Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about The Conscious Commuter

Positively 3rd Street

By Alex Marshall | Jan 25, 2013 | 12 Comments

Strolling up 3rd Street in Park Slope from 7th Avenue toward Prospect Park, it’s easy to see this is one of the most magnificent streets in what is, let’s face it, one of the prettiest neighborhoods in the city. The homes, built in the late 19th century and often clad in white stone, are set […]

Streetcars in Seattle, Or Why America Should Mind Its Transit Gaps

By Alex Marshall | Jun 9, 2009 | 34 Comments

Photo: Don Maxwell/Flickr The rider went down — Boom! — just as she turned to see if the streetcar was getting close to her. Turning to look was her undoing, because her wheel got caught in the big gap between rail and street, toppling her hard. The big blue streetcar was only ten feet or […]

Barcelona, 100 Years Ago: A Model for Streets Today?

By Alex Marshall | Apr 3, 2009 | 23 Comments

This film, as featured on YouTube via Infrastructurist, shows the streets of Barcelona a century ago, taken from the front window of a tram going down the street. It’s an amazing film. The central avenues of this Catalan city are so vital, so alive, a mix of every activity. Then the film compares the old […]

Americans, David Brooks, and “The Dutch Option”

By Alex Marshall | Feb 19, 2009 | 19 Comments

Denver’s FasTracks transit expansion will add more than 100 miles of rail and BRT service. Ben Fried got it exactly right about the errors that riddled Tuesday’s David Brooks column. Brooks was so far off the mark, though, that it’s worth another look at the ways he misled readers. The core of his argument that […]

A Broken Hip and the Merits of Scooters

By Alex Marshall | Feb 13, 2009 | 47 Comments

"Ouch" was my first thought, as I lay on the ice in my building’s parking lot, my scooter and black shoulder bag some feet away from me. What I would later learn was a broken hip screamed for my attention in a strange but compelling new language. My second thought was, "It’s not like you […]

On a Scooter, Cruisin’ for a Bruisin’

By Alex Marshall | Jun 5, 2008 | 20 Comments

My guitar saved my spine. I was scootering along on my new Cruz Ultra Xootr scooter, mentally writing this column about how incredible this new (to me) mode of transportation was, how it was even better than a bicycle in many ways, how it showed how graduated transportation is or should be, how it showed […]

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