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John Del Signore/Gothamist
If you spend enough time riding a bike around New York, you learn to steer clear of those insane Access-A-Ride drivers, who are employed by NYC Transit to provide transportation for people with disabilities who can't take the subway or bus. In our experience, Access-A-Ride drivers are maniacs, and in recent years, the drivers have been in some high-profile accidents, including a fatality and a hit-and-run.
This morning we spotted this Access-A-Ride van parked on the new elevated bike lane on Sands Street in Brooklyn. (Yes, this is the same spot previously favored by a Time Warner cable van.) The Access-A-Ride driver had to pull up over a curb to park there, and when asked if he was aware that he was blocking the bike lane, he said, "What's the big deal? Just go around." Classic. But because this bike lane is raised, pedaling out into traffic is even more risky/annoying than when a street-level bike lane's blocked.
A spokesman for NYC Transit gave us this statement after viewing the photo: "Access-A-Ride drivers are instructed to observe all restrictions on parking and standing. However, due to traffic, drivers are often challenged to find safe locations to either pick up or drop off customers."
This year the DOT reached a goal of adding 200 more miles of bike lanes in NYC—but to many motorists, these are actually parking lanes. We should probably put together a year-end "wall of shame" gallery of the most egregious bike lane blocks, so if you've got any particularly galling photos, send to tips(at)gothamist(dot)com or tag your Flickr shots "gothamist."
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Handicapped > Bicyclists
Too bad.
The correct equation is:
public transport > private transport.
See all those cars on the right? Take away the private automobile parking and put in a 'bus stop' for access-a-ride .
I agree, but that picture shows a van parked across a traffic lane and a row of parked cars without any opening to the sidewalk. This was obviously not for a pickup/dropoff, but if it was, this is total parking FAIL as it puts both the handicapped and cyclists in danger.
You've got it all wrong. Handicapped
gothamist cuts off anything with a less than sign. nice.
They prefer Handicapable.
That was on Glee last night!
separated bike lanes please.
A little paint on the road... even a little paint on an elevated section of roadway is just bs lip service.
I want bike lanes for disabled bicyclists.
In my experience bike messengers are far more dangerous and maniacal than any Access-A-Ride drivers. Please post pictures of the broken bodies left by hit and run bike messengers. However this blog is infatuated with the plight of cyclists in this town-what a travesty that those serving the handicapped blocked a bike lane for a few minutes.
How many pedestrians and cars have these supposedly ubiquitous psycho messengers fatally run over again?
I can't believe I am taking that bait, but that's some incredibly naive and inflammatory BS. Yes, I would love to compare statistics with you sometime of numbers of people hit by bikes versus number of people hit by cars, and seriousness of resulting injury. Please. Pretty please, bring it on, anytime. Idiotic.
Not naive-cmon out to 5th avenue-around 11:45 around the Empire State Building. Watch the insanity first hand. I dont make this shit up. it is like a game of Frogger-but that is not what you want to hear. Car bad-bike good. Whatever I could give two shits either way.
"post pictures of the broken bodies.." yes, you do make that shit up.
yeah I get a kick out of making nasty shit up-yeah sure do
When was the last time someone was killed by a Bike Messenger? I don't think anyone has been killed since Stuart Gruskin. Not to mention Gruskin was killed by a food delivery guy (if you think theres not a difference, there is).
"In my experience bike messengers are far more dangerous and maniacal than any Access-A-Ride drivers. "
Really? How many people are killed by bike messengers in NYC each year? And if we consider the rate per messenger/driver, what's the ratio?
did I say they were killed by bike messengers?-no. maimed yes,killed no. I have personally known bike messengers who are crack heads, ride bikes while high and or intoxicated, have done some serious jail time. I even knew one who killed his girlfriend's cat. So before these access a rides are called the worst ever, let's check out the records of the "bike Messengers"
How about the bike messenger type who beat the shit out of the dude with his bike lock? yeah nice guy. never saw an Access A Ride driver do that-nope. Please post videos of that, please...
For all you calling BS, come hang out on 9th ave with me. Every walk home is a life and death game of dodging the bikers.
"more dangerous" is the claim, and again, I invite statistical comparison. This isn't a matter of opinion.
I need proof or it isn't real! Are you still leaving cookies out for Santa Claus?
my sister was "run over" by a bike messenger. she had the right of way to cross a street --and yes at the cross walk.
i'm very thankful that she was hit by a bike and not a car, which probably would have killed her.
however, after he hit *her*, knocking himself over in the process, the guy turns on her, angrily yelling at her for being in his way! scared the sh** out of her.
