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A Double Parker's Manifesto


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This nonsense makes me never want to own a car and makes me want to be on the road as a vehicle operator as little as possible.

A Double Parker's Manifesto, by jcoltrane

Read this here if you want (see pages 1 and 3): http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-york-city/1777293-double-parking-busy-streets-where-buses.html

#10 
01-21-2013, 05:03 AM
jcoltrane
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Listening to you two is a bit amusing!!

Two things mentioned are true.

One, who CARES about the bus??!! Particularly on Nostrand Avenue. Sorry, if it offends, but in Brooklyn ONLY kids and poor people ride busses!!!

In Bed Stuy, Crown Heights, the people affected are on the low end.

Once down by Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Nostrand opens up considerably, but things do get tight between Linden and Church, then things open up again!!

The fact is ticketing Has increased significantly on Nostrand from Empire to Church! Try double parking in front of Allen's Bakery with regularity, eventually you will be ticketed. Back in the day when there were fewer bakeries Allan's used to be notorious!

Church and Nostrand is another notorious spot, not only a busy commerical spot, but also, a major Two Fare Zone subway stop (for East Flatbush). So, lots of taxis and private cars dropping people off and picking people up.

The fact is that spot is policed heavily, to the chagrin of residents, especially during rush hours, to discourage the 'Dollar vans/cars' which compete with MTA buses.

I once got into a chest to chest with a (black) cop, for disrespectfully addressing my GF, while she was dropping me at the station, on my way to work. Cop needed to show some difference, given who we were!

So, as far as policing, things aren't quite as it may appear.

Second, absolutely correct, it is not so much "who you know", but rather who you ARE!

For example, Plaza Auto Mall pays a LOT more *taxes* and has a lot more clout, than the average bus rider!!!

Similarly, with the commercial strips, Double Parking serves the business owners who pay the taxes and are necessary to have a *viable* neighborhood!! They also provide employment and economic activity, which is vital, particularly in the poorer areas.

These people matter more than the bus riders!

Now, take Prospect Lefferts Gardens (actually it is the very edge of the neighborhood, and is more fully the old "Pigtown" area), back in the day there was very little ticketing, and traffic flowed relatively smoothly. Then Allan's became more and more popular, and more and more people from all over the area, and particularly outside the neighborhoods, increasingly frequented the Bakery. Easter is the absolute worst, as Carribeans have traditional Bakery goods which they eat on that day. Allan's in those days, had lines ALL the way out the store and down the block, with half hour waits!! 

Double AND triple parking became such an issue, that the middle and upper middle residents, many of whom were politically connected, used their clout to get the situation under control.

So, again, who you are does matter. The people riding the bus, aren't anybody. Perhaps unfortunate, but such is life.

One thing that WILL alter things, for the worst, imo, will be these STUPID *BRT* lanes the Mayor and his administration have planned for Nostrand; or have they already been implemented?

This planned stupidity is going to create an absolute traffic nightmare!! Nostrand Avenue is simply not wide enough to implement such a thing.

****

Btw, what are doing on the bus for such a length passing thru so many neighborhoods? On your way to school? Kingsborough??

If so, why not take the subway, then switch to the bus at Flatbush. Faster for sure.

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#22 
01-21-2013, 06:04 PM
jcoltrane
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SeventhFloor 
This. Back in the '80s there would be triple parking on Nostrand Avenue for Allan's. My pops knows him personally and we would always stop in for pound cake, sugar cake, harddough bread and meat patties.
I DO remember the days....

A lot better these days, as the store has been enlarged, containing the line AND making for faster service. Today, you are far more likely to get ticketed. If I recall, I was ticketed for parking at a hydrant right around the corner on Maple, next to Mr. Arrington's old office. Ran in, ran out, and SHT!

Back in the day, such would NEVER occur, so the OP is not fully aware of present policing, despite the continued traffic issues.

On the now rare occaisons I'm over there, it is sheer stubborn refusal to change habits which causes me to continue to double park and park at that hydrant, which once was so common to the neighborhood.

I must add, the area was far less dense, when the habits of a lifetime were formed.

Btw, even I used to get pissed at the "triple" parkers, not much of that nowadays! Not sure where else on Nostrand they triple park, but not surprised.

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#23 
01-21-2013, 07:23 PM
jcoltrane
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Quote:
Originally Posted by detroitdiesel 
how do you triple park on Nostrand in these areas? does this not make the road impassable since it is four lanes and two are parking lanes (one of which is supposed to be a moving lane rather than a parking lane during rush hours but nobody obeys that regulation)?
You're not a NYer are you....

Parking lane (occupied with transient), double parked car, triple parked car, moving lane, bus stop!!!

No, nobody obeys the regulations, who cares!!!

Regulations are for the *anal*, this is Brooklyn! If you were anal, you were unlikely to survive for long....

You seem to be attempting to impose a *Transplant* mentality upon BROOKLYN. I think that must be what is irritating to you. Black Brooklyn refuses to supplant to the Transplant order!

****
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pruzhany 
How doesn't matter. Its done. This is why you see some head-ons as people cross the double yellow lines at above street legal speed. Many people dont slow down to try to pass safely. This is why in numerous areas the yellow lines have been replaced by high center concrete islands.
No "head ons" in this part of Brooklyn. Most avenues have been long made into one ways.

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#24 
01-21-2013, 07:26 PM
jcoltrane
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Quote:
Originally Posted by detroitdiesel 
it is if nobody double parks and people pay attention to the no standing signs. what difference will it even make to you if they are just going to encroach on the bus lane anyway if somebody is double parked in the 2nd lane (from the left), or even if nobody is double parked, as is done now except that now there is no bus lane?
Didn't quite get all that, BUT the realit is there is NOT enough room to accommodate the traffic!

