Letters

Editor:
As a T.A. member I must advocate a change in priorities for T.A. from those stated in an article in the March/April Auto-Free Press about banning cars from Central Park between 10:00pm and 7:00am.

I both cycle and run in Central Park and would love to see it made car-free. If a real-world permits cars at all, it seems to me that 10pm to 7am would be the best time.

Few people use the park roadway during those hours, especially before dawn, for cycling, skating or running. The presence of cars during these hours add the presence of people to many parts of the park that would otherwise be deserted.

It seems that the greatest majority of recreational users would benefit from the elimination of cars from the park during daylight hours and not when it is pitch black. I would prefer that T.A.'s priority be the curtailing of cars in the late afternoon so that we don't need to wait until 7:00pm for a clear roadway.
Michael Brochstein, Manhattan

Ed. We want a completely car-free park, but keeping cars out at the height of the evening rush hour is being strongly resisted by the DoT and the Park Dept. T.A.'s strategy is to gradually squeeze cars out extend summer hours, overnight hours, eventually achieving a car-free park.

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Editor:
Years ago, while a member of a management team of one of the nation's largest streetcar properties, I gained insights into this highly-specialized industry. From that vantage point I would like to comment on Steven Berger's letter in your March/April Auto-Free Press

The trolley bus, as Berger indicates, has definite advantages over the common diesel bus. Both, however, evolved when transit firms sought to escape the cost of building and maintaining their tracks and instead to share the public pavement with the automobile.

At best the trolley bus is a compromise that lacks many of the virtues inherent in rail operation: steel on steel running surfaces are more efficient than rubber tires on pavement; the automatic guidance and path predictability of tracks afford a high level of safety and the ability to handle large loads with minimal crew size; two or more cars can be coupled together and operated safely, even in close-clearance tunnels and narrow elevated structures. Finally, the absence of road jarring contributes to the railcars' life expectancy, and creates solidity, comfort, and security for passengers.

Had equity prevailed, street railways would have continued to thrive and expand, and there would be better transit today than can be provided by either diesel buses or trolley buses. That this did not happen is a sad reflection upon poor public policy.
Alvin L. Spivak, P.E., San Jose, CA

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