Kate Hinds

The new Tappan Zee Bridge is moving forward -- both in the Hudson River and on the internet.

This week workers began driving the first of 28 piles that will hold river platforms in place. And New York State also unveiled its new project website (the older version can still be found here.)

The videos section of the site has a promotional film made by the New York State Thruway Authority to commemorate the 1955 opening of the bridge. It has everything you could hope for in a 50's-era film: the authoritative-yet-soothing male narrator, cheery background music, an American flag waving on the bridge's foundation. There are also some fascinating facts about the construction process, including a component list of what went into making the bridge ("it has over 27 acres of pavement" -- not to mention 74,000 tons of steel). Also of note:  the caissons were constructed in a dry basin ten miles away -- and then the basin was flooded so the structures could be towed into the Hudson.

One other thing: the bridge cost $60 million to build. The new bridge is slated to cost almost a hundred times that.

Top stories on TN:
Reversing a Radical Rewrite: Can Boehner Go Bipartisan? (Link)
Airlines Collected Almost $900 Million in Baggage Fees and $600 Million in Reservation Change Fees in Third Quarter 2011 (Link)
Possible Increased Coal Train Traffic Raises Community Concern (Link)

A bike lane being built in Chicago, June 2011 (photo courtesy of Chicago Bicycle Program)

The Senate will vote today on its transportation bill. (AP via Washington Post)

And the bill walked a controversial path to get to today's vote. "They always say that passing a law is like making sausage," said Senator Barbara Boxer. "It is much messier than that." (NPR)

Meanwhile, the New York City Council called on Congress to reject a Republican transportation proposal that it had already rejected. (Capital NY)

Senator Schumer (D-NY) wants intercity buses to prominently display safety grades. (Times Union)

Chicago picked Alta to run its bike share program. (Chicago Tribune)

A filmmaker conducts an experiment in bike theft ennui: he brazenly and repeatedly steals his own bike -- while no one intervenes. (New York Times)

Cabs, delivery trucks and residents' cars heading toward the World Trade Center site will soon have to run a gauntlet of new security checkpoints. (DNA Info)

The new head of California's high-speed rail project told a state Senate hearing in Silicon Valley he now believes it will cost less than the earlier estimate of nearly $100 billion. (Mercury News)

On today's Brian Lehrer Show: how Ford went from the edge of bankruptcy to profitability -- without government aid. (WNYC)

As Detroit automakers expand, their suppliers are racing to keep up -- adding tens of thousands of new jobs. (NPR)

A bus crash in Switzerland has killed 28 people -- most of them children. (Reuters)

The White House has launched an all-of-the-above press strategy designed to contain the damage from high gas prices. (Politico)

A tugboat towing a crane barge beneath the Brooklyn Bridge sliced a 50-foot gash in the metal scaffolding wrapping the belly of the span as it undergoes repainting. (NY Daily News)

New York's Lincoln Center saw a 14 percent surge in pedestrian accidents and injuries between 2011 and 2011. (DNA Info)

As part of a pedestrian safety awareness event, a Las Vegas policeman dressed as a leprechaun strode the streets. “He’s already been almost killed twice,” noted one observer. “This is a nasty intersection." (Las Vegas Sun; video below.)

Top stories on TN:
Senate Moves on Transit Tax Deduction (Link)
Boston, Denver Bike Shares Back This Week (Link)
Bloomberg Wants To Talk Transit With Cantor (Link)
Feds Hand Out $25 Million for Transit Planning (Link)
Texas Big Winner in Transit Ridership Sweepstakes (Link)

(photo by Kate Hinds)

The Senate will have a marathon voting session on the 20+ amendments to its transportation bill today. (Washington Post)

Meanwhile, U.S. DOT head Ray LaHood said his former colleagues in the House of Representatives were in "disarray" in their effort to pass a new federal transportation bill. (The Hill)

New Jersey and New York will have a joint hearing -- its first in 20 years -- on what lawmakers say is a history of excessive spending and lack of accountability at the Port Authority. (Star-Ledger)

Now that the BART extension to East San Jose is fully funded, officials are looking at how to pay for planned links to downtown San Jose and Santa Clara. (Mercury News)

Rising gas prices may be to blame for President Obama's slipping approval numbers... (The Takeaway)

