Picket&Rail’s Post

Commuters coming into New York should be bracing for packed roads throughout the city as state heads from across the world make their way to the annual UN General Assembly. There will be street closures galore that drivers will have to navigate on their way to work, and that piles onto the fact that the city has seen the largest rise in both driving and gridlock out of the nation's major hubs. City bridges and tunnels have grown increasingly clogged, according to data from the MTA. The number of cars, buses, trucks and motorcycles that passed through the bridges and tunnels operated by the agency reached 25 million last month, up about 40% from the same period in 2010. Travelers might opt for the train, but that comes with its own set of challenges. The New Jersey Transit, the Amtrak and MTA subways have all had their hand in derailing the daily commutes of people coming to and from the city for work. We've seen delays, crashes, cancellations and more - and that's coupled with fare hikes from the agencies to ride the trains. Either way you swing it, the NYC commute is going to be particularly nightmarish this week. By me for Bloomberg News

📢 Progress in Traffic Safety: Warsaw’s Remarkable Turnaround Towards ‘Vision Zero’ Warsaw, once one of Europe’s most dangerous cities for drivers and pedestrians, is experiencing a remarkable transformation in road safety. Over the last decade, fatalities have dropped by an impressive 55%, bringing Warsaw closer to its ‘Vision Zero’ goal of eliminating severe traffic injuries and deaths. This year, the Polish capital is on track to record its lowest-ever road death toll since tracking began in the 1980s. 🚶 Key Reforms Driving Change: The city has invested in crosswalk upgrades, improved lighting, raised medians, and roundabouts, slowing traffic in high-risk areas. Policies are also making an impact, with new national regulations that increase accountability for drivers, including a substantial fine hike for road violations and pedestrian priority at crosswalks. 📉 Results That Speak Volumes: In 1991, Warsaw faced a grim peak of 314 traffic fatalities, whereas 2023 saw a historic low with just 29 deaths, including 11 pedestrians. Adjusted for population, this drop makes Warsaw’s roads safer than those in many other EU cities. 🔎 Future of Safety: Tomasz Tosza, Deputy Director of Warsaw’s Department of Road Management, is implementing science-backed solutions like street narrowing and stricter speed limits to further reduce road risks. Upcoming expansions in public transit and bike lanes will also offer safe alternatives to driving. Despite Warsaw’s achievements, road safety advocates call for more action, especially with a few tragic incidents highlighting the importance of maintaining a relentless focus on safety. 💡 Warsaw’s Road Safety Journey is an inspiration for cities worldwide seeking effective, scalable changes that save lives. #VisionZero #RoadSafety #UrbanMobility #TrafficSafety #CityPlanning #SafeStreets #SustainableCities #PublicSafety #Transportation #Poland Read more here 👉 https://lnkd.in/e_4-9--6

Do you understand how traffic will affect your freight deliveries with the new congestion pricing in New York City? Big changes are underway. Learn all the inside tips in this blog article. #congestionpricingNYC #freightdelivery #trafficimpact #logisticsmanagement #shippingindustry #NYCtrucking #urbanlogistics #interceptlogistics

Do you understand how traffic will affect your freight deliveries with the new congestion pricing in New York City? Big changes are underway. Learn all the inside tips in this blog article. #congestionpricingNYC #freightdelivery #trafficimpact #logisticsmanagement #shippingindustry #NYCtrucking #urbanlogistics #interceptlogistics

How Subway Riders Will Pay for NYC’s Congestion Pricing Halt: excellent analysis from Bloomberg on the collateral damage to #NewYorkCity #publictransit system in the wake of Governor Hochul's 11th-hour decision to pause the NYC #congestionpricing plan indefinitely. Maintaining political will to raise new revenues is hard, but the costs will make themselves known to transit riders and NYC residents beleaguered by congestion, air pollution, and inadequate transit access. A sobering object lesson in the fraught politics of smart #urbanpolicy #climatepolicy #climateaction

New York's off-again, on-again congestion charge is on-again. From 5 January 2025, it will cost up to US$9 to drive a car into lower Manhattan during most hours of the day, the main change from before is that this is significantly lower than the US$15 previously proposed (which was seen as politically untenable going up to the US elections). Although it is being introduced primarily to raise revenue (at least US$1b per annum primarily to fund renewals of the subway), it ought to have a noticeable impact on traffic congestion (albeit it is quite a blunt scheme). New York's cordon scheme will be groundbreaking in the US as the first such scheme in the country of congestion charging on existing roads (not just peak pricing of an existing toll road or an HOV lane), but lower Manhattan is fairly unique. It has relatively low car mode share given the intensity of subway (including PATH), railroad and bus service, and fairly consistent levels of traffic during the day. It is much more akin to central London than any other US city. So while this should hopefully spur interest in congestion charging elsewhere in the US, it's worth noting that in the UK London has not resulted in congestion charging being implemented elsewhere in the country. Notwithstanding this, New York will be worth watching, to see the likely impact on congestion, the effects on enabling buses to operate much more efficiently, and most importantly how it is perceived by the public - those who drive, those who live and work there, those who own businesses. That will be the real test as to whether the concept gains traction in the country of the automobile. I wrote a little about it here https://lnkd.in/dt2MPU-R and https://lnkd.in/dssw5Kkk and the details of the scheme (as previously noted) are here https://lnkd.in/dcNkCMqd

