Article in a section of today's NYT Magazine about envisioning a new New York. In the issue the picture has bikes all over the streets!
> > > >John Tierney on Traffic > >November 11, 2001 > > > > > > >Rudolph W. Giuliani was never accused of being a >transportation visionary before Sept. 11. But when he >banned single-occupant cars from entering Lower Manhattan a >couple of weeks later, he not only averted a colossal >traffic jam. He also showed what New York could become if >we take back our streets from the invaders. > >We should never have given away so much precious real >estate to so many machines that do so little. Cars spend >most of their time idling in traffic jams or sitting >immobile at curbs. With a few reforms, we could have >sidewalks and streets that are safer from terrorists and >more inviting for everyone, including drivers. The city >could be a transportation nirvana compared with the clogged >highways in suburbia. > >The goal is not to banish cars, which can be wonderful >conveyances. Some of the drivers now excluded from Lower >Manhattan quite rightly complain that their cars are >indispensable. They should be given a chance to re-enter >Manhattan -- but at a price. Every car in Midtown and >downtown should be charged for the privilege. The driver >wouldn't have to go through a toll booth or even slow down, >because there are advanced versions of the E-ZPass >transponder that can be read at highway speeds. Drivers on >expressways in other cities are already paying tolls as >they zip along at 90 miles per hour (and even drivers >without the transponders can be billed because there are >cameras that record their license plates). > >With a similar system here -- call it E-ZNY -- cars could >be metered for every block they travel. Security officials >could monitor the movements of suspected terrorists, and >transportation planners could adopt their favorite tactic >for eliminating traffic jams: ''value pricing.'' When tolls >are set higher at the busier places and times -- the F.D.R. >Drive at rush hour, Midtown cross streets at lunchtime, >Fifth Avenue in December -- drivers respond by carpooling, >rearranging their schedules or switching to mass transit. >Everybody wins, at least according to economists, because >the time saved by drivers no longer stuck in traffic jams >is worth far more than the tolls they're paying. > >Politicians, though, hate to charge voters for anything >they're now getting free, and any attempt to impose tolls >would be denounced as unfair to the poor. But E-ZNY could >be sold to city voters as a way to collect money from >affluent suburbanites who no longer pay a commuter tax. >Politicians could promise to refund all the toll revenues >to the public through a reduction in the city's portion of >the sales tax (currently 4 of the 8.25 cents per dollar >goes to the city). Reducing that regressive tax would be a >boon to the poor as well as to the local economy. Charles >Komanoff, a transportation consultant and leader of a >pedestrian group called Right of Way, estimates that an >average toll of 50 cents per mile in middle and Lower >Manhattan, combined with new tolls on the East River >crossings, could yield a billion dollars per year, enough >to cut the sales tax by 2 cents in the city. That would >give shoppers a new incentive to come into town, and they'd >find miraculously unclogged streets when they got here. > >''Imagine getting into a cab at any time and knowing that >you could get across town in 12 minutes,'' says Samuel I. >Schwartz, who coined the term ''gridlock'' when he was >chief engineer for the city Department of Transportation. >''You could do that with a value-pricing system in Midtown. >Just reducing the number of cars by 10 percent would make a >dramatic difference in congestion.'' Besides speeding >traffic, Schwartz wants to use the reconstruction of >downtown to reclaim turf for people. > >''A large chunk of Lower Manhattan could be relatively auto >free,'' says Schwartz, now a private consultant. ''You >could have interesting new streetscapes with wider >sidewalks, more trees and plantings, more street furniture. >You could connect Battery Park City to the rest of downtown >with a long plaza built above West Street. You could have >dedicated lanes for electric-powered jitneys. There could >still be places to drive if you were willing to pay, and >places for trucks to unload at night, but we should >recognize that those old streets were never laid out for >the car. We can offer people alternatives that are more >fun.'' > >Cars deserve to be banished from other places too, like the >loop road on Central Park. Some of the lanes in Times >Square and Fifth Avenue are badly needed by tourists now >crowded into sidewalks. Buses and jitneys, maybe trolleys, >would move more people with less noise and pollution if >there were more special lanes for high-occupancy vehicles. >(Taxis and private cars might also be allowed in some of >these express lanes, but only if they paid a hefty >premium.) There should be more lanes for bicyclists, who >are now given less than 1 percent of the space on >Manhattan's avenues. ''The city is brilliantly constructed >for riding bikes because it's so flat, compact and well lit >at night,'' Komanoff says. ''But there are only 100,000 >riders a day now because of the fear of cars. With bike >lanes on every avenue, there would easily be a million >riders.'' > >For most of New York's history, streets were supposed to >serve people in the neighborhood, not vehicles speeding >through. Sidewalk designs and street pavements were chosen >and paid for by people living next to them. These >''abutters'' wanted wide sidewalks for socializing and >playing. They made room for trees and flowers at the >expense of noisy, polluting vehicles. To keep the streets >safe and quiet, they chose pavements that would slow down >traffic. But gradually the abutters' powers were relegated >to bureaucrats more interested in improving traffic flow. >Sidewalks narrowed and trees disappeared to make room for >more lanes and parking spaces. In 1950, the longstanding >ban on overnight parking was overturned. Merchants had >supported the ban, and the city's police commissioner had >denounced the idea of ''the public streets being used as >garages,'' but the lobbyists of the American Automobile >Association prevailed. Soon the lovely old streetscapes >were filled with rows of metal hulks, and some of the >world's most valuable property was turned into free parking >lots. > >It's time for cars to pay their way and make room for the >carless people who live here. Abutters of the city, unite! >You have nothing to lose but their cars! > > > >John Tierney writes ''The Big City'' column for The >Times. > >http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/11/magazine/11MANI-TRAFFIC.html?ex=100653007 2&ei=1&en=144d8666ee6345dc > > > >HOW TO ADVERTISE >--------------------------------- >For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters >or other creative advertising opportunities with The >New York Times on the Web, please contact Alyson >Racer at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit our online media >kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo > >For general information about NYTimes.com, write to >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company >
