Big Bucks for Nostrand Ave. Rapid Bus Route
This is a couple of days old but seemed worth highlighting…The feds have just approved $28 million for the creation of a Select Bus Service route (a program for bus rapid transit) on the heavily-traveled but painfully slow B44 Limited line that runs down Nostrand Avenue. A pilot program on Fordham Road reduced travel times…
This is a couple of days old but seemed worth highlighting…The feds have just approved $28 million for the creation of a Select Bus Service route (a program for bus rapid transit) on the heavily-traveled but painfully slow B44 Limited line that runs down Nostrand Avenue. A pilot program on Fordham Road reduced travel times by 20 percent and booseted ridership by 7 percent. (See a slideshow presentation on the topic here.) What do Crown Heights residents think of this idea?
Feds Green Light Funding for Nostrand Avenue Bus Service [StreetsBlog]
I hope the 22 mil includes a tow truck.
screw buses, split the 5 train from the 4 and run it up nostrand into bed-stuy, then west under myrtle or willoughby thru clinton hill & fort greene to rejoin the 4 at borough hall. also extend it south on nostrand.
i’ll spare ya my other subway-expansion ideas, but why have we been content for so long with an 80% complete system??
where’s the money, you say? how about a bigger gas tax, for one.
Oh, an I forgot the dumbest part of this plan. The northbound bus will be rerouted from New York Avenue to Rodgers Avenue. New York is a relatively sedate street with almost 0% double parking as the vast majority of the street is residential. Traffic flows relatively unimpeded on this street. Rodgers is even worse than Nostrand when is comes to double parking, especially at the end closer to Flatbush where you have large numbers of car repair, manufacturing and warehouse type of businesses.
This is why BRT on Nostrand is a bad idea.
1) There is a culture of double parking- On the stretch of Nostrand from Atlantic to Flatbush double parking is rampant. In some cases, people are double parking to go into stores and shops, but in many cases, folks do so because they are too lazy to pull into available parking spaces further down the block. Unless the police precincts start cracking down on double parking now, this practice will only continue when BRT is introduced. The behavior will not be self-correcting as it has been allowed to exist for many years with no reprecussions.
2) The BRT plan does not take into account the impact on local businesses that receive deliveries. As the plan currently exists, there will be no parking on the west side of the street. How are those businesses expected to get goods into their stores when double parking will not be permitted, and all available curbside spaces will be used for parking?
3) The current limited/local service does not adequately allow for transfers at points where subways intersect with the bus line. For example, there is a limited stop at Fulton where A,C train connections can be made, but not one at Eastern Parkway where the 3 train connection can be made. There is no limited stop at President for 2,5 connection. This sort of bad planning results in customers whose transportation needs aren’t being met. Using BRT that piggybacks on existing poor planning is only going to create more problems.
4) BRT will actually reduce the street space. As the picture above shows, the plan with BRT is to make a dedicated lane with cutouts for bus stops (use Broadway in lower manhattan as an example). So instead of having 4 lanes as is the current configuration (two parking, two traffic), the sidewalk will actually be widened into the current street so that there are three lanes (1 dedicated bus with cutouts back to the original curb for stops, 1 traffic and 1 parking). I assume during rush-hour the parking lane will disappear. Traffic on Nostrand will uniformly be a nightmare under this scenario, especially if there is no enforcement of the double parking laws.
actually I think this will have exactly what cmu suggests. There are already similar routes in the Bronx where you pay before boarding and the lane is dedicated. Much cheaper than subways or trolleys. Great idea.
MM – saying that Bloomberg is great for constantly innovating and trying new things is getting “giddy”????
If Bloomberg did a shitty job he still should be lauded for trying, proposing and examining new things – the fact is he is a good administrator too, but look around the country/world- and try to find another elected official that experiments as much as Bloomberg – you’ll have to look far and wide – most pols are sheep (dumb hacky sheep)
Slopey, HA! Very good.
The wheel, montrose, he invented the wheel. Don’t forget that.
Sheesh, fsrg. I’ll give the man due credit for jobs well done, but let’s not get giddy. It’s not like he invented the bus.