Streetsblog New York City

Fox 5′s Good Day New York unleashed a torrent of bile for bike, bus, and pedestrian improvements, seasoned with a healthy dose of unprofessionalism, in a pair of segments focused on bike-share this morning.

First, co-anchors Greg Kelly (son of Ray) and Rosanna Scotto had DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan on, taking a ten minute break from the generally upbeat tone of morning news to express unrelenting hostility to bikes, bus improvements, pedestrian islands and the commissioner herself. Then the pair asked Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz to explain why he doesn’t like bike-share.

The Know-Nothing stance of Kelly and Scotto was so intense that Markowitz’s attacks on the Department of Transportation and cycling, cartoonish though they were, came across as well-informed and even-handed in comparison.

Scotto led off her bike-share questioning (check the 7:50 mark) not by asking Markowitz’s opinion on the program — he hadn’t publicly spoken on the topic before — but by presenting a leading question all but demanding nay-saying and conflict. “We’re all concerned you’re going to get a lot of amateurs on the bike,” she started. “This is a tough city to ride a bike. What are your concerns?”

For people new to bike-share, concerns about riders’ safety are common. But several systems have been up and running for years now, and the data actually show that bike-share has a much better safety record than riding your own bike, across the globe. In Paris, London, D.C., Minneapolis, and even Mexico City, bike-share has a sterling safety record. As of last year, not a single London bike-share user had been seriously injured in 4.5 million trips. Washington bike-share riders had a crash rate half that of regular cyclists, again with no serious injuries or fatalities.

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Streetsblog has filed a complaint with the Taxi and Limousine Commission over a crash that reportedly killed a pedestrian in the West Village.

Absent criminal charges or a consumer complaint, the Taxi and Limousine Commission takes no action against cab drivers who harm pedestrians. Photo: Daily News

On May 2 at about 9:54 p.m., a 70-year-old woman walking her dog was crossing Jane Street near Hudson Street when she was hit by the driver of a yellow cab, according to FDNY and published reports. The victim suffered head trauma and was transported to Bellevue. Two days later, we were informed by a reader that, according to the 6th Precinct, the woman died from her injuries. NYPD would not confirm the fatality.

A story in DNAinfo reported that the cab driver was not charged. Unless a cabbie faces criminal charges, or a consumer files a complaint, the Taxi and Limousine Commission has no lawful basis for action against a driver who harms a pedestrian, a TLC spokesperson told Streetsblog. Potential sanctions include the suspension of a driver’s TLC license, and additional actions can be taken based on the outcome of a case.

The spokesperson could not immediately determine whether action is pending against the driver involved in the West Village crash. There are two “drivers of record” for the cab in question, the spokesperson said.

At least two other cab crashes have killed city pedestrians this year. Dan Fellegara, 29, and 5-year-old Timothy Keith were hit by yellow cab drivers in Manhattan in Brooklyn, respectively. An unnamed cyclist was also fatally struck by a livery cab driver in Queens. Police and prosecutors filed no known charges for any of those deaths.

The inability of the Taxi and Limousine Commission to act against dangerous cab drivers in the absence of a complaint, given that the affected consumer may or may not be alive to file one, is of a piece with the NYPD policy of exonerating motorists who kill based on nothing more than their own testimony.

Using information about the West Village crash obtained from FDNY, NYPD and the Daily News, including photos depicting the cab’s medallion number and, reportedly, the driver, I filed a reckless driving complaint with the TLC, in my name, via 311. Our hope is to learn what happened at Hudson and Jane on the night of May 2, and at the very least establish a record of the incident with the TLC.

Complaints against cab drivers can take months to play out. In the interim, Streetsblog will keep you updated on what we know of this reported fatality.

This story originally stated that TLC action against a cab driver is contingent on the outcome of a criminal case. The copy has since been corrected.

Image: AmericaBikes

At a press conference outside the Capitol this morning, where gusty winds nearly carried off the visual aids (if it weren’t for a few diligent supporters), bicycle advocates joined members of Congress to unveil the results of a new survey about federal funding for bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. The telephone poll of 1,003 Americans, commissioned by the advocacy group America Bikes and conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates, was unequivocal: 83 percent said that federal bike-ped funding should increase, or at the very least be maintained.

“Even we were surprised,” said Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists. “From this day forward, we can say with total confidence that this issue has bipartisan support and is in the national interest.”

The poll is timely, coming the day after the first official meeting of the House-Senate conference committee charged with hammering out a compromise transportation bill before policy expires on June 30. The Senate bill includes some protections for bike-ped programs and devolves certain funding decisions to cities and local governments, while early drafts of the House bill eliminated those programs altogether.

