A weekly roundup of good deeds, missteps, heroic feats and epic failures in the tri-state region and beyond.
WINNERS
PS 207 Rockwood Park students – Class 301 gathered over 500 Howard Beach residents’ signatures supporting the installation of yield signs at their school’s crosswalk, resulting in Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder’s urging the DOT to consider the third graders’ request.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams– Adams called on the DOT to speed up Vision Zero initiatives near the Barclays Center where yet another car crash killed a cyclist and injured several on Monday. He told a group of reporters, “Vision Zero is not a slogan… The days of vehicles being the only traffic on our roadways are over.”
M86 riders – The crosstown M86–which serves more passengers per mile than any other bus route in New York City–now features off-board fare payment, which should speed up service by reducing dwell times.
LOSERS
New York Assemblyman Denny Farrell – At a CB9 Transportation Committee meeting, Farrell blamed pedestrians and bicyclists for causing traffic crashes and increasing congestion. He even praised Florida for its traffic safety record, which is actually terrible.
NJ Transit riders – After the state budget failed to provide the agency with adequate funding last month, the NJ Transit board approved a 9 percent fare hike and service cuts to three bus routes starting in October. The vote marks the eighth NJT fare increase since 1988, the last time the state gas tax was raised.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell – Congress has no plan for how to “fill the Highway Trust Fund’s dwindling coffers,” but Senator McConnell refused to consider raising the federal gas tax from 18.4 cents per gallon, where it has remained for the past 22 years.
re Denny Farrell – are you saying that bicyclists and pedestrians have no responsibility for any accidents? The same bicyclists who drive the wrong way down streets, blow through red lights and stop signs and barrel through cross walks at full speed? Of the accidents that I have seen, more were caused by bicycle riders (especially tourists on Citi bikes) than cars. Are car accidents more fatal? Yes. But how often is that accident caused because the injured party wasn’t following the traffic laws?
I know that you hate cars and drivers and would like to ban them all from midtown (if not the whole of NYC) but they aren’t the root of all of our problems.
I wonder how many MTA fare increases have occurred since 1988. I bet that there have been as many as for NJ Transit. It would just be an interesting piece of information in the debate.