Things you don't notice from the car:

[camwyn]

- The roads in Jersey City are really crap- I mean, you might notice a little, but honestly, you don't appreciate just how crap they are until you've looked at them without having a suspension system between you and them

- There are a lot of one-dollar and two-dollar jitneys running circuits around the city, but only on certain large roads

- The DMV is two, maybe three, blocks from the Journal Square PATH station

It's that last that kind of gets me. I walked to the PATH train (it stands for Port Authority Trans-Hudson for those of you who care for some reason) from the DMV today, going "d'oh!" internally the whole way. I mean... right. There. Out of the DMV, over the overpass that crosses the train tracks, past St. Demetrios Church, across the street at the light, past the Dunkin Donuts, into the parking area, and down the stairs and there you go. Journal Square PATH. Just like that.

Ah, well. Now I start looking into chainless bicycles in earnest. A nice touring model with a good seat and the ability to install saddlebags would be tops.

Comments

[akawil]

Oh, so *that's* where the DMV is.

I've been living in New Jersey for almost three years now, I really need to trade in my Massachusetts driver's license sometime...

[camwyn]

If you can find your way to the intersection of Summit and Sip, you'll be right outside the DMV. I've forgotten the address number, but it's on Summit Street. Real easy to find.

[kelathefinn.livejournal.com]

And while you are looking at bikes, check out the locks. You need at least two - one for the front wheel and one for the chassis. And don't forget to drop a rolled business card down the pipe under the saddle, and get your id (social security number?) engraved somewhere on a main piece. Take a pair of wire cutters with you to the lock shop, and tell the person selling them to you that if they can be cut with your wire cutters, you don't want them...
And, for us Europeans, you might want to also spell out the DMV acronym, because at least *I* care about this for lots of reasons... Good to know there are at least a few Americans who have given up the gas guzzler in favour of public transport, and good to know there are places other than BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport) where public transport actually works.

[camwyn]

The model I was most interested in comes with a basic lock, so quite naturally I was going to pick up a second- possibly something by Kryptonite now that they've had some time to fix the part where their lock can be picked with the end of a ball-point pen cap. I'd just as soon not leave my Social Security number where the general public can see it, though. That's just begging to have someone open credit card accounts in your name. Might try an email addr or something, though...

DMV is the Division of Motor Vehicles, the part of state government that deals with cars, trucks, buses, boats, motorcycles, etc. and the licensing of people to drive same, as well as the registration and tracking of the beasts. According to New Jersey state law, 'driving is a privilege, not a right', and I believe this is the case in other states as well. Thus the state has the power to require all kinds of paperwork to keep track of who's got a car and who hasnt'.

The PATH subway service is pretty limited in scope at the moment. It has six stops in Manhattan and six or seven in New Jersey, but it's enough to get me back and forth between home, the office, and the city where New Jersey Transit has a proper terminal from which I may visit my parents. There's also the Hudson/Bergen light rail in Jersey City, which is quite nice if a bit slow, and naturally there's a zillion subway lines in Manhattan proper. If you hear a reference to 'MTA', that's the Metropolitan Transit Authority in New York City (and similar in Boston, in fact being the subject of a popular protest song some years back- "Charlie on the MTA"). Basically, they're the people who run the subways and buses in New York City. You might hear a reference to IRT subways, but that's just a subset of the New York subway system in general- it's the old Interboro Rapid Transit system.

[mephron]

let me tell you the story of a man named Charlie on a tragic and fateful day
he put ten cents in his pocket, kissed his wife and famly, went to ride on the MTA...

Love that song.

Pedants 'R' Us

[zed42.livejournal.com]

Just to be picky, in Boston, the public transport is the MBTA (Mass Bay Transportation Authority) and they manage the Boston subways, trains and ferries, as well as Logan International Airport...

In all, though, I don't think many US cities have anything resembling useful mass transit...

Re: Pedants 'R' Us

[mephron]

But back around the time of Walter A. O'Brian running for Mayor of Boston around 1948, it was the MTA. (This was also when there was a Scollay Square station, and a Jamaica Plain station...)

(I only know that because the version I have, the last chorus of 'Charlie and the MTA' has the line "Fight the fare increase! Vote for George O'Brian! Get poor Charlie off the MTA!")

More information can be found at this link at MIT.

[metalfatigue]

Hi. Random stranger friending you. Came for H:H, stayed for teh funny.

[camwyn]

Oh, cool. Welcome aboard! I'll be doing the next H:H chapter as soon as I get done with the other chapter I'm working on.

[lwood.livejournal.com]

What is this chainless bicycle of which you speak? I would hear more of this mysterious beast!

-- L

[camwyn]

Oh, yes, these beasts exist. Several companies make them; they use drive-shafts rather than chains, and most of them use internal gearing rather than derailleurs. I'm primarily interested in the bikes made by Dynamic Bicycles, although I don't think they have dealers in New York; I may have to order one from Boston.

... damn, on investigating the site I discover that they were at the New York Bicycle Show last weekend, and I missed it. Feh.