by Stephen SmithIn the past few years, a relatively new phenomenon seems to be taking hold in cities across North Jersey: the jitney. Similar to the dollar vans that ply the streets of Brooklyn and Queens, jitneys carry more than a taxi but less than a full-sized bus, and run semi-regular … [Read more...]
Internalizing positive transit externalities
by Stephen SmithThe Wall Street Journal ran an article a few days ago claiming that the MTA's recent NYC transit cuts have lowered real estate prices along train and bus lines that have been axed. While it's not a quantitative study, the anecdotes are compelling: "The buyer who buys in Astoria … [Read more...]
Food deserts and zoning
by Stephen SmithThe other day I put up a post detailing the restrictions that small-scale restaurants and food carts face, but I should mention that grocery stores and supermarkets also face similar restrictions. Like restrictions on restaurants, they end hitting poor, urban, black … [Read more...]
Even Midtown Manhattan not immune to anti-density NIMBYism
by Stephen SmithIn general, I think of Manhattan below Central Park as perhaps the freest place in America in terms of land use restrictions. There are no minimum parking regulations, zoning variances are relatively easy to get, and FAR restrictions are relatively generous. Historical … [Read more...]
Private buses make a comeback in NYC
by Stephen SmithTransit activists have been bemoaning recent cuts in the MTA's bus routes throughout New York City, but the cuts may have a silver lining, in particular for market urbanists: they may usher in the return of private buses to the streets of New York City. Private buses (and … [Read more...]
What Would Moses Do? (Robert Moses, that is…)
(Map of Robert Moses' unbuilt proposals via “vanshnookenraggen.”) Sandy Ikeda blogs: If Moses were around today I don’t think he’d waste any time getting every major project he could think of “shovel ready” for hundreds of billions of stimulus money. While he’s no longer with us, I do fear … [Read more...]
NY Rent Control Revival
In an act of pure legislative idiocy in the face of overwhelming consensus among economists against rent control, the New York State Assembly started the ball rolling to strengthen rent regulation. NY Times:The Democratic-led Assembly passed a broad package of legislation designed to restrain … [Read more...]
MTA Rider Report Card: an F for Incentive Structure
This morning, as I stepped to the stairway that brings me into Brooklyn's 86th street subway station on the R line, I was greeted by two MTA employees who handed me MTA's 'Rider Report Card' to fill out and mail in. As I started down the steps, I noticed something different than the usual routine; … [Read more...]