Today’s Headlines

  • Tow Truck Driver Says He Gets Harassed for Taking Cops’ Cars (News)
  • Subway Ridership Reaches Highest Level Since 1951 (News, Post, Metro)
  • What the Next Prez Could Do to Reduce Congestion (LAT via Planetizen)
  • MTA to Select Hudson Yards Developer By April 1st (TRE)
  • Sander Grades Subway Security a ‘B’ (News)
  • Tish James: Connect G Train to Other Lines (Brooklyn Eagle)
  • Free of Sex Shops, Eighth Avenue Looks to Add Local Retail (NYT)
  • NYT Endorses Related’s Pitch for Pier 40
  • State Gives City $2.75M Transit Grant (AM)
  • Governor Rell Plans to Split CT DOT In Two (Courant)
  • Jonathan

    Why is Tish James urging the TA to build a 660-foot tunnel to the G train?

    I remember that one of the touted benefits of the unlimited-ride metrocard when it was introduced was that you could easily make street-level transfers, like the one between Atlantic Avenue on the B train and Fulton St on the G. In fact, the TA has some free train-to-train transfers set up now; for instance, if you enter the subway at 23d St/Court Square on the E/V/G train or at 59th & Lex, you get awarded a free transfer if you’ve been on the subway recently.

    It would surely be a lot cheaper to extend that system to Fulton St/Atlantic Avenue, or Hoyt St/Hoyt Schermerhorn Sts, than to build a pedestrian tunnel.

  • Larry Littlefield

    While researching the LA real estate market, I came on his article on the job.

    http://laist.com/2008/02/06/rampart_police.php

    And NYC bicyclists think they have problems.

  • kev

    Not everyone uses an unlimited ride Metrocard, and not everyone knows how to navigate between the Fulton St. G, Lafayette Ave. C (which is right there too) and Atlantic / Pacific Station.
    But surely, a free out of system transfer and some clear, easy to read signs would be a much cheaper solution.
    The same could apply to the Broadway G Station and the Hewes St. J, M station.

  • kev

    Also – the Livonia Ave L and the Junius St. 3.
    One is literally above the other, but there is not transfer.
    http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Brooklyn&ie=UTF8&ll=40.663525,-73.901199&spn=0.004753,0.007693&t=h&z=17&om=0

  • anonymous

    The free transfer is for *limited* ride metrocards. And yeah, out-of-system transfers could be used to somewhat greater effect than they are, and could be labeled better than they are. Plus, I don’t think you get one with a single-ride, which is unfortunate. It means that if you only have $2, your ride costs $4, but if you have $4, it only costs $2. Equivalently, it means a completely empty Metrocard is actually potnetially worth $2.

  • Dave H.

    Note that Gov. Rell’s division is straight out of Mayor Destefano (of New Haven) platform for the last gubernatorial election, when he was Rell’s Democratic opponent:

    “As governor, DeStefano would create separate agencies to manage the state’s public transit and port systems. The Port of Connecticut would oversee development of the three deepwater ports in Connecticut and a new agency would manage Connecticut’s commuter rail system and bus system. Currently Connecticut is the only state to have its commuter rail system run out of its department of transportation.”

    http://www.democracyinaction.com/dia/organizationsCOM/destefano/content.jsp?content_KEY=1439

    Both DeStefano and Rell are about equal on transportation issues: they mostly say the right thing, but only sometimes do it. Of Rell we might ask, where is the promised New Haven to Hartford commuter rail line?; why has nothing been heard about this in two years?. For DeStefano, where are the bike lanes in New Haven he promised in 2004? Only one or two are in place. Why can’t he get the NHPD to enforce traffic laws? And finally, why do both of them say they are committed to sustainable transportation yet insist on extremely expensive widenings of I-84 and I-95?

  • bklynian

    As far as an above-ground transfer, I think some people are afraid it won’t work and the station will be unattended, and people think the stations are farher apart than they actually are. There’s been some research into the psychological motivations behind using mass transportation, too… people are more likely to use a single method than two (bus+train) even if the two-mode way is a shorter distance, people are more likely to transfer if it’s below ground, even if getting out and walking is shorter (my roommate takes the B into Manhattan everyday to transfer to the F rather than getting out at lawrance and walking one block).