Transportation between Brooklyn and Queens is pretty bad

From CityLab:

One might think that getting from Brooklyn to Queens—or vice versa—would be easy.

For one, they’re physically connected to each other; they share the same landmass—the start of Long Island, but not technically Long Island. Secondly, they’re New York’s two biggest population centers. And finally, of the five boroughs, they’re both major drivers of population and job growth in the city right now.

But unless you own a car—which most New Yorkers do not—it’s strangely hard to get from one borough to the other. By subway, residents must seek out train lines at the ends of each borough, before backtracking. Bus routes are notoriously circuitous and slow. Both systems are a result of the spoke-hub model, designed at a time when Queens was comparatively pastoral and Brooklynites largely headed into Manhattan for work. So much so that even in 2018, it’s a common refrain in New York City mass transit that if you’re going between the two boroughs, you’re either going through Manhattan, or not going at all.

That’s what made The Great Cross-Borough Mobility Mode Challenge (that was my name for it, at least) on this steamy Tuesday morning during rush hour a bit more interesting.

Just after 8:30 a.m, seven participants simultaneously left a starting point in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and hopped onto their assigned means of transportation: subway, bus, Citi Bike, Uber, UberPool, taxi, or electric moped. Their goal? Pass this goofy made-up finish line—which had a sign, green tape, and all—outside of the Court Square Diner in Long Island City, Queens, where myself and a handful of other transit-beat reporters were waiting beneath the shadows of rapidly rising condos and subway tracks.

The race was put on by Revel, a shared electric moped company that recently premiered in north Brooklyn. The point of the stunt, beyond snagging some media attention, was to highlight the fact that traveling during rush hour between Brooklyn and Queens sucks. And it only stands to get worse once the L train goes offline for 15 months in April of 2019, dispersing hundreds of thousands of riders onto overburdened stations and roads. The big question: Which of these shared-mobility services, old and new, performs best under pressure?

And they wonder why we own cars here...

Cyclists think rules don't apply to them

From CBS 2:

Surveillance video shows a child run off a bus and get run down by a person on a bike, who blew past the bus’s flashing stop sign.

“Bikers need to abide the laws,” said community activist Gary Schlesinger, who’s been leading a social media campaign that highlights bikers behaving badly in Brooklyn. “Passing a stopped school bus that’s a terrible thing, because it’s almost impossible not to hit a child.”

In May, another bicyclist sped through a bus’s stop sign and hit a child; another raced through a red light and crashed into a woman pushing a baby stroller.

“People feel frustrated at so many accidents happening,” Schlesinger said.

So frustrated, in fact, they’ve begun taking matters into their own hands. One bus nearly hit a bicyclist trying to block him from going past.

“That is absolutely dangerous,” said Schlesinger.

Parents and drivers Layton spoke with said they’re concerned that if the NYPD doesn’t step up enforcement fast, a child might get seriously hurt.

Bayside cyclist thinks Alley Pond bike lane is stupid

From QNS:

Longtime Bayside resident Helina Cheung, an avid cyclist and runner, said she and neighbors are left befuddled by a bike lane project recently installed in the neighborhood.

“When my husband and I saw the project, we said, ‘This project doesn’t make sense at all,'” Cheung told QNS while onsite.

The project along the Alley Pond Park edge, between Northern Boulevard and Springfield Boulevard, was installed by the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) this past winter. It is one part of a larger safety project presented by the DOT to Community Board 11 in June 2017.

Community board members voted unanimously in favor of the Alley Pond segment of the project, while support for the Northern Boulevard segment, which has faced community scrutiny, has since been revoked. In March, QNS spoke with a local property owner who claimed the project causes “mass confusion” for drivers and pedestrians.

The Alley Pond safety project flipped the existing bike and parking lanes at the location and installed a four-foot protective buffer between the two. The bike lane is now situated closest to the park’s edge and cars are to park in a “floating parking lane.” A lane for moving traffic is situated next to the floating parking lane.

According to Cheung, many cars drive in the floating parking lane or bike lanes, creating dangerous conditions. A lack of signage and worn paint at the site add to this confusion, she said.

Watch out for cyclists! (They'll run right into you)

From CBS:

Recent complaints suggest that New York City’s bike riders have gone rogue.

With violations on the rise, some bikers have been caught running read lights and in some cases running over people.

Dash cam video from a recent incident shows a mother pushing a baby carriage in a Brooklyn crosswalk when a man on a bike comes out of nowhere and races through a red light, crashing into the woman and her child.

Fortunately they were able to walk away.

“This happens on a daily basis,” Williamsburg resident Gary Schlesinger said. “Obviously bikers don’t feel the law applies to them.”

