On Thursday, our friends at Transportation Alternatives got into the act, laying out in 85 chunky bullet points, how Mayor Mamdani should expand daylighting, build more bike lanes, create bus rapid transit, expand Summer Streets, widen sidewalks and create car-free streets, reduce the city speed limit, broaden the scope of the next Streets Master Plan, make outdoor dining year-round, and reboot Vision Zero, among many, many, many other things.
A major decision facing Mayor-elect Mamdani will be to select a new Department of Transportation Commissioner. The scope of the assignment is vast as is its impact. Transportation is an issue confronted by every New Yorker, every day - and we are all experts. Every Mayor since Mike Bloomberg has been engaged in the mission to reimagine how we move people to reduce our dependence on private cars and to focus instead on public transit, bikes and walking, and under Mayor de Blasio, a similar effort began to reimagine how we move freight - both to and within the city - to reduce our embarrassing over-dependence on large trucks and instead to use our original highways, the waterways, as well as rail and small, environmentally friendly vehicles.
Years ago when I moved to Los Angeles from New York, I was convinced I could survive without a car. They all told me "Nobody walks in LA," a statement I met with a defiant scoff. If anyone could get to know the city sans vehicular assistance, it was this east coast metropolitan explorer. It took only one hot month of confusing bus routes and unsolicited rideshare monologues before I realized the truth: LA demands wheels.
"It's not very expensive to operate," Reece Martin, a Toronto-based independent transportation planner, told Day 6 host Brent Bambury. "And frankly, they're not very expensive to build, either."
The size, cost, and reliability of the old school cab-over-wheels design have made Kei trucks extremely popular in Japan, topping out at 40 percent of new cars sold in 2013.
I was so looking forward to using this new bike lane to ride with my friends who only ride on protected areas, but after riding there yesterday, I would only take experienced riders through that slip turn.
After the panel discussed the impact of Uber on urban environments, Alissa Walker provided insights on how ride-sharing contributes to traffic congestion and undermines public transit.
Mulaney's show stirred debate as Natasha Lyonne voiced extreme anti-bike sentiment, prompting urbanist Alyssa Walker to counter but struggle to be heard amidst the chaos.
The City Council's approval of the San Jose Airport Connector Project marks a significant step towards integrating innovative, sustainable transportation solutions into urban planning, setting a transformative vision for the community.