As a staunch Car-publican, even I have to shake my head at this access-a-ride jerk. As a man of symmetry and order, I can tell you with total confidence that these access-a-ride drivers are among the *worst* drivers in NYC. Why? B/C, like their yellow-cab counterparts, they drive aggressively; but unlike the aforementioned group, they do so in large, bulky vehicles.
No surprise. These Access-A-Ride drivers are the absolute worst. They seem not to require valid drivers license to drive judging from the number of times I've nearly been run over or seen someone else almost get hit.
Access-A-Ride drivers are notoriously the worst drivers on the road. They make pedestrian-killin-Facebook-updatin-while-drivin' hateful MTA bus drivers look sane and on the level.
Access A Ride is the biggest waste of resources. Not to mention that they throw these huge vans all over the road with all the finesse of a cab driver. Are they even built to fit inside a single lane? Or is it that the drivers are just trained to weave around the whole road?
These huge vans and cars are all over the city and I've literally never seen one that has more than one passenger in it - and even that is rare. 9 times out of 10 these things are driving around the city completely empty. I can't imagine how much money the city wastes on these things every year. There has got to be a more efficient way to shuttle handicap people around.
http://nyc.mybikelane.com/ is jam packed with examples of this.
Amen! I always say if I end up getting my ass run over while riding my bike, it will be by one of those goddamned Access-A-Ride vans. Those people drive like idiots. I swear, half of them are drunk or cracked up.
Why some folks think that an injury must be fatal in order to be serious? I know a number of people who have been hit by cyclists, including my own husband who is a cyclist hit by another cyclist not obeying traffic regulations. All of these people recovered from their injuries so I guess that's OK with some on two wheels. "Injured" should be enough to warrant concern.
Good point - but it's hard to come by stats for injuries in general, so the best way to estimate relative risks of activities is by deaths. The alternative is to use hospital admissions. If you have data like that, I'm all ears.
But using "I just know a lotta people hurt doing X" is not accurate enough.
How about we post a picture everytime a Cyclist is on the sidewalk
As soon as you make the website, I'll submit photos.
Or going against traffic or through lights and stop signs and 2 or 3 abreast in the street.
I'll post on your site also.
Access-a-Ride has also proved itself to be useless to a friend of mine who's recovering at home from a stroke. He's ultimately found that if he needs to get to a medical appointment on time, the regular city buses are more reliable.
Tell him to wear his seatbelt!
I've been noticing this site and tons of other blogs related towards NYC have a hatred towards motor vehicles and make cyclists and pedestrians as saints.
I'm all against making the city safer for cyclists and pedestrians,but sometimes they're also wrong or rude too.
I think you might be mistaking a hatred for motor vehicles blocking entire bike lanes as a hatred for motor vehicles in general.
Steve, welcome the fuck to New York.
I've been noticing this site and tons of other blogs related towards NYC have a hatred towards motor vehicles and make cyclists and pedestrians as saints.
I'm all for making the city safer for cyclists and pedestrians,but sometimes they're also wrong or rude too.
Gothamist..get an edit feature!!!!!
one of these Access-A-Ride vehicle used to sit in front of my building most mornings at around 7:00am and lay on the horn until it's passenger would run out of the building across the street and board the van. Incredible.
And you never went out and give a stern beating... I mean talking to?
You should not ride a bike in New York City if you dont have a ability to safely navigate around obstacles in your path. Its a city, a crowded city. Its not some idyllic utopia where you can glide around on your bike utterly carefree and oblivious to your surroundings. Yes, there will be taxis trying to cut you off, and delivery trucks trying to do thier job. Stop whining that the city isnt perfect for your needs only, and that anything in your way should be punished.
cyclists are lame anyway. they cause major problems for 99% of the city, never obey traffic rules, and tuck their right pantleg into their sock looking like morons and generally embarrassing our great city. and making matters worse is that the cycling community is nothing but a bunch of whiny douchebags likely on their bike riding somewhere to whine about something.
newsflash. nobody likes you and a small bunch of loud mouth losers does not mean that we need more bike lanes. you disrupt the city and all those that live in it.
