From Streetsblog:The MTA is working on a plan for a short busway in Ridgewood that would run for six-tenths of a mile beneath the elevated M tracks, between Fresh Pond Road and Palmetto Street. While the project wouldn’t transform a car-choked traffic sewer into a pedestrian-friendly transit boulevard (the right-of-way is currently a series of weed-strewn parking lots), it could be NYC’s first new separated busway since the Fulton Mall opened in the 1970s.
The busway would have one lane in each direction and three bus stops. (Overhead, the M train stops at Fresh Pond Road, Forest Avenue, and Seneca Avenue.)
In its recently-released 20-Year Capital Needs Assessment, the MTA said the busway, which leads directly to the Fresh Pond bus depot, ”will reduce travel times and reduce operating costs for several bus routes.” The MTA says the project would save approximately $1 million in operating costs annually.
If anyone can explain to me how a bus line duplicating an already existing subway line makes sense, I'm all ears. The train line replaced the trolley line that ran here a century ago.
9 comments:
Back to the future? Maybe thry'll reopen Two Kioodles while they're at it.
A bus line for 6/10ths of a mile?
Time to think out of the box and go green.....Rickshaws.
There are bus lines that run under or over subways throughout Queens (101 under N/Q in Astoria, 60 along Queens Blvd mainline, etc). I don't think it's really justified for a little over half a mile, since it'll likely be serving so little pedestrians, but it's not unprecedented.
Or, maybe people could just get out and walk. I mean, come on now, it's only 6/10ths of a mile. What's that, a 15 minute stroll?
"back to the future.
I thing the location of this photo was used in Men In Black 3. Some of the movie was filmed in Richmond Hill under the J line. Though I saw some places that looked like this.
Let's experiment - a 0.6 mile moving walkway - connecting the shops that sell personal jetpacks and flying cars.
What WOULD be great, is if they brought back the trolley cars under the EL. Less carbon footprint and quainter ride through the old neighborhood!
Hell yes buy the restored trolly's sitting in Brooklyn and place them back in operation.
The logistics for overhead power would be easy.
I cant speak for on grade traffic crossing safety and stopping distance. There weren't many cars back then.
How does creating a new bus line save $1 mill/yr?
It's not creating a new bus line; it's a route for the bus lines (the Q58 and others) on the streets to the north and south to use.
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