Category: Linked

A new report by the Center for Urban Future [pdf] shows that over the past decade, North Brooklyn subways stops have some of the largest ridership increase in the City. The L line alone has 13 stations in the list of top 50 fastest-growing stations, the J line 5, and the G 4. Some local highlights to ponder while you’re waiting to see if you can get on the next train:

• Ridership at the Bedford station is up almost 10,000 riders per day, a 118% increase
• Morgan Avenue is up close to 3,000 rider per day, at 128% increase
• The Metropolitan/Lorimer stop on the G train has seen 6,000 more riders per day, a 103% increase
• Grand Street on L is up close to 6,000 riders, a 78% increase
• Graham, Wilson and Halsey are all up 60% or more (over 7,000 more riders per day between the three stations)
• Marcy Avenue on the J/M/Z is up 50% (3,000 riders per day)

Ridership on the G train north of Metropolitan is up, but not nearly as significantly – Nassau Avenue is up about 1,500 riders per day (23%); Greenpoint Avenue is up 1,000 riders per day (15%)

Here’s another fun fact: the Environmental Impact Statement from the 2005 waterfront rezoning predicted an increase of 1,000 riders per day at the Bedford L stop. Since most of the development from that rezoning has yet to come online, you can expect even more crowding. Of course the EIS had a solution to this overcrowding – widen the stairs into the Bedford L station, and increase the number of trains on the line. The staircase hasn’t gotten any wider (yet another unfulfilled promise), and the L line was already pretty much at capacity when that report was written.

Remember too that the MTA has eliminated service on the Z train, reducing the capacity of the one line that could relieve crowding on the L line.

As bike riding gets safer in NYC, one long-time cyclist says bike riders should learn to play well with others. “Outlaw” (or more accurately, “scofflaw”) cyclists are often cited in anti-bike lane screeds (check the comments section in just about any Kent Avenue blog posting). Anyone who rides on two wheels enjoys a bit more freedom than cagers on four wheels, but as with loud pipes on a motorcycle, there is a not-too-fine-line between freedom and being a jerk.

Following the news of the closing of the Greenpoint Courier, I guess this is the other shoes dropping.

[via Gothamist]

I just got word that the New Corporation, which owns the Courier-Life line of local papers, is closing its Greenpoint Courier edition. The Williamsburg Courier (and, I guess, other local editions across Brooklyn and Queens) will remain in operation.

Unfortunately, the closing of the paper also means that local report Aaron Short has been laid off. Aaron did a great job of covering local stories. And despite all the talk of blogs being the new local news, there is still a place for good reporting on a local level. (I don’t pretend to be a reporter, and most local bloggers probably shouldn’t either, though there is certainly a feeding cycle to blog stories/newspaper stories – we are all sources for each other.)

We will miss you, Aaron. I guess this is one more reason to be pissed off at Courier management.

Yet another “benefit” from the 2005 rezoning languishes in never-never land.

Sick. Happily, no one was injured.

On Greenpoint Avenue. SUVs making left-hand turns are usually not healthy for bikers (motorized or not). An SUV making a left-hand turn with a drunk behind the wheel is 100 times worse.

Pierogi Gallery is set to open a new space on North 14th Street.

Things look to get even shittier on the real estate front.

Marty Markowitz continues to be the most vocal opponent to East River tolls. I don’t think tolls are as evil as Marty says, but he does have some very good alternate revenue-generating ideas (commuter tax, service cuts on the J/M/Z). Though he misses one (congestion pricing).

On a related note, there is another benefit to tolls on the East River bridges – the end to the free ride that sends most westbound truck traffic through downtown Brooklyn and lower Manhattan.