"disrupt the city"?
that's ridiculous, imagine if all those ppl on bikes were each in their own car, then see how far anyone gets. ever. not to mention alleviating pollution, conservation of energy etc. how lame! i'd like to see you have the guts to ride thru this city, and make sure you leave your pant leg out so it gets sucked into the crank and you bite it in the middle of traffic. but you'd know that if you got up off your ass and got out there and live some, "moron".
oh i live, i live. and the fact of the matter is that you are saving no energy whatsoever. i walk. and if i can't walk i take the subway. a couple thousand bikers getting on the subway would do nothing to the pollution coming out of this city. especially when there's trucks, buses, buildings and jets spewing out toxic fumes.
i view cyclists along the same lines as i view those lame-os walking around with those stupid cloth bags that say they're saving the environment. i take the subway (thereby reducing my carbon footprint) and wear a backback (thereby reducing waste). its nothing but a holier than thou way to make them feel better, so everyone knows how cool they are. you know what's cool, just doing something because it's right without announcing it to millions who could give two shits about you.
the bottom line is that you're just too freaking cheap to pay for a monthly, tight ass.
Stop whining.
Also, how do you ride a bike without "announcing it"? Oh yeah, that's right, we actually are invisible to most of you.
it's also about EXERCISE, as well as efficiency. over crowding is already an issue on trains without every biker dumping their bikes to use MTA. you obviously have some deep seated anger/jealousy problems w bikers as your arguments make no sense- how is your "backpack" (i bet it's a jansport)any less stupid than a reusable cloth bag? so what's up did u never learn how to ride a bike or something? childhood trauma of training wheels still at 13? jump on one, i bet you'd work some of that bitterness out of yourself.
are you making fun of me for wearing a backpack? nothing says "i have nothing intelligent or funny to say" like making fun of someone for wearing a backpack.
so exercise on your own time. i exercise at a gym or in an open area so not to screw up everyone's commute. you, on the other hand, are too selfish to realize how your choices affect others.
yep, don't know how to ride a bike. you are a highly talented soul. please teach me your talented ways
Similarly, ratherbebiking, motorists seem to have an extreme tendency to lump all cyclists together, law-abiding and sidewalk-riding, and target them all with virulent hate.
And pinball -- it's not that we cyclists are unable to steer around obstacles, it that in traffic-jammed NYC, we're very likely to find that the only way around is smack into shoulder-by-shoulder cars, taxis and buses. That's the point of the bike lanes, remember? To give us a lane free of cars. Legally, incidentally, we have the right to a full ordinary lane. Yes, we have the right to ride smack in the center of a lane, while the taxis to line up behind us. Exercising this legal right will mean that the road-raging taxis will honk crazily and then either hit you or skim you, forcing you to the right.
Accss a Ride is just looking to make some more bussiness for itself. A biker on the road today is an Acess a Ride passenger tomorrow!
good 1
Is it necessary to be a really bad and dangerously reckless asswipe to pilot one of those things?
Ma Bell, people ride bikes because they are fun, fast, free (after you have the bike), environmentally friendly and fast. Not to be cool, for heaven's sake. I, myself, ride primarily because --despite the hassles from cars -- fun. And that final sentence, a supposed insult about bikers being too cheap to buy metrocards -- do you have anything against saving money? If not, why not spend lots and buy a car.
Then nonsensical justifications for hatred against cyclists is truly boggling. -
Agreed, greendakini. Well put.
Saving energy... yes.
Getting exercise... yes.
Affordable... yes.
Fun as hell... yes.
Trying to "look cool"... not so much. It looks silly, but the tucked pant leg is purely functional.
And it's nice not worrying about how many calories are in the heavy beers I drink and the slices of Joe's I eat all the time. I'll just burn 'em off on my commute.
you know what's fun? riding a bike in an open area where you are actually able to ride in peace. not riding around a city dodging cars trucks and buses and generally annoying the broad population so you can have a little "fun"
you know what i think is fun? playing baseball. does that mean its right or fair for me to play baseball in the middle of midtown manhattan? hardly.
You know what's not fun? Driving a car with or without the presence of bikes, I don't know about you but if I was stuck in traffic, I'm laying on the horn even to hell with "quiet zones". You know what's not fun, either? Taking the subway every morning, waiting a ridiculous amount of time for a train that sure as hell isn't running on its lenient inadequate schedule. Having to shove or to be shoved onto the train that's running slower than 20mph, which is the speed most bicyclists ride and surpass at.
