New York Newsflash

Empire State of Mind.

I ❤️ New York. I read that somewhere once.

I am back for a bit to check in on my hometown, its public transportation, my family and friends. Good news! It’s still standing. And there are even some new wins on the public transportation and livability front.

Home sweet home in Bronxlandia.

Congestion pricing is working! In fact, it’s killin’ it. And in these strange times, that’s a win all New Yorkers should be celebrating.

Breezing through the Midtown Tunnel into Manhattan.

It’s true, some buses still crawl along their routes at impressively slow speeds. I am still holding my breath for the day New York embraces true bus rapid transit (BRT) like the Metrobúses I ride regularly in Mexico City. The only upside to slow transit (like slow food?) is it let me take in the beautiful kaleidoscope of Brooklyn beyond the brownstones.

Staying dry on the B11 bus.

I took the B11 Bus from 2nd Avenue in Sunset Park on its slow crawl through Sunset Park, Boro Park, Ditmas Park and Flatbush. Where else in the world can you find Hasids with their felty hats covered in plastic bags to prevent them from wilting in the rain sitting alongside immigrant Latino kids who ICE has yet to snatch off the street?

I ❤️ New York.

Ditto, the trains including one of my favorites, the Q.

Avenue J Station. Home of the Q and B trains.

In my book, there is absolutely nothing wrong with above ground trains in the outer boroughs and upper Manhattan.

Einstein and Citi Bike

On other fronts, the biking in New York is terrific and, without any false modesty, I would know.

Citi Bike bragging rights. I have biked to every dock in the City.

The 59th Street Bridge on the last week pedestrians will need to fight for space on the north side of the bridge.

I ❤️ New York.

While here, I was happy to read that the 59th Street Bridge is finally getting a pedestrian path on the south side of the bridge. Beginning Sunday, May 18th, pedestrians won’t have to take their lives in their hands when walking between Manhattan and Queens. Sad truth: New York’s deliveristas on ebikes and tech bros on scooters seem to relish playing chicken with the walkers in the City.

By all accounts, Einstein was a pretty smart guy. So where’s his helmet?

Transit Redlining

Of course, all is not roses in Our Fair City. The Nostrand Avenue 3 train station on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn is tired and dirty. The Fordham Road and other D train stations in the Bronx are the same. Ditto the 6 train stations in the Bronx. Transit redlining anyone?

The so called AirTrain to Jamaica hardly flies at supersonic speeds.

While here I read an article about fare beaters on the buses. Duh! If New York wanted to get serious about its fare beaters (and speed bus times) it would do off-bus fare collection at a turnstile at actual BRT stations along busy bus routes. And it would do meaningful, rather than, selective enforcement.

In my time back in New York I also saw more people jumping the turnstiles than I have seen on the CDMX Metro since arriving in October in Mexico City. After a burst of enforcement last Summer and Fall, officers staffing the turnstiles are increasingly rare, at least from what I saw at stations like the decrepit 145th St terminal on the A, B, C and D lines. Transit redlining anyone?

What? Please Say That Again

The City is also shamefully noisy with all of the various sirens, construction and illegal dirt bikes. And honking! Why is that still OK given that we have the technology to ticket boneheads who like to lean on their horns as they pass through our still heavily subsidized streets.

How is it that coming from CDMX, a megacity three times New York’s size, I am finding the City shrill and loud. There is simply no reason that ambulances, fire engines and police cruisers should blare sirens that go up to eleven.

Excessive noise code enforcement is police work I can get behind. The City is deafening and don’t get me started on the screeching wheels on the number 3 and 6 trains.

But then there are those hidden, and not so hidden gems that make New York one of the world’s greatest cities.

The NYU Uptown campus. Facing financial difficulties and declining enrollment, in 1973, NYU sold its architecturally exceptional Bronx campus to the City University of New York (CUNY). The campus is now Bronx Community College.

The bridge that needs no introduction.

What else did I see and think about? The Roosevelt Island ski lift can’t hold a candle to Mexico City’s three Cablebús lines.

Roosevelt Island tram: You are no Cablebús.

It ain’t perfect but I ❤️ New York. The City will survive these crazy times and I will be back as soon and as often as I can return.

Central Park stroll with the New York Public Library’s best customer. ❤️

Yours in transit,

Joel

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