Talk Bronx New York

Buses Bloom In The Bronx

Bx12 Select buses greeted attendees of the “Buses in the Boroughs” symposium Tuesday morning.

With spring colors and fragrance in full bloom at the New York Botanical Garden Tuesday morning, TSTC along with Transportation Alternatives, the Straphangers Campaign, and the Pratt Center for Community Development hosted a symposium on bus rapid transit to showcase how this transit option has transformed major cities around the world and to preview New York’s plans for BRT throughout the five boroughs.

Walter Hook and Oscar Edmundo Diaz, both of the Institute for Transportation & Development Policy, discussed BRT systems in nearly two dozen cities around the world (both presentations are available on TSTC’s website). Hook’s presentation spanned multiple systems and highlighted some technical “dos and don’ts” for BRT providers (such as the advantages of median bus lanes, the need for multiple-door buses, how to fit BRT into narrow streets, etc.). His presentation drew on the broad and detailed knowledge of ITDP, which consults governments around the world in planning BRT systems and produces an 850-page BRT Planning Guide.

Diaz, a native of Colombia and a specialist in urban transport systems, focused on what many consider the world’s most successful BRT system, the TransMilenio of Bogota, Colombia. TransMilenio can carry up to 42,000 passengers per hour per direction and travels an average 18.1 mph, more than twice as fast as the average bus in NYC. It is top-of-the-line BRT, with pre-boarding fare collection, level boarding at platforms, and enclosed stations — a worthy transit system for a city of 7 million. Of course, the quickest way to get a sense of TransMilenio is through pictures:

Clockwise from top left: TransMilenio in dense urban areas, level boarding between bus and station platform, fare collection at turnstiles (not on the bus), interior of a TransMilenio bus.

Diaz emphasized how a well-built system can dramatically improve the lives of commuters and residents who lack transit access, and as a result, economic and social opportunity. While 21% of TransMilenio riders own cars, the system is also accessible to low-income commuters, mothers with children in tow, the handicapped, and the elderly. In surveys, the #1 reason TransMilenio riders said they liked the system was because it allowed them to spend more time with their families. Read more..

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Mayor & MTA Announce New Express Bus Routes .. IF…

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Metropolitan Transportation Authority Executive Director and CEO, Elliot G. Sander today announced what could be a new express bus route from the Throggs Neck Section of the Bronx to Lower Manhattan, if - and only if - the congestion pricing plan is approved by the State Legislature and the City Council.

One of the new proposed routes, the BXM-19, would run from Throggs Neck down to Battery Place, serving as an extension to the existing BXM-9 which currently terminates at Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street. Currently, passengers of the BXM-9 who work in Lower Manhattan must transfer to a different bus or subway to continue below 23rd Street.

The BMX-19 would provide Bronx residents with a one-seat ride to Lower Manhattan. Taking place at a bus stop at the intersection of Layton and Vincent Avenues, the Mayor noted that he can not yet cut the ribbon on a service that would benefit thousands of Bronx residents because funding does not exist without congestion pricing.

The new express route, along with 44 other new and enhanced routes and over 300 new buses, would be funded under the Urban Partnership Agreement, which would award $354.5 million in federal funds to the City if the Mayor’s congestion pricing plan is adopted.

The Mayor was also joined by Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, Assemblyman Michael Benedetto, City Councilman James Vacca, Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, Gene Russianoff, Senior Attorney for the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign and local resident Audrey Izzard.

“Legislators in every community must keep in mind the benefits congestion pricing will bring and what we give up if they fail to act,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “We face a real need for mass transit improvements, and congestion pricing offers the rare opportunity to fund them.

Without that funding, the MTA will not be able to make these projects happen.

The new BXM-19 bus route is one of hundreds of improvements that depend on the federal funding we will be given if we enact a congestion pricing plan.”

“If we’re serious about encouraging people to use public transportation, we must increase travel options for underserved areas,” said MTA Executive Director and CEO Sander. “This route, for example, would speed Bronx residents from Throggs Neck to jobs in Manhattan.”

“Congestion Pricing is critical to the future of New York City,” said Commissioner Sadik-Khan. “That is why we are traveling to many neighborhoods around the city to demonstrate just what kind of mass transit improvements, like new express bus routes, they could expect to see with this new source of funding.”

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 Worker halts traffic on Grand Concourse to allow trucks access to construction site.

Eying End To Bronx Street Work By 2009

There’s good news on the road reconstruction mess on the Grand Concourse at the Bronx Civic Center. Work will be completed before Christmas - of next year.

The planned 45-month renovation of key roads in the Concourse/161st St. area will be done by next November - 316 days ahead of schedule, city Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and Borough President Adolfo Carrión announced last week.

Carrión called the speedup of the project, begun in January 2006, “an example of smart construction and planning by the [Transportation] Department, the community and the contractor.”

It will certainly be a relief to frustrated motorists crawling ever more slowly along the usually congested 161st St. stretch between the Bronx County Building on the west side of the concourse and the borough’s courthouse complex down the hill on the eastern side.

The city has deployed NYPD traffic agents at key spots to help ease the jams, but it’s still been more a tortoise crawl than a hare’s sprint for drivers. And finding parking also takes longer, because many metered spaces are gone.

The project is rebuilding the Grand Concourse from E. 161st St. to E. 166th St., and E. 161st St. from Sheridan Ave. to Gerard Ave., including the Concourse underpass.

The DOT is replacing the E. 161st St. underpass arch structure, incorporating landscaped urban design features for Lou Gehrig Plaza and adding more open space.

In addition to the reconstruction, the DOT will upgrade street lighting and add green space, benches and trash cans.

Officials said the reconstruction plan is designed to improve pedestrian and traffic safety, while other plans include revitalizing neighborhood infrastructure with new roadways, sidewalks, dedicated bicycle lanes, trees and planters.

Questions regarding the project may be addressed to the community liaison, Onyinye Akujuo, at (347) 386-9375 and via fax at (718) 410-2462. For concerns during nonconstruction hours, call the New York City government services and information hotline at 311.

SOURCE: NYDailyNews.com

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