And as he said yesterday: "As long as gas prices are going up, people are going to feel like I'm not doing enough." (Detroit Free Press)

The third and final section of New York's elevated High Line park will be open to the public in 2014. (AP via WNYC)

California is worried its ports will lose business when the Panama Canal completes an expansion allowing huge cargo ships from Asia to reach the East Coast. (Marketplace)

How to keep buses from "bunching:" forget schedules, flow with traffic. (Atlantic Cities)

More bike lanes are coming to Dubai. (GulfNews.com)

Trend spotting: workers at a cargo warehouse at JFK Airport get a glimpse into what the world is about to wear, eat and sell. (New York Times)

Top stories on TN:
A Wider Panama Canal Could Lead to a NY Boom, But City May Not Be Ready (Link)
NY MTA Says There’s No Decision on G Train Extension (Link)
After Fukushima, Greenhouse Gases Rise in Japan (Link)
Watch Obama’s Speech at Rolls Royce Factory Live (Link)
Double the Fees on the Dulles Toll Road? (Link)

A street-to-park conversion in Los Angeles' Silver Lake neighborhood (photo by gelatobaby via flickr)

Mass transit use is soaring: Americans took 10.4 billion rides on public transportation in 2011 — a billion more than they took in 2000, and the second most since 1957, says a new report. (New York Times)

DC Metro’s new Silver Line is almost two years from opening, but residents are wrestling with the lasting impact the project may have on local roads. (Washington Post)

Equipment failures along the aging rail lines that carry NJ Transit trains are causing longer delays affecting a growing number of commuters. (Wall Street Journal)

A newly-built section of a high-speed rail line has collapsed in China's central Hubei province following heavy rain; the line was set to open in May. (BBC)

A proposal to reshape MARTA's board of directors has county leaders blasting the plan as racist and accusing Northside leaders of trying to bring back segregation. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Los Angeles just completed its first "street-to-plaza" conversion: officials -- who learned of the technique in NYC -- turned a swath of Griffith Park Boulevard into a pedestrian plaza. (Los Angeles Times)

A two-year highway bill would mean more uncertainty for long-term transportation projects. (Marketplace)

The number of U.S.teenagers getting drivers licenses is on the decline: in early 1980s, 80% of 18 year-olds had licenses; by 2008, that number dropped to 65%. (New York Times op-ed)

The White House is releasing a report that says U.S. dependence on foreign oil imports has dropped by more than two million barrels a day since President Obama took office. (NPR)

The London Underground will put a new vacuum train into use later this year, cutting tunnel cleaning time dramatically. (Railway Gazette)

Gothamist: enough with the subway dance parties.

Bus drivers in Phoenix and neighboring Tempe are on strike. (AZCentral.com)

Top stories on TN:
Boehner: We’ll Work with Senate if GOP Balks on Highway Bill (Link)
The Next New York Cabs? For the Outer Boroughs, City Eyes Green Cabs (Link)
Houston’s Electric Car Drivers Have a New Place to Power Up (Link)
South Florida Should be a Cyclists’ Haven — But It Isn’t (Link)
SURVEY: Californians Favor High Speed Rail, But With Wide Variations (Link)

The Bayonne Bridge, which the Port Authority will be raising (photo by Melisande via Flickr)

DC's Metro has known for six years that some of its rail cars have brake parts that fail sooner than expected, but didn't replace the parts because it didn't have the money. (Washington Post)

The federal GAO is looking into California's high-speed rail program. (Sacramento Bee)

The Senate blocked a Republican bid to speed approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. (NPR, New York Times)

More on the transpo bill from Politico.

For the first time since 1931, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is going to build two bridges at the same time. (Star-Ledger)

Britain is rolling out rail smart cards nationwide. (BBC)

Scenes from a subway shutdown: hundreds of NY subway workers are deployed when the MTA does overnight repairs. (Wall Street Journal)

Airlines are expanding overhead bins to fit on more carry-on bags. (AP)

And the FAA says planes will continue to get more crowded -- and tickets more expensive. (Marketplace)

Boston's transit system -- which needs to plug a $161 million deficit -- is cracking down on fare cheats. (Boston Herald)

The Dutch are building a prototype of a "superbus" that looks like a giant leech and is capable of going 155 mph. Atlantic Cities has the story and a video.

