When I told people that I was going to New York to intern with the DOT, many asked why.  People imaging that the DOT’s job consists of running the subway and dealing with traffic complaints.  Once I explained that I was interested in alternative transportation and that the NYC DOT was a front-runner in this progressive urban transformation, people still doubted my decision. I was often told that no one bikes in NYC, it’s far too dangerous, the traffic problem in NYC is doomed, and that I will be very frustrated with the whole situation. On the contrary, I have been blown away by the hopeful attitude towards transportation in New York. Despite negative media coverage of the odd NIMBY complaint, most New Yorkers support the DOT’s efforts to change the streets. Much of this support comes from the safety message underlying all DOT projects. A sense of entitlement and fear haunt the NYC streets and the DOT is doing everything in their power to change this culture to one of respect for all street users.

Pedestrian commuters enjoy the new people-friendly Broadway corridor.

Much of my work at the DOT this month has involved safety, namely, how to keep people safe on the notoriouslychaotic New York City streets. Despite their perilous reputation, NYC streets have become some of the safest in the US.  2009 marked the safest year on record, posting an all-time low number of traffic fatalities. NYC is also ranked among some of the safest street cities internationally. In fact, NYC is ahead of prominent pedestrian cities like Copenhagen and San Francisco, and on par with others like Amsterdam and Portland Oregon. New York’s traffic fatality rate is about one-quarter of the national rate; it might be even safer to walk or bike on these streets than in downtown Middlebury.

Safety is absolutely paramount to every project at the DOT. It would be impossible to push a livable and sustainable agenda without addressing safety, as every mode of transportation requires people to feel comfortable on the streets. Whether walking, cycling, or taking public transportation, the commuter will come into contact with other vehicles and other people. Therefore, the DOT takes a comprehensive approach to street safety, aimed to enhance the safety of all street users, not just pedestrians and cyclists.  Targeted engineering solutions and neighborhood awareness groups, holistic street re-designs, and media campaigns are all tactics the DOT is employing to improve safety. I find the most interesting to be the comprehensive street re-designs that use pedestrian and cycling infrastructure as secondary street-calming devices. DOT studies have actually shown that streets with a bicycle lane have 40% fewer crashes involving injury or death. The theory is that when drivers have less space and more distractions on the road, they actually drive more safety as they are forced to pay more attention to their surroundings. Though counter-intuitive, reducing travel lanes and adding multi-modal features to a road will make it safer for everyone.

The transformation of Madion Square in the summer of 2010 illustrates how street changes to improve pedestrian and cycling quality can also help traffic safety. A bike lane (1), and travel lanes converted into public space (2,3,4) make the square safer for everyone.

This concept is one that, understandably, receives much skepticism in the media and even in neighborhoods where the designs occur. People feel that if there is less room for cars and more distractions, there will be more crashes, even though research has shown that this is not the case. Most of the re-designs have also not caused a significant increase in travel time, due to changes in stop-light timing and, in many cases, a reduction in the amount of traffic. Across New York, Community Board meetings (similar to town hall meetings in suburban or rural towns) are filled with the back and forth arguments over bike lanes, crossing refuge islands, and pedestrian walkways. Perhaps if the link between safety and the street re-designs was clearer, people would be more willing to accept the changes. Seeing this, the DOT is currently trying very hard to push the safety agenda and connect it to their new streets.

All of this makes me see the DOT in a new light. I, like many others, was unaware that street safety was part of the DOT jurisdiction. However, it makes sense to me that the agency that controls the streets would also be in charge of safety. This is also something that I, born and raised in semi-rural Maine, never considered to be the huge undertaking that it is in a city. I took for granted that it was one’s personal responsibility to look out for them-self on the street and that accidents happened because of carelessness that could not be prevented. I certainly did not know all the ways to improve safety through physical changes to the road. I looked at the whole street transformation process as helping people on a convenience and quality-of-life level, and helping the environment by reducing cars. Now I see, however, that it can be used as a vital safety tool, improving not just the quality of life, but very presence of life, on city streets.

