Flatbush Avenue might get reconfigured
Comments
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Not entirely wishful:
Many central business districts are doing exactly that. -
If we got rid of all the cars the city couldn't make all sorts of money selling medallions to those new green, outer borough cabs. I guess it all depends on where and how much money can be made. You want to get cars off the streets? Here's the easy way.....don't let anyone park for free. You make enough people pay and cars will disappear. Either that or there will be riots.
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Green cabs don't have medallions.
That said, I don't want to get rid of all cars in the city but I think that Flatbush would be an amazing experiment to make a main artery much more mass transit safe and bike friendly -
The city is in a bind:
Problem 1: Unless public transportation improves, most of the present people with cars will keep them.
Problem 2: Public transportation can't really be improved until there are less cars.
Who goes first? It is classic.
P.S. Don't worry, if you realllly want to have a car in NYC, you'll always be able to have one. It will just become more of a pain in the butt. -
Green cabs don't have medallions.
How? Where else is all that traffic going to go? There really isn't another major N/S street that parallels Flatbush for most of its route.
That said, I don't want to get rid of all cars in the city but I think that Flatbush would be an amazing experiment to make a main artery much more mass transit safe and bike friendlyFor all the traffic that Flatbush sees, it should be wider like Eastern Parkway is. -
Sure; close Flatbush Ave. and force all the traffic on to local streets so all the local residents, including the elderly and children, can suffer the consequences. Let's keep the cyclists safe and convenience the commuters at the costs of our children's safety. We should do this on all other major streets as well... Because their safety and convenience are more important than the safety of local families sitting on their stoop or going for a walk to visit their neighbor.Geez....I think it would make more sense to restrict cyclists to smaller residential streets for their own safety and leave the main thoroughfares alone. It's definitely safer for them to keep their distance from larger vehicles and not to share the road with them anyway.Oh, and don't forget that the cost of our groceries will increase if existing delivery/truck routes are closed.
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The best thing about keeping a car in New York is being able to get out of New York, without being enslaved by bus or train schedules, being able to combine multiple destinations in a single trip, and having a car when you get to those destinations (which usually have far less public transportation than NYC and its burbs).
The best way to turn New York into Detroit, ie to create a mass exodus of the monied classes, would be to ban cars from city streets and highways. -
I think it was in San Francisco where the former head of the public transportation authority said he worked hard to improve the service so he could get more poor people off the road and he could drive to work faster.
He'd had a few drinks before making the statement...
...was called an elitist.
...and was replaced a few months later. -
The best thing about keeping a car in New York is being able to get out of New York, without being enslaved by bus or train schedules, being able to combine multiple destinations in a single trip, and having a car when you get to those destinations (which usually have far less public transportation than NYC and its burbs).
I agree that the instant you step foot outside of NYC, being a slave to mass transit is a pain in the ass. (I was painfully aware of that when I lived in the DC area and when I visit my bf in Philly.) I have a Zipcar membership because it's not worth the extra set of expenses to own a car here when I would drive it once a week max. I also live in Crown Heights near where many routes of transportation. Much of Flatbush/Ditmas Park/Midwood is not what was formerly a two-fare zone (as opposed to Bergen Beach for example) so why would reducing the number of cars on the road be a big deal?The best way to turn New York into Detroit, ie to create a mass exodus of the monied classes, would be to ban cars from city streets and highways.Where are the monied classes in Flatbush?Okay, if you don't want to get the cars off of Flatbush, you can have Flatbush. We'll get the buses off of Flatbush (along with the dollar vans). @whynot_31, would a B41 SBS work if partially routed on Ocean Avenue (NB) and on Rogers Ave (SB)?Should they also institute jug-handle turns off of Flatbush? -
No space for jug handles.
Given how much public transportation exists between Brooklyn College and Manhattan, I'd leave that crazy stretch of Flatbush Avenue alone.
Let the dollar vans, cars, buses, etc fight over that stretch until the end of time.
Meanwhile, I would put SBS on the stretch of Flatbush south of Brooklyn College. It would run to the most underused piece of public land in the city: Floyd Bennet Field.
Using money from residential and/or commercial development, it would become a lovely park.
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Floyd Bennett already hosts the Native American festival and there's a sports arena/hockey rink there. Also the police dept still uses it for their aviation unit so apparently the city considers it used enough.
@ Llizell----green cabs do have medallions. That's why they have their numbers on the roof. They're not as expensive as full taxi medallions but the city charges for them although I don't know how much.
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Okay, no jug handle turns, but ban left-hand turns like they did on the stretch of Flatbush between Atlantic Center and Grand Army Plaza.Where would the B41 SBS terminate near Floyd Bennett Field and how would it turn around? -
There is no rule that SBS buses have to be long and bendable.
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I will bet you as much as a medallion costs that they don't have medallions.
@ Llizell----green cabs do have medallions. That's why they have their numbers on the roof. They're not as expensive as full taxi medallions but the city charges for them although I don't know how much.They are permitted vehicles, NOT medallioned. Hence they don't have any piece of tin (a medallion) on them. Permits are dirt cheap and since they aren't medallions cause a lot of problems for the companies that put the expensive credit-card processors into the back - since multiple cars can use the same permit without the companies knowing who actually owns the license.All that said, using a car to leave the city is a great idea. Flatbush Avenue south of Atlantic, though, isn't needed for that goal. I think the 6ish miles of Flatbush that go Atlantic to the bridge to the Rockaways should be car-free. Of course, I then think we'd need other services put in place - an SBS and double the number of Limited and Local B41 buses would decrease the need for illegal Dollar Vans. More subway lines (INCLUDED MY PINED-FOR X-LINE - http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/politics/2012/04/5772951/surprising-return-three-borough-x-line-subway ), more reliable buses, and more bike lanes will decrease the need for cars. I worked at a public school for years where I was the only person who didn't drive. All of my coworkers lived in Brooklyn, save 2. They drove because it was multiple transfers and long waits to get places. Some days it was quicker to walk the 3 miles to work than take the train to the bus as I did each day. If we could make mass transit more convenient, accessible, and connected more people would use their cars for the reason discussed above - to get out of town.As for there a B41 SBS would turn around, why not at the other part of the Gateway park that is in Queens (Reiis Beach area)?Whynot -- I don't see a need for an SBS only south of the Junction since traffic is MUCH less at that point -- it's the north of the Junction part of Flatbush that is dangerous and congested. -
I would still start with the southern portion.
I am also working on designing a long bus that can be driven from either end, and -hence- never needs to turn around. -
Those are called trains....mostly they run underground.
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I think such a bus would work. It would be free from rails.
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Those are called trains....mostly they run underground.
Years ago there were proposals for subway extensions running along Utica and on Nostrand south of the Junction. Unlike the Second Avenue subway, these never got off the ground and I doubt anyone would seriously attempt to revive them now. -
Getting out of town from anywhere in the city means using city streets (such as Flatbush Avenue) to reach the various bridges or tunnels that allow you to Escape From New York (that was a movie title, of course, but the context was somewhat different.
If you prohibit traffic on a major artery like Flatbush Avenue, you're just shifting the traffic to the streets where children live and, too often, play.
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Yes, most of cities that have prohibited cars have only done so for their city centers.
....not their arteries.
This allows people to still get around, and balances that with the "pedestrian mall" or "college quad" experience people crave. -
Re: banning left terms on Flatbush Ave., there's a long stretch going south from Lefferts to Winthrop were there are no through streets on which to turn right (west).
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