Traffic Congestion in New York City

[hkskyline]

February 23, 2006
Let Traffic Flow and So Will Commerce, Groups Tell City
By THOMAS J. LUECK
New York Times



In an unusual pairing of business and environmental interests, five neighborhood business groups are asking the Bloomberg administration to do more to relieve congestion on city streets, citing a new study of private car traffic in Manhattan.

The business groups, representing property owners in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, signed a letter sent last week to Deputy Mayor Daniel L. Doctoroff that criticizes "current piecemeal efforts to relieve traffic and promote alternatives to driving."

The City Hall letter was accompanied by an advance copy of a study, to be released today, that was commissioned by an advocacy group, Transportation Alternatives. Relying largely on government data, it concludes that private cars far outnumber buses, trucks and commercial vehicles, many people entering Manhattan by car are simply passing through, and 90 percent of commuters in private cars could be using public transportation.

"This makes it clear that we don't have to accept the old argument that restricting automobile use will hurt the economy," said Paul Steely White, the executive director of Transportation Alternatives, a 32-year-old advocacy group supported by member contributions and foundation grants.

The study, conducted by Bruce Schaller, a transportation consultant who has extensively worked for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission, offers no broad solutions. But it proposes a series of steps long advocated by transportation planners: dedicating more space on the streets for buses and bicycles and freeing more sidewalk space for pedestrians.

"We wanted to jump in with both feet and say we agree," said Barbara Adler, the executive director of the Columbus Avenue Business Improvement District on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Also signing the City Hall letter were a nearby Manhattan group, the Columbus-Amsterdam Avenue Business Improvement District; two groups in Brooklyn, the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership and the North Flatbush Avenue Business Improvement District; and the Sutphin Boulevard Business Improvement District in Queens. "We are not saying 'put an end to cars,' " said Mirvlyn Brice, the executive director of the North Flatbush Avenue group, which represents a congested business strip between Atlantic Avenue and Grand Army Plaza. "We are focusing on how we can make things more pedestrian friendly."

Jennifer Falk, a spokeswoman for Mr. Doctoroff, said he was reviewing the letter and the study, but declined to comment further.

Mr. Schaller's analysis, entitled "Necessity or Choice: Why People Drive to Manhattan," raises questions about how passenger cars affect the city's economy. It found that most people who drive into Manhattan below 60th Street do so because of the comfort and convenience of their cars, ignoring easily available public transportation.

Sixty percent of the vehicles on those streets are passenger cars, and congestion has surged since 2001, the study found.

The study found that a large share of people driving into Manhattan are bound for somewhere else and therefore contribute little to the city's economy beyond bridge or tunnel tolls. It said 61 percent of those crossing East River bridges were making through trips and that more than 30 percent of those using Hudson River tunnels were bound for destinations outside Manhattan's main business district.

The analysis also underscored some of the political tensions that surround restrictions on car use and have emerged in the past when officials have suggested measures like congestion pricing — imposing a fee to drive into the business district when traffic is heaviest — as a method to discourage people from driving at peak times.

It found that more people who live in other parts of the city commute by private cars into the main Manhattan business district than those who live in the suburbs. The largest number of city drivers are in Brooklyn and Queens, the study found, making them unlikely to support congestion pricing by way of East River bridges.

Support for restrictions on private cars is not fully shared among business people. The business groups publicly supporting such restrictions represent less than 10 percent of the city's business improvement districts, and none of them are in the main business district.

But executives said there had been a broad shift in attitudes from the days when business leaders almost universally sought greater access for their customers and employees who wanted to drive into Manhattan from the suburbs.

"There has been a gradual shift over 30 years," said Daniel A. Biederman, the executive director of the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation. Although many business owners might still oppose stiffer restrictions on private car use, "it would be closer to 50-50," he said, "and there wouldn't be strident opposition."

Tim Tompkins, the president of the Times Square Alliance, a group that has struggled for years with the problems of gridlocked vehicular and pedestrian traffic, responded cautiously to the Transportation Alternatives report.

"You can think of the transportation system as the arteries of the city economy, and there is no doubt that the arteries are clogged," he said. "But you have to proceed carefully and make sure the oxygen gets through."

