Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Will a car-free 14th Street make life more bearable during (and after) the L train renovations?



So someone has taken notice that the M14A isn't always very punctual ... which should likely only get worse, even with more buses, when the MTA shuts down the L train for repairs in 2019.

As you may recall, the MTA has pitched two scenarios for the work to repair the Sandy-damaged Canarsie tubes. The first plans sees service cut completely between Eighth Avenue and Bedford Avenue for 18 months. The other option is to close one tube at a time, with a three-year timeframe for the work

Meanwhile, in case you missed this: State Sen. Brad Hoylman has asked the MTA to explore the possibility of closing parts of 14th Street to vehicular traffic, with a dedicated bus and bike route to help ease the crosstown commute while the L is out, DNAinfo reported.

Hoylman is reportedly building on an idea floated earlier by the Regional Plan Association, a Manhattan-based think tank.

Per DNAinfo:

The report, released in April, suggested restricting 14th Street between Irving Place and Sixth Avenue in both directions to buses, bikes, and pedestrians. Trucks would have to make deliveries to 14th Street overnight, or use loading zones on nearby avenues that would take the place of parking spaces, according to the report.

The rest of traffic could travel east of Irving Place and west of Sixth Avenue, but only one-way towards each river, according to the report.

Hoylman has also suggested making this car ban permanent between Irving Place and Sixth Avenue — even after L service is restored in 2089.

35 comments:

Choresh Wald said...

Yes, Please
at last a word of reason from a local politician, a suggestion that can actually make the M14 bus go faster and be an alternative to the L Train.
Would be nice to have a bike lane on 13th St and 12th St to complement it (right now there's no safe bike route to go from the neighborhood to Union Sq and west.

Anonymous said...

This would tremendously benefit most of the residents east of Ave A who don't own cars. The distance to the 6 and F trains is considerable, especially for the elderly and the mobility impaired, so improvements to the M14 are most welcome. There have been several good options floated for deliveries to 14th St, so this is completely doable.

Anonymous said...

Worst idea ever! There are times when I need to get across town tout de suite and grabbing a taxi around A and 14th is the fastest route. I'm not a big car guy, never had one or even a license but enough with this Bloomberg urban pedestrian fantasy, we have sidewalks which have worked for centuries and roads for vehicles leave it be.

Anonymous said...

I'm with the bike lane comment.

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't this just push more crosstown traffic onto other side streets, making 8th St and 9th St even more congested, and slowing down the only other crosstown bus line the connects the East and West Village? Solve one problem, create another.

Michael Ivan said...

Agreed 9:08, in theory wonderful no cars, in practice, bottle necks of traffic everywhere.

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:35 AM: When buses are able to run faster, you'll be able to take a bus instead. Sorry, not enough space for everyone to be able to travel in a car in Manhattan.

Anonymous said...

Who cares if it creates traffic somewhere else? As long as the tourists and transients can get around to and fro their designer bagels, bespoke jeans, Michelin starred restaurants, Beer Store!, themed bars and restaurants,... without any hassle, iz all good to the East Villagers of today!.

Anonymous said...

Here is a simple solution. Incentivize expeditious bus driving. Most MTA drivers drive like they are being paid by the hour. I.e. too passive, too lackadaisical, yielding to drivers and pedestrians who DON'T have right of way. Any driver of any vehicle in Manhattan needs to ASSERT their right of way or else they get walked all over. This applies manyfold to BUS DRIVERS who ought to have a MANDATE to drive expeditiously. On the rare occasion I get a bus driver who drives like it is an actual job and a responsibility to get people from point to point with some efficiency, I say "thanks" and "nice driving."

Another simple solution is for "NYPD" traffic enforcement to you know, actually enforce laws like no standing in the bus zone, double parking etc. IMO this is the shit you ought to address before you know, conjuring up radical plans like closing streets and shit. Being diligent about issuing citations has a two-fold effect. Generates revenue for the city while encouraging compliance. The great thing is these laws are already on the books, just have to enforce them. Could even start today for crying out loud.

NOTORIOUS said...

