Come to the Volunteer Mailing Party, Wednesday, January 14th at 6 pm at the T.A. Office (115 West 30th, #1207)! Free beer, soda, snacks and scintillating conversation. 

The T.A. office will be closed from December 24th to January 5th, 2004. Please contact the staff now if you will need something during that period. However, please note that all end of year donations sent before the end of the year will be processed as having been received in 2003.

12/16 TA Slashes 468 Subway Jobs, New York Post

12/15 MTA Committee Recommends Cuts, Newsday

12/14 Speed Demon Hacks: Racing taxis are turning city streets into Big Apple Speedway, New York Post

12/11 All That Noise for Nothing, The New York Times

12/10 Speeders like Janklow belong in jail, Daily News

12/10 Panel eyes vending boxes: Critics hit new rules as being too harsh, Daily News

12/1 Urban Cycling: A Tale of Two Cities, Metropolis

12/1 Car Alarms: Alarmingly Useless,
Quiet Zone

11/25 Cars Are Back in Prospect Park, But Only Temporarily, Says City, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle and Daily Bulletin

11/24 Smith St. goes one-way, The Brooklyn Papers

11/21 On Foot Or On Wheels, Facing The Threat, RPA's Spotlight on the Region

11/20 A Prayer For The Fallen—Ceremony Honors Victims Of Queens Boulevard, Queens Chronicle

11/19 Single occupancy vehicle ban for commuters ends, The Villager

11/13 Beats Walking? At 3.4 M.P.H., Not This Bus, The New York Times

11/13 Study: M23 Is Slowest Bus, Newsday

11/13 Buses ain't up to speed: Pokier than a penguin crosstown, Daily News

11/13 Slower East Side: Snail-speed Gramercy bus city's worst, New York Post

11/13 In a Hurry? Group Lists Buses Best To Avoid, New York Sun

11/13 Advocates say M23 bus is slower than chickens and penguins, WCBS 880

More Quotes...

NYC Century Bike Tour Coordinator Wanted
See transalt.org/jobs for more information.

Time on your hands? Eager to make a difference? T.A. needs folks who are retired, work part-time or between jobs to help our top-notch advocacy staff make the city a better place for bicyclists, pedestrians and transit riders.
Call 212-629-8080 or e-mail info@transalt.org.

Valet Bike Parking Volunteers Needed

Volunteer to provide valet bike parking at events throughout the year. Register online to express your interest in this opportunity.

T.A. still has two open internships: 

- Advocacy (work with T.A. program staff)
- Bicycle Advocacy

Please visit transalt.org/intern for more information.

Donations Wish List

Help cycling and walking and get a tax deduction. Donate to T.A. We need:

-Pentium II or better PCs
-Laptop computer (P 100+)
-Digital Camera
-Good chairs for conf. table or desks
-Computer Projector

Contact Matt: info@transalt.org

Do Your Part for Safer Streets!  Report:

Potholes and Hazards:
212-CALLDOT (hit 0 to speak with a human) or report them online at transalt.org/
hazard  

Sidewalk obstructions: Mayor’s Quality of Life Hotline at 888-677-LIFE/
5433

Read more about T.A.'s work to reduce street hazards at transalt.org/haz

Report Dangerous Cabs: 212-221-TAXI or report them online.

Read more about T.A.'s work to make cabs safer for pedestrians and cyclists at transalt.org/cabs

The T.A. Bulletin is a bi-weekly publication of Transportation Alternatives. The Bulletin has 26,000 subscribers.

Transportation Alternatives is a 5,000-member NYC-area non-profit citizens group working for better bicycling, walking and public transit, and fewer cars. We work for safer, calmer neighborhood streets and car-free parks. Join T.A. today!

December 19, 2003

A NYC Bicycling and Walking Holiday Wish List

We have created a list of twelve small gifts, from a list of thousands, which the City and State could and should give in 2004 to make New York City a better place to bicycle and walk.

1. 50 more red light cameras for New York City from the state legislature.

2. 10 speed cameras for New York City from the state legislature.

3. Three month car-free summer in Prospect Park from the Parks Department and the New York City Department of Transportation.

4. Car-free weekday nights and early mornings and the reclamation of five motor vehicle entrances as park land in Central Park from the Parks Department and the New York City Department of Transportation.

5. A fully funded Safe Schools pedestrian safety program from the New York City Department of Transportation and the Mayor.

6. A policy that allows City workers to park their bikes in their workplaces from the Mayor.

7. Approval and funding for the Cadman Plaza Connector Fly-Over Ramp between the Brooklyn side of Brooklyn Bridge Promenade and Cadman Plaza from the New York City Department of Transportation.

8. The completion of secure bike parking at Penn Station from the New York City Department of Transportation, 34th Street Partnership, Madison Square Garden and Amtrak.

9. A one-way, westbound Canal Street with sidewalks widened by 12 feet on each side from the New York City Department of Transportation.