[TalB]

I don't think that a congestion charge will do anything better nor do I feel that it will be a long term solution for Manhattan traffic.

[mad_nick]

Originally Posted by TalB

I don't think that a congestion charge will do anything better nor do I feel that it will be a long term solution for Manhattan traffic.

Of course it'll make a difference, when people have to pay to drive to the city, many of them will switch to transit, and those who don't switch pay into the city coffers, hopefully improving transit. According to the study, drivers have an average income only slightly above those using transit, so it's not like most are rich enough not to care if they pay another $10 / day to drive to Manhattan.
London reduced traffic drastically when they introduced the congestion charge, the same could be done in New York.

[CHI]

if nothing else itll get the city mo money yo!

[AirJay78]

Originally Posted by mad_nick

Of course it'll make a difference, when people have to pay to drive to the city, many of them will switch to transit, and those who don't switch pay into the city coffers, hopefully improving transit. According to the study, drivers have an average income only slightly above those using transit, so it's not like most are rich enough not to care if they pay another $10 / day to drive to Manhattan.
London reduced traffic drastically when they introduced the congestion charge, the same could be done in New York.

With NY as expensive as it is to live and work and even play... you talk about adding an additional cost to us???

And it sounds like the solution your talking about is not to raise money to fix the problem of traffic... the solution is to make the city richer while they provide exactly the same level of service... nice...

[centreoftheuniverse]

Okay, people are constantly talking about the virtues of increased density, mass transit and reducing driving, right? Well, guess what the city of New York is doing according to this article? That's right, downzoning (decrease density) and encouraging automobiles!

New Pelham Pkwy. downzoning

BY BOB KAPPSTATTER
DAILY NEWS BRONX BUREAU CHIEF

How low can they go?
A northeastern corner of the Bronx where residential zoning already has been tightened four times in the past year would see yet more "downzoning" under a proposal introduced this week by the Bloomberg administration.

The City Planning Commission started the clock ticking Tuesday to rezone 58 blocks in the Pelham Parkway/Indian Village neighborhoods to preserve their low-density residential character of the area - it has mostly detached and semidetached homes - while allowing some small apartment buildings along two major corridors.

The area is in Community Board 11 and generally bounded by Pelham Parkway South to the north, Rhinelander, Bronxdale and Morris Park Aves. to the south, Stillwell Ave. to the east and Esplanade Ave. to the west.

The proposed rezoning, which will go through the city's urban land use review procedure, would be the third in Board 11 in the past year and cover an area just north of the Morris Park rezoning, which was approved by the City Council in October.

Planning Commission Director Amanda Burden called the new R5D designation "a targeted tool to enable us to house increased population within height limits that make sense for these communities."

Indian Village, an upscale enclave of attached and unattached homes just below Pelham Parkway and adjacent to Jacobi Medical Center, would receive the largest benefit from the new zoning, said Board 11's district manager, John Fratta.

"You could buy a house there, tear it down and put in a rowhouse," he said. "That's happened in other parts of our district, and we don't want to see it happen in Indian Village."

The new zoning also would allow development of four-story apartment buildings along two wide avenue corridors - Williamsbridge Road and Pelham Parkway. Each building would be required to provide parking space for two of every three new apartments.

Originally published on February 23, 2006
http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/...p-333881c.html

[Third of a kind]

Originally Posted by centreoftheuniverse

Okay, people are constantly talking about the virtues of increased density, mass transit and reducing driving, right? Well, guess what the city of New York is doing according to this article? That's right, downzoning (decrease density) and encouraging automobiles!

New Pelham Pkwy. downzoning

BY BOB KAPPSTATTER
DAILY NEWS BRONX BUREAU CHIEF

How low can they go?
A northeastern corner of the Bronx where residential zoning already has been tightened four times in the past year would see yet more "downzoning" under a proposal introduced this week by the Bloomberg administration.

The City Planning Commission started the clock ticking Tuesday to rezone 58 blocks in the Pelham Parkway/Indian Village neighborhoods to preserve their low-density residential character of the area - it has mostly detached and semidetached homes - while allowing some small apartment buildings along two major corridors.

