The Commute: Reflecting On 2014

THE COMMUTE: It’s time again for our yearly wrap-up as The Commute ends its fourth year. So just as we did in 2013, we will summarize the Commute’s top stories.

Vision Zero

The biggest story of the year was Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Vision Zero initiative, which includes slow zones of 25 mph on arterial roads such as Atlantic Avenue and Coney Island Avenue. Then there is the new 25-mph default speed limit for city streets. While Vision Zero has many good elements, which we really did not discuss in detail, lowering the default speed limit and reducing speeds on arterial roads are not its better features. I received much criticism regarding my views on this from readers. However, every driver I have spoken to is opposed to the new lower speed limits.

The six stories on Vision Zero received more than 1,400 comments, with one of them breaking a Sheepshead Bites record with 561 comments. We also asked what we could expect from the city’s new transportation commissioner. We asked you to call your state senator and assembly member to encourage them to vote against the lowering of the default speed limit. We also discussed Vision Zero here.

We questioned how serious the city really is in wanting to improve safety and asked if the budget is more important? Finally we discussed how to meaningfully improve traffic safety here and here. We concluded our discussion on safety commending the MTA for recently released public service announcements regarding public safety.

Other DOT News

We criticized the new parking regulatory signage for their smaller print, which requires you to walk up to the sign to read it. Similarly, we looked at the history of street signage and criticized DOT for switching to narrow and thin fonts, thus making street signage more difficult to read as part of the switch to lowercase lettering. We also criticized wasteful spending by installing duplicate signage at the same corner while failing to replace long-faded signage, and three year waits to replace missing street signage here and here. We also showed DOT’s hypocrisy. On the second anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, DOT promised to light up the dark stretches of the Belt Parkway near Gerritsen Beach on November 3, as reported here. That section is still dark and there is an additional dark section in Spring Creek. Why is no one taking DOT to task for this? They insist that safety is their number one priority, yet they allow these unsafe conditions to remain.

B44 Select Bus Service (SBS)

In mass transit, the big news was the B44 SBS, on which we also did six stories. We did a B44 service update. We are currently awaiting release of the MTA’s first year analysis of the route. We discussed the MTA’s addition of the Avenue L SBS bus stop and the new SBS bus schedule. We discussed attempts, thus far unsuccessful, to have an SBS bus stop added at Avenue R.

We also surveyed the B44 and B36 bus routes after receiving complaints from Sheepshead Bites readers, and shared our data, which showed the long SBS articulated buses only carry a handful of passengers during rush hours at Avenue Z, while B36s are so jammed that, most likely, buses cannot pick up all intending passengers here and here. We suggested a branch to Kingsborough College during school days to make better use of these empty buses since Kingsborough students ride opposite to the predominant flow of rush hour traffic — south in the morning and north in the evening. The MTA never responded.

We also discussed a proposed SBS route for Woodhaven Boulevard and how the process is ignoring automobile and truck drivers who would be greatly inconvenienced by a reduction of travel lanes, while bus riders would only marginally benefit. Woodhaven and Cross Bay Boulevard is a major route between southern Brooklyn and areas such as Rego Park, Woodside, Astoria and Long Island City due to chronic congestion on the BQE. Instead, we support reactivation of the parallel Rockaway Beach Line, a few blocks to the east here. We ended the year responding to a blogger who criticized me for my position.

Buses

Other bus issues featured prominently in 2014. We discussed bus reliability, also in six articles. The year began with the MTA leaving bus riders out in the cold. We announced BusTime coming to Brooklyn and held out hopes that bus reliability would be finally adequately addressed. However, that was not the case because bus bunching is still rampant, as discussed here and here. We then criticized the MTA’s excessive use of the Next Bus Please sign as a mechanism to improve bus reliability. We did not forget about another of our favorite topics, bus routes, which we criticized for remaining too stagnant.

We also discussed the need for better bus service, here and here, and we did a three-part series on the subject (1, 2, and 3). Finally, we discussed MTA bus drivers here.

Subways

We sort of neglected subways in 2014. Service was restored ahead of schedule to the Montague Street Tunnel after damage incurred by Superstorm Sandy. However, my late friend Dr. John Rozankowski wrote two pieces on express subway service while I was on vacation here and here.

Fairness

Another recurring topic in 2014 was fairness. We discussed that in our article about the Rockaway Beach Line and Woodhaven SBS here, and we compared MTA rule enforcement and passenger harassment. We questioned a $250 fine for jaywalking and asked whatever happened to fair studies. We concluded our discussion on fairness by discussing the fare and toll hikes and criticized the MTA for not trying to make the fare fairer by studying the feasibility of a bus-train-and-bus ride for one fare.

Criticism Of The MTA

We discussed how transit riders continually get screwed; government hypocrisy here and here; why the MTA can’t be trusted; how we seem to wait forever for capital projects to be completed; why the MTA gives out so much incorrect information, and why transit is a last resort for many (1, 2, and 3).

Other News Stories

We also discussed other modes of transportation, including trolleys, and rails and the following stories: the governor raiding the MTA budget and proposed city Alternate Side of the Street Parking legislation. In part 2 of that article, we looked at a motorman who got in trouble for participating in the annual No Pants Ride, sponsored by Improv Everywhere, by posted pictures on social media; a Northeast Queens Bus study, and we also linked to an editorial discussing problems with the Bike Share Program, which at the time was looking for a new director. The position has since been filled by former MTA Chairman Jay Walder who walked out on his six year MTA contract without any penalty for a lucrative $1 million a year job in Hong Kong. He didn’t remain there long either and is now back, in New York City, in this new position.

Finally, we discussed local and international stories. Why we need a new street in Sheepshead Bay and transit in Niagara Falls and Toronto.

Wishing a Happy New Year to all, and better transportation for all of us.

The Commute is a weekly feature highlighting news and information about the city’s mass transit system and transportation infrastructure. It is written by Allan Rosen, a Manhattan Beach resident and former Director of MTA/NYC Transit Bus Planning (1981).

Disclaimer: The above is an opinion column and may not represent the thoughts or position of Sheepshead Bites. Based upon their expertise in their respective fields, our columnists are responsible for fact-checking their own work, and their submissions are edited only for length, grammar and clarity. If you would like to submit an opinion piece or become a regularly featured contributor, please e-mail nberke [at] sheepsheadbites [dot] com.