Before Summer Vacation
Key bills the NY State legislature should pass before
adjourning for the summer.
Corzine Chops State Car
Fleet
We applaud Governor Corzine’s announcement that
New Jersey will eliminate 809 vehicles from the state’s
official car fleet. The governor’s office said
the move exceeds its goal of chopping the state fleet
by 10%, and that at least one more round of vehicle
cut-backs is in the offing.
Moto-Crats Mass in Manhattan
Meanwhile, Transportation Alternatives has issued a
report that found that official provision of free
parking causes New York City employees to drive at
twice the rate of other Manhattan commuters.
City Finishes Drawn-Out
Truck Study, Neighborhoods Await Action
It’s not difficult in New York City to confuse
local government’s approach to key transportation
problems with some sort of zen-like devotion to non-achievement.
One of the worst examples is the city transportation
department’s nearly decade-long “Truck
Route Management and Community Impact Reduction Study.”
Pressure for Progress
on Staten Island
The NYC DOT does claim progress on its program of Staten
Island improvements. The agency says implementation
of the mayor’s Staten Island transportation task
force recommendations is underway, with a handful of
short-term items completed.
East Side Access to Unlock
West Side Commuter Rail Access?
The MTA continues to quietly examine the potential
for Metro-North access to Penn Station once some LIRR
trains are diverted from Penn Station via the soon-to-begin
project to connect the LIRR to Grand Central terminal.
Funding for Cut-off Back
On
With $20.5 million in federal funding in hand and another
$120 million pledged, rail advocates in Pennsylvania
are pressuring NJ Transit officials to complete the
environmental assessment for the proposed reactivation
of the Lackawanna Cut-off passenger rail line. NJ Transit
may release the assessment for the project later this
year.
Congestion Pricing Works…
Updates on congestion pricing in Stockholm and Los
Angeles.
Before Summer Vacation
Key bills the NY State legislature should pass before
adjourning for the summer:
A8038/S5357 – Would expand the red light
camera program in New York City to 100 cameras,
from 50. This simple measure has been stalled
by the State Assembly for years, leading to avoidable
crashes, injuries and deaths on NYC streets.
A11333/S7963 – Would remove legislative obstacles
claimed by NYC Transit regarding the establishment
of a bus route linking Staten Island to
the light rail terminal in Bayonne,
NJ.
A6450 – Would allow towns to create “community
preservation funds” to protect natural
areas, support family farms, and preserve historic
buildings with local real-estate transfer taxes. The
legislation has passed the Assembly before but the
State Senate leadership apparently is opposed to
the measure.
A2230/S6718 – Would extend the federal mass
transit
commute tax benefit to state employees. CT
and NJ state workers and City of New York employees already
enjoy this benefit.
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Corzine Chops State Car Fleet
We applaud Governor Corzine’s announcement that
New Jersey will eliminate 809 vehicles from
the state’s official car fleet. The governor’s
office said the move exceeds its goal of chopping the
state fleet by 10%, and that at least one more round
of vehicle cut-backs is in the offing.
Corzine said auctioning the vehicles
will yield several hundred thousand dollars, while
reducing fleet size should save $1 million in annual
maintenance and fuel costs. The governor’s
office did not mention savings in vehicle replacement
costs.
Though cast as a penny-pinching measure
in a tough budget season, it’s also appropriate
that the state leads by example in cutting unnecessary
driving. New Jersey also offers the federal transit
commuter tax benefit to state employees (
MTR #438).
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Moto-Crats Mass in Manhattan
Meanwhile, Transportation Alternatives has issued
a report that found that official provision of free
parking causes New York City employees to drive
at twice the rate of other Manhattan commuters. The
study, by Schaller Consulting, said 19,200 fewer cars
would enter Manhattan if the city did not provide free
parking and city workers consequently used mass transit
and cars in the same proportions as other commuters. One-third
of the 47,000 public workers that the study found driving
into Manhattan worked for a branch of government other
than the City of New York.