Friday rewind: Gothamist takes a look back at Buckminster Fuller's idea to put a giant geodesic dome over midtown Manhattan. (Link)

Top stories on TN:
Here We Go: Senate Set to Start Highway Bill Votes Thursday (Link)
Tappan Zee Bridge Public Comment Period Extended (Link)
Suburban Roads Top List of NYC Region’s Most Dangerous (Link)
President Obama: Fuel Efficient Trucks Save $15K a Year (Link)
Report: Boehner Making Last-Ditch Effort to Rally Republicans on Transpo Bill (Link)
New York’s Ambitious Taxi Plans Calls for More $$ (Link)

Chicago officials unveiling new rail cars last year (photo by CTA Web via Flickr)

Bowing to opposition within their own party, House Republicans are dropping efforts to kill dedicating funding for transit. (Bloomberg)

Chicago's new rail cars -- which were pulled from service in December -- have defective parts that could have caused derailments. (Chicago Tribune)

Traffic deaths caused by speeding are on the rise, according to a new report. (WTOP)

Denver taxi drivers are acting as another set of eyes for police in that city's "Taxis on Patrol" program. (NPR)

A Cincinnati engineer was hit with a lawsuit after sending exaggerated tweets about the effects of that city's streetcar project. (The Takeaway)

Pennsylvania begins enforcing its 'no texting while driving' ban today. (Patriot-News)

The British government is looking for ways to cut £3.5 billion from the rail industry by 2019. (Guardian)

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors gave initial approval to an ordinance requiring commercial building owners in the city to accommodate bicyclists in their buildings. (Bay Citizen)

What the frack is in that water? ProPublica has a list of the known ingredients of the chemicals used in the drilling and hydrofracking process. (Link)

Newt Gingrich's $2.50-a-gallon gas proposal would require $187 billion in subsidies to become a reality. (Atlantic)

Tip for parking permit forgers: learn from the mistakes of one Hoboken man and make sure you spell the word "parking" correctly. (Jersey Journal)

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement, or DEIS (photo by Kate Hinds)

The public comment period for the Tappan Zee Bridge project has been extended by two weeks.

The U.S. Department of Transportation confirmed Wednesday that the new deadline is March 30. Previously, the deadline for the public to weigh in had been March 15th.

New York State has been moving forward on a $5.2 billion plan to replace the aging bridge, which stretches across the Hudson and connects Rockland and Westchester Counties. In late January it released a massive draft environmental impact statement about the project. Last week, hundreds of people showed up to speak at a pair of hearings about the project -- and several members of the public asked that the comment period be extended.

A spokesman for the federal government said the change has been made to accommodate everyone who wanted to comment on the project. The additional 15 days is not expected to change the overall project delivery schedule.

To learn more about the Tappan Zee Bridge public comment process, visit the project website here.

Top stories on TN:
Car Wash Workers Protest Conditions, Pay (Link)
Proposed NY MTA Hikes Won’t Pay for Service Upgrades (Link)
Florida Ponders School Bus Ads (Link)

São Paolo (photo by cjggbella via flickr)

The transportation bill failed to clear a procedural hurdle in the Senate yesterday, but both parties said they expect a deal advancing the legislation by the end of the week. (AP via Philly.com, Wall Street Journal)

Meanwhile, House Republican leaders are set to dump the mess of a highway bill in the lap of conservatives. (The Hill, Politico)

São Paulo’s 2,000 gas stations are rapidly running out of fuel as a strike by truck drivers who haul gas in South America’s largest city completed a second day. (AP via Washington Post)

California will have to allot more than $700 million each year to repay the billions of dollars in planned borrowing for the first phase of a proposed bullet train. (Los Angeles Times)

DC's Deanwood Metro station was the dangerous stop on the transit system in 2011, according to crime statistics. (Washington Examiner)

NJ Transit is eyeing a bus rapid transit system for a Philadelphia-South Jersey corridor. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

The New York MTA's FasTrack -- its overnight subway repair program -- is heading to northern Manhattan next year and the outer boroughs in 2015. (New York Daily News)

The Chevy Volt: picking up awards -- but not enough buyers. (Marketplace)

Why does gas cost what it does? NPR's infographic explains.

Sam LaHood --son of U.S. Transportation head Ray LaHood -- is glad to be back from Egypt and his  four-week "de facto detention." (CNN video)

Car wash workers are coming forward to protest their working conditions. Workers say they are underpaid and exposed to harsh conditions.

