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Cities have traditionally eliminated parking requirements to encourage walking, bicycling, and transit. But it can also aid the rise of on-demand car services, two top parking policy experts say.

The city has much more to do to improve the walking and biking environment above Brooklyn's central transit hub, and it's important to show up on Wednesday to let CB 2 and DOT know it.

Many cities have launched pilot programs to experiment with on-street plazas, protected bike lanes, and busways. But few are able to crank out smarter street designs at a consistent pace.

After a motorist killed 78-year-old cyclist Michael Schenkman, DOT proposed six miles of protected bike lanes on Northern Boulevard and connecting streets. The plan will be the subject of a Queens CB 11 hearing Monday night.

Staten Island's express buses are getting a complete overhaul, MTA officials and Borough President James Oddo announced yesterday. These changes will save people time by better aligning bus service with travel patterns -- and they could be a template for bus network improvements citywide.

Later today, NYU’s Furman Center, the Institute for Transportation & Development Policy, and Transportation Alternatives host “The High Cost of Off-Street Parking,” a panel discussion on off-street parking policy. In most of New York City, new development is required to include a minimum number of parking spaces, each of which costs tens of thousands of dollars to build. These parking requirements increase traffic, drive up the cost of construction, and make housing less affordable.

This evening DOT will present a plan to make more room for people walking on Seventh Avenue by widening the sidewalk on the west side of the street from Times Square to Penn Station. Also on the agenda -- a summer trial for making five blocks of Broadway car-free south of Times Square.

With so much transportation funding going toward highways, it's tempting to support any transit investment as a step in the right direction. But not all transit investments will produce service that helps people get where they need to go.

DOT will soon reveal its plan to redesign Times Plaza, the triangle formed by Flatbush, Atlantic, and Fourth avenues in Brooklyn. Located near the largest transit hub in Brooklyn, the area around Times Plaza, outside Barclays Center, is one of the most dangerous places in the borough to walk.