The girl's name has not been released and details of the crash are unknown. City Room has the most thorough coverage at this point. The Daily News and several TV stations are also following the story.

Reports City Room:

Officials said that a preliminary investigation indicated no criminality. The bus driver stayed at the scene and there was “no alcohol on the guy’s breath,” a police spokesman said.

Photo: MSNBC

Former MTA chief Richard Ravitch stood with Governor David Paterson and Mayor Michael Bloomberg this morning to discuss details of his commission's plan to keep the cash-starved MTA afloat both in the short-term and in years to come. Streetsblog's Ben Fried attended the news conference and will have more later. For now, here are a few highlights:

• The Ravitch plan would bring a "mobility tax" of 33 cents per $100 that would be levied on payrolls across the region, expected to raise $1.5 billion annually.
• As expected, the proposals include tolls on East River and Harlem River bridges, projected to bring in net revenues of $600 million per year.
• Ravitch described the plan, to be translated into legislation immediately by the governor's office, as "a major stimulus bill for New York State," which would generate up to $15 billion in wages.
• The plan recommends the MTA be allowed to impose fare increases not more than every two years, pegged at the rate of inflation, without public hearings. 
• Ravitch described his commission's work as "an effort to spread the burden among the largest group that one possibly can." 
• Governor Paterson expressed full support for the recommendations. Echoing Ravitch, Paterson described the proposals as "holistic." Said the governor: "The ways in which responsibility may have been shirked, or ignored, in the past, to live for another day -- that day has come, and we're going to have to make those tough choices."
• Oddly, perhaps, MTA head Lee Sander did not participate in the announcement.

Here's some of what was said in advance of the report's release.

From the Times, "Paterson Voices Support for M.T.A. Rescue Plan": 

The governor said he was still reviewing the plan, but was "quite pleased with what I see so far." "As an alternative to a fare hike,” he said, "I think it’s very viable."

The governor said at a news conference in Manhattan, "The message we keep trying to deliver is that we are in a very difficult fiscal time, and so it’s either going to be fare hikes or it’s going to be tolls and a combination of payroll taxes, but it’s the only way."

"Those who are upset about this, what I would urge them to consider is, it’s the inaction in the past that’s led to this overwhelming deficit," he said. "This is a very difficult endeavor, but we are trying to show leadership."

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said that he had not seen the final report, but that he favored keeping the fare affordable. "I am not afraid of reasonable tax proposals that will provide the revenues that are necessary to do that," he said.

"Even the businesses that might be called upon to pay it would be better served by having that affordable revenue stream there, and an affordable fare," Mr. Silver said. "We can’t afford service cuts that make the subways and buses inaccessible."

Asked about tolls on the bridges, however, he reiterated that he was waiting to see the report.

Some of the difficulty that proponents will face in winning approval for the plan could be seen at a meeting of Democratic members of the Assembly in Brooklyn on Wednesday, some of whom voiced misgivings about both tolls and taxes.

"This proposal is the beginning, not the end, of a process, and there’s going to be a tremendous amount of deliberation before a final product is acted upon," said Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn. "We have to make sure that the outer boroughs don’t bear a disproportionate share of the pain."

From the Daily News, "Gov. David Paterson: Panel to suggest much smaller MTA fare hike":

The commission "found a way to reduce the fare increases to 8% by distributing the responsibility among all those who use the service," Paterson said.

From Newsday, "Panel touts 8% fare hike, city bridge tolls for MTA":

"I think the MTA had a certain number of options, and what the MTA had done was to raise fares by 23 percent," Paterson said yesterday at a news conference in Manhattan about judicial appointments. "What the Ravitch Commission . . . did is they came in and found a way to reduce the fare increases to 8 percent by distributing the responsibility among all those who use the service."

From the Post, "Gov: $ave MTA":

"Let's not make the bridge tolls be the center of the proposal," said Assemblyman Micah Kellner (D-Manhattan). "There's been widespread opposition to it for decades. I'd hate to see Ravitch make that the centerpiece of a proposal and watch it go down in flames because of it."

Kellner said that even though he's in favor of the toll proposal, the panel should focus on options that are more politically possible.

From AMNY, "Familiar fix for budget crunch — Raise fares and toll bridges":

"They’re coming up with the same old tired solutions that the public has rejected already," said City Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside). "We have too many bureaucrats who can’t think out of the box."

Another critic of fare hikes, state Sen. Bill Perkins, (D-Manhattan), suggested the MTA sell some of its real estate holdings to raise money.

