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Crazy NYC Parking Garage Rates
April 19, 2012

Elliott Brownstein

If you have ever wondered how the NYC parking garage rates came to be, it all started nearly 50 years ago when one man decided that the current signs were just too confusing.

Elliot Brownstein was working in the advertising business in 1964 when he read a newspaper article outlining the NYC License Commissioner’s concerns that visitors to the 1964 World’s Fair would find the NYC garage signs hard to understand and would end up overpaying for parking. Back then, each letter was six inches tall but the Commissioner wanted the letters to be 12 inches tall — that would require a billboard!  On top of that, the NYC parking garage rates had this structure:

Up to 1 Hour $.75
2nd Hour $.55
Each additional hour $.35
After 7 hours $.25/hr

This meant that every customer and garage attendant had to be able to add $.75 + $.55 + $.35 for each additional hour, and then maybe $.25 for each hour after that. Read more…

Filed under: NYC Parking — Tags: , , , — mtohn @ 5:38 pm
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San Fran Pkg Meter Test
March 27, 2012

Streetline_Sensors_GraphicSan Francisco parking has been testing out parking meters that can increase or decrease the  parking meter cost depending on how many parking spaces are available. The logic is simple: when the parking spaces are all full, increase the meter rate to encourage turnover; when a street is empty, reduce the parking rates so people will park there.

Streetline technology is providing the real-time data by placing sensors in each San Francisco street parking stall and relaying that data to a central processing area.

According to The New York Times, initial data is showing that streets that used to have no street parking available are now showing more available spaces.

The pilot is being funded by a federal grant and is also being test in NYC’s Roosevelt Island and parts of the Bronx.

Filed under: Parking News — Tags: , — mtohn @ 11:03 am
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NYC Bridge & Toll Pricing Plan
NYC Bridge & Tunnel Toll Plan, Sam Schwartz

Courtesy: Wall St Journal

Sam Schwartz, aka ‘Gridlock Sam’, has been working on a new plan to ease NYC’s traffic and congestion. This isn’t the Congestion Pricing Plan from 2008. This plan is designed to encourage public transportation where it’s available by charging vehicles at congested areas, and not charge where there isn’t good public transportation. Here are the highlights of the plan:

  • Queensboro Bridge/59th St Bridge: No toll into Manhattan becomes $7 toll to reduce the congestion on the bridge. Read more…
Filed under: Bicycles,Congestion / Traffic Pricing,Driving & Traffic News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — mtohn @ 10:44 am
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The Future of Parking Lots

NYC parking lotEven a six-year old knows what a parking lot is for: parking your car. We each have our own way of tracking down that perfect spot — the one closest to our destination’s entrance, the one that doesn’t get too much sun and isn’t under a tree with birds, or the one where we won’t get hit by another car — and our strategy:  circle, follow a person carrying keys, or stay in one place and wait for a car to leave.

But Eran Ben-Joseph, a professor at Urban Planning at MIT believes that parking lots are actually:

‘public spaces that have major impacts on the design of our cities and suburbs, on the natural environment and on the rhythms of daily life. We need to redefine what we mean by “parking lot” to include something that not only allows a driver to park his car, but also offers a variety of other public uses, mitigates its effect on the environment and gives greater consideration to aesthetics and architectural context.’

His recent Op-Ed piece in The New York Times explores the other uses of outdoor parking lots. Ben-Joseph notes the toll on the environmental cons of parking lots such as Read more…

Filed under: Parking News — Tags: , , — mtohn @ 9:13 am
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How Walkable is NYC?
March 26, 2012

Walkanomics_map walking in nycMost people would agree that NYC is a ‘walkable’ city — after all, millions of people experience what it’s like to walk in NYC every day. And now there’s an app to give you a city’s ‘walkability’ rating. Walkanomics will give you ratings on these factors:

  1. Road safety: How safe do you feel from traffic on this street? It is influenced by actual road accident statistics (where available), street type, traffic speeds and activity.
  2. Easy to cross: How easy it is to cross the street at regular points along the street? It is influenced by the traffic activity on the street, street width, physical barriers and provision of pedestrian crossings. Read more…
Filed under: Getting Around NYC — Tags: , — mtohn @ 7:26 pm
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NY Parking is Most Expensive in US
March 14, 2012

NYC Monthly_Parking_Sign,_$622We knew it was true, but hoped it wasn’t so.