More pedestrians and cyclists dead this year

From the Daily News:

Deaths of the most vulnerable users of city streets — pedestrians and cyclists — are outpacing fatalities from 2015, even as a drop in the number of motorists killed have held the death toll flat, according to the latest figures.

There were 202 fatalities this year through Nov. 20 — exactly as many people who died in 2015 over the same period.

But crash stats show that more pedestrians and cyclists are being killed than last year at this time under Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero Action Plan meant to end traffic deaths and injuries.

There were 124 pedestrians and 17 cyclists killed, compared to the 115 pedestrians and 14 cyclists cut down over the same period in 2015, according to city Department of Transportation figures.

At the same time, fewer people in cars and on motorcycles died this year — 61, compared to 73 over the same period last year.

First responders on bikes at FMCP

London EMT bike

From DNA Info:

The EMTs from the Corona Community Ambulance Corps know Flushing Meadows-Corona Park like the back of their hands.

Starting this summer, his group will begin patrolling with the help of "ambulance bikes" — a supercharged vehicle he's dreamed of since taking over the volunteer group in 2014.

Perna said the bikes — which were made possible thanks to $8,000 in funds he received from Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras-Copeland — will make his staff more mobile and able to reach more people quickly, especially in the busy summer.

Starting this summer his team will have four bikes out in the park. The bikes will be equipped with oxygen, a defibrillator and other medical items to help teams of EMS workers assist patients wherever they are in the park, Perna said.

Two bikes will go out at a time, and will have an ambulance nearby as backup.

Vision Zero not helping Queens as much

From the Times Ledger:

Make Queens Safer, a grassroots street-safety advocacy organization, contends Queens is falling behind the other boroughs in reducing traffic injuries and fatalities over the past year.

The group’s statistical analysis of Queens’ progress in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s signature traffic safety project Vision Zero finds that the borough is struggling with traffic enforcement and motorist injuries, according to a report released this week.

Queens has faced a 2.3 percent uptick in injuries to motorists and passengers since 2013 and is now the only borough where injuries to drivers and passengers exceed 2013 levels, when Vision Zero began, the report said. Throughout the rest of the city injuries to motor vehicle occupants are down, declining by 7 percent in Brooklyn and in 16 percent in Manhattan. Queens also had a 9% increase in cyclist injuries compared to 2013.

“In five districts (Community Boards 1, 4, 7, 12 and 13), implementation of Vision Zero has been particularly weak and action to jump-start street safety improvements is most urgently needed,” the report said.

Compounding the problem, several Queens neighborhoods are seeing significantly fewer traffic tickets written for these violations by their local police precincts relative to 2013 levels, the advocacy group said. The biggest declines occurred in the 109th and 110th precincts, where ticketing was down by more than 30 percent, with the most significant drops in tickets for cell-phone use.

As part of the Vision Zero effort, NYPD received resources to hire additional traffic safety officers.

“Based on the statistics presented here, there is little evidence that these greater workforce numbers are translating into greater enforcement on the ground. NYPD should provide an accounting of how it is using its Vision Zero budget allocations,” the report said.

Blind fear rogue cyclists

From AM-NY:

Blind and visually impaired people are adamantly opposed to the suggestion that bikes in NYC should be allowed to roll through red lights ("Idaho stops") when they see no pedestrians or traffic -- and would like to see more bikers complying with traffic regulations already on the books.

Vicki Acopulus, who is severely farsighted and has an astigmatism, has been hit and knocked down twice in Hell's Kitchen by delivery guys shuttling food on bicycles. Luckily, says the 72-year-old, she had on a puffy, padded winter coat that cushioned her falls or "I could have broken a hip." A resident of senior housing in Hell's Kitchen, she says she often runs errands for elderly neighbors who tell her they're terrified of being run over by rogue cyclists.

Bike use in the city has exploded, with 10 times as many bicyclists on city streets as there were in 1980, according to cyclist counts conducted by the DOT. And while pedestrian-car accidents are far more likely to be lethal, lawbreaking cyclists inspire unique fear in the 53,000 NYC adults between the ages of 18 and 64 who identify as blind or low vision. (Other surveys say 172,484 people with "vision difficulty" reside in NYC, a city hall spokeswoman noted.)

"When we're crossing streets, we've been taught to listen for cars, but you can't hear bikes," explained James Champion, 23, an administrative intern who lives in Williamsburg and suffers from retinitis pigmentosa. Cyclists are often unaware that many pedestrians on the streets of New York rely on auditory cues and are not able to see them approaching and move out of their way, Champion said.

Reynoso proposes relaxed rules for cyclists

From the Daily News:

Big Apple bicyclists would be allowed to cruise through red lights and stop signs after merely slowing down and looking both ways, under a proposed bill by a city councilman.

The measure, introduced by Antonio Reynoso — who represents bike-crazy Williamsburg — would lift the requirement that cyclists follow the same traffic-light rules as motor-vehicle drivers.

