In New York City, one of the heights of futility is sitting in traffic, no matter if you are in a car, a bus or a taxi. But this week, there is some hope that the tide is turning in reducing traffic congestion through basic incentives that make mass transit more attractive and driving or taxi riding more expensive. While they have not been touted as the start of a cohesive plan to turn the tide against traffic, they may in retrospect be seen as an opening act in taming NYC traffic.

As Enrique Penalosa stated at the Borough President's Transportation Forum, "Transportation policy today means how to reduce car use".

Tonight I attended a forum on Bus Rapid Transit sponsored by State Senator Liz Krueger's office and co-sponsored by newly elected councilmembers Lappin & Garodnick, CIVITAS and Transportation Alternatives as well as other local elected officials and community board members. There was even a representative from Borough President Scott Stringer's office.

First to present their side were a collection of folks from the MTA, city DOT and state DOT. The first disappointment to most of the people in attendence was that despite the broad-based community support for faster, more efficient and higher quality bus services all that is being discussed by city/state/MTA officials is a STUDY that will examine 15 routes to pick JUST 5 in June 2007 and then (assuming the planets are aligned) to implement by late 2008.

They have been dragging this study out for years. People are starting to get frustrated at the lack of progress and continuing uncertainty around the actual implementation. And you could almost understand the time to plan this out if their plan was even semi-ambitious, but alas it's about as minimal as BRT can get and even still honestly call it "BRT".