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NYC Century Bike Tour Register online today and save $15! Regular registration discounts end August 28th.
Experience the world’s greatest city! Ride the 14th Annual NYC Century Bike Tour on September 12, 2004.
Featuring a selection of distances (15, 35, 55, 75 or 100 miles) and magnificent views of New York's bridges, neighborhoods and parks.
T.A. In the News Latest
T.A. News 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. Valet Bike Parking Volunteers Needed Volunteer to provide valet bike parking at events throughout the year. Register online to express your interest in this opportunity. T.A. still has two open internships:
- Advocacy
(work with T.A. program staff) Please visit transalt.org/intern for more information. Donations Wish List Help cycling and walking and get a tax deduction. Donate to T.A. We need: -Pentium II or better
PCs Contact Matt: info@transalt.org
Do Your Part for Safer Streets! Report: Potholes
and Hazards: Sidewalk
obstructions: Mayor’s Quality of Life Hotline at 888-677-LIFE/
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. The Bulletin has 26,000 subscribers. Transportation Alternatives is a 5,000-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!
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DOT & T.A. Grassroots Win New Slope Bike Lanes Thanks to the quick thinking of the DOT’s Brooklyn office and some fast mobilization by the T.A. Brooklyn Committee, Brooklyn’s 5th Avenue now sports new north and southbound bike lanes. By the end of the summer they will run between Carroll and 24th Streets. The DOT recognized the June
repaving of 5th Avenue as an opportunity to stripe bike lanes through the heart
of Park Slope, a neighborhood long popular with cyclists. In July, the T.A.
Brooklyn Committee convinced over 100 businesses on 5th Avenue to support the
bike
5th Avenue is 50 feet wide between Carroll and 24th Streets, with room enough to add a five-foot wide bike lane in both directions without negatively affecting motor vehicle traffic or parking. North of Carroll Street, 5th Avenue is only 40 feet wide, and the DOT would have to remove car parking to add bike lanes.
This spring, facing community opposition to new bike lanes on Oriental Boulevard in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, the DOT released its first comprehensive before and after bike lane analysis. The "Oriental Boulevard Bike Lane Impacts" study showed that the new high-quality bike lanes (five-foot lanes with a four- to five-foot buffer) reduce speeding, increase bicycling and contribute to an overall decrease in motorized traffic on Oriental Boulevard and adjacent streets. The community had complained about drag racing, speeding and cruising on Oriental Boulevard, so the DOT removed one eastbound and one westbound motor vehicle travel lane and striped buffered bike lanes.
Fare jumpers and no-show trains characterized New York City’s broken transit system of the 1970s, preserved in the now classic cult film The Warriors. Since those "bad old days", New York City Transit has improved markedly. Thanks to the crackdown on petty crime and new capital investment that remodeled stations and refurbished trains, the system was brought back from the brink into the state of good repair that riders enjoy today. As the menace of track fires
and petty criminals has waned, however, New York City Transit has come under a
new threat from a much more formidable "capital" criminal:
In 1996 Downtown Brooklyn residents cried out for relief from bumper-to-bumper motorized through traffic overwhelming their peaceful streets. The outcry was vociferous enough to spur the DOT to undertake the Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming project; this June, the agency released its long awaited final report. Though on the whole the report
is extremely disappointing to residents who poured countless hours of work into
the project, T.A. and
These few positives aside, the DOT squandered golden opportunities to implement a comprehensive traffic calming program, and to use the project to establish its capacity to apply strong traffic calming measures in scores of similar traffic-sick neighborhoods throughout New York City.
1 – 3:30 pm PD O'Hurley's
Adams Street Bicycle Lane I am writing regarding the bicycle lane that runs the length of Adam Street
in Brooklyn. Starting at Willoughby Street (aka Brooklyn Bridge
Can you please tell me if bike parking is available in Penn Station (and if
so where). I remember reading an article a while back that secure bicycle
parking was to be made available last year, but I went to Penn Station
information a while back and they had no idea what I was talking about! Thanks
for your help! T.A. Response: The bike parking area has not been built yet. It is pending NYC Department of Transportation funding.I recommend writing to the DOT to urge the agency to fund the project: Commissioner Iris Weinshall html/maildot.html
The bike 'detour' on the East Side Manhattan bike path is ridiculous. There are signs that say 'bike route' but there is NO bike route on 1st Avenue in the midtown detour. Not only is it completely dangerous, but this is the route the city actually advocates with signs no less! T.A. Response: We concur. We recommend sending a letter to Deputy Mayor Doctoroff, who oversaw the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway project, and urge him to make this part of the route safer.Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff See http://www.transalt.org/press/magazine/022Spring/06-7greenway.html for more details.
I keep seeing cars on the Greenway at 6 am near the George Washington Bridge. Are they supposed to be there? T.A. Response: No, cars are not supposed to be on the greenway at any time.You should write to the Parks Department to let it know about this problem. Include as many details as possible, including the time, date and location. Commissioner Adrian Benepe http://nyc.gov/html/mail/html/maildpr.html [an error occurred while processing this directive] Take Action
Advocacy Committeess Brooklyn@transalt.org Centralpark@transalt.org Gowanus@transalt.org Citywide: |
Come to the Volunteer Magazine Mailing Party, Wednesday, August 4th at 6 pm at the T.A. Office (115 West 30th, #1207)! Free beer, pizza, soda, snacks and scintillating conversation.