The area is in Community Board 11 and generally bounded by Pelham Parkway South to the north, Rhinelander, Bronxdale and Morris Park Aves. to the south, Stillwell Ave. to the east and Esplanade Ave. to the west.

The proposed rezoning, which will go through the city's urban land use review procedure, would be the third in Board 11 in the past year and cover an area just north of the Morris Park rezoning, which was approved by the City Council in October.

Planning Commission Director Amanda Burden called the new R5D designation "a targeted tool to enable us to house increased population within height limits that make sense for these communities."

Indian Village, an upscale enclave of attached and unattached homes just below Pelham Parkway and adjacent to Jacobi Medical Center, would receive the largest benefit from the new zoning, said Board 11's district manager, John Fratta.

"You could buy a house there, tear it down and put in a rowhouse," he said. "That's happened in other parts of our district, and we don't want to see it happen in Indian Village."

The new zoning also would allow development of four-story apartment buildings along two wide avenue corridors - Williamsbridge Road and Pelham Parkway. Each building would be required to provide parking space for two of every three new apartments.

Originally published on February 23, 2006
http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/...p-333881c.html

Well If your familiar with this part of the Bronx, you would know its a NIMBY Haven, Subway Service is just down right bad over there too. The north east Bronx has someone of a suburban atmosphere, its very similar to the northern part of Queens, Even around Co-op City.

Most of the recent Developments around there (From the new mercy College campus) to..I dunno there are alot of "Bay Plaza" styled developments in that area, and the residents of that area want to keep it that way. I'm not surprised at all by this happening there. And alot of those rowhouses that they have built around there are particularly very ugly.

but don't let this article fool you! they are upzoning big time in some parts of The Bronx!

[mad_nick]

Originally Posted by AirJay78

With NY as expensive as it is to live and work and even play... you talk about adding an additional cost to us???

And it sounds like the solution your talking about is not to raise money to fix the problem of traffic... the solution is to make the city richer while they provide exactly the same level of service... nice...

Anyone dumb enough to drive to Manhattan should have to pay for that stupidity. If you're part of that small minority (10-20%), then suit yourself. Pay up or take transit.
Congestion pricing has been proven to work, it reduced traffic by about 25% in central London.

Originally Posted by centreoftheuniverse

Okay, people are constantly talking about the virtues of increased density, mass transit and reducing driving, right? Well, guess what the city of New York is doing according to this article? That's right, downzoning (decrease density) and encouraging automobiles!

They're also upzoning areas that has the infrastructure to handle denser development. And a parking space for 2/3 of the apartments is actually quite low by national standards and is hardly "encouraging autombiles." (though I do think it should be lower)

[AirJay78]

Originally Posted by mad_nick

Anyone dumb enough to drive to Manhattan should have to pay for that stupidity. If you're part of that small minority (10-20%), then suit yourself. Pay up or take transit.
Congestion pricing has been proven to work, it reduced traffic by about 25% in central London.

Stupidity huh? I guess I'm not allowed to live in Manhattan and have a car? This city is already an impractical place to live if your the average person with an average income... unless your lucky enough to find a nice little box, rent control, or pjs. But who cares about that huh? Your answer across the board is pay up, lol? Your either the son of a rich guy or you probably live in Alabama and have no clue what the expense of living here really is.

And did you know that there are people who have mass transit too far away to make it a practical venture on a daily basis? In many places (especially the bronx), it can take someone 2 hours by mass transit with connections to go to work when it takes only 30 minutes while driving. I had this situation once where the train was not a straight line and the transfers between bus and train were endless. As large as MTA is, there are impracticalities for certain people. Others will abuse. That's life. But either way, congestion is not new to NYC.

[AirJay78]

A lot of other places warrent major changes and developement to handle traffic concerns as they develope and evolve. My old town for 3 years Orlando is one of them. But for my true home Manhattan, it just comes down to "hey, if you want a big city, your gonna get traffic!". I mean, I can see some small solutions like tuning up traffic light sequences and heafier fines for blocking black boxes (which are the leading cause of traffic btw). But other than that, I'm not sure anything else will work. Especially any major ideas that cost a lot of money. But thats just the opinion of a common NYer so... whatever that's worth...

