Alex Goldmark

As we've been reporting, the bus company involved in a deadly crash in Virginia last month may be evading regulations and operating under another name.

Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) issued this statement, and made public the letter below it sent to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood calling for tighter regulations of curbside buses.

Some highlights:

Schumer is asking the DOT to shorten the time period in which a bus company has to come into safety compliance.

Schumer is calling on the NTSB to expand its investigation of the Virginia crash incident to review the possible safety risks that curbside bus carriers pose more generally, including evaluating the efficacy of current regulations. NTSB has agreed to his request

Full text:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 6, 2011

AFTER DEADLY BUS CRASHES FROM NEW YORK TO WASHINGTON STATE, SCHUMER CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE IMPLEMENTATION OF SAFETY GUIDELINES TO KEEP DROWSY & UNSAFE BUS DRIVERS OFF THE ROAD

In Letter To Transportation Secretary, Schumer Urges DOT To Beef Up Safety Regulations And Take Unsafe Buses Off The Road

Two Bus Crashes In Virginia and Washington Last Week & Another Last Night In Chicago Are Just The Latest In A Recent String That Began With Fatal Crash In The Bronx & Westchester

Schumer: These Crashes Must Stop, It’s Time To Put Strict Standards On The Books

In the wake of two more deadly tour bus crashes, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that he is calling on the Department of Transportation to speed up their efforts to remove unsafe buses and unsafe drivers from the road, and crackdown on the tour bus industry by implementing tough safety standards. Schumer’s request comes after two crashes in Washington and Virginia claimed six lives last week. Driver fatigue is considered a primary factor in the Sky Express crash in Virginia and a National Transportation Safety Board investigation revealed that the company was in the process of being grounded and was appealing the decision. Given the continued problems that have lead to numerous crashes in recent months, Schumer is demanding that the DOT shorten the timeframe in which they will ensure that operators must come into compliance with tough safety standards or face severe repercussions.

“It’s long past time to stop this string of deadly bus crashes that began in New York,” said Schumer. “Week after week we hear of more crashes as the elements in the tour bus industry keeps operating just like they always have. I am urging the Department of Transportation to immediately implement tougher safety standards to take drowsy drivers and unsafe busses off the road as quickly as possible. These accidents have already taken too many lives, it’s time for us to get serious about bus safety.”

Following the March 12th crash in New York that claimed 15 lives, Schumer called on the NTSB to expand its investigation of the incident to review the possible safety risks that curbside bus carriers pose, the efficacy of current regulations for these carriers, and whether or not new regulations or better enforcement are needed. NTSB has agreed to his request and will conduct an additional study on the safety aspects of the low-cost intercity motorcoach industry. Schumer has committed to using the results of the study to pursue more aggressive regulation of the industry.

There are well over one hundred tour bus companies registered with the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA) operating in New York that transport tens of thousands of travelers a month. Schumer noted that, in New York alone, the New York City Department of City Planning estimates that curbside bus travel in the Chinatown-area of Manhattan produces more than 2,000 arrival and departures per week. Experts have noted that in 2010 there had been significant growth in the industry, almost all of which comes from curbside discount services.

Schumer is also pushing for speedy passage of the Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act, which is sponsored by Senators Sherrod Brown and Kay Bailey Hutchinson. The bill, which passed out of committee on May 5, 2011 would require:

• Improved commercial driver training. Currently, no training is required by federal regulation.
• Safety belts and stronger seating systems to ensure occupants stay in their seats in a crash.
• Anti-ejection glazing windows to prevent passengers from being easily thrown outside the motorcoach.
• Strong, crush-resistant roofs that can withstand rollovers.
• Improved protection against fires by reducing flammability of the motorcoach interior, and better training for operators in the case of fire.
• A National Commercial Motor Vehicle Medical Registry to ensure that only medically qualified examiners conduct physical examinations of drivers and a medical certificate process to ensure that all certificates are valid and no unqualified operator is allowed to drive.
• Strengthened motorcoach vehicle safety inspections including roadside inspections, safety audits, and state and motor carrier programs for identifying vehicle defects.
• Electronic On-Board Recorders (EOBRs) with real-time capabilities to track precise vehicle location that cannot be tampered with by the driver.

The full text of the letter, which was co-signed by Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Jim Webb (D-VA), Mark Warner (D-VA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and Patty Murray (D-WA).