10. Fast bus service, or "Bus Rapid Transit," on one big street somewhere in New York City from the New York City Department of Transportation and the MTA.

11. A ban on car alarms in New York City from the city council.

12. A new 8th Avenue bike lane from 14th Street to 60th Street from the New York City Department of Transportation.

New Bike Lanes for Berry and Manhattan Avenue Serve Popular Brooklyn Bicycling Areas

New northbound Berry Street bike lane

The New York City Department of Transportation has installed new bicycle lanes on two popular cycling streets in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The northbound Berry Street lane runs 1.5 miles from Broadway, under the Williamsburg Bridge, to Guernsey Street near the north end of McCarren Park in Greenpoint. The northbound Manhattan Avenue lane runs 1.32 miles from Broadway in East Williamsburg to Engert Avenue, on the east side of McCarren Park.

New northbound Manhattan Avenue bike lane

City Department of Transportation officials say new bike lanes are intended to alleviate chronic speeding by narrowing the travel lanes. When motorists see a bicycle lane and that the road is a little narrower, they tend to slow down and drive more carefully. The City Department of Transportation installed the new lanes without removing motor vehicle travel or parking lanes. As it wraps up work on the new Williamsburg Bridge bicycle and pedestrian path, the agency should install signs that direct cyclists between the Berry Street bike lane and the new path entrance/exit at the corner of South 5th Street and South 5th Place, three blocks from Berry Street.

Read more about bike lanes and greenways

City Council Transportation Committee Chairman’s Creative Take on Car-Free Parks

On December 16th, City Councilmember John Liu, a Democrat from Flushing Queens and chair of the council’s Transportation Committee, spoke to the group Auto-Free New York about transportation in New York City. Liu vigorously supported increased state funding for public transit. But when it come to making Central and Prospect Park car-free, Liu defended the "right" to "choose" to drive through the park. When asked directly, Liu opined that it would be okay to make Central Park car-free as long as there were alternatives provided, such as a bus to ferry drivers through the park.

Read more about car-free Central Park

SUVs Twice as Lethal to Pedestrians

According to pioneering research published in the most recent issue of the journal, , Accident Analysis and Prevention (Vol. 36, p. 295), a pedestrian struck by a driver operating a large sports utility vehicle is more than twice as likely to be killed as a pedestrian hit by a driver operating a passenger car at the same speed.

Aftermath of SUV-pedestrian crash at 7th Avenue and 29th Street

Clay Gabler, a professor of mechanical engineer specializing in vehicle technology at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, teamed with co-worker Devon Lefler to investigate the risk to pedestrians from various types of large vehicles, including sports utility vehicles. So-called "light trucks and vans" comprise half of all passenger vehicles sold annually in the United States. Gabler and Rowan extracted information from four crash databases about crashes where one driver of this type of vehicle collided with one pedestrian. They found that a pedestrian struck by a driver operating a large van is three times as likely to die as someone hit by a driver operating a car at the same speed. Pedestrians struck by a driver operating a large sports utility vehicle are twice as likely to die.

In their report, the researchers observe that reducing this danger would require a radical redesign of sports utility vehicles to replace their blunt front ends with sloping, more aerodynamic fronts. Lower, sloping hoods injure the legs of pedestrians in a crash, but blunt, front ends kill pedestrians through head and chest injuries. Gabler notes that this change will not be popular with sport utility vehicle buyers who "Like their rugged, off-road look."

According to Gabler, pedestrians in the United States are losing the safety battle: "Despite over 4,000 pedestrian deaths a year, there are no pedestrian impact safety regulations under serious consideration." This is particularly troubling since the United States Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has undertaken widely publicized research about the risk that sports utility vehicles pose to other motorists.

The United States’ failure to protect vulnerable pedestrians and bicyclists compares unfavorably to Europe, where the government has created new rules that will force makers of "cars and car-derived vans" to meet strict new pedestrian protection standards. These standards, which will take effect in October 2005, include using new materials to soften the areas around the front of the vehicle to reduce the force of impact in crashes with pedestrians.

(Editor’s Note: At deadline, T.A. was seeking more specific information about Gabler and Lefler’s important research, which we expect to post on our Web site in the near future.)

Read more about reducing pedestrian deaths.

Shanghai to Ban Bicycling in 2004

According to reports in state-run newspapers, Shanghai plans to ban bicycling from all major roads next year as a nonsensical measure to ease traffic congestion. The new rule strikes many observers as absurd and unworkable. Of the 20 million people living in Shanghai, 9 million travel regularly by bicycle and approximately 200,000 by car. These travel mode statistics are an almost exact inverse of those of New York City, where, of the 8 million inhabitants, some 100,000 regularly bicycle and approximately 2 to 3 million use cars or cabs.

Global Warming More Real than Ever--Goodbye New Orleans!

