Today’s Headlines

  • Veronica Vanterpool: We Don’t Have to Wait for Gateway to Improve Trans-Hudson Transit (Crain’s)
  • Cab Driver Who Killed Two on Bronx Sidewalk Charged With Manslaughter (Gothamist)
  • Is the MTA in Good Enough Shape to Revive the B71 and F Express? (Bklyn Paper)
  • AMNY Runs Down What’s in the Next MTA Capital Plan
  • With MTA Capital Plan Purportedly Funded, Upstate Lawmakers Want Money for Roads (Politico)
  • Chin and Brewer Intro Bill to Cap Number of Tour Buses in NYC (DNA)
  • Students, Parents, and Teachers Terrified of Crossing 47th Street By PS 343 in Sunnyside (DNA)
  • Uber Looking to Expand to the Rest of New York State (News)
  • A Guide to the Uber/Medallion Wars in NYC (Crain’s)
  • The Department of Transformation Strikes Again (Gothamist)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

  • The B71 yes, but the F express plan needs a deep dive. It skips the F’s busiest stops and, due to interlining, likely reduces service instead of expanding it. That’s one we should question for reasons of utility.

  • Nick Ober

    Yeah, the F Express really only worked as a plan before the Chrystie Street Connection was put in use for the M train during the 2010 service cuts.

  • Bobberooni

    Veronica Vanterpool’s ideas to expand trans-Hudson capacity mostly won’t work:

    Ferries: getting people to/from the ferries is the big problem. There is not enough infrastructure on either side of the Hudson to do this. Running enough ferry busses to take (say) 100,000 commuters per day from the Hudson to elsewhere in Midtown would completely overrun then area with Ferry buses.

    Extra XBL Westbound Lane: Except for large events in NJ (such as Superbowl), westbound has never been much of a traffic problem, because road capacity in NJ is larger than in Manhattan and it branches out as well: sending traffic west is like uncorking a bottle of champagne. Hence not much need for a westbound lane. The problem is terminal space at PA: getting buses loaded and out fast enough. A Westbound XBL land probably WOULD be of marginal help, and should probably be considered further.

    GWB Bus Lane: There’s already a carpool/bus lane going TO the GWB, which is where 90% of the congestion is. This lane can and should be improved: lengthened, improved to reduce incursions on it, and expanded to all hours. But there is no need for a special lane once you pass through the tolls.

    More GWB Buses: The GWB Terminal is a small fraction of the size of PA. More traffic can and should be sent there, but it won’t make a big dent in the problems Midtown.

    Bus Lanes on TZB: That’s in the works with the new bridge. It makes me think the author is ill-informed.

    More bus capacity in Manhattan: Good idea, but where do you put them without spending $10b and 10 years on a new PABT?

  • joe shabadoo

    When and where was there ever an F express? I certainly never remember one. If the idea is to go express from say Kings Highway > Church > 7th Ave> Jay > Local or W4(?) in addition to the current local service, that’s fine, would reduce crowding at other stops.

  • Matthias

    I don’t think it has run express in Brooklyn since 1976.

  • Andrew

    There was an express south of 18th Avenue through much of the 1980’s.

  • Andrew

    Agreed – the F from Brooklyn already runs at 14 tph in the morning, and it has to merge with the E art 15 tph in Queens, so there’s essentially no room for additional service. An express would by necessity reduce service at the local stations, and I’d guess that it would be disbeneficial on net, given how busy the local stops are.

    The good news, though, is that it wouldn’t cost anything extra to divert some locals to the express, and it might save a bit, depending on how much time the trains save.

    As for the B71, if the city and state had handed the MTA a pot of unallocated operating funds, this would be a particularly appropriate time to have this discussion. But, in fact, the money in question is for the capital budget, and all of the allocations are spelled out already in the Capital Plan. So the recent city/state/MTA deal is completely irrelevant to the B71 question.