(photo by Kate Hinds)

Standing in front of the Metro Car Wash in Rego Park, Queens, Tuesday  a few dozen car wash workers, union activists, and a couple of city council members kicked off a campaign to organize workers and improve conditions at the almost 200 car washes across New York City.

David de la Cruz Perez says this effort is necessary. He emigrated from Guatemala five years ago, and he makes $5.50 an hour working at a car wash on Sutphin Boulevard in Queens. But, he says, managers raid the tip jar to fix customer vehicles. Speaking through a translator from Make the Road New York, Perez says:  "From the tips they take out anything – if a mirror breaks, if an antenna breaks, they take it out from our tips."

(photo by Kate Hinds)

Perez says he also injured his hand on the job -- and missed six months of work without pay.

Cristino Rojas, who works at LMC Car Wash in East Harlem, says there are other problems. Like the other workers, he speaks through a translator. “We work with really dangerous chemicals but they never give us protective gear. So we breathe these things, we touch these things, so we buy our own gloves and we buy our own masks because they don’t give any of that to us."

Car wash workers speaking at a rally (photo by Kate Hinds)

Stuart Appelbaum is the president of the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union, says the problems "are industry-wide. It’s not just a couple of bad actors or isolated incidents." His union helped produce a report about city car wash workers (pdf) that found 66% of workers reported being paid less than minimum wage at times. Also: "not a single interviewed car wash employee received paid sick days, and only one was offered any kind of health care plan."

Councilman James Sanders Jr., who represents part of Queens, was at the rally. "We can have shiny cars and justice! We will not allow them to pin us and say ‘hey, if you want a clean car you have to accept dirty practices.’"

And those practices seem to be endemic. A New York State Department of Labor investigation that concluded in 2010 found that close to 80% of New York City's car wash operators were guilty of wage and hour violations. A spokesperson for the NYS DOL says: "The Department continues to monitor labor law compliance in the car wash and all industries and conducts investigations as needed. We encourage employers and workers to contact the Department about wage and hour compliance and enforcement issues."

(photo by Kate Hinds)

But for some, convenience is key. Jose Maldonado is a 43-year old limo driver who was swinging by Metro Car Wash on the way to pick up a client at JFK Airport. “I mean I need to get my car washed...I don’t know what behavior I could change, I've got to go get my car washed.”

Metro Car Wash in Rego Park, Queens (photo by Kate Hinds)

Attempts to speak to the manager of the Metro Car Wash in Rego Park were unsuccessful. But Paulino Cabrero, the manager of the LMC Car Wash in East Harlem, says he doesn't require workers to purchase their own protective gear--and that tips are for the workers. “I got four guys specifically to count the tips," he says. "And they touch the tips. I don’t touch the tips. And they count for everybody.”

Councilman James Sanders says he's planning a hearing on the issue.

updated 3/7/12 with LMC response

Top stories on TN:
Congestion Pricing Is Back…And the NY Times’ Former Editor Really Likes It (Link)
Riding Along on the DUI Run With Billings Police (Link)
NY MTA's Spokesman Leaving (Link)
Drivers School Licensees Must Be Retested (Link)
Romney in the Driver’s Seat? (Link)
Peer-to-Peer Car Sharing Is National as of Today (Link)

The Ambrose Lightship returning to South Street Seaport from Staten Island (photo by Stephen Nesse/WNYC)

New York's MTA wants to install its "On The Go" touchscreens throughout the city's entire subway system. (New York Daily News)

Toronto's city council prevailed in its battle with that city's mayor over the transit board--removing five of his allies and putting his transportation plans in jeopardy. (The Globe and Mail)

Denver's ambitious light rail plan (FasTracks) is now light rail part of the way, bus rapid transit the rest. (Denver Post)

The 1908 Ambrose lightship has returned to New York's South Street Seaport Museum. (WNYC)

Meanwhile, a decommissioned Staten Island Ferry is sinking upstate in the Hudson River. (Staten Island Advance)

A road that links Outer Banks communities in coastal North Carolina is under siege by climate change. (New York Times)

The federal government's new rule about trucker fatigue is under attack from both sides: A safety group has gone to court against the agency, calling the rule too lax, while the trucking industry has filed a suit calling it too strict. (Politico)

