A key transportation group charged that Mayor de Blasio’s budget falls short on his ambitious pledge to end traffic fatalities. Money to fix dangerous streets is “woefully inadequate” to reach the “Vision Zero” goal, according to a report by Transportation Alternatives. Members of the group spent Monday lobbying the City Council for more cash to rebuild streets. The de Blasio administration has launched a $250 million effort to target four deadly streets, including Queens Blvd. Over 10 years, total capital funding for rebuilding streets is $1.2 billion, which the advocacy group says won’t go far. “It would take 100 years to reconstruct all of our most dangerous streets,” said Alana Miller, the policy manager for Transportation Alternatives. De Blasio’s proposal actually represents a drop in the number of streets being rebuilt — 35 miles per year under the new budget, compared to an average of 47 miles over the … [Read more...] about Budget for De Blasio’s Vision Zero plan to fix dangerous streets is ‘woefully inadequate’: transport group
Transportation
Virginia school bus driver arrested for DUI while transporting kids: ‘She was out of it’
A Virginia school bus driver who was arrested for driving under the influence while transporting several children Monday needed police to hold her up as she stumbled while taking a sobriety test, a witness said. Dorothy Youngs, 60, is seen in cell phone footage struggling to walk a straight line in a parking lot after police, responding to 911 calls of a reckless driver, pulled her over in Virginia Beach. "The cop had to stop her from falling over. She was out of it, just laughing, had no idea what was going on," witness Hunter Moore told local station News Channel 3. "They started doing the finger, and then that wasn't working so they put her on the lines and she started falling," he said. Youngs was driving a privately-owned school bus full of students between the ages of 5 and 12 when concerned citizens allegedly saw her swerving about 3:30 p.m., the Virginia Beach Police Department said. She was strapped down in a stretcher after … [Read more...] about Virginia school bus driver arrested for DUI while transporting kids: ‘She was out of it’
Amtrak train crash was not caused by projectile object alone, transportation official says
A top official investigating last week’s deadly Amtrak derailment downplayed Sunday the theory that an object striking the windshield played a role in the crash. National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said on CBS' “Face the Nation” there was little evidence that damage to the train’s windshield hinted at someone possibly firing at the train moments before it flew off the rails, killing eight people and injuring over 200. "I've seen the fracture pattern; it looks like something about the size of a grapefruit, if you will, and it did not even penetrate the entire windshield," Sumwalt said. As Sumwalt emphasized that investigators hadn't ruled out any scenarios during several television appearances, Amtrak announced it expects service between New York and Philadelphia to be restored Monday. The possibility of a projectile somehow causing the catastrophe emerged last week. An assistant conductor told investigators … [Read more...] about Amtrak train crash was not caused by projectile object alone, transportation official says
Deadly malfeasance: Amtrak passengers paid with their lives for Washington’s neglect of transportation
The horrifying trainwreck in Philadelphia that killed at least seven and injured hundreds was a damnably preventable tragedy born of America’s refusal to invest in critical transportation systems. A painfully familiar scenario is playing out: Amtrak Train 188 hurtles at more than 100 miles per hour when it reaches a curve with a 50 mph speed limit. The engineer jams on the emergency brake, but is too late to prevent disaster. Railroad experts rage that the stretch of track was never equipped with a technology that forces trains to operate within speed limits. They call this technology positive train control. At a press briefing Wednesday, National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt could not have been clearer in stating that, had PTC been in place, there would have been no crash, no injuries, no deaths. Sumwalt was equally adamant in stating that, for years, the NTSB has placed a high priority on PTC as a life-saving device. … [Read more...] about Deadly malfeasance: Amtrak passengers paid with their lives for Washington’s neglect of transportation
Google Maps offers new Dragon, Loch Ness transportation options in UK
Google Maps is now showing Dragon and Loch Ness Monster routes because traveling by subway or taxi is too slow and boring. The legendary monster routes only appear to people in Great Britain when they look up real-time information about the best and quickest ways to get to places. It seems only two routes are available, however. The first route is from Snowdon—the highest mountain in Wales—to the Welsh mountain range Brecon Beacons. Instead of suggesting the typical three and a half hour drive, Google Maps will suggest a 32 minute ride by dragon. The Loch Ness route goes from Fort Augustus and Urquhart Castle. Instead of a 33 minute bus ride, Nessie would take passengers to the castle in the Scottish Highlands in just 22 minutes. This is not the first time that Google Maps has hid Easter eggs like this. In April it turned its grids into a classic arcade game of Pac-Man and in 2014 it transformed its user interface … [Read more...] about Google Maps offers new Dragon, Loch Ness transportation options in UK
EXCLUSIVE: Mother of college student who drowned in car set to sue city, Department of Transportation
