Allan Rosen

Source: WikipediaTHE COMMUTE: A hallmark of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s term has been his emphasis on pedestrian safety, most notably the Vision Zero campaign. You all know where I stand on this issue. My position has been controversial. Whenever I discuss my opposition to some of the features of

Photo by Allan Rosen" loading="lazy">Click to enlarge. Photo by Allan RosenTHE COMMUTE: Customers should be the MTA’s top priority, but they’re not. That explains why communication is so poor when there are service outages that result in extraordinary waits of up to three hours, such as

Source: Google Maps" loading="lazy">Source: Google MapsEditor’s note: Portions of this article were significantly changed due to factual errors that have since been corrected. The premise behind those errors remain in strikeout as a matter of transparency, while some commentary has been deleted or changed. We regret the

Slain bus driver, Edwin Thomas, who had a street co-named after him this past week. (Source: Edley Thomas)THE COMMUTE: The major local transit news is that the New York City Transit (NYCT) President Carmen Bianco is resigning this summer after nearly two years at the helm and serving many

Two of the three East River crossings, circa 1981. Source: WikipediaTHE COMMUTE: Previously we looked at the historical perspective of previous plans to toll the free East River bridges and briefly discussed the Move NY Plan. Now let’s delve a little more deeply into the Move NY Plan. Its

THE COMMUTE: The MTA is proposing Select Bus Service (SBS) on the B46 Utica Avenue bus route scheduled for autumn implementation this year. It was scheduled for discussion at the MTA Transit Committee meeting this past May 18. The information is provided on the ‘Staff Summary,’ on pages 133 to

Two of the three East River crossings, circa 1981. Source: WikipediaTHE COMMUTE: The answer is obvious to all the car haters out there. However, those who are more objective in their analysis have legitimate reasons to oppose such a plan. Among those is Queens Councilman Rory Lancman. He stated in

Source: Wikimedia (Adam E. Moreira)THE COMMUTE: Yesterday, we showed how the average number of passengers carried per bus for routes discontinued in 2010 was 17.06. New York City Transit (NYCT) instituted five new routes in 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2014. These were the B32, B84, Bx24, Bx46, and

Source: Wikimedia (Adam E. Moreira)THE COMMUTE: Last week, we used 2014 ridership data to determine how well the MTA’s Select Bus Service (SBS) routes were performing compared to local and limited routes. We determined that only two of the seven routes performed better than the borough averages. In

The B44 SBS. Source: Patrick Cashin / MTA / FlickrTHE COMMUTE: Yesterday, we looked at SBS routes in the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island. Today we examine the B44 SBS in Brooklyn and future routes. Brooklyn Annual ridership on the B44 is down by 4.4 percent as compared to the borough’

The Bx12 SBS on East Fordham Road and Webster Avenue in the Bronx. Source: Wikimedia / AEMoreira042281THE COMMUTE: We know this because 2014 ridership figures are now available. The two metrics the MTA have been using to tout SBS as a success are that ridership has increased and bus trip times

Lithograph by Nathaniel Currier (1846). Source: WikipediaTHE COMMUTE: The heart of a democratic society is being responsive to its citizens. A dictatorship does whatever it wants. However, our transportation agencies have been more dictatorial than responsive. I wrote about inefficient bus management at Kingsborough Community College here. I wondered why

Source: Brooklyn ReaderTHE COMMUTE: Last Thursday, I attended the first of three Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) / Select Bus Service (SBS) Woodhaven / Cross Bay Boulevard workshops and asked a Department of Transportation (DOT) consultant a few simple questions, including: “Your report states that cars will maintain a ‘reasonable speed.’ What is

Source: FacebookTHE COMMUTE: Mayor Bill de Blasio wants us to ‘stand up’ for transportation… yet he won’t do the same. It’s true. Our roads and bridges are crumbling. It’s not only the bridges but also the high number of potholes that appear every winter season. The city

Source: Brooklyn ReaderTHE COMMUTE: New Yorkers started paying more last week to ride the buses and trains. The MTA claims it needs the extra money to provide better service, but will the extra money result in better service, or will it just disappear into the MTA’s black hole? Has

Photo by Allan RosenTHE COMMUTE: We wrote about this subject numerous times. In 2012, we caught the MTA with their pants down. In 2014, we documented jam-packed B36 buses at Nostrand Avenue and Avenue Z, while the B44 and B44 SBS buses operated in both directions virtually empty during the

THE COMMUTE: In Part 4, we discussed installing true Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) for the Woodhaven Boulevard Corridor. Now we will look at general problems with Select Bus Service (SBS), which the MTA and DOT ignore in their “infomercials” misnamed community involvement. The Problem With Transfers You are allowed to