This is only going to make the streets in the area one big cluster f.

When they closed off one block of 3rd Ave and one block of 9th Street last week when the facade work was being done, the impact it had on both foot and car traffic in the surrounding areas what enormous. Second Ave became a parking lot, ambulances and firetrucks were stuck for minutes at a time. Foot traffic on 10th Street was so bad it looked like people were fleeing a disaster.

This is a tough decision and I don't envy the people who have to make it. But to think adding more of these obnoxious bike lanes are going to solve anything. Ha. Bike lanes are Robert Moses debacle of this generation. They cause more problems than they solve.

Anonymous said...

It's not even about "Bloomberg's pedestrian fantasy" anymore. The car traffic in the city is overloading the infrastructure in 2016. There's too many cars and trucks, snarls everywhere at almost any time of day. Step outside, observe the car traffic and see how many license plates ending with the letter "C" you see.

Owl said...

Way to make 13th street totally unlivable - it's already filled with angry honking cars every freaking evening as vehicular retards bang their head against the brick wall of slow cross-town traffic at every light from 2nd to 9th aves.

Anonymous said...

I think it's time to revisit the London-style congestion pricing and charge anyone who doesn't live AND register their car (paying tax and insurance in the state of NY) in Manhattan to be charged $15-20 to drive in Manhattan.

The social cost of B&T folk driving into the city and driving around and around looking for parking, some of whom want to drive at highway speeds on the streets and avenues far exceeds the benefits. Let the pay for the privilege.

All we need to do is look at other cities in the world and see how they do it. Amsterdam, for instance, has all store, bar, & restaurant deliveries made into the pedestrian zone between about 6am and 10am and then those streets are closed to vehicular traffic - why couldn't we do that here?

Of course, I grew tired of waiting for NYC to get its shit together and moved to small coastal town on the ocean where I can walk everywhere and have a nice house with a garden for the price of my studio in the east village. Still, I would like to see some real substantial improvement to the city that I still love and for the residents that are not as fortunate as I am in being able to work from home.

Anonymous said...

Most myopic and short sighted generation EVER. I am so happy that I don't live in this NYC.

Anonymous said...

I know the L train tunnels under the East River have to be repaired, but does that mean L train service in Manhattan has to stop? Can't the trains just reverse direction at the 1st Ave stop, or is the stop not set up for that kind of change?

Anonymous said...

There are bike lanes crosstown on 9th and 10th Streets... if adding more crosstown bike lanes, then plueeze -- No More Movie Trailers Clogging Our Crosstown Streets!

And perhaps you'd also like to consider that the streets have parking on both sides as is...and right now, wrong way bike traffic is a real issue, esp. on 12th.

Anonymous said...

@ 10:13 AM Is a bot.

Anonymous said...

the m14 is a dream compared to the m23, which has 15-20 min headways at rush hour. the real problem is the slack traffic enforcement which allows 14th to be clogged by delivery vehicles and double parked cars, esp. on the segment between union square and sixth ave. it causes a domino effect which slows everything down into the east side. can't tell you how often i see traffic cops sitting in their cruisers or standing on the corners watching while all sorts of nonsense clogs up the intersections and street.

Anonymous said...

Anon 11:24 AM:
No, trains can't run between 1st and 8th Aves, because without access to the tunnel, they cannot get to a service area, so no way to do maintenance / repairs.

Anonymous said...

That comment about taking the cab from 14st and A... Now, what if every new tennt of every new luxury project east of 1st Av would like to do that ? "I just get in my uber and go. Oh, wait, everybody else does it. Now we're all stuck in traffic". The project on 11th and A is like 100 more units, same is the Peter Stuyvesant post office and the 14th St and Av A. All wealthy people, all wants to get into a vehicle .

Edmund Dunn said...

@12.24 PM.

Re having a Manhattan only 14th Street shuttle service during the tunnel repairs, I think it could be an option if the MTA goes for the option of limited service (versus the complete L train shutdown), then the tunnel would be available for the L train to have maintenance on it, etc. There are track switches at least between the 8th Ave and 6th Ave stops. After Union Square, there is no access for passengers to cross over, so it would be major MTA education and communication effort (have MTA personal stationed at the both the First Ave and Third Aves stops?) for it to work. There may be some major railroad related roadblocks to such a shuttle that I am not aware of. Anyway, just a thought.

