Local-Motion

So, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will hold a series of public hearings in November to debate proposed fare increases on the Long Island Rail Road, MetroNorth, express bus service and New York City Transit, as well as toll increases at its bridges and tunnels. As if the commuting public will say, what -- please, charge us more? Hey, save us all the trouble. We'll save you the trouble. No one wants to pay more. Especially, not for second-rate service. But you should know that we know that you know you're going to raise the fares and tolls, anyway. So drop the mock debate and do it, already -- and get to the real issue at hand. The one you're not addressing. Service. Stop making excuses for rainstorms that knock out train service, which you did when you promised Gov. Eliot Spitzer in a report last week that improvements were coming -- all while saying an August storm paralyzed the transit and rail system because of its "severity, timing and lack of warning." [It was three inches of rain, not Hurricane Katrina.] Stop making excuses for why the trains don't run on time or why pedestrians travel faster than midtown buses. Stop the double-talk about how it's perfectly normal for bridges to be "deficient" -- and how they'll get fixed sooner or later. Stop acting like you're really going to listen to the concerns of the traveling public -- like pledging free and open debate on fare hikes -- when we all know that all of it is merely going to be lip service on your part. And wasted breath on ours. Don't tell us about how you're going to arrange for cell phone service in underground stations as a benefit to us in emergency situations when, in reality, it's being done to raise revenue by charging cell phone providers -- and, ultimately, cell phone users -- a fee for the priviledge. Don't act as if we were born yesterday. We're New Yorkers, remember? We know a con when we see one. So, here's what commuters want, plain and simple: stop talking about how we're going to talk about the problems. Just fix them. Make our transportation system better. Make it reliable. Make it work. Because until you do, there's no debate. No one is going to want to have to pay an extra quarter to ride the subway or the express bus, no one is going to want to pay more to cross an MTA bridge or drive through an MTA tunnel or ride the MTA LIRR. Not when you're giving 21st-Century New Yorkers a 20th-Century transportation system with 19th-Century reliability and service. Not when you can't even make the trains run on time.

Street closures in Manhattan due to a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. Closures at the George Washington Bridge. Construction on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. On-going projects with intermittent closures at the Lincoln and Holland tunnels. Roadwork on most major roads. Traffic mayhem in New York. All of which begs a question: Do officials in any of the agencies in charge of these projects talk to each other? Does anyone care that drivers are getting stuck in ungodly traffic? Seems not. Last weekend, on the eve of massive street closures for the U.N. General Assembly, traffic coming into New York via the George Washington Bridge was backed up for miles on the New Jersey Turnpike. The delays were more than one hour. The Lincoln Tunnel was a bargain by comparison with delays of between 30-45 minutes. This was the middle of a Sunday afternoon. By nightfall, the delays were still huge. As they were at the Staten Island crossings. As they were on the Cross Bronx Expressway. We understand roads need to be closed in Manhattan for important events, such as the on-goings this week at the U.N. And we understand -- and even support -- the need for construction projects designed to upgrade our roads and infrastructure. But there is no reason for everything to be going on at the same time, leaving drivers no alternative routes to get where they're going -- leaving drivers with no choice if they must get somewhere than to sit for hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic. It's ridiculous that New York officials have not managed better coordination, better traffic management. The result is what figures to be a nightmare week for drivers in the metro area. The governor's office needs to take someone to task.

Riders will soon be able to make cell phone calls from New York City subway stations. The idea, Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Peter Kalikow said, is that -- in case of emergencies -- commuters need to be able to make a call. But you have to wonder how many future calls will be no more than mindless chatter: needless noise in an already noise-filled underground. The MTA and New York City Transit announced the plan this week, saying that all 227 underground subway stations will be wired over the next six years to provide cell phone and wireless access to riders. But, it turns out, not without a catch. The stations, but not tunnels, will be wired by a company called Transit Wireless. Riders will only be able to use their cell phones in the stations -- if they're signed up for service on the underground network. That caveat should make all commuters question whether the service is being provided to ensure their safety in emergency situations -- or if it's just a shameless ploy by the MTA to raise cash. MTA officials claim the need for the service became clear after thunderstorms last month knocked out subway service, leaving stranded commuters with no way to contact family, friends and co-workers regarding the delays. But if the MTA was really concerned about safety for the five million passengers who ride the subways daily, they'd set up a network to provide emergency access for all cell phone users who ride the rails -- instead of one that figures to spark only useless, unnecessary conversations in an environment already beseiged by noise.