[Skyscrapercitizen]

NYC should modernise it's subwaysystem dramatically, to make is faster and more efficient. Subway trains are now pretty slow in some parts, like below Downtown Brooklyn.

If subway trips are fast and efficient, in modern comfortable trains driving every few minutes I think even more people will use the subway, and leave their cars home. Subway use is pretty cheap in NYC, in Europe it's over 4 times as expensive in most cities!

[mad_nick]

The people that would have 2 hour transit commutes generally don't work in Manhattan, and wouldn't be affected by congestion pricing.
And if you live in Manhattan, there's no way you actually need to drive to work, there is no place in Manhattan with an intolerable transit commute.
Maybe you should read the report, 90% of the people driving to Manhattan have a viable transit alternative. (http://www.transalt.org/campaigns/re...er_Feb2006.pdf)

I know all to well how expensive it is to live in New York, and driving certainly doesn't make it any less expensive. If you're really concerned about how expensive New York is, you definitely shouldn't be driving, adding thousands of dollars a month to that expense.

And FYI, I'm not rich, nor do I live in Alabama. I live in Crown Heights without a car, and manage just fine without one, just as most people in this city do.
If you feel you're too good for transit, maybe you should just move to the suburbs where you can drive to you hearts content.

To generalize is impracticle.

I drive to Midtown Manhattan, then I park in a garage.
I pay a higher fee for parking in a large garage, so charging more will not change anything, except attitude and road rage.

When I park (just blocks from the Lincoln Tunnel), I take the subway when in the city, so my contribution to gridlock is at the minimum.

So there 'ya go, just build more (and larger) parking garages, where the owner takes the keys (because I have to return to my car, sometimes several times in a day when I'm in the city shopping and wish to put my things away).

[Manila-X]

Can't stand the traffic, take the subway

I agree.
I take the subway when I'm in the city, but to get to the city, I drive.

[AirJay78]

I live in the city so to get around the city, I take the subway... to travel outside, I drive... There's my contribution to lessening the gridlock...

oh yea, and I never block the black box

[hkskyline]

Why not drive to a commuter rail station, park there, and take the train into New York to avoid the crossing fees and the sky-high parking fees?

I drive to the city so I can shop and put my things in my car.

Somtimes I go back to my car to take a nap.

There are times when I wish to be alone with a woman and my car is a quick escape from the hectic city beat.

Just so you know, driving is freedom and I will not surrender my freedom.

[mad_nick]

^PATH is a subway, and is about as frequent as the subway, you're probably thinking of NJ Transit commuter rail.

If you miss a commuter train during rush hour the wait is usually far shorter than an hour, and many commuter lines have halfhourly off-peak frequencies.

Yes, some parts of the city aren't served by the subway, but that doesn't mean car is the only way to get around, New York has a very extensive bus system, taking the bus to the nearest subway or commuter rail station is not that hard. And even if you don't live near a bus line, you can always drive the the station, noone has to drive to Manhattan, unless they need the car for work.

Originally Posted by fish

I drive to the city so I can shop and put my things in my car.

Somtimes I go back to my car to take a nap.

There are times when I wish to be alone with a woman and my car is a quick escape from the hectic city beat.

Just so you know, driving is freedom and I will not surrender my freedom.

But your "freedom" to drive into one of the most densly built areas on Earth when you can just as easily take the train pollutes the air we all have to breath. If you really want to continue polluting the air I breath (and kids breath, giving them asthma), the least you can do is pay for doing so, encouraging some less moronic drivers to take the train or bus.

[AirJay78]

Originally Posted by mad_nick\

Yes, some parts of the city aren't served by the subway, but that doesn't mean car is the only way to get around, New York has a very extensive bus system, taking the bus to the nearest subway or commuter rail station is not that hard. And even if you don't live near a bus line, you can always drive the the station, noone has to drive to Manhattan, unless they need the car for work.

You have the freedom to do that if you wish... 5 days a week twice a day my friend. Good luck and let me know how it goes...

If you just said that "some" people should "try" to use alternatives to driving whenever possible, I would of been with you. But it seems like you want everyone to jump through hoops just so you can turn this city into a place it will never be... traffic free. Get over it! If your worried about traffic, or asthma and polution for that matter, move to kentucky or stop whining