T.A.  News

Come to the Magazine Mailing Party, Wednesday, April 24th at 6 pm at the T.A. Office (115 West 30th, #1207). Free pizza and beer!

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Time on your hands? Eager to make a difference? T.A. needs folks who are retired, work part-time or between jobs to help our
top-notch advocacy staff make the city a better place for bicyclists,
pedestrians and transit riders.

Call 212-629-8080 or e-mail info@transalt.org.

T.A. still has two open internships: 

- Advocacy (work with T.A. program staff)
- Bicycle Research and Policy

Please visit transalt.org/intern for more information.

T.A. In the News

transalt.org/media

Latest

4/22 Segway May Face Obstacles Too High in NYC Politics, New York Sun

4/19 Midtown Car-Pool Rules Lifted, Daily News

4/16 They Peddle Verrazano Bicycle Path, Daily News

4/15 New Bike/Pedestrian Path Over the Verrazano?, Park Slope Courier

4/15 5M for East River Ferry Routes Eyed, Daily News

4/15 Bridge tolls a boon to borough, The Park Slope Paper

4/4 Bridge Getting New 30M Walkway, Daily News

4/1 New York City Makes The Cycling Grade, Bicycle Retailer & Industry News

3/30 Less Traffic, a More Livable City, New York Times

3/29 Pedal Revolution, In These Times

3/29 Mayor Defends Out-of-Towner Toll Proposal, Daily News

3/26 Mayor Sets a New Tone, Pushing Drivers Toward Mass Transit, New York Times

3/18 Dummy Cameras Coming, Newsday

3/17 New Arena for Cars vs. Pedestrians: The Sidewalk, New York Times

3/6 Downtowners split on East River bridge tolls, Downtown Express

3/3 Tolls on East River Bridges? Not in Their Backyard, New York Times

3/1 City Driven To Push A.M. Car Pools, Daily News

2/25 Brooklyn Bridge ready to battle over Bloomin' bridge tolls, The Park Slope Paper

2/19 Pol Raps Car Policy, Daily News

2/19 Councilman targets carpooling, Staten Island Advance

2/18 A Walk on the Wild Side: City's streets a big threat to pedestrians, Daily News

2/15 Mayor Looks at Tolls for Bridges on East River, New York Times

2/15 Mike Eyes East River Tolls: Bloomberg weighs charging drivers to use four bridges, Daily News

2/15 Plan Would Take Toll on Bridges, Newsday

2/15 Bloomy's Budget Taking a 'Toll' on East River Bridges, New York Post

2/15 Bloomberg Proposes Tolls For Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg and Queensboro Bridges, NY1

2/14 East River Bridge Tolls, CBS 2

2/14 Dangerous Intersections, Fox 5

2/14 East River Bridge Tolls, Bloomberg Radio

1/25 Makeover for WTC Area? Plants, open air and light, Daily News

1/23 7% Drop in Accidents, But traffic deaths increase slightly, Daily News

1/18 Gifted Gifford, The New City Council Speaker: So What's Miller Mulling Over?, On the Line, WNYC Radio

1/17-23 Pelham Parkway intersection named to "deadliest" list, The Bronx Times Reporter

1/15 Traffic trouble zone: Beep pushes safe routes in University Heights, Daily News

1/11-17 Residents Protest Another Dangerous Crossing, Queens Tribune

1/9-15 Think Queens Blvd. Is The Borough’s Most Dangerous Road? Think Again. Residents Demand More Safety Controls on Northern Blvd., Queens Courier

1/7 Dangerous Bronx intersections named, News 12

1/6 Danger Is Lurking Where Speed And Thickets of Humanity Meet, New York Times

1/3 It's All Aboard, if They'll Fit, as Sept. 11 Jolts Mass Transit, New York Times

12/29 Police Release Driver of Van as a 7th Accident Victim Dies, New York Times

12/29 7th Crash Victim Dies: Survivors angry runaway van's driver wasn't charged, Daily News

12/28 7 Killed in Herald Square by Out-of-Control Van, New York Times

12/20 Review and Comment: Calming & Contradiction, Brooklyn Heights Press and Cobble Hill News

12/10 Car Flips Over Inside Prospect Park, Park Slope Courier

12/3 Technology Desk: IT, Marketplace

11/26 Parking Garages Suffer From Manhattan Security Rules, New York Times

11/12 For the New Mayor, a City's Advice on Challenges That Must Be Faced, New York Times

11/5 Park Advocates Jeer Winter Traffic, Park Slope Courier

10/22 THE ROAD BACK: NYC Bike Riding Up 50% Since Sept. 11, Wall Street Journal

10/15 Downtown commuter woes need fix: Pressure building for new bus lanes; many fear job losses because of PATH, Crain's New York Business

10/5 Trade-Off by Environmentalists on Rebuilding, New York Times

10/1 Cycling in a New World, Bicycle Wire

9/27 Off Limits to Solo Drivers, New York Post

9/27 Transit System Faces Tough Test, Newsday

9/19 Commute Eases, With Mass Transit: Holiday helps trim gridlock, Daily News

More Quotes...

