Join Us May 16 to Bike to Work with the City Council's Progressive Caucus!

Next Wednesday, May 16, we're going to be celebrating Bike Month with our 5th Annual Bike to Work event with the New York City Council's Progressive Caucus, and we hope you'll saddle up and ride with us.

There are two main rides, one meeting up on the plaza behind Brooklyn Borough Hall at 8:00 a.m., and the other gathering on the 14th Street steps at Union Square in Manhattan at 8:30 a.m.  The rides will converge at City Hall for a rally at 9:00 a.m. Don't miss this annual opportunity to strike a pose with your bike on the steps of City Hall.

In addition, there are a couple of feeder rides for people coming from farther out. One feeder ride will meet up on Manhattan's Upper East Side, at the district office of Council Member Ben Kallos, at 244 East 93rd Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. Gather at 7 a.m. for the ride to Union Square.

In Brooklyn, there will be a group riding from Grand Army Plaza to Borough Hall. Meet up and be ready to ride by 7:30 a.m.

Please join us, along with partner organizations Transportation Alternatives, Bike New York and Get Women Cycling, for this fun, casual ride, and the chance to bike side by side with some of the Progressive Caucus's most dedicate advocates for safe streets.

Please RSVP to [email protected], and if you don't have your own wheels, you can request a Citi Bike with your RSVP.

See you on the 16th!

Join Us May 16 to Bike to Work with the City Council's Progressive Caucus!

On Wednesday, May 16, we're going to be celebrating Bike Month with our 5th Annual Bike to Work event with the New York City Council's Progressive Caucus, and we hope you'll saddle up and ride with us.

We'll have two feeder rides, one meeting up on the plaza behind Brooklyn Borough Hall at 8:00 a.m., and the other gathering on the 14th Street steps at Union Square in Manhattan at 8:30 a.m.  The rides will converge at City Hall for a rally at 9:00 a.m. Don't miss your once-a-year chance to pose with your bike on the steps of City Hall!

Please join us, along with partner organizations Transportation Alternatives, Bike New York and Get Women Cycling, for this fun, casual ride, and the opportunity to bike side by side with some of the Progressive Caucus's most dedicate advocates for safe streets.

Please RSVP to [email protected], and if you don't have access to a bike, request a Citi Bike with your RSVP.

Car Free Earth Day, This Saturday, April 21st

Just a quick reminder that the city's Car Free Earth Day 2018, which will open 30 blocks of Broadway from Times Square to Union Square, takes place this Saturday, April 21st, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

There will be programming at several rest stops along the route, including free arts performances, and plenty of car-free space to stroll or bike through the heart of Midtown. The forecast is for plenty of sunshine and a temperature around 60°!

For more information, including details on satellite Car Free Earth Day events in Washington Heights and Downtown Brooklyn, please visit NYC DOT's official Car Free Earth Day web page.

Reminder: Kick Off Earth Week by Biking to Work with Brooklyn BP Eric Adams

This coming Monday, April 23, we're joining Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams for his annual Earth Week Bike-to-Work event. The ride is open to all, so we hope you'll come ride along.

We'll meet up at the Willink Entrance to Brooklyn's Prospect Park, on Flatbush Avenue just north of the intersection of Empire Boulevard and Ocean Avenue. After some remarks from the Borough President, we'll ride north up Flatbush Avenue to Grand Army Plaza, take the Prospect Park West bike path to 9th Street, head down 9th Street to Clinton Street (stopping at 5th Avenue to remember Abigail Blumenstein and Joshua Lew), and then we'll proceed up Clinton to Remsen Street and Brooklyn Borough Hall.

Monday should see a repeat of Saturday's weather – sunny and maybe even a bit warmer – so in other words, perfect biking conditions. Take advantage and come ride with us!

StreetsPAC Testifies at City Council Hearing on Traffic Congestion

This past Tuesday, the City Council's Committee on Transportation held an oversight hearing on ways to address traffic congestion, and StreetsPAC was at City Hall to testify.

The increasing burden of congestion has been well documented; the Partnership for New York City estimates that traffic backups cost the city some $20 billion every year. And yet, despite Governor Cuomo calling congestion pricing "an idea whose time has come" last summer, the common-sense fixes recommended by his own Fix NYC panel were largely ignored by the Governor and Legislature in their recently concluded budget negotiations.