You've got to wonder if Mr. Met is really the right guy to warn Long Island Rail Road riders to "Watch the Gap." First, even with gaps between station platforms and trains that spanned as wide as 15 inches, his head -- which is a baseball, for those of you who aren't fans -- would keep him from falling through those dangerous gaps even if he wasn't paying attention entering and exiting trains. And, second, the gap Mr. Met should be concentrating on this September is the rapidly-closing one between his team and the Philadelphia Phillies in the battle for first place in the National League East. Nevertheless, the Mets and the LIRR launch a new safety campaign featuring Mr. Met beginning Monday at Shea Stadium. They'll hand out flyers with Mr. Met warning fans to "Watch the Gap" when they take the train to the game. They'll run a Mr. Met "Watch the Gap" ad on the scoreboard at Shea Stadium. On its face -- and we don't mean the smiling baseball face of Mr. Met -- the campaign is a good idea. After all, platform gaps are a serious issue -- one that came to the forefront in August, 2006, when a Minnesota teen fell through a gap at Woodside station in Queens and was killed by a train as she attempted to climb off the tracks. And the railroad has been working hard to eliminate those gaps and warn customers of the dangers. Normally, Mr. Met would also make sense since railroad officials said approximately 10 percent of all Mets fans take the train to games at Shea -- a number that soars to 20 percent of all fans during the pennant race and playoffs. Still, ya gotta believe the timing of this campaign couldn't be worse for Mr. Met -- or the Mets, who are amazin! these days only because of how fast they've gone from the '69 or '86 Mets to being the Mets of 1962. Hate to say it, but Monday might actually be too late to start the campaign at the rate the Mets are sinking into the gap in the NL East. As of Wednesday, their lead is down to 1 1/2 games over the Phillies. By Monday, who knows? Mr. Met and his team might have fallen into the chasm by then -- and zero percent of fans will need to take a train to a playoff game, since those games will be in Philadelphia. Not Queens.

The good news is that some drivers in the U.S. actually have it worse than we do here in New York. The bad news is that's still little consolation when you spend an average of 46 hours a year stuck in traffic, waste an average of 29 gallons of gas per year going nowhere fast, drive on highways where the average speed realistically averages out to little more than 40 mph and you face traffic congestion that snarls the roads you drive on for about 68 percent of the peak rush hour every day. A new report released this week by the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University says Americans wasted $78.2 billion -- that's billion with a b -- stuck in traffic in 2005. That's 2.9 billion gallons of fuel. And 4.2 billion hours. Luckily for us, the New York-metro area only ranked 16th -- tied with Chicago and Boston -- for the most hours of annual travel delays caused by traffic congestion. Drivers in Los Angeles suffered the most time delayed, wasting an average of 72 hours a year stuck in traffic. Drivers in San Francisco, Atlanta and Washington, D.C., averaged 60 hours a year sitting in their cars going nowhere. Unfortunately, metro-area drivers shouldn't expect the situation to improve any time soon -- despite the rumored benefits of the congestion-pricing plan proposed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, despite rail projects like the planned Second Avenue Subway line, East Side Access to Grand Central Terminal for the Long Island Rail Road and the construction of a third track on the main line of the LIRR. The TTI report found that the number of vehicles in our area figures to grow at a rate 30-to-40 percent faster in coming years than the expansion of our road network. That means the situation will only get worse, not better, unless we can rethink our transportation system and rethink how we actually plan to get where we're going -- instead of being faced with getting nowhere at all.

