Today’s Headlines

State Sen. Bill Perkins Wants DOT to Delay Bus Improvements on 125th Street (DNA)
EDC Report: 7 to Secaucus Feasible, But No Cost Estimates (CapNY, 2nd Ave Sagas, TransNat, NYT)
“Trying to Avoid Traffic,” Driver Injures Pedestrian on Williamsburg Sidewalk (NY1)
Hit-and-Run Driver Critically Injures Pedestrian in Flatbush; Arrested Six Blocks Away (News)
Driving School Helped Students Cheat on Commercial Truck Driver’s Test (News)
Mayoral Candidates Can’t Stop Talking About Subsidizing Ferry Service (CapNY)
De Blasio Wants to Focus on Transportation Infrastructure, Without Saying How (CapNY)
G Train Saw 4.2% Ridership Increase in 2012, Topping All Other Lines (DNA)
Judge Set to Rule In Favor of Bike New York, Striking $960,000 NYPD Fee (News, NYT)
As City Considers MSG Permit Request, Transit Agencies Draft Penn Plan (Crain’s, News)
Promising Signs for Negotiations to Complete Missing Link in Bronx River Greenway (News)

More headlines at Streetsblog Capitol Hill

Anonymous

It’s not fair to say that De Blasio won’t say how to pay for his infrastructure plan. It’s right there in the article! He’s going to use the unicorn stabled in Gracie Mansion to sprinkle infrastructure dust on the good folks in Congress and also buy everyone a pony. Please maintain journalistic standards.
J

Perkins showing some really strong leadership. Standing up for the little guy. The guy that works hard all day and takes bus home…. Oh wait. Perkins doesn’t give a damn about bus riders. He only cares about keeping cars moving. Harlem leadership (or lack thereof) at its worst.
Morris Zapp

Reading about the Bike Tour I can’t help wondering why charities are billed for “traffic control,” rather than those who need controlling.
Anonymous

I also wonder how the NYPD spends about $1000 per officer for controlling traffic for a few hours. I’d like to see the itemized bill.
kevd

The NYPD uses at least double the number of officers it needs for any event like this. Its a huge overtime bonanza for them.
kevd

Chevy Astro vans are now sentient!
Which is probably a good thing. They can’t possibly be worse at driving themselves than the people in the driver’s seat are.
Anonymous

Meanwhile, the headline on the News article about the hit-and-run was surreally acceptable: “Motorist hits pedestrian in Brooklyn and keeps on going.” It’s like they’ve . . . learning or something.
Anonymous

The problem with getting politicians to support transit is that NONE OF THEM USE IT DAILY! This is a result of their districts typically not adhering to transit routes, and their need to be in a million places at once. Every day and night, there are a myriad of community events, and politicians who want to get re-elected feel the need to make an appearance at each one.

So even if they sympathize with transit-riders, they quickly fall back on their more personal, hectic, and pressure-filled experience of having to race through traffic (and then park) according to a very tight schedule.

This is the reality that we as advocates face trying to get politicians to stand-up for transit. I know in my conversations with them, they are all supportive of active transport and transit, but at the end of the conversation the subject always turns to their personal difficulties — traffic and parking.
J

This is precisely why we need to get rid of politician perks like free parking and staff vehicles. If a politician got stuck on a slow bus every day, you better believe that bus would become faster in record time.
Anonymous

While I agree with getting rid of those perks, politicians would just drive their own cars. The larger question is how to get them see past their own unique reality to the bigger picture, and to really “own” that bigger picture perspective so that they fight for it.
Detta

The M60 Select Bus Service on 125th Street is a win win for the whole neighborhood except for the few people who store their cars for free on that busy commercial street all week long and just move them two mornings a week for less than a half hour each time. Everyone else except that tiny minority will benefit hugely.

Bill Perkins should be ashamed of himself for working against this community improvement. 125th Street is a disaster because of curbside regulations that are from decades ago and don’t make sense anymore. This is a commercial street, not a residential street. On the 6 blocks (within the bus route) where the curb is not metered, there is constant double parking for loading and unloading and for those visiting merchants. Customers have no choice but to double park because there is no turnover of the un-metered curbside spots. Double parking blocks a travel lane in each direction. This plan from the DOT, the MTA and NYC Transit is excellent! They studied the street in detail. There will be tremendous benefits to the neighborhood in all ways: curb bulb outs to make it shorter and safer for pedestrians to cross at two avenues, daylighting (at certain corners) will increase visibility and safety for all road users, right turn bays will be created for rush hour times (this increases safety and traffic flow because those turning are out of the flow of thru traffic and can afford to better yield to pedestrians in the crosswalks), 7am-7pm metered parking, 8am-noon meters restricted to loading and unloading where needed, 7am-10pm metered parking on some blocks – this will greatly reduce double parking, the lane that is supposed to be a travel lane but is currently only a double parking lane will be returned to being a travel lane and will be dedicated to buses. It is a win win for all!
Bolwerk

Re the Bike New York matter:

The city contended that the Five Boro Bike Tour, scheduled for May 5, should be considered a noncharitable athletic parade, which is subject to traffic-control fees from the Police Department under new city rules.

Why aren’t automobile users expected to pay “traffic-control fees? Traffic control is always needed, afterall!
Anonymous

Regarding the sidewalk driver, no. It didn’t happen. Because Captain Clever Will Leitch of Deadspin has never seen such a thing. (See paragraph 1. of his lovely article “First, Kill All The Cyclists” at http://deadspin.com/5937209/first-kill-all-the-cyclists-premium-rush-reviewed.)

I certainly hope to hear more about this van on sidewalk story–particularly about whether the driver ever gets charged. At least the article says “An investigation is ongoing.”