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MAKING TRACKS - Premier Issue - January 1995
Entire contents of MAKING TRACKS is copyright © 1994 by Village Crosstown Trolley Coalition,
but may be reproduced either in whole or in part with a clear acknowledgment of the source.
Please report any errors to us at VCTC. Thanks.
What is the Village Crosstown Trolley Coalition?
George Haikalis, President, VCTC
A Light Rail Line and Auto-Free
Space for the 8th St. Corridor
By William K. Guild
The Village Crosstown Trolley Coalition (VCTC) has been organized by a group of neighborhood residents to develop plans and community support for a restored river-to-river trolley line through the 8th Street corridor. Linking the East Village, West village and Greenwich Village, this trolley--or "light rail" line--would provide relatively "seamless" connections to existing transit. This would mean easier access for Village residents to the rest of the metropolitan area, and for tourists and other visitors to the Village.
Half a century after the demise of streetcars in Manhattan, as the city struggles to meet clean air mandates and the 42nd St. trolley line nears reality, it is time to combine light rail transit (LRT) with auto-free pedestrian space in an improved public transportation system. The 8th Street corridor, including Christopher Street and St. Marks Place, would be the ideal setting to replace crowded, dangerous and unpleasant streets with a crosstown transitway and auto-free space. This will provide both convenient transportation to and between existing retail shopping areas and access from transit-starved residential areas to rapid transit lines serving the entire city.
The 8th Street corridor has always been one of Manhattan's major crosstown transit routes, with 19th Century horsecars and, later, electric streetcars running from the Hoboken ferry at Christopher Street to the Greenpoint Ferry at East 10th Street. The current M8 Crosstown bus line follows a nearly identical route, as would the proposed light rail line. Running from the Hudson River through Christopher Street, West 8th Street and St. Marks Place in a dedicated, double-track transitway, east of Avenue A the light rail vehicles (LRV's) would follow their predecessors through East 10th Street to Avenue D, near East River Park.
The route intersects every north-south rapid transit line serving Manhattan, at or within one block of a station on each line: PATH stations at both Christopher and 9th Streets, the West Side IRT (1/9) at Christopher Street, the IND (A/B/C/D/E/F/Q) West 4th Street station, the BMT (N/R) 8th Street station and the East Side IRT (6) at Astor Place. The MTA MetroCard would provide free transfers to and from all subway and surface lines, making the LRT a very attractive alternative for residents whose daily commute requires uptown or downtown as well as crosstown travel and for visitors to the area's shops, theaters and other attractions.
Christopher and 8th Streets in Greenwich Village, like St. Marks Place in the East Village, represent major concentrations of small shops, galleries, boutiques, restaurants and cafés whose clientele includes not just New Yorkers, but also visitors from throughout the United States and the world. Their patrons do not arrive by limousine or private car, but rather by public transit--subway, bus, PATH from New Jersey. It is walk-in business rather than the drive-in variety now common in car-oriented suburbs. When people come to the Village to shop, they do not want to drive from store to store, but rather to walk about freely without interference or distraction from cars. The mall would provide the auto-free environment, and the transitway the improved access and mobility, to attract visitors in ever-greater numbers.
The 8th Street corridor also links far-flung residential districts, from the West Village near the Hudson River to the Jacob Riis Houses along the East River. Ironically, many low income residents see cars as a necessity because they live a mile or more from the nearest rapid transit lines.
In addition to East River Park, the proposed light rail line would serve Tompkins, Washington and Sheridan Squares and, in the near future, the new waterfront park on the Hudson. Many educational institutions are located along the route, including New York University, Cooper Union and the New School, and the area is a Mecca for off-Broadway theaters.
For the retail business establishments directly along the route--Christopher Street, 8th Street and St. Marks Place--replacement of chronic vehicular congestion by a pedestrian mall would be an enormous boon, as would clean, dependable LRV service bringing customers to their very doors. For local residents, the noisy, fume-spewing crosstown bus would be gone, together with much of the through traffic now congesting the neighborhood. These benefits would be accompanied by enhanced safety, security and convenience for residents, merchants and visitors alike.
Service on the transitway would not only be faster, but more frequent and dependable as well. The current M8 crosstown service, using six buses, runs no more frequently than 9 or 10 minutes even during peak hours. The same number of modern LRVs, running in the proposed transitway, could easily reduce this interval to 5 minutes. With the increased ridership likely to result from improved service, additional LRVs might be added to provide even more frequent service during peak hours.
A major advantage of light rail is the availability of low-floor vehicles, providing not only easy access for the handicapped, but increased safety and speed in loading and unloading generally. LRV's also accommodate substantially more passengers in far greater comfort than buses. A dedicated right-of- way in congested areas, coupled with decreased--dwell times--at stops, enhances both the overall speed and the reliability of light rail as compared to bus transit. Even exclusive bus lanes require wider, more intrusive transitways while doing nothing to limit noise or local air pollution.
On auto-free sections of the LRT corridor, the transitway occupies a strip about twenty feet wide, with the rest of the street dedicated to pedestrians. This marks a drastic shift from past policy of coping with congestion simply by adding new lanes for motor vehicles, a policy which has reduced sidewalks on the busiest shopping blocks of the 8th Street corridor to a scant nine feet. Transit/pedestrian streets have worked well in Europe and in other North American cities for years. Indeed, auto-dependent Californians have been especially enthusiastic converts. If given a chance here, LRT in pedestrian streets would go a long way toward solving New York's congestion, transit and air pollution problems.
Although most of the LRT route west of Avenue A would be substantially auto-free, essential motor vehicle use would continue. Door-to-door car or van service would be available for the elderly and the handicapped. Existing off-street loading docks and parking garages would remain accessible and provision would be made for commercial deliveries which could not be made from adjacent streets. Of course, emergency and security vehicles could use the transitway at any time. Such exceptions have not marred the ambiance or the essentially auto-free character of transit/pedestrian streets in other North American and European cities.
Provision must also be made for those 5th Avenue bus lines which turn into 8th Street and continue east to either Broadway or Fourth Avenue. In the absence of an alternate bus route, the transitway should be designed to accommodate eastbound buses only, with provision for fast-loading low-floor LRV's to pass the less-efficient buses at the two or three bus stops needed in this short section of shared transitway. This compromise, affecting only a short section of the corridor, will permit introduction of modern light rail technology on the crosstown line without impeding existing north-south surface transit.
Surface transportation of all kinds, including trucks, taxis and even cars, will benefit if crosstown buses are replaced by LRV's operating in dedicated transitways, neither impeding nor impeded by motor vehicles.
In addition to benefitting the Village area directly affected, the proposed 8th Street transitway would serve as a pilot project demonstrating the functional and æsthetic improvements which can be realized from such projects elsewhere. The site, historically a crosstown transit route, is ideal, with direct connections available to all rapid transit and most major surface lines. While the area is mainly residential, its many small businesses and several major educational institutions would share the benefits of an auto-free environment.
Public transit will be strengthened and made more attractive if surface routes, especially crosstown "feeder" lines, are segregated from congested traffic arteries, enabling travellers to reach rapid transit without becoming involved in traffic jams and gridlock. With modern light rail technology, pleasant pedestrian spaces can be created along the corridors, combining convenience and reliability with reduced levels of noise and air pollution. The 8th Street transitway can play an important role in pioneering the sustainable, human-scaled city of the 21st Century.
Adapted from an article by William K. Guild, first published in New York Streetcar News for May/June 1994.
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