Riverhead town officials are considering proposals for the development of the former Grumman site in Calverton. The demise of historic Riverhead Raceway seems imminent. It seems like a natural, a no-brainer: build a new racetrack. Use motorsports -- and car-culture related attractions -- as the centerpiece for any development at Calverton. Right? One bidder for the development rights to the 755-acre site, RexCorp, has proposed building a NASCAR track. Another bidder, Riverhead Resorts, has proposed a resort that includes an indoor ski mountain. Here's a thought. Long Island has a rich history of auto racing, from the Turn-of the-20th Century Vanderbilt Cup races to racing that took place on scores of old dirt, cinder and asphalt tracks around Long Island -- long-gone and long-forgotten places like Freeport Municipal Stadium and Islip Speedway. Tracks that have gone the way of the dinosaur. So, how about instead of another hotel -- and instead of a huge NASCAR track -- officials build something more practical. And more potentially appealing. After all, you've got 755 acres -- a lot of acres, by the way -- and the chance to create a real theme and recreation area for Long Islanders. And a NASCAR track, honestly, would be used once or twice a year, while you've got to think that instead of skiing on an indoor mountain real skiers will go skiing on real mountains in winter -- mountains that are but a few hours away from Long Island. So why not build a multi-use racetrack that could host local and regional motor racing and perhaps could also be used for a NASCAR event? Why not use it as a centerpiece for a sports-entertainment-theme complex? Build a short-track racing oval at Calverton. Build a drag-racing track that could be used by locals -- and could also host NHRA events. Incorporate a Long Island Motor Racing Hall of Fame with an interactive center. Work out a deal with Marty Himes, who runs the Himes Museum of Motor Racing Nostalgia out of his home in Bay Shore. He has an incredible, irreplaceable, collection of memorabilia that chronicles the history of racing on Long Island. Make the new museum interactive to attract families with kids to Calverton. Build the indoor ski facility. Add a go-kart track, theme-type attractions, maybe even a good, old-fashioned drive-in movie theatre. Plant a lot of trees on the property. Build an ATV park for Long Island riders who have no place to ride. Build extra parking and picnic areas as a set-aside for car show enthusiasts who are looking for a prime location to be able to show off their classic and collectible cars. Install a bandshell near that area. Invite local bands to come and play. The car shows, bands, racing and theme-attractions would draw a ton of Long Islanders. Coupled with concession stands and other attractions, you could generate a lot of revenue for Riverhead Town -- and Suffolk County. Of course, all of this would take some thinking outside of the box. Some forward thinking. Some visionary thinking. Which is why, in the end, none of it will happen. But, honestly, it should. Because this is a prime location for a recreation area that could really serve Long Island. And Long Islanders.

They are a wide-range of projects touted to bring the metro-area transit system into the 21st Century by 2018. But only time will tell if improvement projects currently under construction or under review transform transportation into, out of and around Manhattan, if they merely allow our transit systems to keep pace with the ever-growing demand for efficiency -- or if, despite billions of dollars in expenditures, they fail to meet the future needs of commuters. State and city officials say they will fill the bill. Future commuters can only hope they're right. Officials in the Mayor's office has estimated a population boom that will grow the city by 1 million over the next 20 years. To meet the needs of commuters are said to be a host of projects, including: East Side Access for the Long Island Rail Road into Grand Central Terminal, scheduled for completion in 2013; the extension of the New York City Transit No. 7 subway line from Times Square to 34th Street, scheduled for completion in 2013 but still in the contract phase; the Second Avenue Subway line, dubbed the T train, scheduled for completion in 2013; the Fulton Street Transit Center, scheduled for completion in 2009; the South Ferry Terminal, scheduled for completion next August or September; and, Moynihan Station, a facility designed to supplement the existing Penn Station that has a projected completion date of 2018 -- but is still on the drawing board. The projected bill for all of these projects is well over $15 billion. Officials see them as great benefits that will make commuting easier -- especially the East Side Access Project, the Second Avenue Subway and the No. 7 line extension. Certainly, if the projections are correct, these six projects will help modernize transportation as we know it in New York -- and, coupled with a workable version of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed congestion-pricing plan, will help make New York an even more-efficient and livable city. One that is even more convenient to access and transit via public transportation than it is today. But, consider this: Some of these projects were proposed a decade or more ago. And in a rapidly changing world it is impossible to know if they'll actually meet the needs of commuters. Or if they won't. For now, we can only hope the projections are dead-on. Because, even though under any circumstances these mark a real step in the right direction towards moderization of a transit system rooted in Turn-of-the-20th Century infrastructure and technologies, we must remember the city touting them is the same one that took 25 years and $829 million to complete the rehabilitation of the Manhattan Bridge. Which should be pause for thought. Hopefully, this time, city officials have gotten it right. Generations to come are depending on it.

