A weekly roundup of good deeds, missteps, heroic feats and epic failures in the tri-state region and beyond.
Winners
Hoboken, Jersey City and Weehawken — After a successful six-month pilot program in Hoboken, these three communities are partnering to launch a bike share system.
Manhattan Community Board 5 — CB 5 voted unanimously to ask the New York City Department of Transportation to study a redesign of Fifth and Sixth Avenues, which have seen more than their fair share of curb jumping drivers in recent months.
NY State Senator Tim Kennedy — Senator Kennedy is calling for the expansion of New York State’s Complete Streets law and the creation of a dedicated fund for pedestrian and bicycling infrastructure in the State budget.
Shore Line East — Ridership is up by 35 percent from a year ago on Shore Line East, “spurred partially by Governor Malloy’s decision last summer to institute weekend train service to southeastern Connecticut.”
Losers
NY State Senator Tony Avella and Assemblymember David Weprin — This duo of Queens lawmakers have introduced legislation that would prohibit New York City from adding tolls to any city-owned bridges despite the fact that the vast majority of their constituents do not drive to Manhattan’s Central Business District for work, while more than a quarter of Queens residents use transit to do so.
NYC Councilmember Peter Vallone — Vallone presided over a ribbon cutting for a new parking lot at 29th Street and Astoria Boulevard in Queens, which is less than two blocks from the N and Q trains. That’s right. A parking lot.
Connecticut transit riders — Fares on CT Transit buses, Connecticut Metro-North and Shore Line East trains will increase by about 5 percent in January.