Manhattan bridge - free?

On Mon, 18 Aug 2003 14:53:43 -0400, Lawrence Hughes
<lhughes@1stconnect.com> wrote:

>If you must drive to Baltimore then the best route to take is the Belt
>Parkway to the Verazanno-Narrows Bridge, across Staten Island, and
>then the Outerbridge Crossing to New Jersey. This will limit the
>inconvenience you put on New Yorkers by avoiding the local streets of
>Manhattan.

BS. too bad for them, the streets belong to everyone and anyone is
free to use them

>
>Indeed, there are no longer any tolls on the Mahattan Bridge, but the
>route along Canal Street is very congested and it would be desirable
>not to encourage yet more motor vehicle traffic on this street.
>Hopefully we will be successful in having tolls re-instiuted on this
>crossing.

when in the last 100 years or so have there been tolls on that bridge?

>
>Better yet, rather than driving, take the LIRR to Penn Station and
>travel on Amtrak's Acela Express service to Baltimore. From New York
>it is only 2 hours 9 minutes to Baltimore. By taking the train you
>won't pollute the environment as much, and you'll also also reduce the
>risk to pedestrians and other motorists which is imposed by motorists.

who are you to preach to someone how to travel, taking a train is not
very direct unless the train station you're departing from is right
where you live and your destination is close to the train station.
Please keep your poor advice to yourself

Lawrence Hughes wrote:
> If you must drive to Baltimore then the best route to take is the Belt
> Parkway to the Verazanno-Narrows Bridge, across Staten Island, and
> then the Outerbridge Crossing to New Jersey. This will limit the
> inconvenience you put on New Yorkers by avoiding the local streets of
> Manhattan.
>
Sometimes I take that route. It has the drawback of being very slow
and frustrating - there's always something going on on the Belt parkway
- be it a crash, construction, or just plain congestion. Driving across
Manhattan is usually trouble-free, provided I do it at off-peak times:
10am to 11am, 1pm to 3pm, or after 7pm.


> Better yet, rather than driving, take the LIRR to Penn Station and
> travel on Amtrak's Acela Express service to Baltimore. From New York
> it is only 2 hours 9 minutes to Baltimore. By taking the train you
> won't pollute the environment as much, and you'll also also reduce the
> risk to pedestrians and other motorists which is imposed by motorists.
>
I'd certainly do that, if I could get on the train in Stony Brook
and get off in Baltimore. With the amount of luggage I carry, however,
any change of trains is out of the question. Plus, it is much more
expensive than driving (even with all the tolls included).
If I did not have to drive, I would be flying - Southwest has 1h
flights Islip <-> BWI approx. every hour.

Lawrence Hughes <lhughes@1stconnect.com> wrote:
> If you must drive to Baltimore then the best route to take is the Belt
> Parkway to the Verazanno-Narrows Bridge, across Staten Island, and
> then the Outerbridge Crossing to New Jersey. This will limit the
> inconvenience you put on New Yorkers by avoiding the local streets of
> Manhattan.

Except when there's a longer traffic delay on the Belt than on the
Manhattan approach, crosstown streets, and exit, which is frequently
the case, especially comparing the Belt to Midtown Manhattan; under
such conditions, it's better for an individual as well as for everyone
else if the individual seeks the quicker route.

> Better yet, rather than driving, take the LIRR to Penn Station and
> travel on Amtrak's Acela Express service to Baltimore. From New York
> it is only 2 hours 9 minutes to Baltimore. By taking the train you
> won't pollute the environment as much, and you'll also also reduce the
> risk to pedestrians and other motorists which is imposed by motorists.

Maybe *you* have the $140 per person each way to take the Acela
Express, but most people don't. Even the $70 on a regular off-peak
Amtrak train is prohibitively expensive.

If the government wants people to use the train to reduce pollution,
congestion, and traffic accidents, they should subsidize the train
appropriately.

-Apr

On 25 Aug 2003 12:02:02 -0700, AllstonParkingRefugee@m
(Allston Parking Refugee) wrote:

>If the government wants people to use the train to reduce pollution,
>congestion, and traffic accidents, they should subsidize the train
>appropriately.

are you saying that more than the billions of $ being thrown away
subsidizing amtrak isn't enough?