There is TWO lanes of traffic, which in many parts, irregardless of obstructions, barely contains the existing traffic loads. Specifically, the MANY choke points, particularly in and around heavy commercial districts. This is most a@ute during rush hours!

Where is the traffic supposed to go?

The only solution from soley a BRT standpoint, w/b to TAKE one of the existing PARKING lanes, which I believe is precisely what is intended!!

This w/b disastrous! There simpy is NOWHERE for the vehicles to go. No addional parking capacity whatsoever. None!

This is a nightmare scenario for local residents. Moreover, it is a negative outlook for local businesses, WHERE are their customers upposed to park???

In the boroughs, vehicle owners will NEVER switch and use public transport, busses! So, what is the point? Rather they will simply stop doing bussiness and visiting the local shops and businesses!

This w/b disastorous for local busineeses, commercial districts, and local economoies. PARTICULARLY IN THE POORER AND/OR MARGINAL AREAS!!!

BRTs on narrow roadways, such as Nostrand Ave is simply STUPID! Designed and planned, NOT by local residents, but by public transport fanatics, NOT in the interest of the residents of the various localities, but in the interest of a political and lifestyle agenda FOREIGN to the neighborhoods and Brooklyn itself!

I can guarantee you, nobody in PLG/Wingate asked for or is desirious of BRT service and/or lanes. The homeowners, vurtually all of whom afe vehicle owners, DO NOT ride busses, and certainly NOT any great length of Nostrand Ave!

For example, WHO rides the bus say from Bed Stuy to Madison??? Nobody! Except kids going to schools!! Soo, whag is the point of BRT on Nostrand?? There is none!

Back to "choke points", for example, traffic is and has been for YEARS, choked up during morning, afternoon and evening rush, for a couple blocks before Linden Blvd. In fact, from Church Ave to Lenox Road, is just wall to wall cars; and, at varying times can take 15 to 30 minutes or more to negotiate!!

In the past, for me during those time, the area was a NO GO! I would go blocks out of my way to Albany to avoid the choke points at Nostrand, as well as New York Aves.

Reserving a driving lane for BRT service will excerbate the circumstance 10 fold! Taking a parking lane for BRT service will excerbate an already IMPOSSSIBLE parking circumstance! One where, presently, it is not unusual to park FORU blocks from one's home regularly, and to drive around 30 minutes or more searching for a parking space.

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#25 
01-21-2013, 07:29 PM
jcoltrane
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Quote:
Originally Posted by detroitdiesel 
seventhfloor suppose you have a four lane unidirectional road like Nostrand between Flushing and Eastern Pkwy and between Sullivan Pl and Farragut Rd (it is only three lanes between Eastern and Sullivan). now suppose the right curb lane is always a parking lane, the lane next to it is a bus lane, the next lane over is a parking lane (in the middle of the road, not next to any curb), and in the left curb lane nobody is supposed to be stopped at any time. oh and the parking lane in the middle of the road actually becomes a moving lane during rush hours.

do you park in one of the moving lanes (the ones that are always supposed to move, including the bus lane) not the one that is only supposed to move during rush hours) on such a road? why or why not?
What are you talking about??? "Unidirectional"??? Are we talking tires or the streets of Brooklyn. You mean "one way", that is NYC lingo!

First, you keep focusing on morning and I guess evening rush hour. There are many more hours of the day. Most people do NOT "triple" park during morning rush!

When it was more popular to do so, it occurred during the day, qnd sometimes into early evening rush. Moreover, nobody is so stupid as to do so where it wasn't, space wise, feasible. Like Seveth said, the tendancy is to park as close to the next car as possible, while leaving *just* enough room for cars to pass, generally on the right.

Also, triple parking is not normally *random*, but in spots which have become habitual, generally, to very busy local businesses.

Btw, Im e noticed that triple parking, even blocking whole streets, occurs very often, on the daily, around some grammar schools. Mothers dropping off/picking up their children. Happens every day at when school lets out on 35th Ave in Astoria!

Anyway, re your question,

By "bus lane" do you mean the parking lane, which during rush hour is made into a moving/buslane? I have a vague recollection, as I am rarely over there during morning rush, and have never noticed during evening.

Anyway, as I've said, nobody triple parks during rush, as it is not necessary.

Even though the street widens (at Sullivan), the number of lanes remains the same. The widening does make triple parking more feasible, per Allan's Bakery, just a few blocks down Nostrand.

IF, you are aking, whether Seventh or I will choose to park in a so called "bus lane" on Nostrand and other BROOKLYN aves.

YES! Though, one is only stopping or standing, temporarily/momentarily, NOT parking (which is not temprary).

Why?

Simple. I've been doing so, long before there was a "bus lane"! Long before (some idiot) truned parking lane into a moving lane. My neighborhood, my town, who told these Aholes to make changes w/o consulting ME and the rest of the people and residents I know?!?

Besides, the Nostrand bus, at best, runs 20 minutes or more in between, plenty of time to stop and do what one needs. If the bus, happens to come, oh well! In such circumstances, I'll generally have my car within eyesight, and I'll run out and move it.

The reality, though, is that those "Brownies" in Blue are always roaming, so one must be cautious, and "stopping" during rush is not done as much as once was.

****

I got a question, if you are going to ride the bus, why do you expect for traffic to be free flowing?? It is the bus!! You want to flow free, then get a car!! In Brooklyn, I can get anywhere tow or three times faster in a car!! Kinda oxymoronic to expect such on the bus!

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