"I want to see some creativity," he said. "I’m very concerned about that old idea that keeps coming back: Raise the fares."

Perkins, a member of the Transportation Committee, called the East and Harlem River tolls a "Quixotic" idea that’s "been around for a while and never gone anywhere."

Gene Russianoff, an attorney for the Straphangers Campaign who has been sharply critical of the MTA, said the Ravitch Commission appears to have struck a good balance.

"(It’s) asking everybody who benefits from the subways, buses and commuter lines to help contribute to their maintenance," he said. "That includes drivers, riders and businesses."

A Lesson from San Francisco: How Streetcars Can Evolve. Seattle, WA: Can streetcars that share space with car traffic become part of a true rapid-transit system? From Seattle Transit Blog, a historical analysis of the way streetcars in San Francisco have done just that.

Un-Malling 14th Street. St. Louis, MO: When is a pedestrian mall not a good idea? In 1977, the city of St. Louis closed a shopping street downtown to cars. The experiment failed and the street went dead. Urban Review STL looks forward to the restoration of the street grid.

Plus: Electric trains in California, more on the Big Bad Big Box and a fun video about walking.

Photo: "Monorail and Streetcar, Past, Present and Future," by Oranviri, via the STB Flickr pool

Bike trails in San Jose, CA, on OpenStreetMap

As a kid I used to periodically raid my grandparents' stash of National Geographics. Not for photos of women in scant native dress, but for the way cool maps, with which I would wallpaper my room.

Ironically, the maps did eventually give way to Paulina Porizkova posters, and the years have also seen them outmoded -- in function, if not aesthetically -- by amazing advances in cartography. (If you haven't seen it, this New Yorker piece from 2006 is an excellent primer.)

The latest and greatest innovations have brought about a renaissance in community mapping, the subject of this week's StreetsWiki entry.

Community Mapping is the creation of a map via a community-driven process, usually done to map non-traditional features, such as safe biking or walking routes, local trees and parks, and other aspects of community life. Community mapping has existed for hundreds of years, but recent advances in technology, such as GPS's and online mapping portals like Google Maps, have allowed the creation of better and more detailed maps, and have expanded their reach beyond small groups.

OpenStreetMap, for instance, functions like a Wikipedia for maps. Unlike proprietary services like Google Maps, OpenStreetMap operates under a Creative Commons license, and allows users to add and edit information collaboratively. Google Maps is of course also widely used for community mapping, Transportation Alternatives' CrashStat and the burgeoning Boston bike network being two examples.

Other projects employ more conventional means -- the still-viable, highly-mobile print product -- from Bay Area watershed mapping to New York's official cycling map (now available in PDF form).

A camera phone tipster sends this shot of wreckage on a residential street in Boerum Hill. This morning, a speeding SUV managed to build up enough force to plow through parked cars, take out the iron gate, and demolish a good chunk of the ground floor. FDNY, fearing a cave-in, has propped up the front of the building. Mercifully, no one was hurt. We're told that the driver lost control due to a seizure, though our source says that traffic engineering has also made this block more susceptible to crashes.

...since DOT replaced the stop sign at the intersection before our block [with a traffic light], we have had three incidents where cars have gotten up to such a speed they've flipped over and took out a bunch of cars.

When this same traffic light was installed two years ago, Andy Wiley-Schwartz, who now heads up the public plaza program at DOT, found it inexplicable.

Update: Curbed has more photos and details about how this happened. The driver kept trying to maneuver the berserk vehicle until the wheels were in the air:

...a lady tried to parallel park on front of the house, and her accelerator got stuck. After punching the hole, she sped back onto the street and smashed up a few cars, before flipping over.

After the jump, the mammoth SUV that caused this destruction.

Pedestrian refuges mean cyclists aren't the only beneficiaries of cycle tracks. Photo: wrkng/Flickr

The board's transportation committee signed off on the lane last month. Still, about a dozen speakers turned out to oppose the project, which has community advocates, including CHEKPEDS, calling for a strong showing tonight by all who support a safer Eighth Avenue.

WHAT: Manhattan Community Board 4 General Meeting

WHEN: Wednesday, December 3, 6:30 p.m.

WHERE: Roosevelt Hospital, 10th Avenue between 58th and 59th St.

There is one bus route on which drivers do not have to worry about fare beaters: the Bx12 Select Bus Route, which runs along Pelham Parkway and Fordham Road in the Bronx and West 207th Street in Upper Manhattan.

