MTA

This is the third of four installments in our interview with ITDP director Walter Hook about Bus Rapid Transit in New York City. Be sure to catch the first and second parts if you haven't yet. In this installment Hook discusses how BRT can succeed in New York, and the series will wrap up tomorrow with a look at potential configurations specifically for First and Second Avenue.

While the looming MTA doomsday scenario is desperate enough that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has put forward a proposal to charge drivers roughly the same as transit riders to cross East and Harlem River bridges, Democrats over in the Senate are balking at the prospect of requiring drivers to give up their free rides. The Daily News reports on yesterday's Ravitch plan talks.

In the second installment of our interview with ITDP director Walter Hook, we look at the package of bus improvements implemented last year along the Bx12 line, and how it stacks up against full-featured Bus Rapid Transit. Read the first part of the interview here. Parts three and four will examine how full BRT could operate in New York.

Perhaps no one knows the ins and outs of BRT better than Walter Hook. As director of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, Hook has advised cities on four continents about BRT implementation, including Jakarta's seven-corridor network, the first full-fledged BRT system in Asia. Streetsblog caught up with Hook -- in between trips to Cape Town and Mexico City -- for an email Q&A about why New York City needs Bus Rapid Transit, common misconceptions of BRT in America, and what will make BRT succeed here.

A study hitting the papers this week says the middle class is fleeing New York City, in part because of long commute times faced by residents of boroughs outside Manhattan.

Bronx Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz on congestion pricing, February 2008:

On Wednesday, the Daily News reported that Dov Hikind, State Assemblyman representing Borough Park, called the MTA "the worst agency" in the run-up to a fare hike hearing in Brooklyn. Shame on Dov for not shouldering any responsibility for adequately funding our transit system. But there wouldn't be such a receptive audience for his blame-deflecting ways if we had fewer stories like this: The MTA is aborting its latest plan for a real-time bus tracking system, reports NY1.

Tonight, the MTA will host a public hearing in Brooklyn, where the agency will undoubtedly hear from scores of residents terrified by the prospect of elimination or reduction of service on several of the borough's bus and subway lines. The self-appointed leader of the charge will be candidate for public advocate and current City Council Member Bill de Blasio, who sent out this e-mail blast ahead of tonight's meeting (via Gowanus Lounge):

This afternoon the MTA released a draft of its eagerly anticipated sustainability report, which has been in the works since September 2007. The product of a "blue ribbon commission" featuring heavy hitters in the transportation world, the report reads like the MTA's version of NYCDOT's "Sustainable Streets" strategic plan.