Donations Wish List

Help cycling and walking and get a tax deduction. Donate to T.A. We need:

-Pentium II or better PCs
-Laptop computer (P 100+)
-Digital Camera
-Good chairs for conf. table or desks
-Computer Projector

Contact Matt: info@transalt.org

Do Your Part for Safer Streets!  Report:

Potholes and Hazards:
212-CALLDOT (hit 0 to speak with a human) or report them online at transalt.org/hazard  

Sidewalk obstructions: Mayor’s Quality of Life Hotline at 888-677-LIFE/5433

Read more about T.A.'s work to reduce street hazards at transalt.org/haz

Report Dangerous Cabs: 212-221-TAXI or report them online.

Read more about T.A.'s work to make cabs safer for pedestrians and cyclists at transalt.org/cabs

The T.A. Bulletin is a bi-weekly publication of Transportation Alternatives.

Transportation Alternatives is a 5000-member NYC-area non-profit citizens group working for better bicycling, walking and public transit, and fewer cars. We work for safer, calmer neighborhood streets and car-free parks. Join T.A. today!

Week of April 22, 2002
Earth Day NYC 2002 Edition

Earth Day Praise for NYC and Cities

Hey New York City, thanks for being the nation's environmental champions. NYC residents consume much less energy, and produce much less garbage than the average American. One in four public transit trips take place here and NYC is the only major city where the mayor--MetroCard Mike Bloomberg--regularly takes public transit to work. Our high population density means that NYC residents consume less land and allow more natural open space to survive. Real environmentalists know that the best thing they can do for the Earth is live in a city and take public transit.

Census 2000: NYC Still a Car-Free Majority

Though you wouldn't know it from watching TV news or listening to local political debates, New York City remains the only city in the United States in which a majority of households do not own an automobile.

U.S. Census 2000 % of households that do not own or lease a motor vehicle:

New York City: 54% (vs. 57% in 1990)
The Bronx: 60%
Brooklyn: 54%
Manhattan: 78% of households do not have a vehicle. (vs. 77% in 1990. Unclear if this is actual decline in car ownership or from rounding the numbers.)
Queens: 34%
Staten Island: 20%

Read more about reducing automobile dependence.

Retreat on Carpool Rule

New York City celebrated Earth Day today by removing rules requiring Carpooling during 6 am to 10 am from the Queensboro Bridge, the Queens Midtown Tunnel and the Lincoln Tunnel. The Carpool Rule remains in effect on the Holland Tunnel, Battery Tunnel and Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges. The Carpool Rule will probably stay on those crossings for the next two years or longer.

The move was likely an attempt by the Department of Transportation to forestall a lawsuit that would overturn the City's authority to require car pooling on any of the East or Hudson River Crossings. Normally only the state legislature has power over the bridges and tunnels entering Manhattan. But after 9/11, the Mayor invoked special emergency powers giving him the authority to require carpooling. Now, city lawyers believe that the emergency powers are only applicable to Lower Manhattan because of the massive street reconstruction work underway. There are some indications that the deal to drop the Carpool Rule was to appease Queens Councilmembers John Liu (Chair Transportation Committee), David Weprin (Chair Finance Committee) and the powerful Queens Democratic Party, which placed City Council Speaker Gifford Miller in power.

The Carpool Rule has reduced traffic congestion, sped bus travel and made for easier deliveries. It has also likely reduced air pollution and the other pathologies related to excessive car use. While the City's retreat is rational from a legal and political perspective, it is still disappointing. DOT Commissioner Iris Weinshall and Mayor Mike Bloomberg have both made impressive cases for the benefits of the Carpool Rule. Hopefully, they will move quickly to begin seriously examining how to toll the East River Bridges.

Read more about the Carpool Rule and congestion pricing.