This weekend I had the incredible experience of attending the first ever Youth Bicycle Summit, organized and run by the community program, Recycle-A-Bicycle (RAB).  This organization began as a youth training program that took donated and discarded bicycles and taught teens, mostly from underprivileged families, the basics of bicycle maintenence. In addition to teaching this valuable skill and providing a safe, fun atmosphere for unstructured after school time, RAB’s Earn-A-Bike program allowed these kids to reap the rewards of their labor by building a bike for themselves to keep. This program has grown in the 10-ish years since it’s inception and now includes 2 retail stores, 3 training centers, and multiple outreach programs in schools and community centers all over New York City. The program has also expanded its repertoire to include environmental and health-related education in addition to bicycle maintenance and advocacy.

After attending the National Bike Summit with two youth delegates, the director of RAB decided that the whole movement was missing a youth voice.  Out of this grew the idea for a Youth Bike Summit, held at the New School, for young people to gather and share stories, brainstorm advocacy techniques, and learn from workshops how to broadcast the youth voice in the bicycle movement.  An inspiring group of 200 youth and adult supporters convened Maine, New Jersey,  Connecticut, Philadelphia, and all the way from Arizona.  Many were from groups, similar to RAB, that provide education and training for disadvantaged youth in urban settings; groups such as Bikes not Bombs from Boston, Community Cycling Center from Biddeford Maine, and Bicycle Inter-Community Art & Salvage from Tuscon Arizona all attended the Summit.

The Keynote addresses in the morning included a manifest call-to-action by the Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Kahn.  She described the wonderful progress of New York city streets but made clear that opposition is strong and the battle is just beginning to transform American culture into one that celebrates and respects bikes. She announced that a loud, clear voice from all cycling advocates, especially the youth, will go a long way to realizing this goal.  The second keynote address, given by a Manhattan College student Kimberly White, spoke of how cycling and community programs like RAB changed her life and allowed her to discover meaning and passion outside of her run-down Brooklyn neighborhood.  Both speakers successfully set the tone for a productive day of discussion, learning, and sharing for all participants.

The morning workshops, presented by members of the different community organizations, outside speakers, and RAB employees, centered around techniques to create youth programs, bicycle advocacy groups, and other environmental initiatives.  I attended a fascinating talk by the creator of GreenMaps, an environmental mapping group that provides schools, companies, governmental groups, and individuals tools to make their own “green” maps of their neighborhoods, towns, or cities. The second workshop I attended was run by the director of Biddeford’s Community Cycling Center, who talked about effective ways to mentor children and young adults. Other programs included tools for starting your own youth bike group, basic bicycle maintenance skills, and stories from the attending groups on their respective successes and challenges.

After a rousing lecture by the Alliance for Climate Education at lunch, I set up a tape recorder and worked to compile an oral history of the participants at the Summit (the reason I was able to attend as a volunteer). With no idea what to expect, I was blown away by the conversations I had and stories I learned from these children.

I spoke with about 20 participants, almost all male, and all between the ages of 10 and 20. The goal of this project was to orally compile the stories of the youth bicycle movement and the inspirations and reasons for engaging in bicycle advocacy. My questions started with “When did you learn to ride a bike?” and “What’s your favorite place to ride?” and ranged to “Why should youth care about the bicycle movement?” and “What support would help you as we proceed?” With graceful articulateness, each participant voiced their passion for cycling, whether as an after school activity that got them off the streets, or a demanding sport that pushes their limits on the roads, mountain slopes or at a BMX park.  Each had different reasons for their interest in bicycle advocacy: promoting a safe youth alternative, healthy lifestyle, environmentally-conscious mode of travel, or simply the independence youth have on a bicycle seat. They all opened my mind, one of a privileged Middlebury college student who sees the world through green-tinted shades, to the many other reasons behind alternative transportation.  I hope very much that the inspiring work accomplished at this Youth Bike Summit can transpire through the bicycle movement and eventually make a difference in the many streets that need changing.  I hope that the youth bicycle advocates can make their amazing stories and passion heard above the din of critics and close-minded opposition.  And finally, I feel extremely lucky that I was able to meet these crusaders and participate in this incredible fervor of hope, excitement, and activism.

