Buses
Streetsblog Basics
Obama Stimulus Leaves Bus Riders By the Side of The Road
The House version of President Obama's stimulus plan has left bus riders with nothing to look forward to but stiff fare hikes and painful service cuts. Bus systems got zero in immediate operating support from the bill that passed yesterday -- stunning neglect compared to the $150 billion in educational "operating assistance" to local schools and universities and $127 billion in emergency health care "operating assistance" to state Medicaid and private insurance programs. A relatively puny request for $2 billion in transit operating support was shot down before even reaching committee.
January 29, 2009
Hire a Construction Worker, Fire a Bus Driver?
It's stimulus package logic: Lay off a bus driver now and hire a construction worker in a couple of months or a year.
January 23, 2009
Will the Transit-Riding Public Get a Fair Shake?
Whatever your stance on the Ravitch Commission's MTA rescue plan, the broad inequities of allowing New York transit service to deteriorate while fares rise 23 percent are stunning. The doomsday budget passed earlier this week would affect vastly more New Yorkers than bridge tolls or congestion pricing, burdening those who can least afford the added delay and expense.
December 19, 2008
LSN Member of the Week: Mr. Theo
Let's give a warm Streetsblog welcome to Mr. Theo, the newest member of the Livable Streets Network. You may recognize Theo as the star of the Louisville, Kentucky transit system's YouTube hit, "Bikes-on-Board." Sure, some LSN members will criticize him for uploading a photo of himself standing next to a vehicle that gets about 7 miles per gallon and runs on leaded fuel. But give the man some credit for supporting urban infrastructure investment; his personal web site is BigDiggity.com. If you're looking for a transit-oriented M.C. in the River City area, Mr. Theo is available for hire.
December 12, 2008
San Francisco Mayor to NYC: “Eat Your Heart Out.”
At a groundbreaking ceremony for the long-awaited Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco yesterday, Mayor Gavin Newsom asserted the project will be "so much more extraordinary than Grand Central Station."
December 11, 2008
“Stuck in That Congestion? I Got One Suggestion: Use a Bike Rack”
Watch this instructional video from the Transit Authority of River City (that's Louisville, Kentucky), and trust me, you won't be able to dislodge the chorus from your head for days. I never thought of bus-mounted bike racks as the stuff of infectious music videos, but I was wrong -- egregiously wrong.
December 8, 2008
Another Reason to Embrace Pre-Payment
From today's Times, published after bus driver Edwin Thomas was stabbed to death by a passenger who refused to pay the fare:
December 3, 2008
Blocking the Box: Traffic Concerns Nix Big Retail From GWB Bus Station
Plans to bring "big box" retail to a remodeled George Washington Bridge Bus Station have been scuttled due to fears that it would attract more car-commuting shoppers to Washington Heights.
December 2, 2008
Pedestrians, Bus Riders, and Cyclists Get a Better Bronx Hub
These DOT photos [PDF] show off the revamped Bronx Hub -- the shopping district and transit nexus in Melrose that just received a slew of livable streets improvements. Planters, surfacing, and a few strategically placed concrete islands demarcate pretty substantial new swaths of pedestrian space, including a block-long plaza (shown above and in bird's eye view below). There's also a short stretch of exclusive bus territory and some interesting bike lane treatments. Follow the jump for more pics.
December 1, 2008