Dear Secretary LaHood:

We know you share our grief in the needless deaths of six people and the serious injuries sustained by passengers in separate motorcoach crashes in Virginia and Washington last week. While we appreciate the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) recent enhanced enforcement efforts to ensure safety compliance, these two crashes clearly indicate more is needed. We write today to urge that your Department accelerate efforts to promptly remove unsafe motorcoach carriers from our roads, ensure driver preparedness, and protect passenger safety.

Preliminary reports indicate that the recent Sky Express bus crash in Virginia was caused by two key factors: driver fatigue, and the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) decision to give this clearly unsafe carrier a last minute reprieve from closure despite a pattern of safety failures and a determination that the carrier’s safety record is unsatisfactory. In light of the four fatalities and numerous injuries caused by the crash, it is apparent that the pattern of enforcement by DOT has been uneven, inconsistent and ineffective. The FMCSA failed to enforce its statutory authority to place the carrier out of service. In that regard, as the DOT goes forward, we would like to know what steps will be taken to shorten the timeframe in which operators come into compliance with safety standards.

As indicated in DOT’s Motorcoach Safety Action Plan, the Department has a clear understanding of the role driver fatigue plays in motorcoach crashes. As you know, data indicates that fatigue is the root cause of 37% of all accidents investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board. Since the announcement of the action plan, what fatigue-related research has been conducted? With driver fatigue playing a role in more than one-third of crashes, has the Department considered extending the minimum off-duty period for motorcoach drivers?

In recent years, we have been working diligently to improve motorcoach safety standards for the millions of passengers who use this affordable and convenient mode of transportation in our country. We appreciate the work DOT has undertaken to complement the Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act, which the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation recently passed unanimously. However, in 2011 there have already been at least ten motorcoach crashes resulting in more than 20 fatalities and over 130 injuries—including 15 deaths in a single tragic crash earlier this year in New York. These crashes indicate the urgency in addressing these critical safety deficiencies—improving occupant protection with currently available vehicle safety technology as well as upgrading driver and operator oversight and regulations. The failure of a driver and company to operate safely does not need to result in occupant deaths and injuries. We appreciate your concern on these issues and look forward to your response.

###

(New York, Transportation Nation) "I feel happy with of myself," Bike Boy yells. And he should, because he just learned to ride a bike for the first time. Then, when his father (we assume it's his father anyway) asks if he has any advice for other little kids who are learning how to ride, Bike Boy launches into an awesome, heroic, and utterly charming motivational speech.

"Everybody, I know you can believe in yourself. If you believe in yourself you will know how to ride a bike, if you don't, you just keep practicing. You will get the hang of it, I know it," he declares. Watch the video for the rest of the speech and feel the glory of learning to ride a bike for the first time all over again.

Happy spring weekend!

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood at the 2010 National Bike Summit. Thanks: flickr user bikeportland (cc:by-nc-nd)

From the annals of "better late..."  Even though May was "bike-to-work" month, apparently that happens in June at the DOT.

This in from the US DOT:

"On Monday, June 6, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will bike to work with a group of DOT employees. The route will begin at the Washington Monument, and will end at DOT headquarters. The group will stop briefly at the Capital Bikeshare operations warehouse during the trip.

[U.S. DOT headquarters are a bit set-off, in Washington's S.E.]

"At a time of record high gas prices, the ride will highlight DOT’s commitment to providing Americans with convenient, affordable, and healthy transportation options. Last year, DOT formulated key recommendations for state DOTs and communities to integrate the needs of bicyclists and pedestrians in federally-funded road projects. Through the TIGER program, DOT funded major projects across the country that allow Americans to safely and conveniently get where they need to go on a bike or on foot. In May 2010, DOT gave its employees a new bicycle commuting benefit that allows bicyclists to receive reimbursement for qualified commuting costs similar to that provided to employees who take public transportation to and from work."

(Alex Goldmark, Transportation Nation) Welcome to the redesigned Transportation Nation website. We've been bringing you more and more original public radio reporting each week and we just plain outgrew the old blog design.

Now you can see all the latest and breaking news in the center column, just like the old blog format, but we're going to pull out the best, most in-depth, substantive reports for you by highlighting them in our featured stories column on the left side of the site.

We've also made it much easier to subscribe to our RSS feed so you can see what we're up to in your Google Reader or however you check your feeds. If you don't know about RSS, it's quite handy. Here's a tutorial on it. You'll see a box that says subscribe over to the right, just click the orange box and follow the instructions.