Even more notable than the overwhelming support for current funding levels (and “increasing” had the edge over “maintaining,” 47 percent to 36) was the constant level of support across geographic, demographic, economic, and — perhaps most surprisingly — political boundaries. Among self-identified Republicans, 80 percent still favored maintaining or increasing bike-ped funding, compared to 88 percent of Democrats and 86 percent of Independents.

“Every way you cut the numbers, it makes it all the more perverse that a few members of Congress would be opposed to this,” Clarke told Streetsblog.

Mount Bikemore: Reps. Petri and Blumenauer, Sens. Cardin and Durbin. Photo: Ben Goldman

Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Congressmen Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Tom Petri (R-WI) were on hand to tout the survey’s results and defend the importance of bicycle and pedestrian programs.

“Some people fight crime, some people fight terrorism,” said Durbin, enumerating just a few reasons to enter public service. “The Tea Party came to fight bikes.” Durbin, who sits on the transportation bill conference committee, said that even his suburban and rural constituents are incredibly proud of their bicycle infrastructure and want to see continued federal support.

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Before I get to this week’s excellent pledge drive giveaway, a note about tonight: We hope to see you at Red Lantern Bicycles in Fort Greene (Brooklyn’s only bike shop café) for an evening of conversation and livable streets videos. I’ll be there along with Clarence, Elizabeth, and Robin from Streetfilms. Please RSVP if you’ll be joining us — it’s on, starting at 8:00, rain or shine.

We have three weeks left in our spring pledge drive. Thanks to all our readers who’ve contributed so far — your support has become indispensable to the reporting, commentary, and videos we produce at Streetsblog and Streetfilms. If you visit our sites regularly and haven’t given yet, please consider making a donation. This week we’re giving away a House of Talents bike basket courtesy of the very nice bicycle purveyors at Adeline Adeline. Have a look:

Congrats to the Streetsblog supporters who won last week’s Planet Bike giveaway: Mark Guralnick and Mike Dowd of Brooklyn, and Michelle Swanson of Spokane, Washington. Also, don’t forget that everyone who gives to Streetsblog NYC before the pledge drive ends on June 1 will be entered to win a new Schwinn city bike courtesy of Ride Brooklyn.

It’s going to be a thrilling summer with major developments for bike-share, Tappan Zee transit, and critical safety improvements like the Fourth Avenue redesign on the horizon. Give to Streetsblog and help us do justice to all these important stories and more.

Pittsburgh faces transit cuts of 35 percent. Image: Port Authority of Allegheny County

The last four years have been rough on American transit riders, as fare increases and route reductions became the norm, even as demand for service increased.

For many cities there’s still no end in sight, as Pittsburgh can attest. The Steel City is facing across-the-board cuts of 35 percent if the state doesn’t step in — and that comes just a year after the Port Authority slashed transit spending 15 percent.

Yonah Freemark at the Transport Politic says Pittsburgh — and other cities around the country — are suffering as a result of systemic problems with the way transit is funded at the local and national level:

The service cuts planned would be, suffice it to say, devastating. As the maps [above] illustrate, the Port Authority’s austerity plans would eliminate almost half of the region’s routes. This is in a city where, according to the U.S. Census, more than 25% of households have no vehicle available and almost 20% of workers use transit to get to work — figures that are far higher than the national average or even that of the vast majority of American center cities.

Pittsburgh, of course, is far from alone. From Boston — where a 23% fare increase and service cuts were approved a month ago — to Athens, Georgia — where night bus service is expected to be fully eliminated — American cities continue to cut their transit offerings. Friday’s U.S. national jobs report, which showed about 20,000 fewer people working in transit operations in April compared to a year ago (a 5% decline), only reinforced the fact that when it comes to transit service, cuts are the rule of the game.

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Signal failures cause more significant delays than anything else on the subway system. The MTA plans to prioritize signal upgrades in its next capital plan, if Albany provides the money. Photo: Librado Romero/New York Times

Has your subway been delayed recently? Blame New York City’s aging transit infrastructure, especially its outdated signal system. Then start fighting to make sure Albany fully funds the MTA’s next capital plan.

A new report from the Straphangers Campaign shows just how prevalent signals failures are on the subway system. In 2011, the MTA sent out 4,580 e-mail and text message alerts informing riders of significant delays on the subway system (in general, these are delays of ten minutes or more; see the whole methodology in this PDF). Straphangers deemed around 3,000 of those under the MTA’s control, letting the agency off the hook for things like police investigations or water main breaks. Over a third, 1,062, were related to signals.

It’s perhaps no surprise that signals, which tell train operators when to stop and when to go, are causing delays across the system. They’re ancient. As of two years ago, a quarter of the system’s signals were more than 70 years old, according to New York City Transit chief engineer Fredrick Smith.

