From the Daily News:...Sadik-Khan has produced statistics to use in making before-and-after comparisons. She has charts and graphs showing traffic volume and speeds on Fifth to 11th Aves. and on cross-streets, along with counts of pedestrian crowding, as they were measured in March and April. Those will be matched against fresh numbers gathered at the end of the summer.
The baseline numbers are fascinating and, in some cases, perplexing: They show traffic crawled at an average of 5.64 mph eastbound on 34th St. between Seventh and Eighth (been there), while it zipped at 35.2 mph hour up 10th Ave. between 45th and 50th (never done that).
Whatever. We now have the method to the commissioner's ... astuteness.
From the Huffington Post:
What is wrong is that the present solution is neither safer nor more pedestrian friendly.
The execution of the project was both sloppy and ill-conceived if it was meant to serve people who live here or are trying to walk on Broadway. Take a trip with me up Broadway on foot if you dare.
Start downstairs from where I am writing on 34th Street, where the street in front of Macy's has been closed off. Most of it has been blocked by metal chairs and tables, intersected by a bike lane.
If cars in Manhattan often push the rules, the bike riders ignore them entirely. They wear armor while their victims on foot go unprotected. It is not uncommon to be grazed by a high speed biker getting between you and some barrier at speed.
Today it is harder to pass through Times Square on foot than when cars were whizzing back and forth.
Photo from India Ink
60 comments:
And those aggressive bikers often carry a most formidable weapon wrapped around their chests diagonally...a stout chain and padlock.
When properly employed against an outspoken pedestrian victim it can be wielded like a medieval mace and chain to intimidate them into submission.
However, a quick pre-emptive thrust through the wheel spokes of a careening "knight" on bike with a cane or umbrella will quickly unhorse...uh...un-bike him and leave him bewildered on the ground at your mercy.
(It'll splinter your cane but what the hell).
"Mend your ways you knave or erstwhile face my displeasure"!
Heh, heh, heh...then there's the age old option of piano wire stretched across a dangerous bikers' intersection with the tensile strength that'll bring down a charging Elephant!
Janette Sadik Khan has some of the dumbest priorities ever. Why not work to get trucks off local roads instead? It would cut down on the cost of repairing potholes and improve air quality in many neighborhoods.
Ah, more faux-populism, this time, from the left.
The photo shows the zombies from the Night of the Living Dead during daylight hours.
They're unionized and it's their off time.
"The Bikers"
I love massive generalizations.
A generalization it is, but generalizations can be based on experience or observation, and they can be true. Massive? Your characterization. Do you deny that one, two, some, or many bikers ignore the rules? Do you, RatherBeBiking observe ALL of the traffic rules, always--and be honest!??!
anonymous :
I have no desire to respond to your question as I've chosen to reveal who I am and you have not. If you approached me in a more formal manner or provided us with some of your own background, I'd happily give you my answer, which might surprise you.
"The Bikers"
I love massive generalizations.
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How about careless self absorbed assholes wasting tax payers money and a foil for Blumturd.
You like that better.
Funny, in Iran youth are trying to topple a regime that overturned the people' wish - in Queens when young people are told what they should, and should not do, they dutifully write it down - so they don't forget.
Anonymous :
One thing I've noticed about all anonymous 'new infrastructure' whiners : they often leave out question marks in their comments.
Anyway, I kind of hope Bloomberg gets another term in office just to piss you anonymous whiners off.
Anyway, I kind of hope Bloomberg gets another term in office just to piss you anonymous whiners off.
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Not very smart. While driving we might thank you by reaching out and "kissing" a bike rider.
If you get my drift (and quotes)
And you might "go to jail". You are a very angry anonymous person, aren't you?
35 MPH between on 10th Avenue between 45th and 50th?
Interesting number, since all avenue lights are timed at approximately 26 MPH (that is, someone traveling that rate of speed would see green lights turn ahead succesively). And given the near-24/7 roadblock that is 41st and 10th (thanks to the Lincoln Tunnel), and the extra long light at 42nd and 10th to accomodate the two-way traffic on 42nd, I'd love to know when the bumper-to-bumper uptown traffic, jammed with 18-wheelers, hits 5 MPH over the legal limit three blocks later.
Wow loser!
Heh, heh, heh...then there's the age old option of piano wire stretched across a dangerous bikers' intersection with the tensile strength that'll bring down a charging Elephant!