And, possibly most exciting, we've added a daily email feature. Subscribers will get one email a day that will be just like our morning links—TN Moving Stories to  you  regulars. It's a veritable panoply of transportation and infrastructure leads and links from everywhere we check for our news, plus it has highlights from our own site. Don't miss it. Sign up now.

We hope you enjoy reading your transportation news in this new design. I think you'll find it easier to navigate by topic—note the navigation bar up top—to share stories you like with your friends and colleagues (please do so often!) and overall, get more out of each visit to Transportation Nation.

If you find anything not to your liking, please let us know (nicely).

Thanks for reading! And please let us know what you think.

Alex Goldmark, reporter for Transportation Nation, discusses his efforts to map bike ticketing and what you need to know about biking rules.

Click here for full size map.

(Alex Goldmark, Transportation Nation) The crackdown on cyclists who break NYC traffic law is widespread around the city, but concentrated most heavily on Manhattan's West Side, Downtown, near the East River bridges, and in Downtown Brooklyn according to Transportation Nation's crowdsourcing project and other reporting. That's also where past monitoring has shown the heaviest bike riding in New York City.The most common violation was running red lights, which brings a fine of up to a $270, just as it would in a car if issued by a police officer. (Drivers caught by a red light camera pay a $50 fine.) Riding on the sidewalk was also frequently cited, earning cyclists in our survey $25 and $50 fees, sometimes more depending on the danger it caused.

Mapping the Tickets
WNYC has requested data from the NYPD on the number and locations of cycle summonses several times, starting in March. With no response from NYPD, we asked our readers and listeners to help us map the scope of the crackdown, as laid out in the map above.

This week, the NY Post cited an unnamed police source saying there have been almost 14,000 tickets issued to city cyclists so far this year--a jump of almost 50 percent over the same period last year--and that the tickets are scattered widely around the city but with far fewer in Staten Island and the Bronx. Neither the NYPD nor the Bloomberg administration would confirm to WNYC that those numbers are accurate, but the figure seems probable given our past reporting and other efforts to quantify the crack down. The geography is also consistent with our crowdsourced findings.

Red light running was the most common offense, though riding

The crackdown on cyclists who break NYC traffic law is widespread around the city and not targeted at any one neighborhood or offense, according to results from our crowdsourcing project. 

(Alex Goldmark, Transportation Nation) Just after we get news of the new fuel economy sticker for cars, this comes in from Consumer Reports, saying they've surveyed drivers and found higher fuel costs in recent years have led to a drop in car sales.

From Consumer Reports:

"The Consumer Reports National Research Center conducted 1,764 random, nationwide telephone interviews of adult car owners from April 28-May 2, 2011."

"The economy has caused a significant drop in annual car sales over recent years, and the age of the average car driven by respondents has increased to eight years. This trend was consistent across most demographics, though household income was a key factor. In households earning $50,000 or more a year, the average age of their cars was six years, whereas lower-income households drove 10-year-old vehicles on average. A significant 23 percent of surveyed motorists are driving cars from the 1990s, many of which must be at the tail end of their reliable service life and certainly well behind current safety standards."

Read more at Consumer Reports.

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(Photo: (cc) by Flickr user wyfurasko)

When the New York Yankees sought approval for this new stadium five years ago, the team insisted on adding 2000 parking spots -- even though the new stadium was smaller than the old.  As the New York City Council came under pressure from some neighborhood residents to reject the plan -- which meant destroying a local park, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration hastily added a proposed transit stop as a last-minute sweetener.

Now half the people who are going to see the Bronx Bombers are taking transit. And the stadium's parking garages are on the brink of defaulting on their financing even after $100s of millions in public subsidies to build them under the contentious plan that displaced the local high school baseball team.

To read and listen to the full story, head over to our original article.

Scroll down for some photos from Jim O'Grady's parking garage travels in Yankee land.

(Photo: Jim O'Grady)

The All Hallows High School Varsity baseball has been without a home field since a Yankee parking garage went up in Macombs Dam Park five years ago. They ride a bus to all their games, even "home games," which they play on opponents' fields.  Team members say that makes it nearly impossible for fellow students to come out and support the team. Here, they're pictured after beating Mount Saint Michael with a walk-off homer in the 10th inning.

(Houston — Laurie Johnson, KUHF News) This year's leap in retail gasoline prices could prompt more people to consider public transit alternatives. And that could add up to far more cost savings than you might think.

In a typical month, about 150 new members sign up for Houston's Commute Solutions carpool program. But from the end of March to the end of April, that number doubled.