On that route, riders now pay at curbside machines before boarding. The machines give riders receipts that they must show, if asked, to inspectors making random checks on the buses.

The system, which is meant to speed travel by cutting the time it takes for riders to board, frees drivers from having to worry about who has paid and who has not. Drivers on the route say the system greatly lessens the stress of the job.

Seeking Redemption for the Strip Mall. Milwaukee, WI: Is there an upside to strip mall sprawl? Some believe big box stores like Wal-Mart, by forcing small retailers to diversify, make a valuable and necessary contribution to the economy. Where looks at how "the boxscape" might be an asset to a new suburbia.

The Meaning of an American Commonwealth. Indianapolis, IN: What role should the federal government play in ensuring economic health for all regions of the nation? What responsibility do prosperous areas have to those suffering a downturn? Midwesterners and others debate the answer on The Urbanophile.

Also on Streetsblog.net: bike commuting tips, congestion pricing in San Francisco, thoughts from Texas on how to encourage connectivity in subdivisions, and much more.

Photo: austrini/Flickr

Mobilizing the Region has scooped up some interesting nuggets about the Ravitch Commission's soon-to-be-released report:

...insiders tell MTR that Ravitch is likely to recommend improved bus service, including increased investment in bus rapid transit and the establishment of a MTA Regional Bus Authority. The latter would take control of suburban bus systems like Long Island Bus and Westchester's Bee-Line Bus, potentially ending the annual battles over funding and resulting in substantial service improvements for bus riders. The former could offer near-term improvements in transit service for many outer borough residents out of the subway's reach...

Improved MTA oversight, transparency and strengthening of governance may also make the short list of recommendations, according to those who have seen the report.

When the commission held its first public hearing this September, there were still a lot of unsettled questions about its exact purpose. Several speakers asked Ravitch to extend the scope of his recommendations beyond how to fund the MTA -- to examine the agency's operations and identify reforms that can build its credibility. Looks like that testimony will be reflected in the final product.

Photo of Select Bus Service: Brad Aaron

This week's 'toon is a short Streetfilm of drawings from students at PS 87 on Manhattan's Upper West Side, where Kim Wiley-Schwartz of the Livable Streets Education program asked kindergarteners, "What would you do if there were no cars in the street?"

Livable Streets Education encourages students to explore and question the environments around their schools and in their neighborhoods, and to voice the changes they want to see on their streets. To find out more, contact Kim at 646-734-6486 or kwileyschwartz@openplans.org.

This piece from William Gale and Bruce Katz of the Brookings Institution maps out some smart principles for the people who'll be making those decisions. Stop spreading transpo funds around the country "like peanut butter," they tell the feds, and target places with the biggest concentrations of people...

Lost in a morass of pork and politics, federal infrastructure policy today is an unaccountable free-for-all. Though there is little economic justification for making broad improvements in all places, that is exactly how the American transportation structure operates. The 6,373 earmarked projects in the latest federal transportation authorization illustrate the problem. It's not just the distaste for earmarks but the politically driven scattershot approach. The result is that only half of the projects go to places that matter most to the American economy and would benefit most from the investments: the 100 largest metropolitan areas, where 75 percent of GDP is produced.

Katz, you may recall, is one of the leading candidates to head up the new Office of Urban Policy in the Obama White House. So hopefully we'll get to see whether this idea can survive the Senate, where Alaska wields the same number of votes as New York. 

In terms of modal preference, Katz and Gale make no pronouncements, but the goals they describe don't seem all that compatible with 18-lane elevated highways:

The focus should be on investing in infrastructure that supports the competitiveness and environmental sustainability of the nation instead of funding individual states or spending on singular needs.

To score this, the nation needs a strong, deliberate and strategic federal government to do what is necessary to keep America competitive. What would that mean?

It means setting strict criteria for the billions of infrastructure dollars that are spent as part of the stimulus. Such criteria should include a real assessment of economic benefits and costs that consider environmental, energy, and social impacts. We should only invest those dollars where the nation has assurances of high returns.

It means holding the grantees -- the states and metropolitan planning organizations -- accountable through ongoing audits to ensure public dollars are being spent as efficiently and effectively as possible. The direct loss of future federal funds should be a genuine consequence for failing to meet basic accountability standards.

