I've been trying to show this for years with maps of car-free households, but there was a great example recently that used voting patterns directly.
Last Tuesday was the date for party primaries in New York State. In many of the races the differences between candidates was relatively subtle, particularly on transportation, but there was a clear difference in one race, for the Democratic nomination to represent the Sixth Congressional District.
The only transit issues that the incumbent representative, Grace Meng, seems to care at all about are reopening the Elmhurst station on the Long Island Railroad, accommodations for people with disabilities, and preventing attacks on Asian-American passengers. These are all good positions, but Meng doesn't seem to want to do anything about further transit expansion. She has not taken a position on congestion pricing, bicycle or transit improvements, and she has taken credit for expanding polluting highways in her district. She did not take the time for an interview with livable streets activist Miser.
The other candidate, Chuck Park, who lost the primary by a respectable 43% to 57%, said in his interview that he supports the 34th Avenue/Paseo Park bicycle boulevard, and wants to redirect federal money from highways to transit and bicycle infrastructure.
Chuck Park's 43% was a great showing for a relative unknown who's never held elective office and had no endorsement from advocacy organizations or elected officials. Looking at the preliminary vote map, at least two people have observed that the electoral districts that Park won at were almost all near subway or Long Island Railroad stations. This was not the only factor: Park strongly criticized the Israeli government's actions in Gaza, and failed to win several electoral districts near subways where support for the Israeli government is strong, but the transit pattern is very clear.
I've been talking about this since 2008: we want transit expansion because it's good for our goals reducing carnage and pollution, improving efficiency, increasing access for all. We also want it because more transit means more people who value transit over roads, and will elect officials like Chuck Park who promise to expand transit and defund roads.
Now what if I told you that Congressional District 6 has some transit expansion plans, some of which I've been talking about since 2008? These are all railroads that still exist. Some are abandoned, others are used for freight only. Two of them used to have passenger service, and all three could move passengers again.
You've probably heard of the Interboro Express, once known as the TriboroRx, which would have stations at Grand and Eliot Avenues, right in the middle of parts of Maspeth and Middle Village that went for Meng.
Chuck Park supports the QueensLink, the reactivation of service on the Rockaway Beach Branch, which would have a Parkside station at Metropolitan Avenue in southern Forest Hills. It's not currently part of the proposal, but I think there should also be a station at Fleet Street, which is convenient to several large apartment buildings that don't have good transit.
Have you heard about the Lower Montauk proposal, which would add stations at the edge of the district in Maspeth, Ridgewood and Glendale? I wrote about it in 2015. Some of the election districts near those station sites went for Park, but with relatively low turnout.
I've gotten a lot of pushback from fellow "transit advocates" because some of those proposals wouldn't "attract enough riders" to justify the cost of restoring passenger service. I'd be interested to see how those numbers have changed with the recent "City of Yes" upzoning. But it's not just about bringing in fares, or some abstract ridership numbers. It's also about attracting voters.
All these transit proposals have also gotten some flak from NIMBYs in the area, some of whom don't bother to disguise their racism. They may point to this post to justify a fear that they'll be replaced or swamped by Korean, Bengali or yuppie Chuck Park voters. I would say in response that New York is a city fundamentally built on inclusion and welcoming, which is the heart of Park's platform. Better transit access is key to that.
Note what you don't see on the electoral district map: the bike and bus lanes. The district hosts one of the best bike paths in the city, the Motor Parkway, and the neighborhoods around it all went for Grace Meng. There are two Select Bus Service routes that run through the district, on Main Street and Woodhaven Boulevard, and most of the electoral districts around them went for Meng. These patterns are correlated with rail service, whether it's subway or Long Island Railroad.
I think Chuck Park tapped into a movement, and he or a candidate with a similar platform may well win in 2028. But if we want to make it easier for candidates with his priorities win in the Sixth District and in other parts of Queens and Long Island, we should look to expand transit more. Can we get the Interboro Express open by 2028? Can we get shovels in the ground for QueensLink?
Interestingly, I saw a comment on Reddit supporting this analysis of the election results, by one of the lead advocates for "the QueensWay," a bike and walking proposal that would preclude transit service on the QueensLink. He was so close to getting it. Maybe he'll come around...