To even begin to understand New York, it seems absolutely vital to try and understand the transportation network. I feel this way despite my educational bias and reason for being in the city, as I have spoken to friends here for completely different reasons, who feel the same way.  The seemingly incomprehensible web of the underground subway network and its many tricks and inconsistencies, is to many a point of pride. Just yesterday, the clamor of local knowledge and competition that arose from a woman’s barely audible uttrance of “which stop do I get off…” quickly squashed my growing confidence in my own understanding of the system. I have heard many times since being here that only a true New Yorker can understand the subway, but there seem to be discrepancies even among locals.  A rather heated argument broke out between two helpful bystanders about whether the woman should stay on the 4 and swtich to the 2 by walking from 149th or switch to the 5 sooner and make the transfer underground.  Everyone seems to have their own opinion of what is the fastest and easiest way to navigate the system using loopholes that, of course, only true New Yorkers know about.

The system was not originally built for ease or speed, however; it was created by competing private and public projects that were  clumsily merged under the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 1968.  As such, these competing systems were not meant to connect. The MTA has been struggling to build transfers since that time, resulting in an astounding network of near-misses and gauche underground stations. For an outsider new to the system, I am still awed by the MTA’s relative effeciency. Sure, trains are often late, crammed full of people, and backed-up on top of each other, but the fact that they run at all, let alone roughly on schedule, is amazing considering the gigantic population they transport.

A man casually talks on the phone as he participates in the Underwear Mob in the Union Square 14th Street station.

Some of the many underwear mobbers in Union Square 14th Street subway station. While they went about their usual activities, those of us caught unaware stared unabashedly, snapping pictures and stifling giggles.

The consolidated New York subway system, one of the largest mass transit systems in the world, provides a forum for large scale visibility. Ads are one thing, but this weekend I experienced first hand the powerful potential of public campaigns on the subway. A flash “underwear mob,” apparently a national event, descended on the subway as I made my way back from a downtown exploration of Union Square. Apparently, this 7th annual No Pants Subway Ride event prompted 900 people to take a trip in their underwear simply to cause a stir and make people smile. In addition to the entertainment value, I was impressed by the huge forum provided by the subway for this type of event.  Nowhere else have I seen such a casually effective setting, something that can impact so many people.

I took the crosstown bus this morning, the only way to get from the East to the West sides through Central Park, and was surprised at the antiquated speed at which it weaved through Manhattan. I was also surprised by the user group, who tended to get on and off every two or three blocks. Granted, the city received upwards of 8 inches of snow the night before, but the reluctance of these New Yorkers to walk a few blocks was shocking as I consider walking one of the major forms of transportation in the city. The sluggish bus was forced to stop sometimes twice on every block for red lights and to let new people on.  It is no surprise to me that the DOT, who runs the streets, and the MTA, who runs the buses, have been working together to build a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system.  The idea is to renovate the prehistoric bus system with bus-only lanes, censor-attuned green lights, and pre-boarding payment to make the system more appealing to long-distance commuters.

Pilot programs up and down 1st and 2nd avenues and in various locations through the city have proven successful and I can only hope, on behalf of E-W Manhattan travelers, that it will be implemented cross town as well.

Presumably this bus system would be used by commuters traveling shorter distances  and the subway would be reserved for those traveling across multiple boroughs.

As much as I prefer the subway, I do feel it is vital to improve and expand other forms of mass transit in the city. New York transit is over capacity. Rush hour trains bursting from the seams roll in and out of stations stranding many, many people who don’t stand a chance of pushing their bodies through the sliding doors. People stand pressed together, arms and legs straining in unison against the jolting bus movement, waiting through 5, 7, 10 stops until the bus finally travels their 15 blocks. Ever an optimist, I believe that bicycle lanes will eventually provide an alternative to many. But until cycling becomes mainstream and accepted as a major means of transport, and even then because no optimist can assume that this will attract everyone, mass transportation must improve and provide options to all types of commuters. I also truly believe that no matter how many improvements are made, no matter how many ineffeciencies are fixed, only true New Yorkers will ever be able to understand the infamous transportation system.

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The Times Square pedestrian plaza featuring Brooklyn-based artist Molly Dilworth's mural "Cool Water, Hot Island."

Observation presents a huge opportunity for learning about street planning and transportation policy in New York City.  A large piece of my education so far has been witnessing the work that the DOT has been implementing to improve city quality of life. This is why I came to New York in the first place, to use experiential and place based education to learn about the DOT and urban transportation policy.