Anonymous said...

14th Street doesn't need a bike lane, cyclists should use 13th or 15th or whatever street to get west from here. I've biked across that street once and swore it off forever. Trucks are incredibly necessary for so many reasons in this city nearly all businesses depend on them and we would starve without them.

If it weren't for the Feds the state/city would not have the funds needed. I wish Bloomberg had cared about the infrastructure of the city as much as he cared about building super towers for the super rich.

Anonymous said...

@10:38am: "All we need to do is look at other cities in the world and see how they do it. Amsterdam, for instance" NO! I AM SO FUCKING TIRED OF PEOPLE WHO THINK NYC SHOULD BE AMSTERDAM.

The population of Amsterdam is ONE-TENTH of what NYC's 5 boroughs is. Somehow everyone is trying to make NYC's streets function as if we were a much tinier city. WHY??? This is Bloombergian "magic thinking" at its worst.

NYC is the greatest city in the world - it's the other cities that should be trying to emulate us! Why people keep trying to down-grade us to put us on a par with Amsterdam is beyond me. Hey, maybe we can install canals and try to be on a par with Venice while we're at it.

And if you think Amsterdam has got it all figured out, then go live THERE and you can find out what the downside of living in Amsterdam is. Meanwhile we're all actually *in* NYC, no matter what that jackass Bloomberg we should be.

Anonymous said...

Nobody seems to realize the underlying problem here: No matter how many buses or bike lanes there are, we have a ton more people trying to get around in a city that doesn't have more lanes for ANY traffic (2-wheel or 4-wheel). And putting in cement "buffer" zones between bike lanes & traffic lanes is only cutting down the available space even more. "Traffic calming"? Not so much; it's just trying to shove all those lanes of traffic into FEWER lanes of traffic, and you don't need to be a genius to predict what will happen.

There's some fundamental denial about the laws of physics - you can only fit so many people, bikes, and vehicles into a given space, and NYC is way over the limit. Which is what happens when you keep putting up "luxury" condos and rentals and stuffing more & more people into a limited space. I don't know why anyone is surprised that it is harder & harder to get around. All the people who want to get around via Uber don't seem to understand that they are adding to congestion; they act like they're just too good to take a yellow taxi.

I just wanna know why "the powers that be" can't figure out that nearly every action they take regarding traffic flow in Manhattan is making the situation worse.

Anonymous said...

Anon 3:07 PM:
Precisely because of the fact that NYC population is so huge, there is no space for everyone to drive a car or be driven in one. I can't afford a car. Does this mean I should be stuck in traffic on a bus, just because all of you who can afford to own cars or to take cabs decide that you're just too good for public transit? No, we need to improve public transit, closing streets to private vehicles and imposing congestion pricing, so that all of us can agree that public transit is the best option for us. Sorry if it offends you to share a bus with a poor like me.

Anonymous said...

@4:37pm: "So that all of us can agree that public transit is the best option for us" - well YOU'VE decreed it, so it must be true, right? Yours is another comment from someone I'm pretty sure is young and healthy.

Hey, why would an elderly person with a cast on their arm need a taxi? Why would a patient getting chemo need a cab to or from treatment? Why would a woman in labor need a cab to the hospital? Why would a patient being discharged from surgery need a cab home?

Nah, they should ALL wait for a bus no matter the weather or time of day, because taxis should be eliminated from NYC by your reckoning. Or maybe you think they should just WALK? You'll wise up some day... or maybe you won't!

Anonymous said...

as if all the UBER/ Taxi / Car Service passengers are old/ unhealthy etc. That's just the minority.
The Majority are young, healthy, capable, lazy and wealthy enough to use drivers to take them around.
a Bus can pass a traffic light cycle carrying 50 people, the same time 20 people pass with their bikes, how many cars you fit in a light cycle 5 ? 10 ? and how many people do they carry ? 5 ? 10 ?
Simple math

Anonymous said...

