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Why It's So Hard to Get From Brooklyn to Queens

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Re: Why It's So Hard to Get From Brooklyn to Queens

#81

Post by Crake »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #54
decktech wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is good advice, but it's never worked for me. I've never hailed a cab in which they didn't have the doors locked until you tell them where you want to go. I even had one cab speed off while I was still holding the door handle when I told him I just wanted to go five blocks south (in Chelsea, in the snow), I figured he though I was going to change my mind when I got in. I don't take cabs anymore.

I've never had a cab keep their doors locked when I waved one down; maybe the neighborhood matters? (I live around 145th and Broadway; sometimes I take a cab after going out drinking, which probably means one of the villages, or thereabouts.

We're almost neighbors! Sort of. I live about 15 streets up.

Re: Why It's So Hard to Get From Brooklyn to Queens

#82

Post by DrJokepu »

tzs wrote: post #79

> Ever try to get from Brooklyn to Queens, two of the most populated boroughs of New York City? Without a car, it's nearly impossible, as most subway lines require one to go through Manhattan first. Could someone explain this to those of us who have never been to New York and whose only knowledge of its subways comes from TV and movies? The impression I get from subway travel as depicted on TV and in movies is that t…

Such a journey would take a very long time, between 50 and 90 minutes depending on the time of the day and the exact starting point / destination.

Re: Why It's So Hard to Get From Brooklyn to Queens

#83

Post by robertnealan »

tzs wrote: post #79

> Ever try to get from Brooklyn to Queens, two of the most populated boroughs of New York City? Without a car, it's nearly impossible, as most subway lines require one to go through Manhattan first. Could someone explain this to those of us who have never been to New York and whose only knowledge of its subways comes from TV and movies? The impression I get from subway travel as depicted on TV and in movies is that t…

To add on to DrJokepu, while trains depart frequently it can take quite a long time to get from the middle of Brooklyn/Queens, loop through Manhattan, and then go back out to the middle of the other, especially if it's a local train that stops at every station (versus express trains which only stop at select stations).

As someone who had no idea how huge New York really is until I visited for my first time, Google Maps shows the center of Queens and center of Brooklyn being a 12.7 mile drive apart. If you have to loop through Manhattan that turns into a nearly 30 mile loop.

Re: Why It's So Hard to Get From Brooklyn to Queens

#84

Post by mkopinsky »

DrJokepu wrote: post #82
tzs wrote: post #79

> Ever try to get from Brooklyn to Queens, two of the most populated boroughs of New York City? Without a car, it's nearly impossible, as most subway lines require one to go through Manhattan first. Could someone explain this to those of us who have never been to New York and whose only knowledge of its subways comes from TV and movies? The impression I get from subway travel as depicted on TV and in movies is that t…

Such a journey would take a very long time, between 50 and 90 minutes depending on the time of the day and the exact starting point / destination.

For example, consider this journey:

https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!data=!1m4!1m3!1d83509!2...

30 minutes by car, 1:18 by public transit.

Re: Why It's So Hard to Get From Brooklyn to Queens

#85

Post by seiji »

jrockway wrote: post #69
seiji wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had relationships fall apart because of the four mile G problem. To round it up, Court Square to the Park Slope areas is easily an hour when waiting for trains to arrive. Two hours round trip is why I left the Bay Area transit wasteland for cripessake.

You moved across the country for better transit and you chose Queens ?

Honest reply: at that time, I lived two houses down from the Court Square E/M/G/7 station and 0.3 miles away from an N/Q stop (and another 0.2 miles away from an E/M/R), so everything was pretty much right there.

Re: Why It's So Hard to Get From Brooklyn to Queens

#86

Post by seiji »

Crake wrote: post #80
seiji wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had relationships fall apart because of the four mile G problem. To round it up, Court Square to the Park Slope areas is easily an hour when waiting for trains to arrive. Two hours round trip is why I left the Bay Area transit wasteland for cripessake.

Have you considered switching boroughs?

Suggestions?

Re: Why It's So Hard to Get From Brooklyn to Queens

#87

Post by tzs »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #56
evanb wrote: post #29

There's an excellent podcast episode of 99% Invisible which discusses the analogous thing that happened to the Red Car in Los Angeles. http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/episode-70-the-great-r...

This story is one of the big reasons LA (despite the weather) is not a great place to live. It has been unwalkable with a few exceptions. Though public transit is being slowly rebuilt from destruction, talk to most Angelenos and they don't even know there is a subway, much less use it. Also, there is a certain segment of the population that fights denser development that would encourage transit improvements. I don't…

> Also, there is a certain segment of the population that fights denser development that would encourage transit improvements. I don't really understand why such a person would live in Hollywood, for example.

Walkscore.com gives Hollywood a Walk Score of 97, which is described as a "Walker's Paradise" which means that daily errands do not require a car, or it gives it an 87, which means most daily errands do not require a car. (It gives different scores depending on how you search for it--I think the 97 is if it centers the map on Santa Monica Boulevard, and the 87 if it centers it farther north).

So maybe you find people living in Hollywood who are not worried about transit improvements because their neighborhood is fine without transit?

Re: Why It's So Hard to Get From Brooklyn to Queens

#89

Post by ceras »

nine_k wrote: post #72
wmf wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On point 2, presumably the government has no vested interest in any particular form of mass transit and thus would choose the most efficient one, while the private companies (in this case) are accused of using buses to prop up other businesses (cars, tires, and oil).

I wish I lived in the idyllic world which your sentence describes. It always puzzles me when people presume that governments or public offices act more virtuously, free from vested interests, agendas, prejudices, etc. I would understand it if governments imported their staff from angels. In reality, they have to hire the same human beings that private corporations hire.

I think the idea is that accountability to voters helps keep things in line.

If you're in a situation where you believe a natural monopoly to be inevitable, it's not necessarily flawed reasoning.

Re: Why It's So Hard to Get From Brooklyn to Queens

#90

Post by mkopinsky »

lstamour wrote: post #50
brudgers wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The meaningful difference is not between rails and tires. It is between dedicated rights-of-way and one shared with automotive traffic. When buses get dedicated right-of-way, as in Curitiba they provide similar service levels to subways .

Actually, I'd say it really comes down to rails and tires. Streetcars can be given the same rights-of-way as buses and would perform similarly, except: the streetcar is a smoother ride. I can grab breakfast and eat it on a streetcar knowing there's only one direction of motion to worry about. On a bus, however, you can never tell which way you'll be jerked around. It really is much less pleasant, even if it's faster…

Can someone who's taken the new MTA Select Bus Service busses comment on whether they are smoother than regular busses? I took an MTA bus today for the first time in a long while and it was uncomfortably bumpy.
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