By Matt Chaban 1/04/12 11:42am

Planes Trains & Automobiles

14 Photos

In the Way

What to Do With a Derelict Queens Trestle: Advocates Square Off on High Line v. Rail Line

The High Line has been such a staggering success, it has created impersonators across the country and the world. And who can blame them, when the project has generated an estimated $2 billion in economic activity on a public investment of only $150 million.

But what if instead of building a park, a subway or light rail line ran along the Far West Side?

It is not a ludicrous idea. Light rail has proven a boon in downtown Portland and elsewhere, and with the extension of the 7 train to Hudson Yards, the line could well have hooked up with the High Line and made a whole swath of under-developed Manhattan real estate more accessible.

A glittery park has achieved just as much, but this exact same debate is taking place in Queens, Read More

By Matt Chaban 12/06/11 8:37pm

Planes Trains & Automobiles

Driving that train, running on fumes. (Office of the Governor)

Occupy the Toll Booth! Could OWS Revive Congestion Pricing?

Charles Komanoff, the hound of Manhattan traffic, penned an interesting column yesterday for Streetsblog arguing that the Occupy movement had the potential to bring congestion pricing back to life.

After all, the protesters, with their message of pervasive inequality, arguably helped put enough pressure on the Cuomo administration to embrace some form of higher taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers. Why couldn’t some form of populist support do the same for tolls on East River bridges and the subsequent boost to clean air and mass transit that would come with it? Read More

By Matt Chaban 11/18/11 10:13am

Planes Trains & Automobiles

What to do? What to do. (Newsday)

Has Andrew Cuomo Killed Mass Transit on the Tappan Zee?

This week, The Observer looked at the loss of visionary planning and infrastructure investment in the country. We held up the Tappan Zee Bridge as a prime example of the conflicts of building in this day and age. On the one hand, Governor Andrew Cuomo deserves a lot of credit for finally kick-starting a project that has been debated for almost a decade as its structural integrity continued to deteriorate.

Yet to keep the project within the budget parameters he set out, the governor cut mass transit out of the project, a setback for locals already frustrated by congestion on the thoroughfare. The Cuomo administration has stressed that the bridge will still be able to add mass transit in the future. As Streetsblog thoughtfully explained yesterday, the odds that will ever be realized is now all but impossible. Read More

By Thornton McEnery 10/26/11 9:02pm

Road Rage

Erica Lefevre is looking for answers, but is getting only more questions

The Death of Mathieu Lefevre and the Contradiction of Bloomberg Bike Policy

When Erica Lefevre took the microphone outside One Police Plaza at a press conference shortly after noon today, the clearly stricken woman spoke first about what a talented artist her son had been, and how he had left his native Canada to make an impact on the art world of New York City.

“His work is in museums in Toronto and his native home of Montreal,” she said, her voice trembling with a mix of pride and sadness, knowing he would never paint again.

While riding his bicycle home from his studio last Wednesday night, 30-year-old Mathieu Lefevre was struck by a truck and killed on the corner of Meserole Street and Morgan Avenue in Bushwick. The driver, who apparently claims not to have seen or known what was happening and will not be charged in Lefevre’s death.

Other than that sketchy information, Lefevre’s parents and his ex-wife Juliana Berger, have no knowledge of what occurred, and after a week of questions to the NYPD they have had no further answers, or solace.

“What compounds this tragedy is a failure to get information from the police about what happened to our son,” said Ms. Lefevre. Read More

By Matt Chaban 9/08/11 5:17pm

Planes Trains & Automobiles

Hail yes!

Taxi of For-The-Time-Being Spotted in the Wild!

As was revealed back in June, it will be at least two years before the Nissan-designed Taxi of Tomorrow hits the road, at which point most cabs will have to be replaced with this first-ever New York-exclusive taxi. In the meantime, the city has agreed to let Ford’s runner-up entry be sold while the Nissans get up to speed.

As The Journal reports, the first 200 Ford Transit Connects are in the city and have begun making the rounds. Read More

By Matt Chaban 8/30/11 9:26am

Planes Trains & Automobiles

When the storm clears, those cabs will still be there.

Density Diminishes Irene: Hurricane Reminds Us Why We Live in Big, Thriving Cities

The Observer has cataloged 25 reasons why Hurricane Irene was good for New York City, and Streetsblog gives us another: burnishing our urban superiority complex. After all, a major storm or disaster like this reminds us of the value of living in dense, transit-rich communities, where you can walk, cab, bike, bus, train or—if you must, if you can—drive to work, to the store, to see friends. Read More

By Matt Chaban 7/27/11 8:37am

Planes Trains & Automobiles

All aboard? (wikispaces.com)

Will Conductor Cuomo Put the M.T.A. On Track?

Transportation wonks have a habit of talking about Jay Walder, the outgoing head of the M.T.A., in messianic terms, as though he were the only man capable of fixing the agency’s myriad problems—an aging system, run by intransigent unions, with almost no political support. While many of them have greeted his resignation with shock and concern, there is a growing sense that this could actually be the best thing to happen to the M.T.A. since Mr. Walder’s arrival two years ago.

“I guess I’m partly responsible for inflating the importance of Jay,” said Gene Russianoff, head of the Straphangers Campaign and dean of transit advocate.

Indeed, there have been others—Richard Ravitch, the team of Kiley-Gunn, even Mr. Walder’s predecessor, Lee Sander—who have done a lot to resurrect mass transit from the death throes of the 1970s. Mr. Walder, though, was different. He had moved from McKinsey to run London’s transit system, introducing successful innovations, including the vaunted oyster card, which speeds up bus and Tube boardings, as well as implementing that dread scourge, congestion pricing. He was supposed to bring the same innovation and ingenuity to New York.

“You have to hope it’s a wake-up call to the people in Albany,” blogger and M.T.A. kremlinologist Benjamin Kabak said. Read More