Ben Fried started as a Streetsblog reporter in 2008 and led the site as editor-in-chief from 2010 to 2018. He lives in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, with his wife.
Ben Fried
Recent Posts
The Times Fails to Comprehend the Nature of the MTA Funding Gap
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New York politicos couldn’t have asked for a better deflection of their own responsibility to keep our transit system running than this piece served up yesterday by Times opinion writer Eleanor Randolph: New Yorkers struggle daily on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s subways, trains and buses. They now collect horror stories about long delays and missed […]
It’s April. Where’s the NYC DOT Bike Count From Last Year?
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Did cycling in New York City continue to rise in 2014? We still don’t know, because NYC DOT has yet to release its annual count. Usually, by this time of year, NYC DOT has released its screenline bike count showing the year-over-year trend in cycling in the city core (specifically, the screenline count measures cyclists on the East […]
Welcome Back, Streetsblog Chicago!
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Congratulations to John Greenfield, Steven Vance, and the readers and supporters who enabled Streetsblog Chicago to pull off a rousing comeback and resume regular publication today. At the beginning of the year, budget constraints compelled OpenPlans to sever our relationship with the Chicago team after two years of publication. Right off the bat, John told me […]
After a Fatal Crash, NYPD’s Initial Version of Events Often Turns Out Wrong
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Yesterday, the 24-year-old driver of a U-Haul van struck and killed a 43-year-old cyclist at the Grand Concourse and 158th Street in the Bronx. Police investigators have made a preliminary determination that the van driver had the right of way, according to NYPD, but the agency has yet to reveal the basis for that conclusion. NYPD’s public […]
DOT’s Design for Woodhaven Blvd Raises the Standard for Select Bus Service
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NYC DOT has selected a design for Select Bus Service on Woodhaven and Cross Bay Boulevards, and it goes further than previous SBS projects to keep bus lanes clear of cars. Under the proposal, buses would run in dedicated lanes set off from local traffic by concrete medians. While the bus lanes wouldn’t be physically […]
The Daily News Makes the Case for Legal Vehicular Killings (Again)
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Should there be misdemeanor charges for careless drivers who injure or kill New Yorkers legally crossing the street? For the second time in a month, the Daily News editorial board says “No.” A brief recap: Last year, the city enacted the Right of Way Law, making it an unclassified misdemeanor to drive into a pedestrian or bicyclist who has […]
Demonstrators Call for Swift Action From City Hall to Fix Queens Boulevard
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When it comes to redesigning Queens Boulevard for safe walking and biking, there’s no time to spare. It’s a matter of life and death. Dozens of local residents marched with members of Families For Safe Streets and Transportation Alternatives in the icy cold yesterday to urge swift action from City Hall on its Queens Boulevard […]
Mark Levine Launches Petition to Bring 125th Street Bus Lanes West of Lenox
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You don’t see this level of political commitment to repurposing street space that often. Council Member Mark Levine has launched a petition calling on NYC DOT and the MTA to extend bus lanes on 125th Street west of Lenox Avenue. Select Bus Service on 125th was originally envisioned with river-to-river dedicated bus lanes, but neighborhood […]
Rory Lancman Worried NYPD Charging Too Many Drivers for Injuring People
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This is pretty rich. In a city where hundreds of people get hurt by drivers who fail to yield each month, City Council Member Rory Lancman is concerned that police are “overapplying” the new Right of Way Law, which has been used all of 20 times since August. In a February 17 letter to NYPD […]
6 Reasons NYC DOT Needs to Get Bolder About Street Redesigns in 2015
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With the release of Vision Zero safety plans for every borough last week, NYC DOT should be poised for a great run of street redesigns across the city. DOT knows where the problems are. It has a modern street design toolkit at its disposal and years of data proving that these templates work in New York City. The […]
How the Daily News Gets the Right of Way Law Completely Wrong
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Bianca Petillo McCloud, 18, was walking across 132nd Avenue in Rochdale, Queens, when she was struck by a turning truck driver and killed. Police did not issue so much as a citation, even though the circumstances of the crash suggested that McCloud had the right of way. Nor did police issue any charges to the truck […]
Factchecking Cuomo’s Revisionist History of NYC Road Pricing [Updated]
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Andrew Cuomo is not going to seize the chance to lead New York City out of its hellish traffic congestion and fund key improvements to its transit system, judging by this tweet from New York Times reporter Thomas Kaplan: Cuomo doubts viability of congestion pricing: Last time, he says, “it went nowhere,” and nothing has […]