Call your state legislators now!

The New York City Council passed congestion pricing by a vote of 30-20 on Monday. To make it a reality, the state legislature needs to approve it *by Monday* to secure $350 million in federal funding to get the program started. Passing congestion pricing would help provide traffic relief and needed mass transit upgrades.

If you are in support of congestion pricing, please call your state senator and assemblymember as soon as possible to request their support. If you don't know who they are, you can identify them here. It's simple and fast (I just did it).

Victory! or, adventures in cycling, part II

I completed my first official bicycle commute to work this morning, arriving at my building in one piece and having enjoyed the ride from Inwood to Soho. Total door-to-door time (including unfolding the bike, riding, re-folding, and stashing in camo bag) was 2 hours, total distance 12.5 miles.

City Council approves congestion pricing 30-20

Read the reportage in the New York Times. Miguel Martinez, Inwood's representative on the New York City Council, voted in favor, so make sure and give him some love.

Adventures in cycling, part I

Two months ago I started thinking about interesting ways to incorporate more exercise into my life and I hit upon an idea: use a bicycle to commute to work. I would get to enjoy fresh air and views while improving my health and using time otherwise spent riding the subway. It would moreover be a more environmentally sustainable mode of transport. After spending several hours surfing the web doing research and talking to cyclist friends, I decided to acquire a folding bicycle I could stash in my closet at home, take on the subway, and carry into the office (I got a Downtube VIIIH, if you're curious). But for my maiden voyage (it had been over a decade since I last rode a bicycle), I borrowed a friend's Dahon.

The beauty of having a folding bicycle is that I can store it easily in my front hall closet. Having to lug it around, however, is an entirely different matter. 27 lbs is, frankly, a lot of weight to manage while trying to get down stairs, swipe a metro card, and squeeze through a full-length turnstile (a grim illustration of why I've almost(?) never seen a wheelchair-bound individual on a subway train). And I have yet to find a good way to roll it around in folded position on sidewalks (although continued experimentation and strategically placed straps may eventually solve this issue). For now, I wait to fold until I'm at my destination (subway stop or office).

My maiden voyage consisted of riding from work (in Soho) to a concert near Grand Central, then over to the West Side Greenway and home to Inwood. The first leg of the trip went smoothly, and a work colleague accompanied me on his bicycle to 1st Ave (which was very kind, as I would have normally avoided Houston St like the plague). After the concert, I cycled over to the West Side Greenway and began heading north.

The ride along the waterfront was stunning: views of the river at night, wind rushing past my ears, a sense of freedom and exhiliration almost as if I were flying. I got lost a few times, where the path took an odd turn in the dark, but I always managed to find my way back. At the George Washington Bridge, I dismounted and walked up a rather steep hill that I just couldn't manage on the bike.

I was feeling rather proud of myself when around 9 p.m. I reached the stretch between 181st and Dyckman when my wheel hit an odd plateau around which the path curved. Suddenly I was rolling on the ground stunned. I had flown over the handlebars and landed smack on my chin and hands. A jogger came along, helped me up, and I managed (although bleeding profusely) to climb back on my bicycle and get home. My roommate quickly patched me up and we grabbed a cab to the ER at Columbia Pres.

The result: 8 hours in the ER (mostly spent in a tiny office as no beds were available), chin sutures, and possible fractures (which miraculously was later discovered to be simply a sprained wrist).

So much for my maiden voyage.

Turn Park Avenue into...a park?

Here's a tragic example from Aaron Naperstek's excellent blog of what happens when urban transportation policy privileges private cars above all other modes of transit (including walking, bicycles, and mass transit).

Following its ignoble debut as a rail corridor for steam-powered locomotives, Fourth Avenue was transformed in stages through the building of underground railway tunnels until it was designated as Park Avenue in 1888. At that point, Park Avenue had extensive stretches of actual parkland that appear to have been automobile-free, as can be seen in the pre-1922 photograph looking north from 50 St. It must have been a city dweller's paradise; imagine relaxing on a bench along a charming brick pathway surrounded by grass, shrubbery, and glorious civic architecture. After 1922, this idyllic landscape was ripped out to make room for automobiles.

What in fact seems today a far-fetched dream was once a reality. Well, why can't we be more demanding of our city planners and elected officials and more radical in our proposals? Why does a street have to be noisy, ugly, and dangerous?

Please hold

Due to an unfortunate accident, my right arm is in a cast and major computing activities are on hold until further notice. In the meantime, check out all the fabulous blogs I've listed on the right.

Mind the gap

Many of us are still smarting from Sunday's MTA fare increase that punished loyal riders affected regular users of New York's transit system (86% of all MTA riders, according to the New York Times) by increasing all discounted fares while maintaining the sacrosanct base fare of $2 per ride to reward tourists. So let me engage in a little fantasy that the MTA would actually take this extra money and put it towards infrastructure expansion, which this city's mass-transit riding population sorely needs.

An ideal mass transit system provides smooth transfers between various modes of public transportation, such as trains, boats, buses, and planes. For example, the Staten Island Ferry terminates at South Ferry, where passengers can walk down stairs and board the 1 train. In Europe, many cities have co-located the bus and train stations (and provided plentiful bicycle racks).

Here are some gaps in our city's transit system that leap immediately to mind:

1. No direct rail link between Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal
2. No rail service to LaGuardia airport
3. No uptown rail connection between the east side lines (2/3/4/5/6) and the west side lines (1/A/B/C/D)
   
4. No direct rail link from Manhattan to JFK (requires a transfer to the Air Train at Sutphin Blvd or Howard Beach)
5. No rail service to the Bronx from Inwood (except to Riverdale along the 1 line)

Why is this a problem? Try getting to the following locations from Inwood:

1. LaGuardia airport (can't be done; your best bet via mass transit is the A to 125 St, then take the M60 bus and a good book, though taking a cab here is almost worth the time saved)
   
2. JFK airport (A to 42nd, E to Howard Beach, Air Train to JFK -or- A to 34th, LIRR to Howard Beach, Air Train to JFK)
   
3. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (A to 125, C to 81, cross-town bus to Met or hoof it across Central Park if it's a nice day and you're not in a hurry)
   
4. The New York Botanical Gardens (can't be done without unreasonable contortions; take a bus or a cab)

The Inwoodist's solution involves two above-ground rail lines:

• a northern line running across 125 St that connects the 1, A-D, 2-3, 4-6, and future 2nd Ave subway lines, then stops at Astoria, LGA, Shea Stadium, Forest Hills, Sutphin Blvd, and JFK
• a southern line connecting Penn Station, Port Authority, Grand Central in Manhattan, then Long Island City, Middle Village, Crescent St, Euclid Ave, Howard Beach, and JFK in Queens

Above-ground rail lines are proposed to account for variations in topography (the 1 line at 125 St is elevated) and the significantly greater cost of underground tunneling as compared to light rail. In addition, the intention is for these lines to be integrated with the Air Train, such that a passenger can remain on one train all the way from, say, Penn Station to JFK. Of course, I'm neither an engineer nor geologist, but it's a start, right?



The MTA CEO has also put forth an expansion plan to be realized in 2050 (translation: don't hold your breath).