Have fun in the slammer. Those are some dangerous ideas your provoking there with your violent plan. Dumb words on a blog. Dont feel bad when the law comes knocking.
You are referring to fixed gear messengers. If you pull that crap you will be in a mess of hurt,legal hurt that is. Theres cameras all over the place.
This dumb idea is for tourists. I wouldnt expect a rational conversations with many anti bike folks on here for a second. Sadly again some of you on here are making friends I see and sweeping broadly people who bike commute with dumb reckless fixed gear messengers.
Not the same at all.
Your wrong in your assumption that bike commuters like bloomberg. Some of you people have NO idea that bike commuting with bike lanes has been around in other cities long before NYC did it. In fact NYC is very late to the idea of bike lanes. Yes they shouldnt be in busy streets when traffic is thick, but you cant avoid that in Manhattan.
The thinking on here about bloomberg associated with bike commuters borders on reactionary fox news absurdity. Its like O'Rielly writing a children's book after calling up ex-producer Andrea Mackris.
It's Bloomberg's commissioner that's bike lane happy.
I wouldnt expect a rational conversations with many anti bike folks on here for a second.
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You got that right. My kid doesnt have a school desk, and my local hospital closed.
But that doesnt seem to faze you - for if it did, you would be as upset as me.
All you care about is your bike lane. To you that is 'rational'.
If you were so concerned, maybe you'd provide some identifying information instead of remaining anonymous and unimportant.
If you'd rather be really biking try a tough leather gay bar where S & M sex is served a la carte...you two wheel yuppie/ponce!
Thank you for making our point about anonymous bike lane whiners....
again.
Oh and assuming a pen name like "rather be biking" is providing us with your truthful background?
You phony ass pansy!
OK
You got that right. My kid doesnt have a school desk, and my local hospital closed.
Does that happen in the many other state's the U.S. has? They build a bike lane and then close a hospital after that? No they don't and it doesn't cost in many other states the dumb amount bloomberg made it cost.
Take away the bike lanes like they did in NYC in the 1980's.
It wont change the horrendous driving from speeding drivers flying through red lights,road rage, and hitting pedestrians that is in the news everyday in NYC and New Jersey.
No, you stupid ass moron, click through to my profile where I've provided plenty of info on myself (ie - a website link).
I'm not a cowardly jackass like yourself, bitching and moaning on a comment thread on an unsubstantial blog that won't have any bearing on city government.
"Oh he was comin' around 8th Street doing 60...when the chain on his tricycle broke...they found him lyin' in the grass with the kickstand up his ass and his manhood punctured by a spoke"!
Dumb biker!
Actually, you are also "bitching and moaning on a comment thread."
Ask yourself why you are "on an unsubstantial blog that won't have any bearing on city government."
I'm well aware of the area of the internet where I've spent so much time today. Sorry if I hurt your feelings.
Wrong though, I'm not bitching and moaning, I'm having a perfectly civilized back and forth with a bunch of (or maybe one) anonymous commenter.
Cheers, keep up the grade A reporting.
Quite the contrary biker bitch...various city agencies and pols follow "Queens Crap" on a daily basis.
Their IP addresses prove it.
If you think it's so unimportant why DO YOU bother to follow it or post?
Phony faggot!
To laugh at sad people like you.
Did daddy touch you when you were little? I love the 'faggot' thing. It's a perfect internet cliche that hardly ever fails :
When you're clearly in the wrong and feeling hurt, call the guy hurting your feelings a faggot! You're definitely going to look smarter!
Move to Martha's Vineyard for blissful biking.
NYC is one of the most dangerous places to bike in!
A biker friend of mine just got hit by a cement truck near 19th Street.
His foot got crushed!
Reconstructive surgery folowed at Bellevue Hospital.
Now c'mon and admit it fella...you like the way your bike seat rubs your ass as you bounce on those rough cobble stone streets of Soho!
anon :
Was it you who wrote that Willamsburg bridge bike-themed porno story?
You've got a lot of homoerotocism on your mind, apparently.
I wouldn't reveal who I was if I were you either.
Don't care if I look smart or dumb...I'm not as insecure as you are bend-over-biker-boy.
A real man rides a Harley though!
It galls you doesn't it...that "Queens Crap" is so successful1 at what it does?
Isn't it about time for your mom to serve you dinner?