According to the federal government’s top two climate scientists, there is no doubt that human activity is having a profound effect on global weather and climate.te. In December, Thomas Karl, director of the National Climactic Data Center and Kevin Trenberth, head of the climate section of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, wrote in the authoritative journal Science that, "Significant further (climate) change is guaranteed." They add that "The likely result of this change is more frequent heat waves, droughts, extreme precipitation events… wildfires, heat stress, vegetation changes and sea level rise." The scientists recommend a long list of measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. However, the Bush administration has declared that any mandatory reduction in such emissions would be too damaging to the economy. But we have to wonder if even the most draconian emission caps would be more expensive than doing nothing and letting the ice caps melt and the sea level rise and submerge many coastal cities and towns, including New Orleans and most pacific islands.

T.A. Response: No, our understanding is that your co-op cannot legally remove the bicycle from the street. The street, signpost and sidewalk belong to the City of New York. Contact your local police precinct at www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/pct/psb.htm and your local sanitation district at http://home.nyc.gov/html/dos/home.html. You can get the number of your borough’s sanitation office by calling 311. One of these agencies should help you remove the abandoned bicycle.

T.A. Response: We agree and have already contacted the New York City Department of Transportation about the terrible condition of the area. We recommend that you also write to the City Department of Transportation; this will prompt the agency to act faster.

Your answer regarding the separate bicycle lanes in Barcelona listed several reasons they did not work in New York City. You neglect, however, their main defect. They are potentially far more dangerous to cyclists than even conventional bike lanes. Motorists making turns will have difficulty seeing past the parked cars and may well cross the cycle lane without seeing a cyclist.
Submitted Anonymously

19 Reasons to be Proud to Support T.A. in 2004

1. Pedestrian and bicycling paths open on all of the East River bridges for the first time in 50 years.

2. 50% reduction in pedestrian deaths.

3. $80 million in federal funding for bicycling and pedestrian projects.

4. Year-round weekday car-free hours in Central Park and numerous entrances reclaimed as park space.

5. Year-round car-free periods in Prospect Park.

6. Major safety improvements on the "Boulevard of Death"—Queens Boulevard.

7. The beginning of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway, a car-free path circling the entirety of Manhattan.

8. Thousands of modern bike racks throughout New York City.

9. A complete Hudson River Greenway, ten miles of car-free walking and bicycling along the scenic Hudson River.

10. Major pedestrian improvements in Times Square and Herald Square.

11. Landmark New York City traffic calming law.

12. Network of new bicycle lanes throughout the city, including extra-wide lanes on Hudson Street, Cross Bay Boulevard and many other streets.

13. Full-time pedestrian and bicycle access to the George Washington Bridge.

14. Traffic calming innovations for neighborhood streets.

15. Major crackdown on reckless drivers.

16. Neighborhood Streets Network coalition of over 100 organizations.

17. New bicycle and pedestrian safety education for taxi cab and livery car drivers.

18. Dozens of Give Respect/Get Respect actions and outreach to the city council and police department.

19. Introduction of the concept of "traffic calming" into the New York City mainstream.

Join T.A. today to start receiving Transportation Alternatives Magazine, our members-only in-depth quarterly magazine—
just one of the many personal benefits of T.A. membership!

Request a sample copy!

THE T.A.
E-BULLETIN

• Sign up for T.A.'s free bi-monthly e-bulletin (fresh news for area cyclists and pedestrians) and win a $1000 folding bike!

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TAKE THE TOUR!
NYC Century Bike Tour

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MAD AS HELL?  DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

Call the Mayor's Quality of Life Action Line (real people 24 hrs a day): 888-677-5433 or 888-677-LIFE.

POTHOLES, STREET HAZARDS GOT YOU IN A RUT?

Call DOT at 212-225-5368 and hit 0 to skip the message and speak with a human. You can also report them online at transalt.org/
hazard.

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STAY SMART & INFORMED

Savvy transit riders get their lowdown on the subways here:

straphangers
.org
The ultimate source for bus and subway service changes, rider comments and complaints that produce action. Help yourself and T.A.’s favorite transit advocates. Check it out.

Sensible Transport Junkies:

Subscribe to the Tri-State Transportation Campaign’s e-weekly, Mobilizing the Region.  tstc.org

Insiders Breakfast on Fresh Baked NYC Politics & Policy

The daily Gotham Gazette: gothamgazette
.org
NYC News summaries and savvy commentary.

Bikes in Bogota? Car-Free Cartagena? Tel-Aviv by Train?

Go global at itdp.org!

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Give on-line at transalt.org/join 

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Quick! What's your city council
member's name? Don't know? See: nypirg.org

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GET THERE!

Check our maps page for links to NYC-area bicycle and transit maps.

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RIDES AND WALKS

Friday, December 19, 8 am. Easton, PA to Bethlehem, PA. Port Authority bus terminal near white commuter statues. Shorewalkers.