Vince wrote:
>
> In article <biumsj$294$1@reader2.panix.com>, danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com>
> writes:
>
> >
> >I remember a bunch of NYC escalators uesed to have similar "step here"
> >pads, but don't think I've seen any lately.
> >
>
> YES of course they have them in certain stations, what a let down Stillwell Ave
> is not going to have any escalators. WHY?

Since they have to put in elevators anyway, maybe they figured it made
more sense to have bigger elevators and no escalators.
--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@att.net

Phillip Roncoroni wrote:
>
> "Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
> news:3F533A0D.1DC9@worldnet.att.net...
> > Vince wrote:
> > >
> > > In article <biumsj$294$1@reader2.panix.com>, danny burstein
> <dannyb@panix.com>
> > > writes:
> > >
> > > >
> > > >I remember a bunch of NYC escalators uesed to have similar "step here"
> > > >pads, but don't think I've seen any lately.
> > > >
> > >
> > > YES of course they have them in certain stations, what a let down
> Stillwell Ave
> > > is not going to have any escalators. WHY?
> >
> > Since they have to put in elevators anyway, maybe they figured it made
> > more sense to have bigger elevators and no escalators.
>
> But subway elevators suck.

?? The ones in Washington Heights have been doing pretty well for nearly
a century (through several generations, of course).

And the Stillwell ones will only have to go about two flights up and
presumably are in a bank of four or so.
--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@att.net

danny burstein wrote:
>
> In <3F53BC05.2A83@worldnet.att.net> "Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@worldnet.att.net> writes:
> >>
> >> get off at exit ?13? for Staten Island, go across to Bklyn, then up the
> >> Gowanus/BQE to the LIE to Shea.
>
> >I've come back from visiting in Woodbridge all three ways (Outerbridge,
> >Goethals, Holland), and I think both S.I. routes are longer.
>
> by actual mileage, perhaps. but you avoid Manhattan and its traffic.
>
> (although, of course, you may or may not get clobbered by the SIE, VZ, and
> Gowanus/BQE...)

I mean in time. Outerbridge - VZ is most direct.

Did they say whether it's a day game or a night game? For a night game,
they'll be going against the rush hour traffic until they reach the LIE.
--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@att.net

danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com> wrote in message news:<biumsj$294$1@reader2.panix.com>...
> I was just watching The Odessa File (excellent movie) and there's a scene
> where one of the bad guys is in the subway (I forget which German town),
> walks over to an escalator, and it starts as he approaches it.
>
> I remember a bunch of NYC escalators uesed to have similar "step here"
> pads, but don't think I've seen any lately.
>
> Anyone know if they;re still around? Thanks

Yes, they're around, but not in the US. I think that auto-start
escalators have been disallowed since some time in the 1970's, although
as you point out signage about them still exists even though the
escalators themselves have been converted to completely manual operation.

The international terminal in the airport in Vancouver had a couple
as of 1997 or so.

Tim.

Peter T. Daniels <grammatim@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
> Vince wrote:
> >
> > YES of course they have them in certain stations, what a let down Stillwell Ave
> > is not going to have any escalators. WHY?
>
> Since they have to put in elevators anyway, maybe they figured it made
> more sense to have bigger elevators and no escalators.

If they had to put elevators in, what year did that requirement come
into being? Ever visit Astoria on the N/W and find yourself a mile
high off the ground and two miles of stairs to get up/down them?

One time I was visiting a friend, and when I came back (up) the
stairs there was a little old lady who could only just manage to
get up one step at a time, barely. It must have taken her a half
hour to get to the platform.

holvbphoto@cs.comgoodguy (Vince) wrote:
> danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com> writes:
> >I remember a bunch of NYC escalators uesed to have similar "step here"
> >pads, but don't think I've seen any lately.
> >
>
> YES of course they have them in certain stations, what a let down Stillwell Ave
> is not going to have any escalators. WHY?

Are you sure? What stations have escalators that don't start until
someone tries to use them? They might be illegal in NYS (or is it
just the subset of them that can go in either direction?).

-Apr