It only made sense to start at Times Square, the most famed example of how the DOT is dramatically changing street-scapes to accommodate people rather than exclusively vehicles. Even at 11AM on a Wednesday morning in January, with temperatures approaching 30, the plaza was full of people sightseeing, commuting on foot, and sitting outside (!) to enjoy lunch or a coffee. The mural painted to demarcate the plaza from the street was bold enough to match the glitz and glamor of Times Square, but not so much to distract from the other sights.  It seemed to me a very effective and attractive way to define a pedestrian plaza.

Simple planters separate the Times Square plaza from busy 7th Avenue.

Planters, another elegant method of separating pedestrians from the street, adorned the sides of the plaza. These movable barriers serve not only to protect walkers from passing cars, but also add to the atmosphere of the plaza, introducing a much-needed element of greenery into the city.  Though some argue that a more permanent delineation is necessary, I like the flexibility these planters provide. If an event requires more space to be blocked from the street, they can be easily moved, to create a stage, dance floor, or reception space.  From an aesthetic standpoint, I like that the different sized and shaped plants are pulled together with similar pots to create a uniform, but visually interesting, barrier.

Signs marking bicycle lanes along with bicycle-only traffic signals on Broadway between Times and Herald Squares signify a paradigm shift on New York City streets.

It looks like Copenhagen! This is the first I’ve seen of these small bicycle traffic lights in America. They were all over Copenhagen and I thought it was so wild over there that cyclists not only got their own lane, but also their own lights! They seem to blend in to the landscape here such that pedestrians or motorists may miss it if they weren’t looking. It seems to symbolize how the bicycle culture is slowly being integrated into the city, not obtrusively, but systematically and steadily, a change hopefully incremental enough to not garner excessive negative attention. It’s lovely how easily both the lights and the Bike Path signs fit in, like they aren’t new at all. I especially like the old-style car on the no-cars sign.

Protected bicycle lane and adjacent seating area on Broadway between Times and Herald Squares.

This is Broadway, the road renowned for its arterial strength both in New York City culture and as a central auto-route. Half of the road has been transformed into this human landscape, a shockingly welcoming scale amidst the enormity of downtown Manhattan. In addition to improving the aesthetic feel and lively culture of Broadway, this change provides more space for movement, creating an additional walkway on one of the busiest pedestrian streets in America.

With all the new bike lanes in the city, bicycle parking is becoming more of a concern. Car parking still outnumbers bicycle parking, promoting car culture, though the tide is shifting.

Another DOT project involves creating more space for bicycle parking, an issue that is escalating as cycling increases in the city. Several design competitions have occurred to find an elegant but functional solution to bicycle parking.  In the meantime, however, cyclists park on benches, signposts, streetlamps, and any other object that can secure a bicycle. This visual element in the street-scape is a stark sign that the culture of New York streets is changing. Hopefully there will come a day when cyclist needs are just as urgent as car-drivers’ and will be addressed equally.

Bryant Park, a beautifully designed park with trees, plants, outdoor seating, paid cafe seating, a seasonal ice rink, and an outdoor craft and artisan market.

I remember hearing about Bryant Park as a mecca for drugs and crime back in the day and was shocked to read the name of this beautiful gem a few blocks away from Times Square. A poster child for urban regeneration, this exquisite park seems lively at all times during the day. I was told that while many homeless and derelict people still frequent this park, they now have places to sit, sleep, and rest, while the remainder of the gentrified park moves obliviously around them. Aside from Central Park, this is one of the greenest places I have seen in the city. Large trees and hedges of shrubs encircle pathways and seating areas, providing an extremely romantic setting for the seasonal ice skating rink. Bryant park is truly one of the more beautiful places I think I’ve seen in the city.

A mother and daughter take in the famed view of the Statue of Liberty from the waterfront in Battery Park, downtown Manhattan.

Perhaps New York’s second most famous open space, Battery Park is host to some of the most famous views in America’s history. Every day hundreds, thousands, of tourists gaze out upon this beacon of American genesis and pride. Other memorials laid throughout the park venerating soldiers, late political leaders, and American heroes, add to the historical significance of this entry point to American soil. In a brilliant pubic show of the city’s emerging environmentalism, the rich scent of Christmas pines drifted from mulch beds, a result of the Department of Parks and Recreation’s second annual “Mulchfest,” a Christmas tree recycling program.