A Bloomberg administration spokesperson
told the Daily News the city has cut
down on agency-issued parking permits, though
T.A. says this has happened only on a tiny scale within
City Hall, not on a government-wide basis.
In April, Mayor Bloomberg launched a crackdown
on illegal parking by city government car potatoes in
Chinatown, which abuts the downtown government district. The
effort appears to have been sustained, but Chinatown
leaders have told T.A. that the
moto-crats have
migrated to downtown streets outside the crackdown
area.
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City Finishes Drawn-Out
Truck Study, Neighborhoods Await
Action
It’s not difficult in New York City to confuse
local government’s approach to key transportation
problems with some sort of zen-like devotion to non-achievement. One
of the worst examples is the city transportation department’s
nearly decade-long “Truck Route Management and
Community Impact Reduction Study.”
However, the NYC DOT does now appear
to be wrapping up the study. The big
question is, and has been for several years, if
and when any action might ensue. Most of the
material recently presented around town was a more
detailed version of past presentations that have called
for more consistent and clear signage directing truckers
to legal routes, and provision of clear information
to the police to facilitate better truck law enforcement.
The city has posted detailed documents
from the study on its web-site at www.nyc.gov/html/dot/,
and is taking comments on the study findings and recommendations
until the end of August.
There is universal agreement among consultants
and residents that NYC’s truck route signs are
often unclear or contradictory, but it is more confusing
why it has taken the city over eight years to say it
will change the signs and why it has still taken no
action to actually do it.
The recommended formation of a NYC DOT “Office
of Freight Mobility” to streamline action and
provide information to truckers and neighborhoods alike
sounds good, but the city still offers no time-line
for its implementation (see MTR #522).
Consultants for the effort are still
using words like “investigate” and “evaluate,” perhaps
auguring even more foot-dragging before anything real
happens.
The
NY Post reported recently that
Assemblyman Joe Lentol has elevated his advocacy to address
truck issues in northern Brooklyn, persuading city transportation
commissioner Iris Weinshall to undertake a pilot program
to monitor overweight and off-route trucks in his district.
The DOT will use
high-tech sensors to
weigh trucks at one location, while cameras will monitor
two other locations. Apparently, though, state
legislation will be needed for the sensing project to
actually issue tickets to over-weight trucks (
MTR #
524).
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Pressure for Progress on Staten Island
The NYC DOT does claim progress on its program of
Staten Island improvements. The agency says implementation
of the mayor’s Staten Island transportation task
force recommendations is underway, with a handful
of short-term items completed. Van Duzer St.
has been reduced to one lane, the intersection of Forest
and South Avenues has been upgraded, and visibility
at intersections has been improved by restricting parking
at corners. Police have also increased enforcement
20% along known speedways like Victory and Hylan Boulevards.
Staten Islanders are likely to see
more significant relief from two transit projects — extending
local bus service to Bayonne, New Jersey and implementing
bus
rapid transit service along Hylan Blvd. Both
are still being studied, along with the full set of ideas
recommended by the Task Force (
MTR #527). A
bill, sponsored by Assemblymembers Cusik and Lavelle,
clearing obstacles to NYC Transit operation in New Jersey,
was passed by the New York State Assembly last week. Reports
indicate that the MTA is now studying the connection,
with a report due in the fall. Bus rapid transit may
be a longer proposition, however. Another study is dragging
along, with no guarantee for a Staten Island route and
implementation planned in 2008 at earliest. There has
also been no progress on Staten Island Safe Routes to
Schools, another new city program build on a promising
concept but requiring much stronger implementation.
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East Side Access to
Unlock West Side Commuter Rail Access?
The MTA continues to quietly examine the potential for Metro-North
access to Penn Station once some LIRR trains
are diverted from Penn Station via the soon-to-begin
project to connect the LIRR to Grand Central terminal.