The proposal comes as Mayor de Blasio struggles with his Vision Zero plan to lower pedestrian fatalities and cops are trying to crack down on rogue drivers, cyclists and jaywalkers.

City records show 4,463 cyclists were injured in crashes last year.

But Reynoso defended the proposal, noting how stopping is difficult for cyclists at full speed.

“Riding a bike is not like driving a vehicle. A bike’s motor is the human body, and there is the issue of losing momentum,” said Reynoso, who loves biking so much, he sold his car to raise money for his 2013 campaign.

“It is not sensible to have to stop and go at every stop sign.”

Reynoso, who admits he sometimes blows stop signs and red lights “when appropriate,” believes his plan could improve traffic safety in general by speeding up the time it takes everyone to get through an intersection.

Will new technology help avoid collisions?

From the Queens Courier:

Councilman Rory Lancman and Public Advocate Letitia James called for the implementation of collision avoidance technology in city vehicles and showcased the technology in a retrofitted MTA bus.

Collision avoidance technology acts as a bionic eye to alert drivers of impending danger including other vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists. Lancman and James indicated that the technology has demonstrated an ability to increase safety by reducing overall collisions by 60 percent.

Moreover, the elected officials called for local companies such as Rosco Vision Systems of Jamaica, which is headquartered in Lancman’s area in District 24, to help develop the technology for citywide use.

The legislation calls on the city to implement the technology in the vehicles that are most often involved in pedestrian accidents, such as Department of Sanitation collection trucks and NYPD police vehicles.

City fails to maintain bike lane, causes injury

From the Daily News:

A bicyclist was injured when he hit a pothole and impaled his neck on a nearby fence in Queens on Sunday, authorities said.

The cyclist, a man who appeared to be in his 40s, was rolling along near Stockholm St. and Woodward Ave. in Ridgewood when he hit the hole and crashed about 11:42 a.m., officials said.

The man fell off his bike and hit his head on the ground, stood up, stumbled, and then fell onto a metal fence, impaling his neck, police sources said.

"He hit his head really hard," said one witness who declined to give his name. "Then, in a daze, he starts stumbling onto this fence. He falls onto the fence and skewers his neck. (It went) all the way through his neck. It was the most gruesome, weird thing I have ever seen."

Emergency responders cut off a portion of the waist-high fence in order to treat the man. He was taken to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in stable condition, sources said.

Build bike lanes.
Encourage people to use them.
Fail to maintain them.
Repeat.

Bike crackdown in western Queens

From LIC Post:

The 108th Precinct has been targeting law-breaking bicyclists.

The precinct–which covers Sunnyside, Woodside and Long Island City—issued 352 bicycle summonses over the past 28 days, compared to just three for the same period a year ago.

The summonses were for a range of offences—such as going through red lights, riding against traffic and failure to adhere to a multitude of road rules.

Captain John Travaglia, the commanding officer of the 108 precinct, said that 560 bicycle summonses have been issued in the precinct year to date, up from 75 for the same six-month period last year. He said the number also included wayward bicycle delivery people.

Travaglia said the clamp down is partly the result of adhering to Vision Zero, a concept that aims to reduce traffic fatalities to zero.

He said that the precinct has yet to have any traffic fatalities so far this year and that this push is to help minimize deaths.

“We have all witnessed it,” Travaglia said. “Some bicyclists are like dare devils; they go through red lights fast and yet they don’t know what is coming.”

He said that he has been targeting bicyclists just like motorist to reduce injuries and fatalities.

Lancman wants clarification of safety law

From the Daily News:

Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Queens) says he plans to introduce an amendment to the mayor's Right of Way law tomorrow that would further define when a driver could be handcuffed for hitting a pedestrian or cyclist.

Mayor Bill de Blasio's law, which went into effect last August as part of his Vision Zero initiative, made it a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail for a driver to injure or kill a pedestrian or cyclist who had the right of way.

Lancman's amendment would require cops to take into consideration "visibility, illumination, weather conditions, roadway conditions, roadway design, faulty vehicular equipment or design," and whether the pedestrian was also following the rules.

Lancman says he's pushing the bill because the NYPD would not clarify for him what constitutes a driver failing "to exercise due care" under the law.

"We cannot let people get arrested and potentially sent to jail without a clear understanding of what type of conduct is criminal and not criminal," he said.

Regulating motorized scooters

From CBS New York:

Two New York lawmakers from Queens have introduced bills to regulate motorized bicycles used commercially with safety and insurance requirements.

Sen. Jose Peralta and Assembly member Aravella Simotas are pushing for the Department of Motor Vehicles to maintain a registry, establish safety regulations, and set minimum liability insurance coverage.

Under the bills, drivers would have to register them with the DMV and traffic infractions would be punishable by fines of $25 to $100.