The overhaul of the Manhattan Bridge has been completed. All if took was 25 years -- and an estimated $829 million. City officials had actually considered scrapping the iconic bridge due to structural deficiencies before embarking on the rehabilitation project in 1982. In retrospect, maybe that would have been a better plan -- considering it took 17 years longer to complete the rehabilitation project than it took to build the bridge from scratch. That construction began in 1909 and was finished eight years later. Who says government moves slow?

The Number One killer of teens in America? Car accidents. They claim almost 7,000 teenagers each year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. And one of the biggest -- if not the biggest -- cause of all crashes involving teens? Distracted driving. Now, a big cause for alarm. A recent survey conducted by Seventeen magazine and the American Automobile Association has found that 51 percent of the 1,000 16-year-old and 17-year-old drivers surveyed admitted to talking on their cell phones while driving. And a staggering 46 percent admitted to text-messaging from behind the wheel. Just last month Local-Motion raised the issue of how dangerous such risky behavior can be. Studies within the last decade have shown that it is actually safer to drive drunk than it is to drive while talking on the phone -- even if you're using a headset. So, chances are it can only be even more dangerous to drive while texting. If that doesn't make you think twice, chances are nothing will. But the Governors Highway Safety Association, which represents state departments of transportation across America, had stressed both teen drivers and their parents should take heed when it comes to this issue. Because distracted driving kills. Think of it this way: Chances are you wouldn't write a letter with pen and paper -- or read the newspaper -- while driving your car. Texting while driving amounts to the same thing. We've said it before. And we'll say it again. Don't do it. Because if you text while driving a very real postscript to the next message you either read or send could be this one: R.I.P. Yes, Rest in Peace.

An unhelmeted motorcyclist is 40 percent more likely to suffer a fatal head injury -- and 15 percent more likely to suffer a non-fatal injury -- than a helmeted motorcyclist, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That said, this week the National Transportation Safety Board issued a mandate that all states to enact legislation requiring all bikers to wear so-called Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard-218 helmets. Which is about time. New York has required all motorcyclists and their passengers to wear helmets since Jan. 1, 1967. And the requirement for wearing an FMVSS-218 helmet has been law in New York since 1994, according to the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. A lot of bikers don't like helmet laws. Some believe they are too restrictive. Some believe wearing a helmet takes away from the freedom of riding a bike. And some think that the choice on what kind of helmet to wear should be up to the rider -- and shouldn't be mandated by state or federal law. Ask any biker who's suffered -- and survived -- a head injury, often resulting in what's better known as a traumatic brain injury, while riding a motorcycle what they think and the answer is almost universal, however: If I could do it over again, I would have worn a more-protective helmet. Riding a bike on Long Island is still a dangerous proposition, helmet included. Car drivers, SUV drivers and truck drivers often don't respect bikers. And vice-versa. But no matter which way you slice it, helmets save lives. And it's good to know that, whether you like it or not, New York has been proactive -- instead of reactive -- when it comes to making biking safer.

Perhaps the only subway train in history with its own song, the New York City Transit A train celebrates its 75th Anniversary on Monday. Known as the Eighth Avenue subway when the line made its debut on Sept. 10, 1932, the modern-day A train line has come a long way since then: From 12 miles and 28 stations from the top-to-bottom of Manhattan to the present-day 31-mile-long line spanning from Far Rockaway, Queens, through Brooklyn all the way to Inwood-207th Street in upper Manhattan. The line jumped into subway folklore -- and the national consciousness -- thanks to Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, who penned and performed the famed "Take the A Train." The A train's legend is to be celebrated on Monday, as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority holds a ceremony at the Inwood-207th Street station, where subway riders will be able to board a train comprised of 1930s-era train cars. But, enjoy it while you can. According to the MTA / New York City Transit Web site, A train service will suffer some disruption this week -- and in weeks to come -- due to track work and so-called "structural improvements" along the line. The disruptions include A train runs being split into two sections at 168th Street in Manhattan this week, as well as express-only sections of track, Manhattan-bound A trains running on the F line from Jay Street to West 4th and shuttle bus service replacing A train service between Howard Beach-JFK Airport and the Rockaways.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the New York City taxi strike had little or no impact. The New York Taxi Workes Alliance, which organized the two day strike, called the walkout a success. The only thing that's clear in the aftermath is that passengers who opted to ride taxis during the strike were often forced to pay more than they usually did because of the flat rates they were charged for short trips.