I am witnessing what seems to be a trend of late which I imagine isn't unique to my locale: drivers ignoring "handicapped" parking space designations. Such spaces are reserved for drivers recognized by U.S. state and/or local governments as having a medical condition or mobility limitation that justifies enabling them to park nearer to their destination, such as a store, a church, an office building, etc. Being semi-retired, I have made a point of observing the use of such spaces while running errands or heading to my local coffee shop. Frankly, it seems rather apparent many of the drivers using such parking spaces don't qualify. Now granted, I'm hardly an expert on such matters, but I can read body language. When a seemingly able person parks and then, upon exiting the vehicle, looks all around before heading to their destination, they’re not checking traffic. Rather, they appear to be making sure the "coast is clear," as we say. Why would they do so? Because in most U.S. jurisdictions, unauthorized use of such parking spaces is either against the law and/or a violation of a local ordinance, with fines for violators. I’ve even seen cases where the driver waits in the vehicle while an able-bodied passenger or two exits and enters the adjacent building, presumably to enable a "quick get-away" in the event of a risk of being "caught." Now it's possible the individual using the space is indeed authorized to do so and simply forgot the "handicap" placard that's hung from the rear view mirror. Fair enough, but I'm willing to bet 90% or more of the cases I have observed of late are simply individuals knowingly choosing to ignore the law and, more importantly, the legitimate needs of fellow citizens for whom such parking spaces have been created. And in case you're wondering, no, I am not authorized to use such spaces - at least not yet! Regardless, I can't help but get upset when I see individuals being so callous and thoughtless. Thanks for reading this far and allowing me to vent. Stepping down from my soapbox...

New York City Implements First US Congestion Charge • New York City has launched the first congestion charge scheme in the United States, imposing fees of up to $9 per day for car drivers entering a designated zone encompassing major landmarks like Times Square and the financial district. • This initiative, aimed at alleviating notorious traffic congestion and generating billions for public transportation, has faced significant opposition, including from President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to abolish the scheme upon his return to office, and from various groups such as taxi drivers' associations and local Republicans. • Despite legal challenges, including a last-minute attempt by New Jersey officials to block it due to environmental concerns, the congestion pricing plan, which varies fees based on vehicle type and time of day, is now in effect, making New York the first US city to implement such a measure after facing delays and revisions due to initial concerns and complaints.

Today is exactly 90 days since Gov. Hochul defunded the MTA by $16.5 billion with her congestion pricing "pause" — and she still has no plan to fix it. (“Trust Me” is not a plan.) In the time since congestion pricing was set to begin, Gov. Hochul’s pause has spewed an additional 457,000 tons of carbon into our air, cost New Yorkers a total of 2.6 million hours in traffic thanks to the nearly 10 million vehicles, more than 150,000 each day, that otherwise wouldn’t have crossed into the congestion relief zone, and perhaps most alarmingly: defunded over $175 million from our transit system. https://lnkd.in/eJq5ec76

Sorry to go on, but THIS IS INTEGRATION, not just between train and bus, but between public transport and people. NO TICKET BARRIERS, needing unproductive staffing as well as causing congestion and delay and separating platforms from shopping and services. NO RAZOR-EDGED SECURITY FENCING either, only a decorative wooden fence, or a low hedge part of which is missing, separate a public street from one of the busiest rail lines in Switzerland, where trains pass at speed every 3-5 minutes. All without ‘health and safety’ losing sleep over people and children ‘wandering’ onto the tracks. ‘Wandering’ has a different meaning here. Also without constant ‘security’ announcements and in-your-face admonitions against fare-evasion and (the latest brainwave) being ‘prickly’. There might be less need to be ‘prickly’ if one did not see thorns everywhere. If I could do one thing in Britain it would be to sweep away the paraphernalia of paranoia, and the forests of surveillance cameras, and replace the constant vigilance of police and ‘authorities’ with the natural oversight of people, in a country that trusts, instead of fearing, its own citizens. Maybe then our country could move from being next to the USA in criminality, as well as functional inefficiency, and nearer to Europe (events like Magdeburg notwithstanding).