I wonder how many times the anon above ("times when I need to get across town tout de suite and grabbing a taxi around A and 14th is the fastest route") was grabbing a taxi on his way to or from chemo. Also, emergency vehicles are for emergencies (labor!). Stop pretending you are so worried about emergencies for which planning and appropriate exemptions can be built in. You are not more important than the rest of us who can't afford to be chauffeured around.

Anonymous said...

Hey, anon 6.05, do you think people from Village View, NYCHA, or other housing complexes without streets right in front of their building entrances don't get home after being discharged home from the hospital? The frequency with which someone cannot make it < half a block to a corner, in a situation that is not appropriate for an emergency vehicle, or Access'a'Ride (which counts as public transit!), are nowhere near as frequent as elderly and poor NYers suffering on buses through traffic caused by people who think they deserve to be in a car.

Anonymous said...

@7:42pm: The entitlement virus is evident in your own comments, along with precious little evidence of awareness that other people are in other circumstances and/or have needs other than yours.

Can you identify people who are on their way to or from chemo or radiation just by looking at them? If you can, then you have a super-power!

Emergency vehicles? I'm sure you've never received an ambulance bill in NYC - do you think when 911 is called, the ride to the hospital is free? Because it's definitely NOT free.

From the sound of it, you should have no gripe at all, because you can be chauffeuring yourself around on a bike, strapping and healthy as you are! Why are you even taking up space on a bus, when some of us may need it far more than you do?

Maybe some day you'll grow up; but regardless, you WILL eventually grow old and then you'll encounter people who will feel toward you the way you feel toward the old or infirm now.

Anonymous said...

I can identify people who are trying to impress "the lunch date that's half their age with an Uber ride to the Nooner Hotel" because I have super powers... wink, wink.

C'mon, let's not bicker about it. The elderly or infirm who are using private transit aren't the entire issue, and let's face it, many people coming in from NJ, LI and CT are, in fact, coming in for medical reasons.

The people who are clogging the streets with their "Lifestyle Rides" know who they are. Getting them to change their ideas about their entitlement is going to be a different story.

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:14 PM: And you think you can guess my age by reading comments on the internet? How wrong you are. If we're guessing, I'm going to guess you're a yuppy transient who thinks he has a constitutional right to an Uber right outside his doorstep. Maybe you should grow up and grow out of privilege.

Anonymous said...

Once again, a serious issue, gets trivialized on this blog by people who want to insert their personal hobby-horses. The discussion should be how does the MTA make cross town travel on 14th Street more efficent (faster) in the wake of the closing down of the L line for 1-3 years. Public transportation is just that public--and snide comments about those who are riding the buses (people in wheel chairs, people with walkers, people with canes, and others--including people of all ages who are using it to get from point A to point B doesn't contribute to discussion, and is for the most part irrelevant. How do you keep the traffic moving? No parking along 14th Street at any time (sorry Whole Foods and Trader Joe)?. Allow deliveries during set times early in the morning? Vigorously patrol the length of 14th Street against cars / vans--any vehicle that double parks? And develop a dedicated bus lane (perhaps together with an HOV lane) going north and south. And now that we don't have so many officers doing stop and frisk they can be assigned to dedicated traffic duty--keeping the traffic flowing--making sure that intersections flowing into 14th Street are kept open. What has been surfacing in some posts (blaming oldsters or youngsters--usw) is people venting. That's what a democracy is supposed to be. Venting has a place in the conversation, but it rarely develops sustainable ideas. Enough of the hot air--real discussion of a serious issue. This isn't about whether a shop wants to toast your bagel or not.

Charlie said...

There's more than one way to move more people without wider streets, and none of them are with more cars.
http://usa.streetsblog.org/2016/05/10/how-can-cities-move-more-people-without-wider-streets-hint-not-with-cars/

Anonymous said...

Why all the bitching? Taxis aren't being banned. Catch one on 13th instead. Otherwise, hop on the now more efficient m14.