In addition, Mayor de Blasio's own Congestion Action Plan, released in October, appears to be little more than tinkering around the edges. While some aspects of it are useful, the plan mostly amounts to "inconsequential suggestions to a problem that is so grave," in the words of City Council Member Antonio Reynoso.

While it's clear that what is needed is for Albany to pass a full-blown congestion-pricing plan for New York City, there are more constructive steps that the city can take on its own, and we highlighted a half-dozen of them in our testimony, which you can read in full here.

StreetsPAC presented the following testimony earlier this week to the New York City Council's Committee on Transportation, at its oversight hearing on addressing traffic congestion:

Today’s oversight hearing is critical in light of the failure of the Governor and State Legislature to take meaningful action on congestion in the budget process just concluded. While the surcharge on ride-hailing vehicles and taxis will generate a fair amount of revenue, such a limited first-stab at dealing with congestion will have minimal effect on actually solving the problem.

Albany is not alone in deserving criticism, however. Mayor de Blasio, who for months has repeated, without foundation, that a congestion charge is somehow “regressive,” has done much to provide opponents of a comprehensive congestion-reduction effort with political cover. While his Millionaire’s Tax isn’t a bad idea for helping to fund and fix the MTA, it does nothing to address the twin crisis of crippling traffic.

Additionally, while the Congestion Action Plan the Mayor announced in October includes some good and sensible ideas, it amounts to tinkering around the edges. Cracking down on blocking the box and keeping curbs and travel lanes clear during peak hours are useful steps, but the program’s reliance on human enforcement guarantees that it will have limited effect.

What we really need is bold action, on a large scale and with an unwavering commitment to fixing the problem. Here are a half-dozen steps the Council can take to break gridlock’s hold on New York City.

StreetsPAC joined Transportation Alternatives, the Straphangers Campaign and the Riders Alliance in issuing the following statement regarding the budget passed by the New York State Legislature early this morning:

"Our transit system is on life support. Fixing our transit system should have been Albany's first priority this year; unfortunately, the final budget does not offer a credible plan to modernize the MTA, nor provide a sufficient revenue stream to make it possible. The crisis in our subways and on our streets will continue, and New Yorkers will continue to demand action from Governor Cuomo and state lawmakers.

"If the governor is serious about alleviating the crisis, he must ensure that the initial steps laid out in this budget -- for-hire vehicle surcharges, bus lane expansion and enforcement -- be the catalyst for meaningful reform.

"First, Governor Cuomo must use a portion of the new revenue to help implement comprehensive congestion pricing, by constructing cordon infrastructure and addressing needs in transit deserts around the city. Then, the governor must establish, and commit to, a timeline to make congestion pricing a reality in New York.

"New York's transit and traffic problems may seem intractable, but with bold leadership, reform is possible. New Yorkers deserve better than broken subways, unsafe streets, and crippling gridlock, and it's time for our representatives to deliver."

New York City Launches LPI-for-Bikes Pilot Program

Yesterday morning, we joined City Council Member Carlos Menchaca and the New York City Department of Transportation at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Smith Street in Brooklyn for the launch of a pilot program that will allow people on bikes to get a head start at intersections with leading pedestrian intervals (LPIs), where the pedestrian walk signal turns green a few seconds before drivers get a green light.

The pilot, which will be in effect at a total of 50 intersections in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, will run for six months, after which NYCDOT and the NYPD will evaluate safety data. If successful, the effort could roll out citywide.

The city began installing LPIs several years ago, and there are now more than 2,500 of them throughout the five boroughs. A study released by NYCDOT in 2016, Don't Cut Corners, found that crashes in which pedestrians and cyclists were killed or seriously injured declined by 56% at intersections with LPIs.

In addition, city data indicates that 65% of cyclist fatalities and almost 90% of serious injuries to cyclists occur at intersections, so the potential safety effect of the LPI-for-Bikes pilot is significant.

StreetsPAC worked closely with Council Member Menchaca on developing legislation that would permit people on bikes to adhere to pedestrian signals, which Menchaca introduced in 2016. The legislation hasn't advanced, primarily due to concerns on the part of the NYPD. However, with NYCDOT's support, Menchaca was able to gain the Police Department's support for the pilot effort.

We're confident that the data from the pilot study will show that following pedestrian signals will improve safety for cyclists, without any adverse effect on pedestrians or drivers, and will be adopted citywide, either through passage of Council Member Menchaca's bill or through an administrative change. Either way, we'll be there to advocate for its implementation.