So in reality it's about picking your poison. And I choose bicycling or taking the subway depending on the day.
excuses, excuses .... i saw an access-a-ride run a red light the other day ... what was the excuse for that ? while it may be difficult to pickup/drop off folks without blocking some bike lanes, do you really think the drivers consider bikers ? inconvenience cars, not bikers - give some space so people on bikes have room to ride and stick out a bit more.
on a related and equally important note, the other day a vehicle was blocking the bike lane on 9th st in bklyn ... upon further inspection i see that the vehicle has pennsilvania plates - this of course is not surprising considering how many ny drivers have penn plates - then i see that there is an orange MTA vest on the dash. again, not surprising.
Why would you inconvenience cars? You can't carry shit or more than one person on a bike. You can't go very far on a bike. Rot in hell ignorant moron. And I'm not a "driver". I drive AND ride a bike, at different times for different reasons. WOW can you imagine? Good luck to you on moving day!
I'll ask other Gothamist readers to engage in, as I have done, an informal, unscientific study of Access-A-Ride vehicles on the streets of NYC. When out and about in NYC and you see an Access-A-Ride, check out how many passengers are in the vehicle. In my nearly year-long informal survey, I have rarely seen more than 2 passengers in the vehicle. Often it is only 1 passenger - even more often the vehicle has no passengers.
I understand that the vehicle may be returning to its base, or at certain hours, Access-A-Ridership would normally be low. But observe these vehicles at all hours, as I do, and see, if like me, you rarely see more than 2 passengers.
My unscientific conclusion: there are far more Access-A-Ride vehicles plying the streets of NYC than is necessary.
p.s. - per a comment on Streetsblog: "In 2007, the Federal Transit Authority(FTA) put the cost of a single trip on Access-A-Ride at $70.20. (No typo.)"
I ride my bike every day. every day. for the past 13 years. Access-a-ride vans are generally pretty crappy drivers. add to that the fact that the vans are really wide, the streets are narrow and the drivers probably are poorly paid. sucks for them, sucks for riders.
Let's make NY completely safe. Everyone obey all traffic laws, no craziness, safe, nice, welcoming, and easy weather too.
Ma Bell,
Your logic is lacking. Bikes are transportation. Basketball isn't. It is the law that motor vehicles must share the road with bicyclists.
saw an accident involving an access-a-ride trying to change lanes on the triborough/RFK without looking. ends up making contact with a black cab passing on his left. barely a scratch, but the access-a-ride decides to leave the bus blocking both lanes (diagonally) while checking it out and screaming at the black cab.
drewo ... sounds more like excess-a-ride to me
i'm often blocked by NYPD vehicles parked in the bike lane, both cruisers and those little go-cart things, on my ride up 8th ave and down 9th ave.
JDS must get a hard on whenever he sees a bike lane
Take it from someone who is a "rescue worker" in NYC. There are hundreds and hundreds of pedestrians each year who are struck by cyclist who recklessly ignore basic traffic laws (yes there are rules of the road for cyclist too) and mow down pedestrians. Many of which suffer serious life altering injuries. And unlike motor vehicles, bike riders do not have to carry liability insurance to cover the hospital bills of those they maim.
The vast majority of pedestrian vs motor vehicle accidents are the pedestrians own fault. Namely creeping 10 feet into the road while waiting for the light to turn and not paying attention to the large truck that is turning in the same spot. Pedestrians day dreaming with their I-Pods walking in front of vehicles, and there are the ones who die from being hit: W.W.I. walking- while-intoxicated. Note: this is also the leading cause of death in the subway system along with suicides.
Folks, we live in a densely populated city. If you want to ride your bike in an open road with crystal clean air? Move to the country, otherwise stop whining. You have already taken away miles and miles of vehicle traffic lanes. You too can take the subway, the MTA needs the money.
Raising the bike lanes is useless. Put curbs between them and the vehicle traffic. That way, bikes can't fuck with the cars, and cars can't fuck with the bikes. Even better, do like Paris does: a curb-separated lane for bikes & buses.
The Access-a-ride drivers are doubtless the worst on the streets, far worse than the taxi drivers, but parking in a bike lane is common practice for all kinds of drivers. I bike from LIC to downtown Manhattan most weekdays and amuse myself by counting the number of motor vehicles parked, standing or moving in the bike lanes. It has never been less than five and sometimes goes over 20. If you want a news story, find a bike lane that doesn't have something parked in it.
Actually, between the two evils of blocking the car lane or the bike lane, this is the lesser of the two. More dangerous to have cars going around the Access-a-Ride van and swerving into bikers.
must have clear rules and strict about this, so that everything can go well