Bus Rapid Transit

Prospects for safer cycling on the east side of Midtown got a boost last night, as Manhattan Community Board 6 strengthened its support for uninterrupted bike lanes as part of NYCDOT and the MTA's redesign of First and Second Avenues. 

Last night's meeting of Manhattan Community Board 6's transportation committee was a reminder of how opaque and undemocratic New York City's public review process can be, at its worst. Between a mismanaged meeting that descended into chaos and a parade of NIMBYs who ensured that neither plans for First and Second Avenues nor for 34th Street could be discussed on the merits, it's hard to see how last night's proceedings contributed to an informed discourse about New York City's transportation needs. 

This graphic tells you all you need to know about the rationale behind DOT's plans for 34th Street, which are getting some play today in the Times and on Gothamist. DOT displayed it prominently at Wednesday's info session about the project.

Two months after the MTA and NYCDOT first presented East Side Select Bus Service to Manhattan Community Board 6, officials were back with a modified plan last night, hoping to get a vote from the transportation committee. After a combative couple of hours, they didn't get one. The committee chose to put off a vote until its next meeting rather than come to a decision. The big news to emerge was the announcement of a specific launch date for the first phase of Select Bus Service on the corridor.

We've got a few dispatches from last week's Manhattan Community Board 8 meeting on East Side bus and bike improvements, which we couldn't attend ourselves. First, Michael Auerbach, who's doing some fantastic livable streets advocacy at Upper Green Side, filed a report for Second Ave Sagas about how Select Bus Service will function alongside the subway construction zones on Second Avenue.

When DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan hinted last Tuesday that bolder ideas were on the way for bus rapid transit in New York City, she apparently meant "next week." The DOT website now displays an updated plan for the next phase of bus improvements on 34th Street, which would convert the current bus lanes into a full-fledged transitway.

With the redesign of First and Second Avenues moving through the public review process, hundreds of regional transportation experts gathered at an NYU conference today to discuss the future of bus rapid transit in the New York region. Representatives from NYCDOT, the MTA, and the federal government all envisioned BRT as part of New York's transit future and gave a few hints as to what might come next.

Select Bus Service’s new low-floor buses will make it easier for seniors to get on and off the bus. Image: Second Avenue Sagas. Last night the MTA and DOT continued their tour of East Side community boards, presenting plans for better bus service and safer streets to the Manhattan CB 11 transportation committee. Attendance was low, … Continued

Last night NYCDOT and the MTA showed their plans for enhanced bus service and safer streets on the East Side of Manhattan to the Community Board 6 transportation committee. There was no vote, but the meeting was a chance to see how ideas like separated bike lanes and bus bulbs play in the type of public forum that, typically, is slow to embrace change.