The scooters, according to the lawmakers, have become part of the fabric of small businessesmaking deliveries throughout New York City. They said attempts to ban them haven’t worked, and accidents can create big liability issues.

Simotas said she’s heard from too many people about near misses and being hit by riders.

Peralta told 1010 WINS the City Council banned delivery scooters in 2004, but since then the number of scooters has actually increased.

City Council wants to decriminalize certain offenses

From CBS 2:

Turnstile jumping and public urination are still expected to be treated as crimes warranting an arrest, but a host of minor offenses such as drinking in public are expected to be treated administratively rather than criminally.

The changes would come under planned adjustments to the city’s quality of life laws being worked out by Mayor Bill de Blasio, police Commissioner Bill Bratton, and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, sources said.

The last line of this report is classic. Why ask for ID? Use the honor system!

Council looking to decriminalize quality-of-life crimes

From the Daily News:

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito’s office is working on a proposal that would make some of the most common criminal court summonses civil charges instead. Violators would get a ticket to one of the city’s administrative courts, such as the Environmental Control Board, instead of criminal court. Cops could no longer make arrests for those offenses, and missed court dates would turn into default monetary judgments instead of warrants.

Bratton appears cool to the idea, saying people wouldn’t take a civil ticket seriously.

A Daily News analysis shows the seven offenses that would be sent to one of the city’s administrative civil courts under the Mark-Viverito plan account for roughly 2.7 million, or 42%, of the summonses issued by the NYPD between 2001 and June 2014. They also account for more than 510,000 open arrest warrants, according to the analysis of data provided by the state Office of Court Administration.

The seven offenses under consideration are public consumption of alcohol, public urination, bicycling on the sidewalk, being in a park after dark, failure to obey a park sign, littering and unreasonable noise. The offenses under consideration for decriminalization are under the city’s administrative code — not the state penal code — making it possible to amend them without state approval, officials said.

Public urination and open container are the only two minor offenses for which fines can be paid by mail. But Lancman said many people have reservations about allowing people to simply pay online for criminal court summonses because they’d essentially be pleading guilty to a violation or, in some cases, a misdemeanor without having an attorney present.

“When it’s a civil offense we don’t have any problem letting people pay online or by mail without having to show up at all ... that would almost certainly mean you’d have a higher percentage of people paying a fine,” Lancman said.

He said that in criminal summons court, roughly half the people don’t show up, and of the people who do show up and are assessed a fine, a quarter of them don’t pay.

Proposal for southeast Queens greenway

Hi Queens Crapper,

My name is Daniel Solow and I am working on a campaign to extend the NYC Greenway into South and East Queens. I enjoy reading your posts. Thank you for giving a real perspective of what life is really like here.

Do you or anyone you know run or ride a bike in Queens? If you do then you know what an utter disaster the experience can be in Jamaica and communities north of JFK and along the Nassau border. My hopes are to give these communities a route that is fun, safe, away from car traffic and tackles widespread health and sedentary issues in Queens.

Currently I am building a coalition to partner with groups that work in Queens and address community needs. It would be great to work together to see this vision come to fruition. Please let me know if you are interested.

Southern Queens Greenway
http://southernqueensgreenway.wordpress.com/

--
Warm Regards,

Daniel A Solow

Drinking & biking: a bad idea

From Forbes:

The number of bicyclists killed in crashes on U.S. road is on the rise, particularly among adult males and urban riders, groups that now represent most of the deaths, a new report shows.

Failure to wear helmets, alcohol impairment and an increase in urban commuting were among the factors sited as reasons for the recent spike in deaths.

Fatalities among bicyclists in motor vehicle crashes increased 16 percent from 2010 to 2012, while overall motor vehicle fatalities increased just one percent during the same time period, according to Spotlight on Highway Safety: Bicyclist Safety, released late last month by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), a nonprofit organization representing state highway safety offices.

The report analyzed how fatality trends and crash patterns have changed since the mid 1970′s.

Some highlights from the report about bicyclists killed in 2012:

-More than 1 in 4 adult were legally drunk

-More than two-thirds were not wearing helmets

- Nearly three-quarters were adult males

No texting and biking!

From NY Mag:

Hide your calls, hide your texts: The City Council is considering a new bill that would outlaw both of those activities for cyclists, putting an end to the showoff-y, "look ma, no hands" biking. Councilmember Mark Treyger's bill would slap first-time offenders who talk or text without a hands-free device with a $50 ticket, which could go as high as $200 for repeat offenders.

The bill would also ban using a tablet, or, for the very adventurous, balancing a laptop on your bike while riding. Worse, the only way for a first-time offender to avoid the class would be by taking a bike safety course.

Something really needs to be done about Main Street

Photos courtesy of the Flushing Phantom