Thousands of cabbies are expected to go on a sort of strike Wednesday in New York City. But you really have to wonder what they're thinking. The protest is against a new city law that will mandate the installation of GPS -- a Global Positioning System or tracking device -- as well as credit card machines in all yellow cabs. Cabbies say the GPS systems will be like Big Brother looking over their shoulders. They say the credit card machines will slow them down. Both of which seem like ridiculous arguments. Last time we checked one of the biggest threats to the livelihood of cabbies in New York was robbery. The more common credit card use in cabs becomes, the less cash cabbies will carry. And, oh, the less incentive there will be to rob them. Which will make the profession a lot safer than it is today. And so will the advent of being able to monitor where a specific cab is -- and where it's been. Sure, there is a downside. Potentially, customers using credit cards will tip less. And of course there is the cost of operating a card machine -- and the fact that cabbies will no longer be able to hide cash tips. Rides can also be monitored. Authorities will be able to determine a route taken by a cab -- and if it was the correct route or a roundabout one. Still, all this protest seems much ado about nothing. Because, in the end, change will come and, before long, not only will riders be thankful for the technology -- but we think cabbies are going to be thankful for it, as well.

It's back to school for hundreds of thousands of kids this week in New York. If you're a driver, that makes this the mean season -- and it means you need to proceed with caution. If you were a kid once -- and, we all were -- you should know kids sometimes do stupid things. They dart into the street without warning. They fail to heed basic traffic rules. They do the unexpected. And they do the unexpected at the most-unexpected times. Which means, as a driver, you need to expect it. First and foremost then, aside from driving with the utmost caution near schools and along routes kid use to get to and from schools, is understanding the law when it comes to school buses. Because nationwide scores of schoolkids die annually in school bus-related accidents -- most, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, killed by drivers after those kids have exited a school bus. Killed by drivers who fail to heed the danger and follow the law. New York state law requires all drivers to stop when approaching a school bus that is stopped and has its red warning lights flashing. That means traffic on either side of the road on all roads -- even on divided highways -- in New York. Failure to do so can range from a $250 fine for a first violation to a maximum fine of $1,000 for three violations in three years. Violators can be subject to a license suspension or revocation. The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles outlines the rules regarding driver interaction with school buses very clearly. They are as follows: *Before a school bus stops to load or unload passengers, the driver will flash yellow warning lights. When you see them, slow down and be prepared to stop; * Once the driver activates the red flashing lights, all drivers -- traveling in either direction -- are required to come to a complete stop at least 20 feet away from the stopped bus; * A driver cannot proceed again until the lights are deactivated -- or the bus driver waves a driver to proceed. This law applies to all roads in the state, including divided highways, parkways and expressways. Archaic as it seems, that means if a school bus is stopped with its red hazard lights flashing on the westbound side of the Long Island Expressway then all the vehicles on the westbound side of the expressway -- and all the vehicles on the eastbound side of the expressway -- are required to come to a complete stop. The same would be true with all vehicles traveling in either direction on the adjacent service roads. "In a practical sense in an urban situation, this might seem difficult to adhere to," AAA Automobile Club of New York spokesman Robert Sinclair said. "But, the fact is, it's the law -- and drivers need to stop. The thing is you're dealing with kids. You have to expect the unexpected. You have to assume a kid is going to do something untoward, because they're kids. They do silly things . . . Not knowing the law -- or, not heeding the law -- can lead to the death of a child. We all need to be very careful around areas where children are playing or where they frequent -- around playgrounds and schools and school buses -- and exercise extra caution."