I went up to Central Park West on Monday to complete a long-delayed project to photograph every building on that avenue for my friend Bob’s website. I got out of the subway at 70th Street and Central Park West and crossed over to the park side of the avenue. It was a beautiful day with a brilliant late morning sun hitting the faces of the distinguished buildings along the park. Perfect for the project.
Before I had a chance to take out my camera, I glanced downtown and thought that there was a track fire in the subway underneath the street! There was a huge plume of smoke in the near distance. Backlit by the sun, it looked like the result of an enormous smoky blaze underneath the street. The lights changed and as I stood there, I watched a bus get nearer, and as it passed me, I saw the the cause of the smoke was actually the bus’s tail pipe. All the other people enjoying a stroll on the sidewalk and I were engulfed in a choking, filthy cloud of smoke. I avoided inhaling for a good minute and a half but the playful children around me probably didn’t do that. I wished that I had had my camera out to show you how prominent that bus smoke looked from that first vantage point.
The cloud eventually dissipated and I photographed three buildings for the project. Then I got on the subway and took it up to 81st Street. Then the exact same thing happened! Just as I was getting out of the second station, the very same bus was pulling past, haunting me wherever I went. This time, I had my camera, and caught a couple of pictures of the bus as it idled in traffic on West 81st Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue.
We’re looking at a bus owned and/or operated by SKYHAWK TOURS of Red Hook, Brooklyn. The bus’s New York State license plate was 11043•BA. When I caught up to it at 81st Street, there weren’t even any passengers on board. The bus was just driving around for no clear reason.
How are buses like this deemed street legal?
After reading this excellent muckraking blog, I was inspired to complain both to the company and to the city. Neither one was easy.
First the company. After tracking down a phone number I called and finally was able to get an email, though it was not immediately clear that there even was a company email. After being passed around to several very informal persons, I was given the following email: alexpac_4@hotmail.com which sounds more like an individual email than a company one. Anyway, I’ll send a complaint shortly, and would urge everyone else to do the same. The point is for them to get it fixed.
Making a complaint to the city is supposed to be easier by using 311. Unfortunately, this must not be a common complaint. The operator tried to use the Dept. of Consumer Affairs form but the only form field complaints there were for tour bus companies that had swindled customers out of money. Then we tried making a complaint about the bus itself only to find that bad driving was possible, but not bad emmissions. Finally she tried DEP which allowed complaints for idling buses or school bus emission problems, but not for moving chartered tour buses. So finally I was forced to send an email to the commissioner of DEP about the matter. You can do similar at http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/maildep.html
Wow, Anon., great work on your part. Let us all know what, if anything, you hear back from the company or the commish.
Anon –
Last time I visited New York, I saw police cars with an NYC DEP logo, and I was impressed; I had visions of environmental cops ticketing smoke-spewing cars and trucks. But evidently, that’s not what they do (and that’s OK, I guess; there’s plenty of other work for environmental cops in NYC).
I would guess that if there’s anyone on New York who will listen to your complaint, he/she is probably in State government. The State DOT licenses these buses, and requires their inspection for emission standards, so, logically at least, they should be the ones to call when you see a bus that violates those standards.
And if all else fails…would the NYC Public Advocate be interested?
it drives me nuts that these kinds of vehicles are allowed to roll through a dense urban environment with near zero threat of being stopped.
i don’t know how it is for commercial buses, but the ny state vehicle inspection for cars is utterly pathetic. my wife had an 87 toyota pick-up for many years. there were so many violations on that thing (emissions weren’t the greatest either). but there was really never ever a problem getting an inspection sticker from these gas stations that offer that. the state has handed that regulatory process over to private gas stations and auto shops. these guys don’t want to turn away business and piss of potential customers. they make sure you get your sticker. it’s a completely broken system from the enviro-perspective.