Ids that asparagus quiche? Yummy...looks lovely!
Okay pal, you enjoy yourself. Try not to think about my crotch as much as you have been though. I'm getting a little creeped out by that.
Yeah, seriously.
Word smithing and biking.
Your gonna fall on your ass or your sentence structure soon old boy-chick!
Homoeroticism...tsk, tsk, tsk such "advanced" jargon for a dim witted two wheeler.
I'm enjoying this.
How is it for you?
Very creepy. You clearly can't stop thinking about my crotch, so I'm gonna go ahead and let you keep moaning to anonymous self on here. I hope you can come to terms with your sexuality soon.
And if you think 'homoerotocism' is advanced vocabulary.. well.. 'nuff said.
Love to rile you fella!
How's your blood pressure?
You really need to take a chill out ride now...I think.
Ain't got the slightest interest in your midsection bub.
But your are a crotchety sort when it comes to stepping on your toes about the absurdity of spending a small fortune redesigning New York's streets for the benefit of a few dopey bikers like yourself!
Go ride in the park it's cheaper for us taxpayers.
I've baited your anger and you took the hook.
It's been great sport (yawn) but now I'm beginning to get a little bored.
10-4...gotta bounce.
P.S.
You can have the last dregs of words if you like.
That was one creepy biker!
Bike lanes while they close hospitals, very odd subway grates (that have not made it to Manhattan), this seating, casual overturning of several referendums on term limits ....
costs of essentials going through the roof while everyone tells us what a great job they are doing ...
we do not live in an odd time but a stupid time.
Let's digress for a moment back to that earlier biker versus anonymous joust:
The term "fag" or "fagging" came out of the English public school system i.e. Eaton, Harrow, etc.
A lower classman (a newbie) performed services for the upperclassmen.
It was known as "fagging".
And the well known slang term for a cigarette is a "fag".
"faggots" refer to small pieces of firewood.
Now...truly enough has been said.
Wasn't it Mayor Koch that first tried introducing bike lanes in NYC?
They turned out to be a big bust!
Now Bloomberg is repeating this mistake and paying for it out of our much needed tax dollars during a bad economy!
It's bread and circuses time once again in ancient New York.
Mike fiddles while NYC turns worse!
Most recent anon :
You have confused some of Koch's failed lanes with some very useful and consistently trafficked lanes that were set down in the city around that era.
A few sections of those 'failed' lanes are actually still in use today.
Its always the SUV driver or expensive Harley rider that doesnt realize their contradiction's, first to to bring up kid name calling idiocy like "Faggot". Must be that well thought out critical thinking that keeps them thinking bike lanes must not be supported in 40 other states by republicans and democrats and they didnt close any hospitals in that state. But take the lanes away if you want. The angry mob lemmings will find some way else to connect yuppie( your kidding) bike commuters to things they hate while they dont even know that people who have been commuting for 10 20 years long before bloomie was around dont like bloomberg. I know it may not fit into your small stereotype. Many bike commuters are working class.
Maybe you rabid folks want to look up the facilities Arnold closed in California with hospital funds slashed, or the stadium built in Minneapolis from Republican Governor Pawlenty while schools have been cut back and hospital funding by Republicans? But then you'd have to look outside the box,reading a overseas paper, or just information about an area outside of NYC.
* Your gonna fall on your ass or your sentence structure soon old boy-chick!
Homoeroticism...tsk, tsk, tsk such "advanced" jargon for a dim witted two wheeler.
Ah yes the junior high mentality again.
The bike rider is a boy chick because they might be in shape. Dont have a heart attack with the eagerness to be right, but your sadly wrong.
Mayor Koch most probably got the ideas for bike lanes from the late William F. Buckley, Jr.
Buckley, in his race for the mayoralty in 1965 (against Beame and Lindsey, almost 45 years ago), actually proposed, in a position paper, the creation of an elevated bicycle trail the length of Second Avenue from 125th Street to 1st Street. That's right, an "elevated" thoroughfare! Sort of like a miniature High Line. There were to be ramps at major cross avenues where toll booths (I kid you not) would be situated to collect money for the use of these facilities. He proposed a toll of ten cents from the bicyclists. These monies would eventually pay for the construction (in theory) of the elevated structure.
The press dubbed the proposal "The Buckley Bikeway".
