By Sam Schwartz
says it is legally parked since it is not blocking the crosswalk and has advised the driver to fight the ticket.
Transit Sam
Dear Transit Sam,
I read your response to Joe P. regarding making the MetroCard like E-ZPass (Transit Sam, April 17 – 23). The M.T.A. should go one step further and make it like London’s Oyster Card where you don’t have to swipe it. All you do is simply touch the turnstile. MetroCards are 1990s technology, and they hold people up because they often don’t work and you need to swipe multiple times. Why can’t the M.T.A. get with it?
S.P., John St.
Dear S.P.,
The M.T.A. is trying to get with it! Back in July 2006, the M.T.A. implemented a Smartcard Demo Project at all Manhattan stations along the Lexington line (4,5,6), along with 138th St.-Grand Concourse and Third Ave.-138th St. in the Bronx and Borough Hall in Brooklyn.
Straphangers with PayPass-enabled debit or credit cards, key-chain tags and/or cell phones, could enter the system by simply tapping at the turnstile, like you do now with Smartlink at all PATH stations and with the Oyster Card in London. Thanks to favorable customer feedback, the M.T.A. is expanding the pilot to several local and express bus routes (with free transfer to the Lexington line stations involved with the pilot) in the fourth quarter of this year, along with exploring a rewards program for those who participate. As for when this concept would become a city-wide reality… that’s still years out.
Transit Sam
Dear Transit Sam,
I received a ticket on Battery Pl. and West Thames St. for blocking a crosswalk. But, as you can see in the photo, I was not parked in the crosswalk. I was parked between the crosswalk and stop line. I thought I could park there. What should I do?
Jerry S, Battery Park City
Dear Jerry S,
Fight it! You may park between the stop bar and crosswalk unless signed otherwise. Cops often get this wrong, and boy do I hear about it! These stop bars apply to moving vehicles, not parked vehicles. The N.Y.C. traffic rules allow you to park up to the pedestrian crosswalk, marked or unmarked. Use this photo, plus get one or two others with the street name, signs and at least the same building in the background. By the way, I’ve also notified N.Y.P.D. Let me know how it turns out.
Transit Sam
Sam Schwartz, a former first deputy commissioner of city transportation,
is president and C.E.O. of Sam Schwartz Engineering, a traffic engineering consulting firm to private and public entities including the Port Authority at the World Trade Center site. Email your questions to TransitSam@DowntownExpress.com