Ford is revamping its touch-screen control system after losing ground in quality ratings. (New York Times)

How high will tolls go on the Tappan Zee Bridge? Depends on how much the new bridge costs. (Times Herald-Record)

A broken cable led to hours of delays and cancellations on the Eurostar Channel tunnel train. (Guardian)

Digital ad billboards will be coming to the Boston T. (Boston Globe)

One in four pilots and rail workers report that sleepiness affects their job performance at least once a week, a new study found. (Bloomberg)

East Harlem bike lanes are back up for a vote at a community board meeting tonight. (Streetsblog)

Cars heading toward the Holland Tunnel (photo by Kate Hinds)

New York Times columnist Bill Keller (and former editor-in-chief) put congestion pricing squarely back in the public eye today, with his column backing a plan by noted transportation expert Sam Schwartz.

Schwartz -- known to the masses as "Gridlock Sam"-- is a former New York City traffic commissioner who has long advocated congestion pricing.

Schwartz's plan  -- which he's been showing around the city to private groups -- would reduce the costs of some tolls and raise others.  That would make driving outside of Manhattan easier and driving into Manhattan south of 60th Street much more costly.

The East River Bridges -- Brooklyn, Ed Koch/Queensboro, Manhattan, and Williamsburg, would have a $7 cash toll, and an $5 EZPass toll.  Other bridges -- like the Verrazano, the RFK, and the Bronx Whitestone Bridge would be cheaper.

These tolls and other fees (like ending a parking tax rebate for Manhattanites and adding a taxi surcharge on cab rides south of 86th Street) could raise as much as $1.2 billion annually, Schwartz argues  -- money that would then be spent on improving transit and roads.

Schwartz would then target that money to reduce transit fares and to launch new transit lines -- particularly bus rapid transit -- in the outer boroughs where transit service is poor.

Schwartz would also like to see three new pedestrian/bicycle bridges built. One would go from downtown Brooklyn, go through Governors Island and lead to the financial district; another would connect Greenpoint/Long Island City to Manhattan's East Side, and a third would go from Hoboken/Jersey City to Manhattan's West Side.

A rendering of a pedestrian bridge, stretching from Brooklyn to Manhattan (image courtesy of Sam Schwartz Engineering)

It's not clear how much political support a plan like this could garner. City Council member Peter Vallone Jr., who represents Astoria, is blunt: "I don't support tolling the East River Bridges," he says. "There are ways to influence congestion without increasing costs to motorists." He'd like to see tolls increase during peak times, but decrease off-hours.

But Kathryn Wylde, the president of the Partnership for New York City says congestion pricing is "something that New York City is going to have to turn to." She adds: "I think that Sam has put forward a very practical approach to mobilizing political support" for it. She says part of the stumbling block in the past has been "you didn’t have any obvious concurrent benefits...that you could point to."  This version of the plan -- with its attendant toll reductions and outer borough transit improvements --  "give people a reason to be for it, not simply to be against it."

It's a parity issue, adds  Transportation Alternatives head Paul Steely White, who's endorsing the plan. "What you have is a situation where some drivers are paying as much as $11 to take a round trip in their own neighborhoods," he says, "whereas other drivers aren't paying a cent."

The fallout from that is evident in places like downtown Brooklyn, which is inundated with drivers seeking to avoid the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and its $6.50 toll (or $4.80 for EZPass users) in favor of the free Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. Tolling those bridges, White says, would make  the system "more rational so drivers aren't toll shopping and driving out of their way for a free bridge or tunnel."

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg pushed for congestion pricing in 2007. Although it passed City Council, it died in Albany.

City Hall may like this plan, too.  New York City deputy press secretary Marc LaVorgna says of the Schwartz proposal: “The Mayor put forward a comprehensive and bold transportation vision that would have provided billions to create the mass transit system our city needs. But Albany said no, and the MTA continues to struggle.”

But the biggest kick for the plan comes from today's Times Op-Ed page, one of the loudest megaphones you can have.

"You do not have to be an engineer to appreciate the logic," Keller wrote. "The scheme puts the heaviest onus on the solo driver who has ready access to a train, and lowers the cost for drivers who have no alternative. Unlike earlier plans that amounted to a punishing tax on commuters from outlying communities, the Schwartz plan has more affluent neighborhoods (like the plusher parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens) pay a fair share."