It means making focused, targeted investments in those gateways and corridors that are the critical nodes of international trade and inter-metropolitan commerce, rather than spreading infrastructure funding around the country like peanut butter. An independent national infrastructure bank should be established to define and finance those projects of substantial regional and national significance now and in the future.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Add Micah Kellner's name to the MTA doomsday scorecard. Yesterday, the Upper East Side Assembly member came out in favor of increasing license and registration fees for New York drivers as a transit revenue booster.

Under the Kellner plan, which originated with the non-profit Citizens Budget Commission, motorists would pay flat fees, rather than the weight-based assessments recently proposed by city comptroller William Thompson. Kellner says the new fees would raise $550 million a year -- a little more than the income projected from tolls on the now "free" East River bridges.

On that note, Kellner's press release includes this odd passage:

"Early indications suggest that the Ravitch Commission will announce Friday that tolls on the East River bridges are the centerpiece of their recommendations. This is a proposal that has been recycled time and again in each and every fiscal crisis but has always failed to gain the necessary support to be implemented. I don’t know why they think this time will be any different, but I am hopeful that the Governor’s office will look to other ideas like this one and reinstituting the commuter tax as he constructs his Executive budget."

Could it be that the idea of imposing East River bridge tolls is "recycled time and again" because it's a proven and equitable course of action? Rather than take a stance for or against, Kellner characterizes new tolls as a non-starter -- as if, as an elected state representative, he himself is in no position to influence the issue.

Sounds all too familiar.

Rendering: PA Associates

Instead, according to the Manhattan Times, the Port Authority will build spaces for about a dozen smaller commercial shops and offices, says PA Executive Director Christopher Ward.

The decision to plan for multiple tenants, Ward said, was partly driven by the belief that retail opportunities should serve customers who walk or take transit to the terminal, rather than out-of-area shoppers arriving by car.

"The community spoke clearly that we didn't need more cars," Ward said.

Work on the terminal, which is expected to increase bus capacity by 50 percent over the existing design, is currently scheduled to start in late 2009 and should take about three years, the Times reports.

Streetsblog Network (streetsblog.net) brings together more than 100 blogs from 31 states — and counting. Its purpose is twofold: to create a place where people who blog on smart growth, livable streets and sustainable transportation issues can come together and learn from each other. And to provide a clearinghouse for information related to the transportation bill, or "TEA," that directs the spending of hundreds of billions of federal dollars. The next such bill is set to come up for reauthorization in 2009.

Federal transportation policy has long been a Beltway insider’s game, one where the highway lobby held most of the cards. This time, a coalition of organizations called Transportation for America has come together with the aim of taking the next TEA bill in a different direction.

We'll be using the Streetsblog Network site to give readers and bloggers opportunities for action on the TEA bill, information about upcoming committee hearings — pretty much all the news on this legislation that we can get our hands on.

Think of it as a community that gets things done.

Not to be outdone, the road-building lobbyists at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) have launched their campaign to influence federal transportation spending priorities over the next year, including the 2009 TEA package.

Last week, while encouraging team Obama to incorporate highway construction into its economic stimulus plan, AASHTO rolled out IToldThePresident.org, a web site that invites the public to submit written and video comments on what the president-elect and Congress "need to know to take action to improve transportation."

Courtesy of trucking trade pub FleetOwner, here's what AASHTO has in mind:

At the heart of the group’s effort is a call for $545 billion worth of transportation infrastructure investment from 2010 through 2015 for highways ($375 billion), transit ($93 billion), freight movement ($42 billion, largely from sources outside the Highway Trust Fund), and intercity passenger rail ($35 billion).

As of this writing the AASHTO site has at least one video from a public transportation commuter, and a scan of written comments turned up a good number of pro-transit arguments. Let's keep 'em coming.

These DOT photos [PDF] show off the revamped Bronx Hub -- the shopping district and transit nexus in Melrose that just received a slew of livable streets improvements. Planters, surfacing, and a few strategically placed concrete islands demarcate pretty substantial new swaths of pedestrian space, including a block-long plaza (shown above and in bird's eye view below). There's also a short stretch of exclusive bus territory and some interesting bike lane treatments. Follow the jump for more pics.

The plaza area shown pre-makeover, when it was traffic territory.

Is this bike route treatment an experiment in diverting car traffic while allowing cyclists to ride straight through? We have a request in with DOT to see if cyclists are supposed to dismount before entering the plaza.

North of the plaza, planters and pedestrian refuges set off space for people on foot. Note the planters in the bike lane buffer on the left (Melrose Avenue).

How about sending a Fox 5 news crew to interview satisfied pedestrians?

Photos: NYCDOT