And more people may be heading to the bus stops as an alternative as well.

Matill Williams, with the American Public Transportation Association, says the rise in gas prices means taking transit can lead to the biggest savings in three years.

"If someone is traveling by public transportation and they're living with one less car in their household, they can save over an average over about $10,000 a year just by taking public transportation. And that's broken down based on not only the high fuel costs, but also what people don't tend to of and that is the high cost of owning a car."

Of course, here in Houston people are reluctant to give up a vehicle altogether. It's a sprawling region and sometimes buses and rail just don't go to the places we need to get to. But Williams says commuters should think in what he calls multi-modal terms.

"Maybe the day when I don't have to pick up the kid, or maybe the day when I don't have to go to the grocery store, there might be a couple of days a week when I could take public transportation. There might a combination of...maybe I could take public transportation and then maybe my spouse or significant other can pick me up from the bus station or the train station."

If you're curious how much you could save by taking transit, METRO offers a commute calculator on their website

Our partner The Takeaway is gathering stories from around the country about how high gas prices are causing behavior changes. Some people say they're only running errands on the way home from work, no extra car trips! Others are changing up their summer travel plans.

How are high gas prices affecting you? And more importantly, what are you going to do about it? You can tell them about it in the form below or by texting GAS to 69866. You'll get a confirmation text to your mobile phone, with the option to leave a voice message (which they'd love to play on the air). Thanks!

More at The Takeaway.

How often do you get a happy dispatch from the MTA about closing down toll lanes? No word yet on the name.  Verrazana?  Staten? Tollie? -TN

Special Delivery At Verrazano-Narrows Bridge As Officers Assist In Birth of Baby Girl

MTA Bridges and Tunnels Officers assisted in alleviating a joyful traffic tie-up at the Staten Island bound toll plaza of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge early Monday morning when a woman gave birth to a healthy, 7 lb. 2 ounce baby girl in an E-ZPass lane.

Actually, because the event occurred at 3 a.m. there was little traffic on the plaza but the officers were thrilled to be able to assist in the birth.  “I’m a father myself, and it was exciting to be part of such a happy event,” said Sgt. Mark Herbert, who drove the child to the hospital in a Bridges and Tunnels’ patrol car.

The excitement began around 3:10 a.m.

(Alex Goldmark, Transportation Nation) Traffic accidents kill more people globally than malaria, according to the World Health Organization. So, The Guardian has pulled out some data from the WHO to find out which countries have the most dangerous roads.

They find that 90 percent of traffic deaths happen in low and middle income countries even though they have fewer than 50 percent of the roads. Eritrea tops the list with 48.4 estimated road deaths per 100,000 people, followed by the pacific nation of the Cook Islands and  Egypt in third.

The United States comes in 59th most dangerous with 13.9 road deaths per 100,000 people.

See a handy interactive chart that you can sort, re-sort, and play around with over at the Guardian.

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(Photo: Flickr user William Holtkamp)

(Alex Goldmark, Transportation Nation) Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels signed a law Wednesday banning texting while driving. The law, effective July 1, makes texting while driving punishable with a fine up to $500. Drivers under the age of 18 are prohibited from any cell phone use while driving.

U.S. Department of Transportation cheered the law, calling it "stiff" and "tough." In a statement, U.S.  Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said “Distraction is still a factor in too many serious crashes. But the bill signed today by Governor Daniels will help make Indiana roads safer.”

This makes Indiana the 32 second state (along with the District of Columbia) to ban texting while driving. Curbing distracted driving has become one of LaHood's hallmarks, who says that drivers who use a hand-held device while driving are four times as likely to get in a serious crash.

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(Camper SoHo store)

(Alex Goldmark, Transportation Nation) Occasionally we get transportation related design gems sent to us worth sharing. Last month, we posted a sample wedding announcement -- with a tandem bike theme.  And then there was this Kate Spade window with a "Just Married" theme.

Now that spring is here, we've noticed a surge in storefronts using bikes as eye candy to lure in customers, particularly in upscale SoHo, New York City and in local restaurants offering natural or organic fare. No surprise there, right?

But we'd love to see how bikes are being used as branding in other parts of the country, or other parts of the city. Have you seen any store window cycles lately?

(Brinkley's restaurant and pub, NYC)

Send us pics, links, or just tell us about what you see in the comment section below.