Top stories on TN:
Buy Your Own Authentic Wooden NYC Subway Benches (Link)
Electric Bikes Get Rolling in D.C. (Link)
GM Halts Production of Chevy Volt for Five Weeks Due to Poor Sales (Link)
Will Developer Genting Pay for Transit to a New Queens Convention Center? (Link)
Metro Won’t Remove ‘Go To Hell Barack’ Subway Ad, Despite Congressman’s Objections (Link)
Nassau’s Private Bus Company to Cut Service (Link)

Lego bike share station (photo by Planetgordon.com via flickr)

BP has settled with Gulf Coast residents for $7.8 billion, and the news has sent the company's stock price rising. (AP)

Meanwhile, BP and other companies are expanding deepwater drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico. (New York Times)

Toronto's mayor and city council are battling for control of that city's transit agency. (Globe and Mail)

IBM takes "Smarter Cities" -- its urban infrastructure management system -- to Rio. (New York Times)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid scheduled a vote for noon Tuesday on a cloture motion to shut off debate on the pending highway bill. (The Hill)

And what happens if Congress fails to authorize transportation beyond 3/31? "Stalled construction projects, unfilled potholes, idled buses and — in theory — lower gas prices." (Politico)

San Francisco is mulling ways to better connect neighborhoods in the city's southeast to transit, and they run about $300 - $400 million. (San Francisco Examiner)

The number of British 17-year-olds taking the driving test is continuing to fall; meanwhile, sales of rail and bus cards are soaring. (The Guardian)

Automobile sales in China, the world’s biggest car market, may be having their worst start in seven years as a slowing economy and record gasoline prices keep consumers away from dealerships. (Bloomberg)

Bicycle food delivery men in New York City: dodging traffic, risking injury, getting ticketed, and making less than minimum wage. (New York Times)

Gas prices in the Northeast could rise faster than in other parts of the country because of the closure of up to four refineries. (Boston Globe)

Want to see what a bike share station looks like, rendered in Lego? Pedal over to Brooklyn Spoke.

Top stories on TN:
NYC To Get Rid of Some Taxi TV’s (Link)
People DO Litter Less Without Subway Trash Cans. But They’re Not Happy About It (Link)
In the Bay Area, Transit Signs are Surprisingly Poor (Link)

A toll booth on the Verrazano being taken down (image courtesy of NY MTA)

Despite rising gas prices, February auto sales hit a four-year high. (Detroit Free Press)

Ray LaHood says he expects new rear-visibility regulations will be issued by the end of the year. (NPR)

Companies are adding natural gas vehicles to their trucking fleets. (NPR)

Senate Democrats and House Republicans are set to battle over transportation legislation that could have the same political dynamics as the payroll tax holiday. (The Hill)

One SEPTA bus rider in Philadelphia is fed up with listening to other passengers' cell phone conversations -- and he's firing up his internet-purchased cell phone jammer. (NBC 10; h/t Transit Wire)

United and Continental will merge their reservations systems tonight. (Marketplace)

Does the new Lorax movie speak for the trees -- or for SUVs? (The Takeaway; TN's cover is here)

AAA -- which sued the Port Authority over toll increases last year -- is backing a bill that would give the US DOT the ability to nix the agency's future toll hikes. (Staten Island Advance)

Meanwhile, the Port Authority is filing civil lawsuits against 20 alleged toll scofflaws from New Jersey on the agency’s "Wall of Shame." (Star-Ledger; list here in pdf.)

Westchester County residents got their chance to weigh in at a public hearing about the Tappan Zee Bridge project. (LoHud.com)

New York's MTA dismantled three unused toll booths on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge last month -- and you can watch the process via time-lapse photography, below.

The president of New York City Transit said Thursday that removing trash cans at two subway stations to reduce the amount of garbage has been a success – but straphangers are trashing the idea.

(photo by Stephen Nessen/WNYC)

A counter-intuitive subway garbage experiment is yielding mixed results

Five months ago the city removed trash cans at two stations -- the Main Street/Flushing #7 station in Queens and the West 8th Street N/R in Greenwich Village -- to see if straphangers would actually litter less. Thomas Prendergast, the president of New York City Transit, said it's working -- but riders don't like it.

