John Petro
Recent Posts
Vision Zero and the Challenge of Culture Change at NYPD
| | 10 Comments
This is the second post in a two-part piece about how Vision Zero will have to change attitudes toward streets and driving in order to succeed. Read part one here. New York City is known for its hustle, its people perpetually in a hurry, trying to make good time. It is almost a point of […]
Vision Zero and the Challenge of Culture Change
| | 19 Comments
This is the first post in a two-part piece about how Vision Zero will have to change attitudes toward streets and driving in order to succeed. City Council Member Mark Weprin’s Vision Zero moment came after watching video footage of the collision that killed 3-year-old Allison Liao in Flushing, Queens, last October. The driver of […]
Affordable Bus and Subway Fares Are Still Worth Fighting For
| | 62 Comments
When the MTA introduced the 30-day unlimited-ride MetroCard in 1998, it cost $63. Today the cost of the 30-day pass is up to $112, a 77 percent increase. Over that time the base subway and bus fare doubled, from $1.25 to $2.50. Meanwhile, wage growth has lagged. The average wage in the five boroughs increased […]
Four Tough Problems the MTA Reinvention Commission Needs to Tackle
| | 6 Comments
Governor Cuomo’s MTA Reinvention Commission met for the first time last week at the agency’s midtown headquarters. Cuomo has charged the 22-member commission with developing a plan “to make our subways and our entire transit system ready for the challenges of the next century.” The commission’s recommendations are expected to shape the MTA’s next capital […]
Every Bus Should Get Priority at NYC Traffic Signals
| | 12 Comments
New York City buses serve more than two million trips on an average weekday — more than twice the ridership as Los Angeles, which has the nation’s second-largest bus system. And yet the city’s buses are also notoriously slow and unreliable. Gridlocked traffic, long boarding queues, and the succession of traffic lights bog down surface transit in NYC […]
Will Cuomo Help the MTA Make “Every Dollar Count”?
| | 8 Comments
The MTA has made big strides in recent years to streamline its operations, but without political leadership from Governor Cuomo, the agency won’t be able to tackle the high costs and inefficiencies that continue to hamper the city’s transit system. In 2010, after an acute budget crisis, the MTA began a program to cut costs […]
As Vision Zero Shapes NYC Streets, Don’t Forget the Bike Lanes
| | 14 Comments
When New York City began to rapidly accelerate the expansion of its bike network in 2007 — adding 366 miles of bike lanes over seven years — the pent-up demand for cycling became strikingly clear. More New Yorkers are choosing to commute by bike. Between 2009 and 2012, the number of city residents riding to […]
Sooner or Later, the Brooklyn-Queens Waterfront Needs Better Transit
| | 30 Comments
The Brooklyn and Queens waterfront is in the midst of a grand transformation that’s only just begun. Newly built Brooklyn Bridge Park is already firmly established as one of the city’s most stunning public spaces. The Brooklyn Navy Yard now hosts glitzy fashion shows by international designers like Alexander Wang and Dior. Long Island City’s waterfront is […]
Are the Subways Getting Worse? Depends on How You Measure It
| | 5 Comments
Yesterday the Straphangers Campaign released a report that shows the number of subway incidents that result in a significant delay in 2013 rose 35 percent from 2011. “The increase in alerts is a troubling sign that subway service is deteriorating,” said Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign. The MTA responded that despite the report’s findings, the reliability of service […]
Imagining a New Atlantic Avenue for de Blasio’s New York
| | 6 Comments
Atlantic Avenue is one of New York’s most prominent streets, and in most respects, it is completely broken. Stretching more than ten miles, Atlantic cuts through several neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens while functioning mainly as an urban highway for private motorists and truckers making their way east, toward the Van Wyck and Long Island, or […]
MTA-TWU Agreement: What’s the Plan Now, Governor?
| | 11 Comments
The MTA’s financial situation became much murkier yesterday as Governor Cuomo announced that retroactive raises will be part of a labor agreement between the transit authority and the Transport Workers Union. Up until yesterday’s announcement, MTA leadership had insisted that the authority’s financial health depended on “three years of net-zero wage growth.” Keeping labor costs flat […]
No, the MTA Can’t Afford Cuomo’s Transit Raids
| | No Comments
I think most transit riders would laugh — cynically — at the idea that the MTA has more than enough funds to meet its needs. But this is exactly what the MTA’s chairman Tom Prendergast said when he learned that the state would be diverting $30 million from the MTA’s funding stream to balance the […]