The mother of a college student who tragically drowned when a car he was riding in plunged into a Queens creek is set to file a lawsuit Thursday against the city and the Department of Transportation for failing to fix a deadly “trap-like” condition, the Daily News has learned. Darius Fletcher, a 21-year old senior at William Patterson University in New Jersey, died along with three friends when the car’s driver lost control and skidded past a dead end and down an embankment into the water on April 6, 2014. There was no barrier or guardrail at the end 19th Ave. near 37th St., which is a dead end. Scott Rynecki, the lawyer for Velma Elliott, Fletcher's mother, found Google Map photos of the Astoria scene taken 14 months before the tragedy, which show there was no barrier then either. But sometime later, the city installed two “Dead End” street signs 470-feet west of the embankment, according to NYPD evidence photos. “It is our contention … [Read more...] about EXCLUSIVE: Mother of college student who drowned in car set to sue city, Department of Transportation
WATCH: St. Louis man assaulted on public transportation after declining to discuss Michael Brown (WARNING: Contains Graphic Content)
A white man from St. Louis says he was brutally assaulted on a commuter train after he told a black man he didn't have an opinion about the Michael Brown case, while amused onlookers refused to come to his aid. The victim, David Autry, says he doesn't plan to use public transportation for a while. Autry, 43, said the assault occurred just after 10 p.m. March 23 while he was riding the city's light-rail MetroLink system, he told TV Station KMOV. The incident started when a man asked Autry if he could use his cell phone and then asked his opinion about Brown, whose death at the hands of police in Ferguson, Mo., last summer sparked protests across the country. Autry said he told the man he hadn't thought much about it, and the answer led to a violent confrontation. Another passenger in the back of the vehicle recorded the violent interaction, but nobody came to his aid. I think it was disgusting that no one (helped). "I think it was disgusting … [Read more...] about WATCH: St. Louis man assaulted on public transportation after declining to discuss Michael Brown (WARNING: Contains Graphic Content)
Study finds 100% of women in Paris have been victims of sexual harassment on public transportation
The French government has been urged to crack down on sexual harassment after the publication of a shocking survey involving Parisian women. A study of 600 women in two suburbs of the French capital asked if any of them had suffered sexual harassment while traveling on public transportation, reports the Local. One hundred percent of the women replied they had. The harassment involved "any kind of words or behavior that are intended to create a situation that is intimidating, humiliating, degrading or offensive." The government's health minister Marisol Touraine told French TV the government would act on the report, which she said was of "high quality." She said the government would "take action" within weeks. The report was carried out by the High Council for Equality. It spoke to women in the Paris suburbs of Seine-Saint-Denis and Essonne. One 26-year-old woman told the Local that Paris was the worst city she had lived in for sexual harassment. "The … [Read more...] about Study finds 100% of women in Paris have been victims of sexual harassment on public transportation
No specific plan to close the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $15 billion capital program budget gap
Subway riders right now should be feeling like diehard Mets fans in July. The best you can say is “wait till next year.” Gov. Cuomo and the state Legislature are deep into budget negotiations for the state’s fiscal year starting April 1. But no one in Albany is advancing a specific plan to close the $15 billion gap in the MTA’s capital program. “I don’t think I’ve heard anyone bring it up, either publicly or privately,” one veteran reporter who covers state government said Friday. Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Tom Prendergast has testified before some Senate and Assembly budget committees. But the focus shifts elsewhere before Prendergast is even back on the Thruway driving south. “I haven’t heard of it as a front-burner issue,” another scribe stationed in Albany said. The 2015-2019 capital program drafted by MTA planners envisions $32 billion in system maintenance, repairs and upgrades, … [Read more...] about No specific plan to close the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $15 billion capital program budget gap
Bill de Blasio, other mayor slam federal transportation cuts, call for more money for infrastructure
BOSTON — Mayor de Blasio joined other mayors from around the country in Boston on Monday to denounce looming federal transportation cuts and push for more money for infrastructure. The group raised alarm over $50 billion in federal transportation funding that is set to expire in May — which would cost the New York City area $2 billion a year, officials warned. "The failure to invest in transportation, the failure to invest in infrastructure, is holding us back," de Blasio said, speaking alongside a group of more than 15 mayors at historic Faneuil Hall. "If we don't do it, we should not be surprised that we keep falling behind." The mayors of Seattle, Baltimore and Minneapolis all echoed the complaint that flat federal funding over the last 13 years has left them with crumbling roads and bridges, over-stuffed commuter trains, and in some cases more deadly problems like bridge collapses. They announced plans to descend on Washington on May 11, along with business, … [Read more...] about Bill de Blasio, other mayor slam federal transportation cuts, call for more money for infrastructure