Amtrak routes already make it feasible
for Metro-North trains to reach the West Side. The
main problem is capacity in Penn Station. With
appropriate power systems, Metro-North Hudson Line trains
could use Amtrak’s west side Empire Line to
reach Penn Station. Similarly, New Haven Line
trains could reach the West Side via Amtrak’s Hell
Gate Line, the route through Queens and the
Bronx that Amtrak uses to reach New England.
Of most interest in the city is the potential
for developing new stations along the routes. The
MTA study is examining the potential of new Metro-North
stations at West 125th and West 62nd
Streets along the Empire Line and of Bronx stations at Co-op
City, Parkchester and Hunts Point along the
Hell Gate Line. Especially at the more northerly
Bronx locations commutes could improve dramatically. Many
in the northeastern Bronx now use express buses to reach
the Manhattan business district. The stations
at each point would also be boons for reverse commuters
seeking access to suburban jobs.
A meeting organized this spring with northeastern
Bronx citizens and MTA officials by Congressman
Joseph Crowley underscored the importance of
the work for these areas of the city. Crowley
has helped maintain a flow of federal transit funds for
the planning work. His district spans areas that
would benefit from both LIRR East Side Access and Metro-North
West Side access.
If the Metro-North to Penn Station work was
better known, it is possible that more city residents would
appreciate the LIRR-Grand Central project more. That
project could lead to more LIRR service at Queens stations
that now have weak schedules. If it facilitates the
West Side access plan, it could also over the long run
lead to new commuter rail stations in the Bronx and Harlem.Study
documents are on-line at
www.mta.info/mta/planning/psas/overview.htm.
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Funding for Cut-off Back On
With $20.5 million in federal funding in
hand and another $120 million pledged, rail advocates
in Pennsylvania are pressuring NJ Transit officials to
complete the environmental assessment for the proposed
reactivation of the Lackawanna Cut-off passenger rail
line. NJ Transit may release the assessment for
the project later this year.
If the line is re-opened,
commuters will be able to travel from Scranton,
PA to Morris County where trains would link
onto the NJ Transit Morris & Essex Line. Currently,
there are no tracks in the right of way — they
were torn up in 1978.
Reactivating the Cut-off has
never been a high priority for NJ Transit. At a
meeting of the Highlands Council Transportation Advisory
Committee last August, a NJ Transit official stated that
it will have virtually no impact on automobile congestion. Also,
Sussex County, which would host most of the new route, does
not have the population density associated with
successful rail projects. Other projects that
are competing for the funds, such as commuter rail in
Bergen County and light rail between Newark and Elizabeth
would serve areas that have much higher population densities
and much worse traffic congestion.
Proponents of the project
claim that New Jersey has already pledged $40 million
from the Transportation Trust Fund for the Cutoff, a
fact NJ Transit officials denied. The expected
cost of the project is $350 million.
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Congestion Pricing
Works…
In Stockholm
A study commissioned by Stockholm, Sweden’s city
government has found that traffic going through central
Stockholm is down 25%, with traffic-related delays in
the morning rush hour reduced 33%, since the beginning
of 2006, according to The Local, a Swedish English-language
newspaper.
The city also estimates that car crashes
in town are down about 10% and public transit ridership
is up 4.5%.
Voters in the city will decide on the
fate of the policy in a referendum later this year. An
opinion poll released in May found that public opinion
about congestion pricing had swung dramatically from
a 69% opposition rate in late 1995 to 62% declaring they
will vote to keep the traffic fee in place, now that
the traffic and quality of life benefits of the measure
have been demonstrated.
At the Port of Los
Angeles
The year-old “PierPass” system at ports Los
Angeles/Long Beach has shifted about one-third of “truck
moves” to off-peak hours, according to the
Journal
of Commerce. The program extended gate-hours
for trucks at port terminals, but imposed premium access
fees for entering terminals at peak times.
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