I just dont understand the Anti-Biking on here. I enjoy this blog a lot and agree with it most of the time. I understand this walkway is not the best idea but the tourists love it and they bring in a lot of money to this city of ours. And do people really believe we either get a hospital or a bike lane? I know a lot of bikers break the laws but really how many people come to a full stop when driving or blow a light as it turns red when a biker breaks a law 99 times out of a 100 the only person in danger is the biker when a car breaks a law innocent people doe. You can not compare the two. I own a car and a bike and will continue to use both and vote with politicians who will improve life fro bith
Like who's going to believe anyone's manufactured profile eh Mr. Biker?
C'mon!
Methinks you doth protest too much.
If your case for wasting taxpayers' money during an economic crisis to create hobbyists' bike lanes was so solid you wouldn't have to.
(Especially on "QC" which you seem to think is a "freak site").
I rest my case.
Nobody's anti biking.
I ride along Pelhan Parkway myself.
There's nothing like the cool breeze in your face to drive your cares away.
BUT I DON'T LIKE WASTING MONEY THAT COULD BE USED MORE USEFULLY ELSEWHERE TO BENEFIT A SMALL PROPORTION OF NYC'S TOTAL RESIDENTS!
If you want bike lanes, then you or your club can pay for them privately!
Don't put your hands in my pocket for the cash.
Oops...now I hope you don't intend to interpret that as having any "homoerotic" inference fella!
And I graduated junior high school 40 years ago.
I think "RatherBeBiking" is a cyber-personage created by the "Parkside Group" to act as spokesperson for a cyclists' association/lobby group.
It smacks of Evan Stavisky's mentality.
Nice little picture though.
Hint:
Do you want your bike lanes all over New York?
Then drag some re-elect Bloomberg banners behind you while you're riding.
This city is always for sale for the right price.
All these comments about a piss ant issue like bike lanes?
Somebody must be getting some lucrative contract to paint all those green parallel lane lines around the city!
Maybe that's what Mayor Mike meant about a greener New York...sawbucks in his friends' bank accounts!
no looks like most of these comments r some creepy old dude fantasizing about some bicyclist
That last one sounds like it came from a high school hair brain who was puffing while he was pedaling.
Yeah like you must know the ages of all the posters here.
So you think you're clairvoyant now too? C-mon dumbass!
Maybe we can try to guess your IQ score.
Well it's a safe bet to assume it's low.
Who did get that lucrative green line painting contract? Anyone know?
That's rich..."creepy old dude"..."fantasizing"...yadda, yadda?
Now who's the real homophobe?
What if a lot of these comments were posted by women?
Do you have a gender meter hooked up to your PC to determine the sex of all who comment here?
What a dope!
And We'd like you to stick to the point:
WHO GOT THE LINE PAINTING CONTRACT....EH?
Back in 'here' to clarify for some angry anonymous whiners :
There is no huge, lucrative line painting contract. Most bike lanes in the city are laid down by the DOT.
Occasionally, companies from New Jersey and elsewhere are hired for smaller jobs like putting down sharrows for those stupid 'shared lanes'.
In REAL cities around the country and the world, they actually have grass and trees for people to relax by.
If you're really serious about biking on city streets then I'd suggest licensing all legal age bikers...maybe through a newly created branch of the DMV.
That's right...learners' permits plates, registration inspections ...the whole trip!
Do you want ride responsibly?
Then act like responsible adults and not moronic hobbyists.
Shouldn't NYC residents (particularly pedestrians) be safe from free wheeling velocopedes?
Moron...
WE PAY TAXES to let DOT, or whoever, paint those bike lanes!
Whether they're subcontracted out or not THE REST OF US pay for your little ride.
Bottom line:
Paint costs money! The labor costs money!
So stop trying to take the rest of NYC along for the ride!
EVERY SCRAP OF OUR TAX MONEY COULD BE BETTER SPENT ELSEWHERE DURING THESE BAD TIMES.
What about those more permanent concrete barriers around Chelsea?
I'll bet they're contracted out.
What's the exact expenditure of our tax money that's allocated for this foolishness...thousands...millions of dollars?
Let's ask Comptroller Thompson...
I'm sure he's got the all figures!
Or would you rather try to continue to distract us by going back to all that "creepy-old-fantasizing-dude"
smokescreen BS of yours?
the only smoke screen here is the load of bullshit offered by the antibike lane morons who have consistently shown they really don't know what they're talking about.
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