DOT Rejects T.A. Request to Remove Degrading Chain Link Fencing from Bridge Paths

Despite being unable to produce a shred of evidence to support their claims, the Department of Transportation's Bureau of Bridges is adamant that the bike/ped paths on the city's East River Bridges must be enclosed in oppressive chain link fences.

T.A. has asked the DOT to produce one police report, newspaper account or record of an incident in which a path user has endangered people below. DOT can't. T.A. has filed Freedom of Information requests to get any police records of such incidents. The fencing on the bridges infuriates cyclists and pedestrians already suffering from numerous indignities caused by DOT's cars-come-first bias. "Chain linking" the paths evokes NYC's era of crime, paranoia and fear of public spaces. No one wants to travel behind chain link fence, especially when it obscures breathtaking vistas of the skyline.

Chain Link for Brooklyn Bridge

Unlike the work-a-day bridge paths of the QBB, WBB and Manhattan Bridges, the Brooklyn Bridge promenade is a cultural icon enshrined by famous photographs and traversed by the wealthy. This said, according to Bureau of Bridge officials, chain-link fencing for the Brooklyn promenade is on its way. If the promenade is fenced in, watch the Bureau of Bridges get lambasted by tourism officials and the esthetics police.

E-mail Iris Weinshall and ask her to remove chain link fences from East River Bridge Paths:

www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/maildot.html 

Be sure to send T.A. a copy of your message at info@transalt.org.

Hudson River Greenway Gets A Little Safer

Very quietly, four motor vehicle crossings of the busy Hudson River Greenway between 46th Street and 57th Street have been closed. This means four fewer places where turning cars careen across the path of oncoming cyclists and pedestrians. The closings are a positive by-product of a new wall built parallel to the path underneath the viaduct serving the cruise ships at Pier 92. Whatever the reason, path users have room to breathe easier on this one-half mile stretch of path.

Read more about T.A.'s work for greenways.

Transit Ridership Soaring as Fares Sure to Go Up in 2003

Lookout, $2.00 subway fares are around the corner. As soon as the governor's election is out of the way, the MTA will be forced to raise fares. The last fare hike was in 1995, when fares went up a quarter to $1.50. However, MetroCard weekly and monthly discounts mean that the average fare is only about $1.06.

According to experts at the Straphangers Campaign, the MTA has a projected $250 million operating deficit this year, and no solution is in sight. Unfortunately, the transit agencies capital construction budget is also in a shambles, billions of dollars short of budgeted. The timing is ironic since annual subway ridership has jumped 29% over the last five years, while service has increased only 10%. Bus ridership grew by nearly 50% in the same period with only a 27% hike in service.

NYC Riders Already Pay More
According to Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign, "We don't get our fair share." The city's subways and buses alone move 81% of the annual state transportation ridership, and we get 64% of the total state aid for transportation. Subway and bus riders here pay about 60% of the cost of operating the system. The national average is about 40%, with the government picking up the rest. Long Island Rail Road commuters pay 43% of the cost, Metro-North riders 52%.

Read more about transit issues in the NYC metro area.

NYPD Hands Out 4,736 Summonses to Cell Phone Drivers

Cyclists and pedestrians applauded last year when New York became the first state to ban hand-held mobile phones while driving. Public health experts established that using a hand-held (or hands-free) phone while driving is just as dangerous as driving drunk. Since December, cops have issued about 60 summonses a day to cell phone-using drivers. First-time violators found guilty face a maximum $100 fine, plus a $35 surcharge. Subsequent violations could result in fines up to $500. Until last month, violators could try to get the fine waived by showing a judge they owned a hands-free device.

"We're treating the cell phone law very seriously because it's dangerous to use a cell phone while driving, especially dialing or answering," NYPD Transportation Bureau Chief Michael Scagnelli said.

Read more about the danger of cell phone use while driving.

National Parks Ban Jet Skis, Citing Noise, Enviro Risk--Are Cars in Central Park Next?

The National Park Service has banned jet skis from water off of Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and part of New Jersey. The ban on personal water craft applies to Gateway National Recreation Area--most of Jamaica Bay, the waters off Crooks Point and Miller Field in Staten Island and the ocean and bayside waters at Sandy Hook, N.J. Launching from Staten Island's Great Kills Boat Ramp also is prohibited.

The move comes in an effort to halt possible harm to the environment and to appease park visitors who have complained about noise and safety issues (compare with Central and Prospect Park) said Gateway spokesman Brian Feeney. The ban also is going into effect at 12 other national parks and recreational areas nationwide--bringing them in accordance with the 66 parks that already ban the machines.