This brief outline of my urban wanderings will continue as I explore the multitude of open spaces, plazas, parks, and livable streets this city has to offer.

“Cities are organisms. They have metabolisms. They are linked to their regions through complex networks, both natural and cultivated, that circulate biological nutrition-food, wood, fiber, water-and technical nutrition-the hardware and software of the 21st century. These flows of nutrients are the twin metabolisms of the living city.” William McDonough & Michael Braungart in The Living City.

I had never thought of New York, or any city for that matter, truly as a living organism.  I always took this concept as an environmental one, that a city, just as a living thing, must be part of balanced and sustainable networks, consumption, and waste practices. As a young tourist visiting the city, I saw big buildings, glamorous and diverse people, fast moving vehicles, man-made objects all around me, and chaos. I saw no order, no rhythm, and it overwhelmed me absolutely.

This time, I am approaching the city as something to study and critically observe its networks and connections though an internship with the New York City Department of Transportation. And this time, I feel part of the organism. The trains pump people into the heart of the city, dropping thousands off in the center and streaming many into the outer boroughs. The rhythm of life fluctuates, pulsating rapidly in the morning and evening and waning throughout the day. This steady pulse of people feeds the city’s vital organs located throughout midtown and downtown Manhattan.

But I also find this cliche metaphor far too simplified. Even from my extremely minimal wanderings and conversations, I can see the fierce pride in the differences between the boroughs, and even the neighborhoods within. To name these merely appendages to the central body of the city is severely underselling these distinct districts. Though true that most New Yorkers commute from the outer boroughs into  Manhattan, evident in the readings I have done on DOT plans for train and bus upgrades (PlaNYC), each borough seems to have its own center, or many centers, teeming with life, and is no more peripheral than Manhattan itself. And I suppose that these are each organisms on their own, changing to meet the needs of their inhabitants, growing and shrinking as they take in and spit out, consuming and expelling waste just as any natural ecosystem. This is a process Jane Jacobs deemed dynamic and synergistic, something that helps human organisms understand how to create cities that benefit us as a species. This is also a concept that drives many DOT plans; the idea that cities can be constantly changing to best fit the population of the time and facilitate all human needs.

To touch briefly on my initial observations of the DOT, it is a well run, VERY large machine. Each branch under the Commissioner, and each sub-committee within each branch, works together on countless initiatives and projects to improve New York streets for pedestrians, cyclists, drivers, and, importantly, commuters. PlaNYC focuses much of its effort on the latter, as this seems to be the largest transportation problem facing New Yorkers. Plans to expand and improve trains, buses, ferries, walkways, and bike paths are all directed towards helping the commuter, the lifeblood of the city.

In Here is New York (1948) E.B. White describes the impact of the commuter very differently, describing “…the New York of the commuter–the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night.”  White’s commuter, perhaps a product of the time, uses and abuses the city during the day and leaves it at night to lay still until it is assaulted again the next day.  This commuter has no connection with the city other than to wring money out for personal use. The only city they know is the inside of their cars or trains and their cubicle, they know nothing of the streets or life outside of their office building.  This is, I believe, the stigma that the DOT is struggling to fight, one of its many battles. If the commuter can come into contact with the city through their chosen means of transport, the city will no longer be merely something to consume. Whether traveling from the outer boroughs or within Manhattan, whether traveling by subway, bus, bicycle, foot, or car, the DOT strives to make this commute a positive experience. Their goals to improve urban transportation are not only necessary from an efficiency and sustainability standpoint, facing the predicted population growth and climate crisis, but from a psychological standpoint as well, aiding in the formation of a communal city. By reducing the amount of individual automobile travelers, a community is formed. I feel this unspoken community of travelers, all going different places for different reasons, but all using the same machines, all subject to the same delays and whims of the system.

To help orient myself, I drew a quick mental map of the city based on my experiences over the first 5 days in the city, from Dec. 30 to Jan. 3. It is inaccurate and incomplete, but nonetheless a visual narrative of the lines and nodes that have created my experience in the city so far. I will try to create these mental maps every so often throughout my month here to visually and geographically track my understanding of the city.