The good news is that the MTA has identified upgrading the subway system’s signals as a top priority. “It’s about signals,” MTA chief Joe Lhota told City And State last month. “If we’re going to have more throughput, we’re going to put more trains on the same track, and we’re going to have to have more modernized signals.”

The bad news is that upgrading signals is expensive work — the MTA is spending over $3 billion on New York City Transit signals and communications work in its current capital program — and there’s no plan yet for how to fund the next capital plan. The debt-saddled authority can’t afford to borrow billions, like Governor Cuomo did for the current round of spending, and put the next five years of upgrades and repairs on a credit card.

Some revenue stream, whether Sam Schwartz’s toll plan, James Brennan’s transportation bond issue, or Lhota’s own suggestion of a sales tax, will be needed. Otherwise, those signals are just going to get worse and the delays more frequent.

This is the first year that Straphangers has collected this data, which is also broken down by line and borough, but in the future it will also allow riders to measure changes in the reliability of the subway system over time.

A 75-year-old man on crutches was killed while trying to cross First Avenue on the Upper East Side this morning.

Photo: CBS 2

According to reports, the victim, who was wearing a reflective vest, crossed in front of a stopped box truck at First at 89th Street at approximately 8:20 a.m. When the signal changed, the victim was caught in the street.

Gothamist has this statement from NYPD:

The traffic light changed from red to green and a truck standing (northbound on 1st Ave) at the traffic light waved the pedestrian to cross. Another vehicle also traveling northbound on First Ave began to move causing the pedestrian to fall back into the path of the truck’s rear tire. The operator of the truck believed the pedestrian had completed crossing the street and proceeded to drive, striking the pedestrian.

A witness told City Room: “The truck, from Ace Party Rental, was not going fast, just inching forward, but, unaware that the man had fallen beneath, the driver struck him.” No summonses were issued, police told the Times.

Though there are many unknowns, if the crash unfolded as described it is as much as anything another indictment of the absolutely unforgiving nature of New York City streets. When a vulnerable user feels the need to don a reflective vest to protect himself from drivers and, to paraphrase the Times, it still isn’t enough, your system is broken.

DOT has been building pedestrian refuges on First Avenue in the 60s as part of the East Side protected bike lane project. The safer redesign, which gives pedestrians shorter crossing distances, will extend up to 125th Street, but the construction timetable is unclear. It’s safe to say, however, that work would have proceeded faster if not for the misguided resistance of a few businesses along the route.

This fatal crash occurred in the 19th Precinct. To voice your concerns about neighborhood traffic safety directly to Inspector Matthew A. Whelan, the commanding officer, head to the next precinct community council meeting. The 19th Precinct council meetings happen at 7:00 p.m. on the first Monday of the month at the precinct station house, 153 E. 67th Street. Call the precinct at 212-452-0600 for information.

The first meeting of the transportation bill conference committee started today at 3:00. (To familiarize yourself with the participants, see Ben’s reports on the House and Senate conferees.) We’re live-blogging it, beginning to end, on Streetsblog Capitol Hill.

It’s unusual for conferences to meet in public, and leaders have indicated that this won’t be the only meeting they have in front of television cameras. Still, the sausage-making always happens behind closed doors. Here’s what we’re looking for today:

Could the transportation bill be Rep. John Mica's downfall? Photo: Roll Call

Will anything come of it? “The first day will tell you exactly nothing,” Scott Slesinger, NRDC’s director of legislative affairs, told reporters last week. “You’ll walk out of there convinced that there’s no way they’re going to do a bill.”

In fact, the conventional wisdom right now is that this whole process will end in yet another extension, probably until the lame-duck session after the November election. But this conference committee could lay the groundwork for that bill. Both parties want to get a bill done, but Republican leaders are worried that their base will revolt at the sight of them negotiating with Democrats. So, in public they’ll be all hard-line rhetoric and uncompromising conservatism, and when the cameras are off they’ll horse-trade.

How strong is the Senate’s hand? The House has pretty limited leverage in this process because they didn’t pass a real transportation bill. The Senate is bringing to conference a bill that got a remarkable vote of confidence from senators across the political spectrum, and “the House sent over beach ball,” according to NRDC’s David Goldston.

“The House can’t figure out how to get even its own members together so they send these partial things over to the Senate to cause trouble,” said Goldston, “while the Senate has a bill that’s been passed by about three-quarters of the members of the Senate and was written by [Senators Barbara] Boxer and [James] Inhofe. The fact that Boxer and Inhofe were able to write a bill together is one of the least-appreciated stories of this Congress. So, peace breaks out but people say, ‘We’d rather continue to have war.’ That’s unfortunate.”

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