"So we haven't been able to change their minds from a perceptional standpoint," he said, "but from a behavioral standpoint, we have."

But there is one group who are giving the experiment a thumbs-up. "The cleaners that work the stations like it," he said, "because they're carrying less trash out."

Prendergast added that while there a lot of people who think "it's backwards," the experiment will continue for now.

He was speaking at a transportation forum held Thursday morning at the law firm of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan.

A spokesperson for the MTA said the city hasn't made any decisions about whether to end the program or expand it to other stations.

Top stories on TN:
BREAKING: House GOP Floats 18-Month Transpo Bill (Link)
Transit, Jobs, Construction Noise: Rockland Residents Air Worries About Swiftly Approaching Tappan Zee Bridge Project (Link)
New York State Goes on Offensive Against Transit Over Tappan Zee Bridge (Link)
Photo: Straphangers, You Look MAHVELOUS (Link)
The Lorax Speaks for an SUV, And Mazda Says That’s OK (Link)
Airline Employment Up for 13th Month (Link)

Renting a Hubway bike in Boston

Boston's bike share program is booming, and will expand the program and add more bike lanes this year. (Boston Globe)

Chicago transit supporters are floating legislation that would raise the gas tax in the area -- and use the funds for transit. (Chicago Tribune)

Light rail alleviates traffic congestion -- at least in Denver. (Atlantic Cities)

The possibility of $5-a-gallon gas in the U.S. is looming. (New York Times)

Hundreds of people turned out to protest transit cuts in Pittsburgh. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

DC's Metro is replacing its older diesel buses with hybrid electric ones. (GGW)

Fret not about range anxiety: this infographic should put to rest fears about electric cars. (FastCoExist)

California's high speed rail program won't start construction until next year. (Fresno Bee)

Ray LaHood's son Sam is being allowed to leave Egypt. (The Hill)

The Tappan Zee Bridge, which connects Rockland and Westchester Counties (photo by Patsy Wooters via Flickr)

If Rockland and Westchester Counties want mass transit over the new Tappan Zee Bridge, they can pay for it.

That seems to be the message behind a strongly-worded email just sent out by the  New York State Thruway Authority. The email comes a day after a packed public hearing in Nyack in which dozens of members of the public voiced their support for transit over the new Tappan Zee Bridge.

The email, which is copied below, is called "Myths vs. Facts about Mass Transit on the New Tappan Zee Bridge." It also came with a PDF attached, graphically illustrating what it says is a $4.5 to $5.3 billion estimate to build a bus rapid transit corridor stretching from Rockland County's western border eastward to Westchester County. The state didn't include an explanation for the basis of these costs.

When asked, a Thruway Authority spokesman did not provide any further documentation of cost estimates.

The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy generally estimates that BRT costs $20 million per mile. Los Angeles's BRT system, which it built in 2005, came in at $25 million per mile.

Walter Hook, the CEO of the ITDP, who has advised on BRT systems around the world, said: "We doubt they have done a systematic analysis  of the projected causes of bottlenecks in a proposed new BRT service."  Hook added that further analysis could "bring the price down very significantly."

There's another hearing about the Tappan Zee Bridge project in Westchester County on Thursday.

The email is below.

Myths vs. Facts about Mass Transit on the New Tappan Zee Bridge

MYTH: Mass transit is not part of the new Tappan Zee Bridge.

FACT: The new bridge will support mass transit including bus rapid transit and commuter rail -- even before Rockland and Westchester Counties begin plans for a full mass transit system that could connect with the bridge.

MYTH: Mass transit options are far in the future.

FACT: The new bridge will have immediate, dedicated express bus service.

MYTH: Mass transit will never be part of the Tappan Zee Bridge.

FACT: The opposite is true. There can be no mass transit system without first building a new Tappan Zee bridge. The new bridge is being built to support bus and rail transit so that Rockland and Westchester can build a mass transit system to connect to the bridge.

MYTH: Mass transit can be built now.

FACT: A mass transit system in Rockland and Westchester requires 64 miles of construction in those counties at a cost of billions of dollars. There is no plan and no funding available to build a new mass transit system in the counties. However, if that changes, the new bridge will be able to accommodate it.

MYTH: We can afford to build mass transit now.

