Gothamist: Some Low-Cost, High-Impact Ideas To Improve NYC

Ando

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 14:04:38 -0500

You don't need the compass for most areas. Here's a tip. Look at the signs at the exit stairs. They usually say "SW Corner of", "NE Corner of", etc. Works fine for the number streets. I'll admit it gets tricky downtown though.

smitty

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 11:22:45 -0500

Cameras mounted on the city's most notorious intersections to catch red-light runners in the act (other major cities like SF have 'em). More pedestrian safety measures like those signs in intersections that say "yield to pedestrians in crosswalk - ny state law" etc.

scott

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 10:31:24 -0500

encourage building ownerss to build rooftop gardens and/or install solar panels. It would save energy, and give employees/residents some place semi-private to relax. Also give citizens tax breaks if they buy a hybrid car, and tax people more in general if they own a car in the first place.

8

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 04:37:15 -0500

yay for aaron meshon!

The Lost Boy

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 00:41:54 -0500

It isn't that hard to carry a compass. They sell cheap ones that clip unobtrusively onto any webbing. I keep one on my messenger bag's shoulder strap all the time for whenever I come out of an unfamiliar subway station. Praxis 81 wrote: "No wonder gramps is confused. Manhattan isn't "essentially laid out on the compass points." Deceptively, the grid uses terms like East and West, North and South, when the avenues actually run Northeast-Southwest and the streets Northwest-Southeast. Even with a compass, and assuming it's accurate and not disoriented by metal and whatnot, the confused will have to compensate for the island's tilt." Relax. Gramps isn't an idiot and you're overthinking it. You're assuming he means a real, magnetic compass. Which you don't need if they're permanently mounted. It would be simpler and cheaper to have fixed compass points in the sidewalk that just point, "Uptown, downtown, west side, east side." Nobody needs to know where true north is.

Matthew

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 23:53:54 -0500

The compass idea is brilliant. I've thought about having one many a time but I can't be assed to carry it.

Toby

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 22:10:49 -0500

I forgot to mention, that the bike racks for buses would cost about $600 per bus to add. Some more info.

Toby

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 21:57:31 -0500

How about bike racks on buses. I have seen and used them elsewhere and they work well and would make for better multimodal travel. Here is a picture of a fake NYCTA bus with a bike rack.

Brightliner

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 21:49:47 -0500

Forget reporting car horns. It's worthless. I'd suggest a Federal law where all new cars have to come with horns that are every bit as loud inside the car as outside. If it hurts the ears of the jackasses who use their horns as doorbells, then maybe they'd finally stop using them casually.

joe

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 21:33:45 -0500

***AS FOR THE "NEXT TRAIN SIGNS"*** I should just copy and paste this information. The A-Division (numbered lines) is now ready for the signs and will have these by the end of the year, and the B-Division (lettered lines) will have them, um, in like 2010. The 7 line might not see them right away, though, because they are installing CBTC on it.The Automatic Train Supervision (ATC) system, which allows these displays to function, is only fully in place on the A-Division. It's in the budget to be finished on the B-Division by 2009. Oh yeah they should be on the L line as well, in a few months, because it uses CBTC. This is when your train line will likely get the digital displays giving train arrival information and service alerts: 1-6 lines: End of 2006 L line: End of 2006 7 line: 2007-2009 Rest of the lines: 2010 or later

debbie

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 21:00:40 -0500

As to the alternate side parking schedule, perhaps some kind of user-spawned map, a la the google maps meets housing/blogs/etc maps that have cropped up everywhere, since it won't get done otherwise. And yes -- compasses.

se

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 19:23:53 -0500

Add London-style digital "the next train is coming in X:XX minutes" signs in the subway. Makes waiting much more bearable.

dotpeople

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 19:16:03 -0500

Since subway stairs aren't mobile and the grid isn't compass-oriented, a single direction label for each subway exit will suffice. But not at the top of the stairs, or traffic will slow to read it. Maybe a standard symbol and color code as prefix to existing exit descriptions?

praxis81

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 19:01:32 -0500

No wonder gramps is confused. Manhattan isn't "essentially laid out on the compass points." Deceptively, the grid uses terms like East and West, North and South, when the avenues actually run Northeast-Southwest and the streets Northwest-Southeast. Even with a compass, and assuming it's accurate and not disoriented by metal and whatnot, the confused will have to compensate for the island's tilt.

Kevin Walsh

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 17:57:55 -0500

Dedicated express bus lanes on 2nd and 3rd and other avenues instead of the 2nd Avenue subway, which will never be built: never enough money or political will. Express bus lanes are quite doable. www.forgotten-ny.com

Chris

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 17:35:05 -0500

You know the maps they have in subway stations that show the neighborhood around the station and what streets the exits empty onto? I'd love to see the MTA post those on its website so that the anal-retentive planners among us -- or just people who know they're going to be trying to get somewhere on a tight schedule -- could plan better ahead of time where to transfer, where to exit, and whether to ride on the front or back of the train.

sam

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 17:10:02 -0500

As far as the first suggestion, couldn't they just, um, talk to the department of sanitation? or parking? I'm pretty confident that the street sweepers and parking enforcement officers that hang out on my block during street cleaning hours aren't just guessing as to where they're supposed to be?