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“The next mayor and City Council need to scrap the failed ‘gridlock alert days’ and take decisive action to get bus riders and the whole city moving again,” the Riders Alliance said..
By Michael V. Cusenza
With asking drivers to “please consider walking, biking or taking public transportation whenever possible” now an obvious policy failure, the Riders Alliance on Thursday, via a three-page policy brief, urged the incoming mayor and City Council to stop designating “gridlock alert days” and instead embrace temporary busways, high occupancy vehicle restrictions, an end to placard privilege, incentives for drivers of official vehicles and other aggressive tools to actually speed bus trips and emergency response times.
Broken down into a series of temporary tactics, policy priorities, and permanent strategies to eliminate gridlock, the Riders Alliance policy brief endorses bus priority routes, financial incentives to ride transit and more. While it may be too late to improve bus service this holiday season, the next administration can take up the charge and lead toward better bus service and emergency response from Day One.
The alliance has offered 12 ways in which the new administration should take meaningful action to save bus riders from gridlock:
Temporary Tactics
1) ‘Pop up’ busways can unblock the worst congestion, helping existing bus riders and attracting prospective riders to public transit
2) HOV restrictions can limit travel in congested areas of the city to cars with more than just a solo driver behind the wheel, combining multiple trips into one
3) Discount transit fares can reward and encourage transit use when it’s most important to the function of the city as a whole
4) Variable pricing at parking meters can discourage unnecessary driving on badly congested days, while raising money for transit improvements
Policy Priorities
5) Meet and exceed the targets for protected bus lanes and transit signal priority in the streets plan, prioritizing connectivity among bus projects and with the subway system
6) Redesign bus stops with more shelters, boarding bulbs, countdown clocks, benches, and maps, and enable all riders, including people with disabilities and older people, to board and exit safely and comfortably
7) Expand parking metering and efficient loading, increasing the proportion of commercial loading zones on side streets and strengthening incentives for off-hour freight deliveries
8) Shrink the City vehicle fleet and reward drivers of official vehicles for not blocking bus lanes, bus stops, and other transit and safety infrastructure
Permanent Strategies
9) Build Bus Rapid Transit on major corridors with poor subway connectivity like
Linden Boulevard, Flatbush Avenue, Utica Avenue, Fordham Road, Northern
Boulevard, Woodhaven Boulevard, and First Avenue
10) Eliminate parking placards, including all non-medical special interest parking privileges, which encourage driving, foster corruption and erode the public trust
11) End parking requirements for new and renovated buildings and instead require contributions to other improvements like contributions to public transit infrastructure
12) Curb the impact of highways to recapture lost land and discourage local driving in favor of public transit and other healthy, resilient ways of getting around.
“This holiday season, riders want our time back,” said Riders Alliance Policy & Communications Director Danny Pearlstein. “It’s not nearly enough to beg drivers to leave their cars at home; we’ve tried that for 40 years without success. The next mayor and City Council need to scrap the failed ‘gridlock alert days’ and take decisive action to get bus riders and the whole city moving again.”
