Results tagged “ride”

Coney Island already has Michael Jackson’s Dragon Wagon Kiddie Coaster (albeit only temporarily), but now they want another piece of the King of Pop! Don't stop til you get enough, etc. ATZ reports there's an opportunity to snag a Neverland ride on a permanent basis, as the bumper cars designed for and by Michael Jackson are up on the auction block at eBay. The man behind the auction is carnival owner Earl “Butch” Butler, who brought the aforementioned Dragon Wagon to town. The bidding is currently at $46,100.00 (and has not met the reserve price), and the Coney folks are suggesting Mayor Bloomberg buy it as a gift for the City of New York. Should Coney Island consider a new design plan: Neverland II?

The Critical Mass ride that wrapped up Bike Month last Friday night saw an increase in participants, as well as an increase in summonses for "failure to keep right" while cycling, which biking advocates maintain is not a valid ticket and is regularly dismissed in court. (The rule in question, RCNY 4-12(p)(3), states that "Bicyclists may ride on either side of one-way roadways that are at least 40 feet wide.") Over a dozen summonses were issued, some during a sting at the base of the Williamsburg Bridge, where police wrote tickets for cyclists without front and rear lights.

The Taxi and Limousine Commission says two pilot programs encouraging New Yorkers to share the back seats of cabs with perfect strangers would free up more cabs, reduce traffic congestion, and cut carbon emissions. Before voting to approve the experiment yesterday, TLC official David Kahr said another bonus is that "you'll save a little money, and maybe you'll meet someone new who's interesting." That's right, ladies! TAXI! Oh hello there, do you come to this back seat often? You know, we have so much in common, living in the same neighborhood and all. Say, why don't we drop you off next? Ladies first—it'll be fun to finally see where you live, anyway.

New Yorkers aren't exactly known for a "sharing is caring" attitude, but cab riders across town may soon be forced to make room in the back seat for total strangers, if several new proposals are approved by the Taxi and Limousine Commission. Today the TLC will meet to discuss and possibly vote on three pilot programs they say would help reduce congestion, make more cabs available, and pull in extra money for hacks. Under consideration:

Yesterday morning around 7:30, Griselda Sosa was buying coffee at a bodega near the 225th Street No. 1 train station in Marble Hill, the northernmost neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, when her 5-year-old son Samuel slipped away. Far, far away. Sosa tells the Daily News she'd been arguing with her son before he disappeared: "He was mad [because] he wanted to take the bus. I said, 'No, we'll take the train.'" Samuel, it seems, decided to embrace his fate alone.

       

On Saturday a bunch bike-riding of clowns took to the streets to "liberate" bike lanes from the tyranny of parked and idling automobiles. Affiliated with advocacy group Times-Up!, the festive ride represented a mounting frustration on the part of cyclists who say the NYPD has not been doing enough to keep cars out of bike lanes. During the ride, some two dozen clowns simulated crashing into the backs of vehicles parked in bike lanes, and pleaded with drivers to move out of the way.

            

Yesterday around 2 p.m. New York's first Ice Box Derby went down in Central Park. Sure, it didn't have Idiotarod's attendance (only about nine competitors showed up with their make-shift vehicles), but those who were there really embraced the race. No winner was announced, the riders just kept going back down the hill (you know, for fun!) as spectators cheered them on. Sounds like there will be a 2nd annual derby, so get thee into the imagination laboratory and start working on the ultimate ice box racing machine.

     

The fourth annual memorial ride and walk for cyclists and pedestrians killed in New York City took place yesterday. Groups of cyclists met with families of the deceased at the sites of 14 fatal bike accidents in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan. Memorials were held at each accident scene, and new "Ghost Bikes"—painted white with small plaques—were put in place as detailed reminders of the fatalities. The DOT has yet to release official numbers on fatalities in 2008, but according to last year's report, 23 cyclists were killed in 2007, up from 18 in 2006.

Almost half of all accidental subway fatalities happen to riders with alcohol in their bloodstreams, according to a study by Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, which looked at data on subway deaths between 1990 and 2003. 145 of the 315 accidental fatalities during that time period were found to involve some degree of alcohol, though the report doesn't specify how blotto the victims were, if at all.

If you rode the V line on Sunday, you may have lucked out with a seat on one of the old 1930s-era subway cars deployed as part of the MTA's holiday train revival. But there's nostalgia rolling above ground too! Buses from the '60s and '70s are now operating during morning and evening rush hours on the M8, M14, M20, M23, M34, M42, M57 and M79 lines, and the Q32 in Queens, through January 2nd. A spokesman for New York City Transit tells the Post that while the older buses have less window space and weaker engines, they actually get better gas mileage than some modern buses: three miles per gallon of diesel, as opposed to two miles per gallon today. (Hybrids get about four miles per gallon.) Of course, the fare isn't vintage; a city bus cost 20 cents per ride until 1969, but these old timers have been retrofitted to take you $2 via MetroCard.

Central Park may be pretty from the ground, but the view from above will give New Yorkers a whole new perspective while taking in "the brilliance of the Greensward Plan, Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux's 1858 design." The NY Post reports that starting tomorrow, helium balloon rides will be offered for just $25 a pop.

The rides will be offered from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. through Aug. 22, and children 12 and under ride for $17.50. Starting today, the company is accepting reservations for rides between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. The rest of the day will work on a first-come, first-served basis.

Al Sharpton: Politician. Gadfly. Cyclist?

Remember that trusting cyclist who let a complete stranger “try out” his KHS bike – only to watch him pedal away, never to return? The story has a (sort of) happy ending, as the victim, Michael Green, relates in a long post on his blog, which uses that eyesore ‘white text on black background’ format. To spare you the eyestrain, here’s the gist: While Green was out of town this weekend, a couple of his pals in the cycling community spotted his distinctive bike in Alphabet City, being pedaled by “a short Hispanic male, in a cameo thermal shirt who looked very awkward and did not possess the skills to ride a brakeless fixie.”

As Bike Month NYC winds down, over two thousand cyclists filled the Brooklyn streets yesterday for the fourth annual Tour de Brooklyn. This year’s 18-mile family-oriented ride was moved up a week to coincide with the Brooklyn Bridge 125th birthday festivities. Borough President Marty Markowitz kicked things off on Water Street near the bridge, sending cyclists on a leisurely ride that wound through DUMBO, East Williamsburg, Crown Heights, Bedford Stuyvesant, and the Evergreen Cemetery, ultimately wrapping up downtown at Walt Whitman Park.

Bike thieves in New York have been known to use everything from electric saws to Bic pen tops in order to separate bikes from pesky locks, but no method is more effective than convincing a cyclist to just hand over their ride.