Drowning in Noise, an April 2000 study of personal watercraft by economist and past T.A. President Charles Komanoff found that jet ski-like devices caused $900 million a year in noise and wake related damage annually in the United States. Like snowmobiles and automobiles, these are motorized vehicles that should not be driven in our city's, nation's or world's quiet places. For more on personal watercraft and the damage they do:

www.nonoise.org/library/drowning/ 

For more on traffic noise in Central Park, visit:

www.noiseways.org/nyc/central.htm 

Read more about T.A.'s work for a car-free Central Park and Prospect Park.

Winter 2002 T.A. Magazine  
This issue has been mailed to all T.A. members. It includes news on bicycle, pedestrian and sensible transportation issues, features and much, much more! View the Table of Contents or request a copy!

Selected articles

Bike Rack--Tree Guard Unveiled

Bike Parking Coming to Union Square

Hudson River Greenway is Back

DOT Constructs Long Awaited Sunset Park Connector

Manhattan Bridge: Danger is Around the Corner

Metrocard Mayor

SI Right on Red Vetoed 

Reclaiming the Sidewalks

The Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway: Growing out of the Shadow of the BQE 

---

Take Action

T.A. has many volunteer opportunities.  Please visit our site to learn more about how you can help.  Come to the Magazine Mailing Party, Wednesday, April 24th at 6 pm at the T.A. Office (115 West 30th, #1207). Free pizza and beer!

MAD AS HELL?  DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

Call the Mayor's Quality of Life Action Line (real people 24 hrs a day) 888-677-5433 or e-mail Mayor Bloomberg.

POTHOLES, STREET HAZARDS GOT YOU IN A RUT?

STAY SMART & INFORMED

Savvy transit riders get their lowdown on the subways here:

straphangers.org
The ultimate source for bus and subway service changes, rider comments and complaints that produce action. Help yourself and T.A.’s favorite transit advocates--check it out.

Sensible Transport Junkies:

Subscribe to the Tri-State Transportation Campaign’s e-weekly, Mobilizing the Region.  tstc.org

The daily Gotham Gazette

Bikes in Bogota? Car-Free Cartagena? Tel-Aviv by Train?

Go global at itdp.org!

Check our maps page for links to NYC-area bicycle and transit maps.

RIDES AND WALKS

Tuesday, April 23, 10 am. TBA. Central Park Boathouse. The Weekday Cyclists.

Thursday, April 25, 10 am. Flat Rock Brook in New Jersey. Central Park Boathouse. The Weekday Cyclists.

Friday, April 26, 7 pm. Critical Mass. Union Square Park NORTH (temporary location due to construction). Time's Up!

Saturday, April 27, 8:50 am. Metric Training Trip #3 - Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Plaza Hotel. 5BBC.

Saturday, April 27, 11 am.  North Side Williamsburg-Greenpoint Loop. Williamsburg, Brooklyn outside Bedford Ave. Station on the ‘L’ line. 5BBC.

Saturday, April 27, 10 pm. Riverside Ride. Columbus Circle. Time's Up!

Sunday, April 28, 10 am. Central Park. Central Park Boathouse. Fast and Fabulous.

Tuesday, April 30, 10 am. TBA. Central Park Boathouse. The Weekday Cyclists.

Don't miss special Bike Week rides throughout May! Check out the Bike Week Events Calendar at bikeweeknyc.org.

Thursday, May 2, 10 am. TBA. Central Park Boathouse. The Weekday Cyclists.

Friday, May 5, 10 pm. Central Park Moonlight Ride.  Columbus Circle. Time's Up!

Saturday, May 4, 7:30 am.  The Great Saunter.  Fulton and Water Streets near the South Street Seaport. Shorewalkers.

Sunday, May 5. Bike New York: The Great Five Boro Bike Tour. Bike New York, Inc. and the New York City Department of Transportation

Tuesday, May 7, 10 am. TBA. Central Park Boathouse. The Weekday Cyclists.

Thursday, May 9, 10 am. TBA. Central Park Boathouse. The Weekday Cyclists.

Saturday, May 11, 9:08 am. Sunken Meadow Park Circular. King's Park RR Station. Shorewalkers.

Sunday, May 12, 10:30 am. Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow's Shores and Green Corridors Under Attack. Tarrytown Metro North Station. Shorewalkers.

Tuesday, May 14, 10 am. TBA. Central Park Boathouse. The Weekday Cyclists.

For coverage of area cycling events, watch BikeTV. 

More Rides and Walks...

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