Personally, I think this is a fantastic idea. Cars cant last forever, they served their place in society, but I hope this is the start of phasing them out completely. With the work being done at Masdar City (which will have a ban on automobiles), this can only mean good things for the future. I would love to see the whole island of manhattan banned of automobiles. The infrastructure and dense population would both allow for this to happen. All they would need to do is implement a new system called "PRT or Personal Rapit Transit", and this vision would not be that far off... There wouldnt even be a need for cabs...Think about what it would be like to walk through Times Square and not be pissed off because some tourist walks too damn slow...

Patience. This is just an experiment right now. They can't go digging up Broadway until they know that it's not a disaster. Once they decide to make it permanent, then they can do changes that wouldn't cost a fortune to implement then another fortune to reverse.

That was a reply to Amanda Harlech.

If this closing off Broadway at these locations is such a great idea so traffic can move faster, how about taking that property, which is seriously worth some good bucks, and put up affordable housing? No one would be thrown out of their spaces and the land is somewhat free so the city doesn't have to spend money to acquire it. It's a win win situation.

where are the TREES!!!?

I love how so many people the press quoted who are opposed to the proposal, for whatever reason, seem to make it about how Bloomberg wants to "scar" deliverymen or "make life harder for working people", as if he's sitting in a room somewhere concocting ways to hurt small businesses and working New Yorkers, and THIS is his secret plan. Election year, anyone?

This is a simple, intelligent plan to make Times Square a more pleasant experience. Don't reject this proposal because you don't like the mayor - that's asinine. Anybody who says better public space is bad for New Yorkers is either lying or severely confused.

I've heard this "small business" line before. Small businesses would close because of the Bus Rapid Transit on Fordham Road. Small businesses would be hurt and the city devastated by congestion because of Summer Streets. Little Italy shops are being killed by the Grand Street bike lane. Every time the city comes up with a transportation proposal, the papers go out and quote Joe Newsstand and Abdul the taxi driver who proclaim traffic will be a "nightmare" and it will "kill" business. You know what, this city's streets are getting a LOT nicer to walk, bike and spend time on and I don't see any of these catastrophic predictions coming true. Hush your noise and accept the fact that this proposal is great for New York.

how will this affect boltbus, the chinatown buses and other buses that use broadway to get in and out of the penn station area?

The new apartment buildings in Manhattan and all over the city have parking garages in them, and that encourages people to drive.

People in older buildings in the city are discouraged from driving, because parking on the street is no fun.

In fact congestion pricing is only going to offset a small petcentage of the traffic to be generated by thousands of new cars in the streets of Midtown.

So Bloomberg is actually increasing congestion in the city by a huge amount.

But he realizes that it's the voter's perceptions of him that are important, so he is trying to "Greenwash" his legacy so he will be remember as "environmental Mike".

Peyser is a shrew. I'm all for trying this out. It will cut traffic because traffic in NYC expands to fill the space allotted to it. Allot less space and you'll have less space filled with traffic. The number of cars per square meter will remain the same, you'll just have less square meters for cars and more for people.

And where will the traffic go? Who gives a shit? Let it go back to New Jersey or wherever it came from. The cars that won't be going down B'way can't possibly make the surrounding streets worse because they're already saturated as it is.

This idea gets stupider the more I hear/read about it. The congestion caused on the adjacent avenues and streets will offset any gains in speed the midget mayor claims.

A key aspect of NYC is the traverse of Broadway across the island; without Broadway there are no 'squares' or 'circles'.

He's constricting the arteries of NYC thinking he can eliminate the need for the flow, instead we're just going to have a heart attack.

"A key aspect of NYC is the traverse of Broadway across the island; without Broadway there are no 'squares' or 'circles'."

Couldn't have said it any better myself. All the more reason to make traversing Broadway a continuous and pleasant experience instead of an insufferable one for the people who live on, work on, and visit Broadway on foot. And a great justification for turning the "squares" into actual destinations instead of just islands in a sea of automobile traffic passing through.

I don't understand the quote "Once the Broadway traffic is eliminated" It's not going to e eliminated it's ALL going to be forced into 7th Ave. and is this REALLY the kind of thing the city needs to be spending $1.5mil on right now?? Somehow none of this is adding up to me.

This is a good idea. Andrea Peyser not liking it makes it so.

Taxi drivers are probably pissed because Times Square was an opportunity for them to bilk more money out of tourists by driving through it. Anyone who lives here would tell them to avoid that area like the plague.

Seriously, does anyone actually believe that people who were going to get a taxi on Broadway aren't going to walk 50 feet over to 7th Avenue now to get one? I can't see any way that this impacts taxi business at all. If it speeds up travel times, all the better - they can get more fares.

Broadway makes a left turn and a right turn at Union Square and it's no big hassle and certainly no detriment to taxi business. Would we prefer that Broadway ripped right through Union Square Park? Then there'd be nobody hanging out there to take a cab in the first place.

"Seriously, does anyone actually believe that people who were going to get a taxi on Broadway aren't going to walk 50 feet over to 7th Avenue now to get one?"

Tourists don't get it.

" I can't see any way that this impacts taxi business at all."

Have you ever driven a cab?

" If it speeds up travel times, all the better - they can get more fares".

And thats the question - those of us who have hacked or driven commercial vehicles in manhattan don't thinkit will speed up traffic. (if the prospective fares do walk over as you suggest, cabs that used to tie up broadway pulling over to drop/pick up fares will now ALL be doing it on 7th Avenue.

If it does help congestion it will be a pleasant surprise.

"Taxi drivers are probably pissed because Times Square was an opportunity for them to bilk more money out of tourists by driving through it."

Anyone who lives here would tell them to avoid that area like the plague.who has ever driven a cab will tell you you make more money getting the fares in and out, not sitting in traffic.

"Anyone whohas ever driven a cab will tell you you make more money getting the fares in and out, not sitting in traffic."

/...Sigh

I stand (or sit) corrected. So, the taxi drivers who are bitching about this are bitching just to bitch.

". So, the taxi drivers who are bitching about this are bitching just to bitch."

That presumes that this new plan will actually reduce congestion.

Remember that 7th avenue gets quite backed up as you get closer to cross streets for the tunnel... also tourists rarely understand the concept of walking a block to get a cab even going in their direction, to say nothing of walking a block because there is no place to get one.