Midtown

Manhattan CB4's transportation committee passed a resolution last night in favor of speedier transit and improved pedestrian conditions on 34th Street. The vote followed a brief presentation from NYCDOT outlining several options for a second phase of transit enhancements on the crosstown corridor. It's still very early in the process: The decision whether to pursue BRT, light rail, or streetcars, for instance, is at least a few months away.

Last September DOT and the MTA launched the 34th Street bus lane, New York City's second Select Bus Service route. You could say it's had some growing pains. Bus riders aren't getting the speedy, reliable trips they should be getting out of an exclusive transit route, because other vehicles, especially ones belonging to the NYPD, it seems, constantly block the way. The good news is that the terra cotta curbside lanes on 34th are just the first phase of the project. At a Manhattan Community Board 4 meeting tonight, DOT will be seeking feedback on the next phase.

We've posted many times on NYPD bus lane abuse, so it's nice to have this reader-submitted shot. This scofflaw driver was tagged Monday evening on E. 57th Street between Madison and Fifth -- just in time for bus passengers to witness a rare act of traffic law enforcement.

In a stinging rebuke to New York City's street safety methods, the latest issue of Car and Travel, a.k.a. AAA New York magazine, serves up a razor-sharp critique of Broadway's new pedestrian plazas:

The garbage truck driver who struck and killed two British tourists in Manhattan last February was convicted on two counts of second-degree murder yesterday.

Hey, here's some of that pulse-pounding New York City energy that a few people wish we still had in the middle of Times Square.

A report popped up on Twitter yesterday of a bike parking crackdown of sorts at Rockefeller Center. Per Mike Noble, a.k.a. bikewobble, security officers under "pressure from the city" were threatening to cut the locks of bikes secured to objects other than racks. Maybe this would seem more reasonable if there were nearly enough racks to support the demand for bike parking. Noble points to an inadequate number of racks, and notes that some, at least, are not secured to the pavement (see the photo after the jump).

We've got two dispatches from the opening day of real-time bus arrival displays on 34th Street. First, the good photo: A reader sent the above shot of the display inside the shelter at Third Avenue. That's a nice crisp presentation. Are the times accurate? None of the dailies ran blaring headlines about haywire displays today, so you've got to assume the tracking system performed decently.