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Cyclists running a red light in Central Park. (Alex Goldmark)

(Alex Goldmark, Transportation Nation)

While police continue to step up enforcement of cyclists who violate New York City traffic laws around the five boroughs, Central Park cyclists may see some relief.  (If you've been ticketed, tell us about it here for a crowdsourcing project.) Two city council members, along with cycling advocates, report that a consensus was reached after a meeting with police, multiple community groups and local elected officials.

The meeting late last month was hosted by City Council Members Gale Brewer, Dan Garodnick and the Central Park Conservancy. Garodnick says, the "consensus view was that the police would continue to enforce the law, but would focus their ticketing on cyclists who speed through lights when there is a pedestrian in the crosswalk waiting to cross.” Ticketing in Central Park escalated significantly early this year, and made headlines after police made house calls to apologize to a handful or bike riders who erroneously received speeding tickets.

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He said there was "general understanding" that this was the consensus in the room, and the the police were "O.K." with the consensus.

Council Member Brewer stressed the police did not formally endorse any plan. "It's not a new law, but it could be a practice," she said. "The overall concept is: if there's a red light and there's pedestrian, the rules apply, you have to stop on a bicycle. If there's a red light and no pedestrian, you can go on," she said. She explained that all parties at the meeting discussed details like potential sight lines for seeing pedestrians and still agreed this was a workable solution. The informal agreement was arrived at after all parties cited safety as a primary concern. Pedestrians don't want cyclists whizzing past without yielding, and cyclists didn't want to sit at stop lights when nobody was there to cross. So participants at the meeting came to an agreement that it would be safe for cyclists to ride through red lights if there are no pedestrians nearby.

At the meeting were representatives from the Department of Transportation, Parks Department, the Central Park Conservancy, as well as runners groups, cycling clubs and pedestrian advocates.

The DOT has already changed the timing on the traffic signals to make it easier for cyclists to ride around the Central Park loop without encountering a red light. President of the New York Cycle Club, Ellen Jaffe who was at the meeting, says, "anecdotally, there has been a great lessening of tickets" among members of her club, which is mostly includes racing cyclists who train early in the mornings or late at night when the park isn't as crowded, as well as more occasional bike riders.  She added, "I haven't heard of any [tickets] recently and it was a constant drumbeat on our message board" for months.

Show Us Your Ticket!

(Alex Goldmark, Transportation Nation) If you haven't filled out our survey about bike tickets in NYC, or sent it to someone else to fill out, here's another chance.

Cycling increased dramatically in the city in recent years, and then this year, suddenly, ticketing of cyclists has spiked to new highs. Have you noticed that? Have you gotten a ticket yourself? Know someone who has?

We’re looking to map where these tickets are happening and for what. Please spread the word to all the cyclists you know. And fill out the form below.

Here's a shortened link to send them: http://bit.ly/WNYCBikeTickets

And the simple form to fill out below.

(Alex Goldmark, Transportation Nation) Today at the White House, President Obama welcomed the Wounded Warrior Project's Soldier Ride.

A White House blog post describes it as: "The Soldier Ride started as a way to help wounded soldiers recover from their injuries through adaptive cycling. Nearly a decade later, the program has expanded to involve civilians as well, raising money for and promoting the cause of America's wounded warriors."

The video above is President Obama's speech to the cyclists. At the very end you can see them ride by. But for a better sense of adaptive riding and what a Soldier Ride looks like, here are some videos of past rides.

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The 6 train covered in Swatch advertising in service. (Photo: Alex Goldmark)

(Alex Goldmark, Transportation Nation) MTA - New York City Transit is stepping up efforts to sell advertising in the subway, and on subway cars themselves. For just the second time ever, a full-length ten-car subway train is completely covered in advertising. Another train is integrating video ads, something that has been used just once before. In addition, this week is a high point for "station dominations," where one advertiser fills all the ad space in a single subway station, according to MTA spokesman, Aaron Donovan. The holiday season is always the absolute high point for most ad activity.

The three-car long Shuttle train from Times Square to Grand Central Station has been regularly coated in exterior ads, but not always both trains at once.  Right now, the two Shuttle trains are "fully wrapped," one for TNT "Falling Skies" and the other for Brazilian Tourism, a campaign that includes video. The only campaign to include video before was for MLB playoffs last year, also on the Shuttle.

"That’s a total of 16 cars that are fully wrapped. That’s at least equal to, if not more than, the most we’ve ever had," Donovan told Transportation Nation. Pic below, as well as a list of dominated stations.