Today’s Headlines

  • Gelinas: To Tame Manhattan Congestion, Don’t Cap Uber — Fix Subways (Post)
  • Unlicensed Hit-and-Run Driver Rejects Plea Deal for Three Years in Prison (News)
  • PIX and News 12 Visit NYC’s First Roundabout Under Construction in the South Bronx
  • DNA, Capital, RE Weekly Cover Plan for Parks and Safer Streets in Mott Haven and Port Morris
  • MTR Makes the Case for Running Commuter Trains Through Penn Station
  • Amtrak Has Already Put Some Funds Toward Gateway Tunnel Construction (Crain’s)
  • No, Select Bus Service Won’t Kill the Second Avenue Subway (2nd Avenue Sagas)
  • Third-Graders at PS 207 in Queens Want Yield Signs at Crosswalks (Forum)
  • Men Assault Queens NYPD Tow Truck Operator Who Tried to Tow Motorcycle (Post, WNBC)
  • Brooklyn CB 15 Votes Against Developer Who Wants to Build Without Parking (Bklyn Daily)
  • New York’s Media Elite Are Taking Video of Their Bike Rides (Washington Post)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

  • Bob

    me: to tame Manhattan congestion, implement MoveNY

  • Komanoff

    Re Nicole Gelinas’s Post column: I’m betting Nicole isn’t thrilled with the headline the Post put on it: “Uber’s Not Causing Traffic Jams.” After all, she notes that “every vehicle on the street” in Manhattan is contributing to congestion, which includes Uber — as I quantified in my post here yesterday.

    It’s also jarring to see Nicole abjure a Bloomberg- or Move NY-style CBD entry/exit fee in favor of a “per-minute” charge. Hey, that’s a worthy ideal, but good luck getting the technology (not to mention public acceptance) for that anytime soon.

    I wholeheartedly agree with Nicole that every vehicle contributing to congestion should pay accordingly. I took pains to point out yesterday that the Move NY congestion charge would “put a price on more than 90 percent of all miles driven in Manhattan south of 60th Street.” Seems to me like a pretty good deal.

  • Reader

    It’s also disappointing to see her write this line and – mostly – let it hang there.

    “Yes, the city has made other changes to the streets that may cause congestion — the Uber folk mentioned bike lanes and lower speed limits at a recent City Council hearing.”

    Congestion and average speeds are not the same thing. Congestion is caused by too many cars, not whatever number it says on a speed limit sign. If there were only 1,000 cars in all of Manhattan and each one was crawling at 10 mph, we wouldn’t say the streets are congested.

    Additionally most of the protected bike lanes have actually improved traffic flow by channelizing cars into turn lanes.

    It’s an otherwise decent column, but it seems like a bit of a cop-out to attribute these common misconceptions to “Uber folk” without debunking them.

  • ddartley

    Once when I mentioned to a couple DOT employees (who were acting as facilitators at a Vision Zero townhall) the merits of roundabouts, they acknowledged the merits I mentioned, but said that what stands in their way is “air quality.” I just said “oh” at the time, though I really didn’t understand what they meant. Soon after, I found myself wondering what the heck they could mean and how they could be right. Is it even possible for roundabouts to make air quality worse than a signal system would? Anyone know what were they talking about?

  • Simon Phearson

    Sounds like simple incompetence. Googling, I found a document on the NYDOT’s own website explaining how roundabouts improve air quality by increasing average travel speeds, despite slowing down traffic at the site of the roundabout itself. Perhaps they’ve been listening to CBs complain too much – “air quality” is the go-to alternative excuse for people opposed to design improvements that might take away a travel or parking lane.

  • Bolwerk

    MTR is damn right. With sane transit planning and a little interagency cooperating, NJT’s Northeast Corridor service could service from Jamaica to Philadelphia.

  • Jimmy

    These Sheephead Bay folks are so dumb (i.e., self-defeating). The proposed location for retail/commercial development is a 6 min walk from the B/Q subway. It’s already a street with a bunch of retail spaces. The current occupant of the lot (auto repair and busted car storage) is not exactly “pretty” — I don’t get the “ruin the character of the neighborhood” Ugggh.

  • Flakker

    ““I spend 40 or 45 minutes trying to find parking,” said Allen Popper, secretary of CB15 and local resident.”
    Apparently the character of the neighborhood is that it’s full of idiots.

    Also, shout out to the woman whose driveway was blocked in by illegal Parker’s for 5 days and therefore this developer must be forced to build excessive parking. New York in 2015: don’t deal with your own problems, just obstruct someone else trying to do anything.

  • Matthias

    They should improve air quality by keeping traffic moving rather than keeping idling vehicles at a red light. Ideally, they would also be planted with air-cleaning trees, not filled with concrete.

  • Matthias

    This is one of the best things I’ve read in the Post in a long time, despite the issues. Speed limits have nothing to do with congestion, and the article does contradict the title, but the conclusions are right on.

  • Alexander Vucelic

    I spend 40-45 minutes to Find FREE Parking

  • JamesR

    That quote could be attributed to someone from any CB in the city. It’s one of the reasons why I’m kind of done with serving on mine after several years of service. The regressivism is just too entrenched, and it’s partially (maybe mostly?) a generational issue. I get that this fight is a long game, but it can wear you out after a while.

  • Alexander Vucelic

    the best method to improve air quality is to open all streets to humans and consign motors to the suburbs.