NYC Now Tracking Crashes Involving City Government Fleet, Except NYPD
Drivers of city government vehicles crashed at least 5,605 times last year, including 378 collisions that resulted in injury and seven fatalities, according to a new city database. Of the injury crashes, 41 harmed pedestrians and 11 hurt cyclists. The database collects information on crashes involving vehicles from all city agencies -- except NYPD, which has yet to share its data.
March 24, 2015
Fed Up With the Latest Fare Hike? Be Sure to Say #ThanksCuomo
It's easy to get annoyed with the MTA: Your train is slow and crowded, the station is dirty, the bus is late -- and to top it off, you just got hit with another fare hike. You're paying more for deteriorating service, and the only place to direct your anger is a faceless bureaucracy known as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Is there anyone responsible for this mess?
March 23, 2015
Plaza de Las Americas Reclaims Space for People in Washington Heights
The city broke ground this morning on a new plaza in Washington Heights set to open early next year. The project will transform an extra-wide asphalt block into a permanent public space hosting vendors and a farmers market.
March 20, 2015
Utica Avenue Select Bus Service Will Roll Out This Fall
The B46 is the second-busiest bus route in New York City, carrying nearly 50,000 passengers each day. A subway line on Utica was planned decades ago but never built, and today bus riders on the B46 struggle with crowded conditions and slow trips. Now service is set to get faster and more reliable with the addition of bus lanes and off-board fare collection later this year [PDF].
March 20, 2015
The Trans-Hudson Transit Crunch Keeps Getting Tougher to Fix
When news broke earlier this week that replacing the Port Authority Bus Terminal would cost $11 billion, advocates were skeptical. At a board meeting today, many Port Authority commissioners, while recognizing the need to replace and expand the terminal, joined in that skepticism.
March 19, 2015
TA: De Blasio Must Undo Construction Budget Cuts to Fix Dangerous Streets
Arterial streets -- the city's big, busy, highway-like roadways -- cover just 15 percent of the New York City street network but account for nearly 60 percent of all pedestrian fatalities. The city will have to overhaul these streets to achieve Mayor de Blasio's Vision Zero goals. And to make those changes, the city must reverse cuts to its roadway reconstruction budget, according to a new report from Transportation Alternatives [PDF].
March 19, 2015
The New Plan to Connect Downtown Brooklyn to Its Waterfront
Starting in the 1930s, entire city blocks in Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, and DUMBO were razed for expressways and parks. Today, this jumble of on-ramps and disconnected green space separates Brooklyn's waterfront from its downtown core. A new public-private initiative, called "The Brooklyn Strand," seeks to knit these disjointed areas back together.
March 18, 2015