Here's more coverage of the initiative from Streetsblog and amNewYork. In addition, StreetsPAC Executive Director Eric McClure spoke with Fox 5 NY's Linda Schmidt about the safety benefits of the LPI-for-Bikes pilot (click the image below for video).

From our friends at Families for Safe Streets and Transportation Alternatives:

"Earlier this month, two children were killed by a reckless driver while crossing a New York City street. A few weeks before that, another child was struck and killed while riding his bicycle. That’s three young New Yorkers who have been killed in the first three months of 2018 by deadly driving, and 40 during the Vision Zero era.

"Each and every one of these tragedies could have been prevented. But we have been too slow to implement known remedies. TransAlt and Families for Safe Streets have been fighting for more speed safety cameras to protect school zones for years, and we’ve been frustrated with the progress in Albany year after year.

"This Thursday at 2 p.m., side-by-side with Mayor de Blasio, we will call for action. Please join us.

"Speed safety cameras are proven to dramatically reduce speeding and save lives. More of our schools should have them. And right now, there is a unique opportunity for us to ensure speed safety cameras are included in the state budget.

"Last week, one thousand New Yorkers, led by hundreds of kids, marched in Brooklyn to demand an end to traffic violence NOW. They’re not willing to wait any longer.

"Stand with us on Thursday and say you’re not willing to wait either."

We'll be with Families for Safe Streets and T.A. tomorrow at City Hall – please join us to demand that the legislature and the Governor include reauthorization and expansion of the city's speed safety camera program in this year's budget!

Rally to Protect NYC Kids with Speed Safety Cameras
Thursday, March 22
2:00 p.m. (please allow extra time for security screening)
City Hall
RSVP

StreetsPAC Weighs in on Plans for the L Train Shutdown

This past Thursday, the City Council's Committee on Transportation held an oversight hearing on the planned April 2019 shutdown of the L train, and StreetsPAC was at City Hall to testify.

The proposal for accommodating the 225,000 daily riders of the L who will be displaced by the 15-month project to repair the Canarsie Tubes mark a significant step forward by the MTA and New York City Department of Transportation, but in our opinion, the plans need to go farther. In particular, we believe that "peak hours" bus-only and HOV3+ restrictions proposed for 14th Street and the Williamsburg Bridge need to be significantly extended, if not to 24/7, at least to something much closer to that.

In addition, we have concerns about how passenger egress from the more than one bus per minute slated to carry erstwhile L train riders across the bridge will be facilitated, and we harbor doubts about an already-struggling subway system's ability to accommodate 160,000 additional daily passengers on the G, J, M and Z lines.

Of course, the burden on surface transportation would be greatly eased if a robust congestion-pricing plan were in effect by the time that the L is shut down, a point we highlighted in our testimony, which you can read in full here.

There's more about the hearing and the MTA/NYCDOT plans in The New York Times, on Streetsblog, and at Second Avenue Sagas.

StreetsPAC presented the following testimony yesterday to the New York City Council's Committee on Transportation, at its oversight hearing on the impending 2019 shutdown of the L train for repairs to the Canarsie tubes:

While the plan released yesterday by the MTA and the New York City Department of Transportation is a significant step forward in addressing the transportation crisis that will be created by the 15-month shutdown of the Canarsie Tubes beginning in 2019, it needs to go farther.  Our hope is that this is merely an opening bid that will be revised and made stronger over the coming months.

For starters, we believe that buses running across the Williamsburg Bridge should have a dedicated, physically separated lane, discreet from trucks and turning cars. In order to move 70 buses with 3,800 passengers per hour across the bridge, they must be able to travel unencumbered by other vehicles.*

In addition, the bus approaches to the bridge must be dedicated and protected. While HOV3+ restrictions are absolutely necessary, we have deep concerns about enforceability of those restrictions, and would like to see a detailed enforcement plan.

Furthermore, we believe that occupancy restrictions on the bridge should be in place 24/7, as commuting patterns and timing will likely evolve during the shutdown.  The same is true for bus-only restrictions on the 14th Street “Core Busway,” which should be extended well beyond rush hours. We are certain to see major increases in for-hire vehicle traffic along the affected route, the effects of which will only be mitigated by dedicating space for much more efficient buses.