Jason Varone

MTA Deputy Director of Media Relations, Jeremy Soffin, sends this along:

Artist Michel de Broin removed the engine, suspension, transmission and electrical system from his 1986 Buick Regal. He then equipped it with 4 independent pedal and gear mechanisms transforming his old Buick into the "Self Propulsion Car." De Broin's piece was shown here in New York City back in 2005 at an Exit Art exhibition entitled "Traffic".

We're just catching up to this piece of good news in The Villager last week:

The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy has chosen Paris for its 2008 Sustainable Transportation Award. In a letter from the ITDP Board of Directors to Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë, the Institute praises the French capitol's recent transportation policies, most notably the Vélib project:

Infuriated by reckless idiots speeding down your neighborhood street? Tired of waiting for city government to do something about it? Then you will probably enjoy this German guy's homemade traffic-calming system, inspired, perhaps, by the legendary killer bollards of Manchester, England.

Streetsblog reader Ed Ravin sends along a photo of a new pedestrian refuge island that has recently emerged beneath an elevated subway platform in the Bronx. While the new sidewalks make bus riders' lives a bit easier (and, perhaps, longer-lasting), Ed also has some ideas for additional improvements. He writes:

StreetFilms joined up with Transportation Alternatives' Executive Director, Paul Steely White to talk about congestion pricing with express bus commuters in Bay Ridge. Bus riders told White that they'd like to have more buses and a faster commute. One commuter pointed out that virtually every automobile on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway carries just one person.

While the NYPD, Parks Department, MTA, unnamed authorities and, of course, bike thieves, busily clip locks and cart off New Yorkers' bicycles in great number, the Department of Transportation is making sure that not only do bike commuters have a classy spot to park outdoors, but their tushies won't get wet when it rains. Next month, cyclists will be happy to see the first of many new public bike-parking shelters popping up near transit hubs throughout the city. Word has it there was a bit of flexibility built in to the Cemusa bus shelter contract and DOT decided to get a bit creative and try this out. New York Magazine reports:

The Pratt Design Incubator for Sustainable Innovation, Pratt industrial design students, and the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership will hold a community design workshop tonight, Tuesday, November 13 from 6 to 8 p.m. in Pratt Institute’s Higgins Hall as part of the Myrtle Avenue Street Furniture Design Initiative. The workshop, during which designers will present preliminary concepts for seating, bike racks, tree guards, and other possible street elements, is open to the public and members of the community are encouraged to attend.

Next Saturday the MTA will be running a town hall-style meeting to take public input on various fare and financing options. The latest issue of Spotlight on the Region sums it up pretty well (as does the photo above):