.
in response to Today's Headlines
BicyclesOnly
Thanks for the link, Larry. I couldn't help laughing--and being reminded how many light-years away bicyclists are from anything approaching a position of respect in popular culture. It nice to be writing our own counter-narratives for a change through Miss Moss, but we sure have a long way to go.
in response to Streetfilms: Veronica Moss Goes to Times Square
Larry Littlefield
Here's her equivalent. Were the man still alive, he might have gained a larger following in Albany.
http://noolmusic.com/youtube_videos/george_carlin_-_bicycles.php
in response to Streetfilms: Veronica Moss Goes to Times Square
gecko
#49 Mark Walker, "Your vision of bikes on every sidewalk is my definition of hell."
Many people create their own private hells which you seem to be quite good at and often quite hilarious.
Young children have to ride on the sidewalk especially, when the street is not safe as often do adults. And, young children are probably the most dangerous on bikes except for those adults that cycle irresponsibly.
Whether someone is running too fast or cycling too fast on a crowded sidewalk the likelihood that someone else will get hurt is much higher but the forces from getting hit by someone on or off a bike are pretty much the same (bikes don't weigh that much) and it's just that cyclists can go up to 4 times faster.
Riding near pedestrians whether on sidewalks or even the streets cyclists probably should not be going much faster than a walk and get off their bikes and walk them when it is really crowded; on a tricycle is probably ok since it is easy creep along. And, it should be obvious that riding near children or the elderly cyclists should be especially cautious.
I do see cyclists doing a lot of things they should not be doing, but it is cars, trucks, and large vehicle transit called buses that you seem to love so much that kill and maim people or at best often really get in the way, make a lot of noise, kick out noxious fumes, etc., etc., etc.
My heaven is a utopia in part created by small vehicle transit; ultimately something you will be able to fit in your backpocket by midcentury assisted by the latest in molecular strength material science. I don't think about hell much except that human-induced climate change is rapidly creating it here on earth if we do not do something quick.
On the transportation front small vehicle transit is the most expedient, cost effective, practical way providing considerable net benefit during the necessary transition to sustainable global mobility.
in response to Bus Rapid Transit Designs for East Side Avenues Still in Flux
AlexB
all cars in america should be given to third world countries.
in response to Use Your Phone to Find Parking! Just, Um, Not While Driving.
Giffen
She's so REAL!
in response to Streetfilms: Veronica Moss Goes to Times Square
Cap'n Transit
I agree completely, and what passes for communication from DOT staff is maddeningly inconsistent and undependable - and that's when they like you! So it could definitely use some improvement. Same goes for the MTA: just this week I was waiting for the bus - which turned out to be triple-bunched - and if I and my fellow passengers had a phone number that would get results it would be ringing off the hook. Instead, we just sighed at our own powerlessness.
But I don't think the organizers need to be - or should be - from the MTA or the DOT. It would probably not look so good for DOT to be spending money promoting its own policies during a budget crunch. Plus, if in 2014 Mayor Liu and Governor Espada decide to order all the MTA and DOT reps to organize the communities in support of LOMEX and the Prospect Parking Garage, you've just lost control of a powerful opposition tool.
The best place for community organizers to be based is the private sector, which is not so bad because that's also the best place to look for funding. Some of that is being done already with the Pratt Center, T.A., Livable Streets Education and others. But a well-funded network of organizers who can connect with their communities and have time to listen, advocate and get results would really make a difference.
in response to High Hopes -- And Higher Standards -- for Bloomberg 3.0
momos
VERONICA MOSS IS AMAZING!!! HILARIOUS VIDEO!!!
Keep 'em coming!
in response to Streetfilms: Veronica Moss Goes to Times Square
Mark Walker
Yikes -- in my first graf above I said BRT when I meant PRT. Sorry.
in response to Bus Rapid Transit Designs for East Side Avenues Still in Flux
Mark Walker
The Wikipedia article on BRT is an insane asylum run by the inmates. It demonstrates the limits of user-generated content.
I prefer Amtrak to DC. Streetcars are obviously for local travel.
I limit my bus exposure to local travel under an hour. The longest trip I take regularly is the M5 from its terminus at Houston up to the West 90s where I live. Quick jaunts on the crosstown bus to the East Side. Trips home from midtown. Not outer borough or inter-city journeys.
I live next to the Hudson River Promenade, and based on the interactions I've observed among bikers and peds, I regard it as an uneasy arrangement at best. I say this after literally decades of experience.
Some bikers on the Promenade are considerate. They are the majority. Unfortunately others pedal as fast as their legs allow and this is hazardous especially in the presence of baby carriages, toddlers, elderly, etc. I once heard a biker blasting past the 92nd St. community garden yell "get out of my way old lady!" A whole crowd of people gasped. Other times I've been thank by bikers for looking around for them before making a move.
Sorry, sidewalks are ped space, and I'm far from the only person here who feels that way. Your vision of bikes on every sidewalk is my definition of hell.
in response to Bus Rapid Transit Designs for East Side Avenues Still in Flux
gecko
The wikipedia article includes PRTs under mass transit and says a lot of the right things. PRT stands for personal rapid transit which includes small single-person vehicle transit and includes Shweeb (www.shweeb.com) soon to be on the Discovery Channel, is really quite nice and getting a lot of positive response; and makes a lot more sense than large vehicle transit including streetcars.
Did you really say and or imply that you'd prefer to take a streetcar to Washington DC than a bus which you seem to detest my little large-vehicle transit advocate friend? (http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/11/17/high-hopes-and-higher-standards-for-bloomberg-3-0/#comment-157931)
Cycling on walkways through crowded City Hall, Hudson River, and Riverside parks and across the Brooklyn Bridge where pedestrians continually walk in the bike lane is legal and quite safe as well as in Norway (it's been reported on Streetsblog); and, YES! safe on sidewalks (please don't be too scared!) and no more dangerous than skateboards, skooters, skates, baby carriages, shopping carts in supermarkets etc., when people ride responsibly and to conditions. In fact, skaters fall a lot more than cyclists.
in response to Bus Rapid Transit Designs for East Side Avenues Still in Flux
eLK
At least she didn't say "cars are people too."
You may want to let her know that there's a job available at TA.
in response to Streetfilms: Veronica Moss Goes to Times Square
Mark Walker
Kaja, my heart is with you, though my head begs to differ.
My heart would like to point out that every time I spend more than an hour on a bus, I get off feeling like I've had a hole shot through my head. I'm not sure if it's the diesel vibration or the diesel fumes, but whatever it is, it takes makes me feel like hell. I never have this problem with rail.
I once made the mistake of taking a bus to Washington DC and another bus home the same day. Five hours each way as I recall. I got home feeling like a piece of livestock with a bolt shot through its head. Felt sick for days afterward.
So my heart tips its hat to you. But my head wants transit to make as much headway as possible in Mikey's third term -- before the dark ages begin again.
in response to High Hopes -- And Higher Standards -- for Bloomberg 3.0
AlanKHG
I lived at 146th St. this summer, and the path was completely unrideable after dark if I stayed downtown late, even with a very bright headlight, as headlight glare from the Parkway would completely destroy any semblance of night vision.
I would usually hop over to Riverside in that case, but Riverside was usually just about empty after dark during summer. Now that rush hour's after dark, getting up to 146 would be a lot more trouble.
in response to Hudson Greenway "Cherry Walk" Users to Remain in the Dark