Borough President Adolfo Carrión wants to rack ‘em up.
He’s launched a drive to make the Bronx more bicycle-friendly by getting more bike racks.
A new report, “Bike the Bronx,” calls for exploring locations where bike racks could be installed. It urges residents, community groups and businesses to ask the city Department of Transportation to install more of them in their neighborhoods.
The report was released as 5,000 biking fans turned out Oct. 19 for the annual Tour de Bronx.
With high rates of asthma from traffic on the borough’s major highways, diabetes from obesity and the high cost of gas and maintaining cars, the report says using a bike to exercise and commute to work is a triple-winner.
It cites statistics showing the Bronx has the largest number of people in the city who drive short distances alone to work, saying that with more convenient bike racks installed, that number could be significantly lowered.
“If ever there was a time to make the Bronx and all of New York City a friendlier place for bicycling, it is now,” said Carrión. Read more..
As seen from a helicopter, a new Yankee Stadium goes up right next to the old one. Photo by Anup Kaphle
New Yankee Stadium Parking Possible Solution To Congestion Pricing
If Mayor Bloomberg’s traffic congestion pricing plan comes to pass, the financial disincentive to drive into Manhattan – added to some commuters’ natural disinclination to fight city traffic – raises questions about whether the future Yankee Stadium parking facilities will become a de facto park-and-ride.
And while such lots are often considered a positive thing – the lots at Shea Stadium are popular with drivers who’d rather ride the 7 train than sit in crosstown traffic – local residents are worried about the potential for worse pollution and asthma problems in the surrounding South Bronx neighborhood.
Proposed by Bloomberg in April as a method of reducing traffic, congestion pricing would charge drivers for entering the busiest streets at the busiest times: $8 per auto headed into lower Manhattan between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m on weekdays. Alternative congestion mitigation plans currently being discussed include a $4 toll on all bridges going into Manhattan. Parking facilities for the new Yankee Stadium, which is being built adjacent to the existing stadium, thus look like a potential transit hub, as they lie close to the Major Deegan Highway, Macombs Dam Bridge, the 4 and D subway station at 161st Street, and the Metro-North rail station under construction. Some community activists and elected officials fear the expanded stadium parking will encourage drivers coming from points north and the Bronx itself to park at the stadium and then hop on to public transportation to avoid incurring Manhattan’s congestion pricing fees or paying a bridge toll.
Although a range of possible rates are cited, it’s likely that monthly parking at the new stadium, plus a month-long subway TransitChek, would cost less than congestion fees and gas. Based on the usage of Shea stadium lots, though, some observers say park-and-rides are as much about ease of travel as saving money. Read more..
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