Buses
Streetsblog Basics
Is the Obama Administration Poised to Push Transit?
While President Barack Obama promoted wind power and cap-and-trade legislation, VP Joe Biden spent Earth Day talking up transit. Public radio's "The Takeaway" reports that Biden held a presser at a bus maintenance facility in Landover, Maryland, to tout a $300 million investment in hybrid buses and other municipal vehicles as part of the federal stimulus package. Said Biden:
April 24, 2009
State DOT Pulls Transit Bait-and-Switch on Staten Island
One of the more common excuses we've been hearing from local pols during the current MTA crisis is that "service never improves," so why bother to fund transit? Set aside, for the moment, the fact that subways and buses are moving way more New Yorkers than they did just a few years ago. Courtesy of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, here's an interesting case study of service actually getting worse and why it happened.
April 8, 2009
B77 Riders Protest Service Cuts. Is Velmanette Montgomery Listening?
It's a long walk from the Red Hook West houses to the nearest subway stop at Smith-9th Street, and even longer to train connections at Fourth Avenue. Without night-time B77 service, a lot of commuters from the largest public housing project in Brooklyn will have to make that trek -- including a dash beneath the BQE -- on a regular basis. With MTA rescue talks currently at a standstill in Albany, about 100 Red Hook residents marched yesterday in protest of the austerity measures that will soon take effect. Clarence Eckerson documented the rally, organized by the Red Hook East and West Tenants Association.
April 6, 2009
Wiki Wednesday: Zürich, Where Transit Gets Priority on the Street
Ready for some transit system envy? This week's StreetsWiki entry comes from Livable Streets member Andrew Nash, who fills us in on how surface transit became the mode of choice in Zürich, Switzerland:
March 11, 2009
Bus Riders Testify About the Necessity of Transit
Like New York and dozens of other American cities, Minneapolis is facing the prospect of higher transit fares and less service amid the economic downturn. To impress upon state lawmakers that their constituents depend on transit to meet basic needs, the St. Stephen's Human Rights Campaign compiled this video of testimonials from bus riders (hat tip to Twin Cities Streets for People; see all the testimonials here). They asked a simple question: What do you use the bus for?
March 6, 2009
Streetfilms: Seattle’s Bus Chick on the Rewards of the Riding Life
Carla Saulter pens a very eclectic blog called Bus Chick, Transit Authority, which you can find on the Seattle Post Intelligencer's web site.
March 4, 2009
Commute Times in Weiner Land Lag as Bus Ridership Booms
A study hitting the papers this week says the middle class is fleeing New York City, in part because of long commute times faced by residents of boroughs outside Manhattan.
February 6, 2009
Real-Time Bus Info: There’s Always Next Year
On Wednesday, the Daily News reported that Dov Hikind, State Assemblyman representing Borough Park, called the MTA "the worst agency" in the run-up to a fare hike hearing in Brooklyn. Shame on Dov for not shouldering any responsibility for adequately funding our transit system. But there wouldn't be such a receptive audience for his blame-deflecting ways if we had fewer stories like this: The MTA is aborting its latest plan for a real-time bus tracking system, reports NY1.
January 30, 2009
Connecting Transportation and Politics in Southern Queens
On the scale of absurd political theater, fare hike hearings in New York City rank very close to the top. Elected officials heap scorn on the MTA, diverting attention from their own responsibility for underfunding transit, while beleaguered
straphangers beg board members for a reprieve that depends on those same electeds. It's a cycle of frustration, blame, and unaccountability.
January 30, 2009