Transportation

It looks like the M.T.A. has finally jumped aboard the Twitter train.

Sewell Chan reports on City Room that the agency's buses and subway arm, New York City Transit, quietly set up the Twitter account NYCTSubwayScoop after the ceiling collapse at the 181st Street No. 1 subway station a few weeks ago.

Initially, the account was used to detail and chronicle repairs and subsequent service restoration at the station. Since then, New York City Transit has used the account to dispatch updates on construction and service disruptions at other stations. Although, it hasn't yet promoted the account, and as of the time of Mr. Chan's posting at 5:25 p.m. yesterday, August 31, it only had 370 followers. (That number had grown to 533 as of this posting.)

From City Room:

• More thoughts on New York transit data (Urban Omnibus)

• The M.T.A. is rolling out some eco-friendly buses (New York Post, City Room)

• Government collaboration is slow to catch on (Government Technology)

• New York Governor's Mansion executive chef was recently checking out some urban NYC farms (Hudson and Saratoga Local Foods)

• Does Twitter do more harm than good for street vendors? (Midtown Lunch)

via topplabs.org/civichacker

Amid the ongoing controversy over the M.T.A.'s attempt to block a local blogger's iPhone application for Metro North train schedules, members of The Open Planning Project on Tuesday evening held a New York Public Transit Summit to discuss forging "a positive, mutually beneficial relationship between the M.T.A. and the wider New York development community."

We couldn't make it to the event, but TOPP's Civic Hacker blog has a recap. Apparently there were more than two dozen "transit advocates, mobile and web developers, urban planners, lawyers, and open government supporters" in attendance. No M.T.A. reps showed, although they did give the group a statement on the agency's current licensing policies.

If you're curious about some of the specific topics that were addressed, the group has set up a wiki. They've also taken the issue over to Twitter via the #nytransit hash tag.

Flickr via Ed Yourdon

At the same time urban biking is becoming more prominent, so too are bicycle thefts.

But as The Wall Street Journal reports, bike theft victims are using social media Web sites and bike blogs to reclaim their wheels.

Take 29-year-old Toronto resident Heather McKibbon. After her bike was stolen back in May, she posted about the theft on Facebook:

Just hours later, a friend replied with a link to a bike for sale that looked like her own $1,300 Cannondale touring bike on eBay's Kijiji, an online classified-ads site. Ms. McKibbon recognized her bike and, posing as an interested buyer, arranged to meet the seller at a local subway station. She brought the police along as well, resulting in a small-scale sting operation.

Police arrested the man and returned the Cannondale to Ms. McKibbon, who claimed it with photos of herself on the bike, as well as its serial number. "It was a little overwhelming to realize that nobody in Toronto gets their stolen bike back, and here I was about to get my stolen bike back," she says.

Then there are Web sites like StolenBicycleRegistry.com, where people can list their stolen bikes for free. The city of Boston recently launched a similar Web site, StolenBikesBoston.com, which sends out stolen bike alerts to police, bike shops and hospital and school security officials via Twitter and Facebook.

New York doesn't have any such Web site, but the city's recently-passed bike access bill, which reduces the threat of theft by requiring building owners to provide bike storage indoors, gets a shout out in the article:

Flickr via edans

Andrew Rasiej.

In our new series, we send our questionnaire about the future of New York City to notable New Yorkers and post their responses. To start off, we spoke to Andrew Rasiej, the founder of Personal Democracy Forum and our partner in the New York Future Initiative.

What are some of the biggest challenges facing New York City right now?

To compete and remain relevant in the 21st century with other major cities around the world is its biggest challenge. Updating its antiquated infrastructure, continuing to attract talented citizens, connecting them to each other and the world, investing in new industries, becoming green, and creating a new generation of enlightened political leadership. These are just a few examples where we are woefully behind other cities.

Can you suggest a few innovative, outside-of-the-box ideas for improving daily life in this city?

Here are a few:

Flickr via Ed Yourdon

• Public co-working is on the move in New York.

• The Daily News took an in-depth look at the cycling/pedestrian/driver debate.

• Baratunde Thurston talked about the future of...

• Ground broke on the East River Waterfront Esplanade.

• Urban backyard farming is taking hold in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn.

• Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey talks New York City.

• The future of the hyperlocal

• There's a new Web site that tracks city candidates' positions on transit issues.

• We caught up with Janette Sadik-Khan at a bike-sharing demo in Union Square.

• Steve Cohen says it's time to find funds for city infrastructure.

• Details on this year's Open Hack Day (Open Hack Day NYC)

• Three more bike-sharing demos this weekend (DOT)

• New York public transit data summit on August 25 (Civic Hacker)

• BigAppsDevCamp is in Brooklyn on Saturday (BarCamp)

• Bike workshop on Governors Island on Saturday (Sustainable Cities Blog)

• And you can also help Green the Gowanus on Saturday (Time's Up)

via tacandidatesurvey.org

Cy Vance.

We blogged the other day about the series of City Council candidate debates Transportation Alternatives is hosting in the coming weeks.

Now the alt-transit advocacy organization has launched a new Web site that provides information on where candidates in all city political races stand on transportation issues, including congestion pricing, Bus Rapid Transit, cycling, traffic crime and public space.

The site is called Transportation Alternatives Candidate Survey 2009, and the information it contains is based on surveys given to candidates with different questions targeting specific races and districts. Seventy-three candidates have responded so far, including those in the mayoral, public advocate, comptroller, borough president, Manhattan district attorney and City Council races.

Here's how it works: Users can plug in their addresses to bring up a list of candidates running in their district. Click on the results and you'll get detailed candidate biographies and the survey responses, which are pretty thorough as well.

For instance, curious about Manhattan D.A. candidate Cy Vance's legal philosophy in regard to the prosecution and prevention of vehicular crimes?

• A report from Transportation Alternatives' 39th District council candidates debate (Streetsblog)

• Urban farming: A profile of BK Farmyards (The Brooklyn Paper)

• Full Gov 2.0 Summit schedule is now online (gov2summit.com)

• Green fitness in Bushwick (gbNYC)

• Sustainable designs at the New York Gift Fair (PSFK)

• Architectural critic James Russell weighs in on how the Mass Transit Tunnel will connect to existing and proposed transit infrastructure (Bloomberg News via PlanNYC)

• Hungry? "There is a solar-powered biodiesel food truck serving all-local black bean veggie burger samples" (@civileater)