Your weekly guide to heroic and villainous actions in tri-state transportation and development.
Winners
NJ Transit’s River Line—Despite continuing service reductions due to damage from Hurricane Irene, ridership on the Camden-Trenton light rail line has risen significantly from this time last year.
The City of Hoboken—According to Hoboken’s Facebook page, the city is starting to stripe 10 miles of bike lanes. Will a bike share be next?
Connecticut State Senators Terry Gerratana (D-New Britain), Andrew Maynard (D-Stonington), and other busway-supporting senators—During a Thursday debate about the Hartford-New Britain Busway, Senator Gerratana argued that the transit project would lead to significant economic development, using this Mobilizing the Region post as evidence. Senator Maynard likewise corrected false assertions designed to torpedo the vital initiative.
The City of New Haven—New Haven has applied for a $400,000 grant that would allow the city to set up a 10-station bike share. It has also applied for grants that would pay for traffic calming studies and signal replacement.
Losers
Governor Andrew Cuomo—Although the federal government has backed the Cuomo administration’s fast-tracking of the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project, New York State won’t be receiving a $2 billion TIFIA loan from Washington. Including bus rapid transit in the project from the beginning would have given New York State a much stronger loan application.
Nassau County—Earlier this week, Nassau’s Transit Advisory Committee, which is tasked with overseeing the county’s privatized bus system, had a meeting to elect officers and hear a presentation from NICE Bus CEO Mike Setzer, but the underpublicized event took riders and advocates by surprise.
What were the assertions that you claim are false? I can substantiate my objections to the Hartford – New Britain busway. Can the bsuway proponents substantiate their claims based on experience elsewhere?
I consider “bus rapid transit” to be an oxymoron. Far less efficient between fixed points then rail, and the only time its fast is in an underpriced bus trip from NY to DC out of Chinatown, and then it’s doing 80mph in a worn out coach.
Yes, the TZ replacement needs to have transit capacity. It needs to have room for at least 2 rail tracks plus HOV / bus lanes as well. I’m guessing that a 2 deck suspension bridge (and the 2nd deck provides the stiffening needed) would do a lot better then the ugly monstrosity I’ve seen pictured.
So far as I can see the claims that Maynard has made in favor of the busway won’t stand up. He hasn’t told people that if the South Miami busway paralleling US route 1 and the Los Angeles Orange line which are both reserved right of way lines with grade crossings that have a 15 mile per hour speed limit and little or no bus priority in the case of the Miami busway, the same thing will happen in Connecticut. I repeat my question, WHAT assertions did Senator Maynard prove to be false? I didn’t bring up any with Google. I might add that 60 million a mile builds a pretty good commuter rail or light rail system.