Join T.A.
today to start receiving Transportation
Alternatives Magazine, our members-only in-depth quarterly
magazine— Selected articles
Opportunity Knocks for Brooklyn Bridge Connector
Improvements Coming to the Hudson River Greenway
DOT Pondering 8th Avenue Bike Lane
DOT Launches Safe Routes to School
Safe Routes Must Use Street Design to Encourage Walking
$5 Million to Jump Start NYC Bus Rapid Transit
Support for Car-Free Central Park Swells
S.T.O.P. (Standing Together Organizing Parents) TAKE
THE TOUR!
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 888-677-LIFE. POTHOLES, STREET HAZARDS GOT YOU IN A RUT? Call DOT at 212-225-5368 and hit 0 to skip the message and speak with a
human. You can also report them online at transalt.org/ STAY SMART & INFORMED Savvy
transit riders get their lowdown on the subways here: Sensible
Transport Junkies::  The daily Gotham Gazette: gothamgazette .org NYC News summaries and savvy commentary. Bikes
in Bogota? Car-Free Cartagena? Tel-Aviv by Train?
Give on-line at transalt.org/join Quick!
What's your city council GET THERE!
Check our maps page for links to NYC-area bicycle and transit maps. RIDES AND WALKS Visit Shorewalkers for extensive walk listings. Sunday, August 1, 9 am. Greenwich. Central Park Boathouse. Fast & Fabulous. Sunday, August 1, 9 am. Riding to the Hudson River Museum. Plaza Hotel. 5BBC. Sunday, August 1, 10 am. Bicycle Beach Bums Ride #5. Grand Army Plaza entrance to Prospect Park. 5BBC. Friday, August 6, 10 pm. Central Park Moonlight Ride. Columbus Circle. Time's Up! Saturday, August 7, 8 am. Lottery Ride #3. Grand Army Plaza entrance to Prospect Park. 5BBC. Saturday, August 7, 9 am. Croton Falls. Central Park Boathouse. Fast & Fabulous. Sunday, August 8, 8:30 am. The Bill Schwarz Patch Ride Without Bill Schwarz. Plaza Hotel. 5BBC. Sunday, August 8, 9 am. Jones Beach. Central Park Boathouse. Fast & Fabulous. Sunday, August 8, 9 am. Four Borough Bike Ride. City Hall. 5BBC. Sunday, August 8, 10 am. Bicycle Beach Bums Ride #6. Grand Army Plaza entrance to Prospect Park. 5BBC. Saturday, August 14, 8 am. Lottery Ride #4. AYH. 5BBC. Saturday, August 14, 8:30 am. Sandy Hook by Sea & Bike. NY Waterway Terminal, Pier 78, West 38th St. & 12th Ave. 5BBC. Saturday, August 14, 9:30 am. Bathe in Bayville XVII. Cunningham Park. 5BBC. Sunday, August 15, 9 am. Sandy Hook. West 38th St. Pier. Fast & Fabulous. Sunday, August 15, 9 am. Kensico Dam Ride. East 233rd St & White Plains Rd. 5BBC. Sunday, August 15, 10 am. Bicycle Beach Bums Ride #7. Grand Army Plaza entrance to Prospect Park. 5BBC.
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lanes
and collected over 700 individual signatures of support. Later in July, the
Community Board 6 Transportation Committee voted seven to one in support of the
bike lanes. Though not binding, the vote gave the DOT confidence to move full
speed ahead with the new lanes. 
See
Governor
George E. Pataki. Since 1992, the state of New York has contributed $0 to the
MTA's capital program, which provides vital funding for routine repair,
necessary expansion projects like the Second Avenue Subway and much-needed
service upgrades like Bus Rapid Transit. 
Now,
with a new $25 billion capital plan in the offing, the state must contribute
as it did in the early 1980s, when it led an underground renaissance by funding
20% of the MTA capital program. Otherwise, New York City straphangers face more
fare hikes and a return to the days of The Warriors. 
residents
were able to win some significant safety improvements, including new bike lanes,
a few speed tables and the addition of more Leading Pedestrian Intervals (i.e.
places where the crosswalk signal goes green before the motorized traffic
light). Some of these improvements are already in place, and the DOT will spend
$4 million starting in 2006 to implement additional items from the final report.
This
is very inconsiderate and a hazard to cyclists who are forced out of the bike
lane into the road and must compete with cars who drive dangerously close to
them. I should know: I am a municipal employee who regularly bikes in from
Marine Park, Brooklyn to downtown Manhattan several times a week. I have almost
gotten "doored;" this would have been avoided if that bike lane was clear. I
just thought you would like to make a note of this, as I plan on writing to the
Office of Court Administration, since self-enforcement would be the best
resolution.
Penn
Station Bicycle Parking 
East
Midtown Bicycle Route 
Cars
on Greenway 
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