NYC has the most expensive monthly parking rates* in the U.S. 

Here are the top rankings (these are median rates):

  1. New York City: $533 (Downtown) – $541 (Midtown). Ranges from $800 – $300.
  2. Boston: $438. Ranges from $520 – $320.
  3. San Francisco: $375. Ranges from $550 – $200.
  4. Philadelphia: $304. Ranges from $464 – $175. Read more…
Filed under: Monthly Parking,Parking News — Tags: , , — mtohn @ 12:17 pm
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Meet Gridlock Sam
March 12, 2012

Image,_Sam_SchwartzIf you haven’t heard of ‘Gridlock Sam’, columnist for the NY Daily News and national expert on transportation, you must read this NY Times article. I’ve known Sam Schwartz, aka ‘Gridlock Sam’, for nearly six years and he is the ‘go to’ person for anything concerning NYC transportation. A worldwide authority in traffic, highway, bridge, transit and parking systems, Sam was New York City’s traffic commissioner and the chief engineer for highways, bridges, ferries and other New York City infrastructure.

His firm, Sam Schwartz Engineering works internationally with small and large cities and public and private sector clients to handle the transportation logistics covering these areas: traffic plans, congestion, urban planning, bicycle planning, parking facilities, transit & rail services, community outreach, bridges, pedestrian traffic management, events and stadiums,

Remember Congestion Pricing a few years ago? Schwartz has been working on his own version of a plan, and he calculates that his system would bring an extra $1.2 billion a year to the M.T.A. — enough to raise the subways and buses back to first-world standards. The plan promises 35,000 permanent new jobs, a sharp drop in traffic, and for a majority of travelers an actual reduction in costs.

Schwartz even coined the term ‘Gridlock’ back in the 1970s.

 

 

Filed under: Driving & Traffic News,Transportation News — Tags: — mtohn @ 11:25 am
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NYC Bicycle Tickets 2011

All those added miles of NYC bike lanes seem to have increased the number of tickets issued to bicyclists. Transportation Nation has reported that:

In 2011, 48,566 summonses were given to bicyclists:

  • 13,743 were for Moving Violations (eg. riding on the sidewalk or a pedestrian path in a park)
  • 34,813 were for Criminal Court Summonses (eg. going through a red light)

As a comparison, in 2011 truck drivers were given 25,377 summonses: 14,960 for Moving Violations & 10,415 for Criminal Court Summonses.

The New York City Department of Transportation reports that about 250,000 people ride a bike each day in New York City, and about 500,000 ride at least several times a month.

 

Filed under: Bicycles — Tags: , , — mtohn @ 10:07 am
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NYC Subway Touchscreen Maps

NYC_Subway_On_The_Go_TouchscreenDo all those paper posters telling you about NYC subway service changes – taped to the subway platform poles –  confuse you?

Good news is here. According to the NY Daily News, the MTA has plans to install 47-inch interactive tablets throughout the entire 468-station NYC subway system. Features will include:

  • Subway schedules
  • MTA subway maps
  • NYC subway service changes
  • Neighborhood map with stores, landmarks, restaurants, other subway stations, etc.

These touchscreens will replace the paper maps and all those posters telling you about service changes. No details about the rollout schedule or cost yet.

You can see one of these touchscreens in the Bowling Green NYC subway station, Atlantic Ave.-Pacific St. in Brooklyn, and Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Ave. in Queens.

 

 

Filed under: Subways — Tags: , , — mtohn @ 9:28 am
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How to Hail a NYC Taxi
March 6, 2012

NYC Taxi MedallionIn November 2011, we described the confusing messaging on top of NYC taxis that indicates if the NYC cab is available or cannot accept passengers. Shortly after, the TLC (Taxi and Limousine Commission) conducted a review and has come up with a very simple solution:

If the taxi is available, the light on the roof will be ON’.

If the taxi is not available, the light on the rood will be OFF.

Of course, that leaves the common situation of a NYC cab driver who is technically Off-Duty but is willing to pick up a passenger who is ‘going my way’.

All NYC taxis will have to replace the current rooftop signage beginning Fall 2012. Read the full NY Daily News article.

Filed under: Taxis — Tags: , — mtohn @ 5:10 pm
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