![]() All that did was invite demand for more road space and more parking.īy contrast, as with the West Side Highway collapse or the 14th Street Busway, losing lanes doesn’t boost congestion. They built highways, widened streets, and added lanes. Nor will - or can - the car culture improve. In fact, walking is become a lot harder because of the rogue devices. Red lights, pedestrians, children, seniors, deliveries, construction and, of course, the relative scarcity of artificially free parking, make driving here at best unpleasant.ĭrivers need to set aside illegal mopeds for a minute - driving wasn’t blissful before instant delivery. Promised freedom behind the wheel, city drivers are constrained, embattled, aggrieved, desperate and defiant. Thankfully, the pandemic laid bare what we’ve faced on our streets for far too long, from awful events like a loud guerrilla car meet-up to banalities like Upper West Siders’ accelerating parking woes. They would have solved the problem if they could have on their own. Instead of describing our car culture, pols of yesteryear pumped an exhaustive list of solutions - bikes, boats, buses, scooters, trolleys, trains, and more.īut we have those things. We are, paradoxically, dependent on public transit and plagued by the congestion posed by millions of cars, choking exhaust, hundreds of annual traffic crash deaths, and the nation’s slowest bus service. Our situation is bespoke, contingent on density and the whims of Robert Moses and his lesser successors. ![]() New York doesn’t have some generic, off-the-lot car culture. You’ve got to break the car culture.” Mayor Bill de Blasio, looking back on his time in office, declared, if perhaps from a rosy, windshield perspective: “For years, we have been trying to undo the car culture.”īut while they identified a culture, they never described its nature, making the problem tough to solve. ![]() Council Speaker Corey Johnson was blunt: “I think we have to break the car culture in this city.” Comptroller Scott Stringer agreed: “You can’t bend the car culture. Once, city leaders pledged to wean New Yorkers off the status, comfort and convenience of driving. But there are no carrots, no sticks thoughts and prayers only. ![]() It’s a name that can’t do justice to the costs of driving when there’s no space left on our streets. How did you enjoy Tuesday's " Gridlock Alert Day"? Well, in the next three weeks, look forward to 10 more of these days - when policymakers plead with drivers to leave their cars at home. It's our final post of Bus Week! Click the picture for our prior fortnight of coverage. ![]()
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