FACT: Building this separate mass transit system through Rockland and Westchester Counties would cost up to $5.3 billion and once the system was built it could cost $80 million to operate it. This means it could cost more to build and operate a separate mass transit system then to build the new Tappan Zee Bridge.

MYTH: We can afford to build mass transit now.

FACT: The $5.3 billion pricetag for a mass transit system means that the County Executives that want to build the system now will have to pay for it leading to the biggest tax and toll hike in Westchester and Rockland County history.

MYTH: A full mass transit system is a fundamental part of building a new Tappan Zee Bridge.

FACT: A full mass transit system would extend 64 miles from the bridge into Rockland and Westchester respectively. Currently the Counties have no plans in place to construct these 64 miles of mass transit. The entire bridge is only three miles and will support mass transit, if and when the Counties build it.

MYTH: There is no mass transit on the bridge now.

FACT: New York State already spends $2 million a year to provide Express Bus service across the Bridge, currently serving 499,000 riders per year and approximately 2,000 riders a day. The State will expand these services as market demand grows. However, numbers developed by New York's Planning body currently show that only 5,900 additional riders would cross the bridge on future Bus Rapid Transit, and that could only happen if the systems are in place on either side.

MYTH: The new Tappan Zee Bridge being built for drivers only

FACT: The new Tappan Zee Bridge will include a pedestrian walkway and bike lanes, in addition to the dedicated express bus service.

Mazda is defending its marketing campaign in which it uses the beloved -- and ferociously eco-conscious -- children's book character the Lorax to sell its new SUV.

Mazda says its SUV is fuel-efficient for an SUV, getting 35 mph on the highway.   "It's part of our sustainable zoom-zoom long-term vision," Mazda spokesman Eric Booth told TN.

It's a tie-in that dovetails with the upcoming film adaptation of "The Lorax," which premieres in theaters this Friday. The book, which was written by Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) in 1971, chronicles the environmental degradation caused by the Once-ler, whose pursuit of profits via a Thneed-producing factory kills Truffula trees and chokes wildlife into non-existence.

Mazda is running a commercial in which its new CX-5  dreamily drives through a technicolor forest of Truffula trees, endorsed by a variety of characters from the book.  The automaker says the CX-5 has received the "Certified Truffula Tree Seal of Approval."

Mazda's Eric Booth tells TN "Dr. Seuss himself -- and this is a direct quote -- has said 'The Lorax doesn't say lumbering is immoral...I live in a house made of wood and write books printed on paper. It's a book about going easy on what we've got.'"

But Booth didn't finish Geisel's quote, which continues: "It's antipollution and antigreed."

The comments on Mazda's YouTube page range from the unprintable to "Almost anything BUT a car would have been less appalling. It may as well be sponsored by Thneeds R Us!"

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood has launched a "Save the Lorax" campaign, calling for a boycott of companies using the Lorax for advertising. Josh Golin is the CCFC's associate director.  "It’s egregious to use the Lorax, who for more than 40 years has been a symbol of conservation, to sell kids on consumption and buying as many Lorax products as they can," he said. "And the most ridiculous and disturbing is to sell kids on the new Mazda SUV."  He said cars have been devastating to the environment. "It's laughable to say that the Lorax would encourage children to nag their parents to buy a certain car."

Booth says Mazda is "trying to improve and make improvements to make cars less polluting and more efficient. It's in the same vein of the POV that the Lorax is trying to get across.”

The CCFC boycott has gotten 2,200 signatures on its website since it went live on Tuesday.

According to federal government estimates, vehicles release over 1.7 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere each year--making cars responsible for just over 51% of a typical household's CO2 emissions.

But Mazda says it's developing more fuel-efficient technology -- and at a lower price point. The sticker price of the 2013 CX-5 starts at $20,695, and it gets 35 mpg highway/26 mpg city.

The Obama administration wants cars to have an average 55 mpg rating by the middle of the next decade.

"With this technology," said Eric Booth, who works on the Mazda account at the PR firm Hill+ Knowlton, "we're getting more out of internal combustion engines. We're delivering gasoline engines with diesel fuel economy, and diesel engines with hybrid fuel economy."

Note: The CX-5 comes in seven different colors. But none of the choices are green -- or, for that matter, Lorax orange.

(photo by Kate Hinds)

Seen on the West 4th Street platform this morning. There's nothing like a little positive reinforcement graffiti to brighten up your morning commute.