Claiming back the pedestrians' rightful territory

(Here in Shepparton – my hometown in Victoria, Australia – traders want the city’s Maude St pedestrian mall re-opened to slow moving, privately owned vehicles, seemingly oblivious to the international emergence of shoppers on foot, a research illustrated preference, and along with that, coming is a shift to driverless, public transport. Lloyd Alter’s story about what is happening in America’s New York City illustrates that Sheppartonians need to think deeply before putting vehicles, particularly privately owned cars and motorcycles, back in the city’s mall – Robert McLean.)  

The spacious footpaths New York City
once had (bottom) and the almost
non-existent pedestrian refuges
people are now forced to share (top).
 

Riding a Citibike in New York City can be scary, especially in rush hour. I was in the city recently for a conference and dealing with the trucks and big black cars was hard enough, but the hardest part was riding down Seventh Ave and dealing with people walking in the street. It was clear that they were there because the sidewalks are just too crowded to cope.

Winnie Hu of the New York Times covered the subject recently, in New York's sidewalks are so packed, that pedestrians are taking to the streets.

The problem is particularly acute in Manhattan. Around Penn Station and the Port Authority Bus Terminal, two of the city’s main transit hubs, commuters clutching coffee cups and briefcases squeeze by one another during the morning and evening rushes. Throngs of shoppers and visitors sometimes bring swaths of Lower Manhattan to a standstill, prompting some local residents to cite clogged sidewalks as their biggest problem in a recent community survey.

Read the Treehugger story by Lloyd Alter - "It's time to take back the streets and to make our sidewalks grand again.”