I walk a mile down JFK to the PATH every day and agree there are plenty of pedestrians engaging in risky behavior by crossing against the light, but I think there is WAY more that could be done to improve safety for all users of this road. Just over the past couple months, I've seen the following:

1) I was crossing with the pedestrian signal and a driver who was completely stopped and clearly only looking the other way at traffic decided to move forward to make a turn on red while I was in front of his car! I had to literally put my hand on the hood of his car.

2) I was watching someone try to cross JFK with the ped signal near JSQ and car after car was making a left turn (at rather quick speed) to the point where he couldn't get across the road and turned around to wait for the next signal cycle! No car would slow down even though this guy was in the right and halfway across the road.

3) A little further down an older woman who was walking slowly was trying to cross JFK with the ped signal and again, cars turning left kept turning in front of her, slowing her down even more. She couldn't get across before the light changed and of course then cars who got the green start honking.

4) My bf was biking down JFK in the correct direction with traffic. A car on the other side u-turned and nearly hit him so he swerved into the curb and fell -- pretty badly injuring his ribs. Pretty sure the car driver didn't even realize.

5) When crossing 139 where it hits JFK, cars making a right onto 139 always try to make their turn even as you're approaching the lane they're turning into. Often they block the cars behind them from seeing that there's a pedestrian, and cars behind often just follow without slowing down to look for themselves.

I wish JFK had a bike lane and think it's wide enough to accommodate one. I don't feel safe enough riding my bike on JFK regularly and would really like to. I think some of the crossings could incorporate pedestrian islands and/or bulb-outs at the corners to reduce crossing distance.

I recently moved to the Heights and my partner and I don't own a car. On late nights, we have tended to use Uber ($5 from JSQ or $6-7 to various places downtown). We do have a Zipcar membership, which we've found to be worthwhile for longer trips, and especially if we are driving with a group of people, but kind of hard to stomach for short trips. The reason is that NJ requires you to pay a $5 fee whether you are taking out a Zipcar for one hour or 8 hours. That has really disincentivized us from using Zipcar for an hour or two.

I have occasionally taken a company car home for the night and found the parking experience can be pretty unpleasant depending on time of day. It's enough to seal the deal for me that I don't want a car. I'm actually quite all right with parking being a limited commodity.

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It's perhaps not as atypical as people seem to think. I've only been in JC a couple years (and lived in Brooklyn prior to), but I've managed to explore beyond the downtown and will soon be moving from downtown to the Heights. I know several others who frequent events or establishments outside of DT.

I'm amazed that people think it's hard to get to Little India from downtown. For one thing, when it's a nice day it's a totally doable walk. On the way, there's also a public library branch that sometimes carries titles that aren't available at the branch on Jersey Ave. And the PATH is super easy. It's generally on time on the weekends and the ride to JSQ from Grove is only a few minutes. The walk from there is 5-10 minutes depending how far down Newark you're going.

The final thing I'll say is that getting on a bike makes the whole city so much smaller. I will admit that I used to think that certain areas, like the Heights, were so far and isolated based on reading message boards like this. Now that I'm biking more often, they don't feel far at all. I think that's a really powerful thing.

I really wish there was a better option for biking between the two places. I was surprised to learn this was technically part of the East Coast "Greenway." Besides it not being well-kept, the Newark side is particularly unfriendly, with Raymond Blvd having no bike lanes or bike markings. The lanes aren't all that wide and cars drive pretty quickly on that stretch. I think there are lots of reasons people would bike between the two cities, both for employment and recreational reasons. Newark has a performing arts center, arena, art museum and several galleries, Branch Brook Park, some good restaurants, etc.

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This is exactly the street I was thinking of when I was reading the concerns of the business owners. There's no reason that there can't be exceptions for deliveries, handicapped persons, etc, as they do on this street in Boston. It would just be understood that it's not a through-road at certain hours, and that during those hours pedestrians have right-of-way.

The traffic arguments are outdated. All cannot be sacrificed to ensure the best level of service to cars on all streets. The plaza at Grove has become such a focal point of community activity downtown that I feel the benefits far outweigh the occasional traffic backups. I feel the same would likely be true for the closing of Newark Ave. I'm in full support of a pilot.

I'm a big supporter of bike shares in general, but I am a bit skeptical about how successful it will be on this side of the river. I just wish we thought more regionally about transportation. I think it'd be much better if the bike share membership in JC were compatible with Citibike. Even though I live in JC, I have a Citibike membership (and love it!), but I honestly can't say I'd join the bike share here if it costs the same amount. For one thing, I have a bike here, and as a previous poster mentioned, part of the appeal of Citibike is not having to schlep a bike on the PATH or ferry. That said, I hope the best for the program and am excited to see JC adopt better bicycling infrastructure.

This sort of commute might make sense to try to do by rideshare or vanpool. Their website is not the easiest to navigate and is sometimes a bit outdated, but you could try to contact someone at the Hudson County TMA (Transportation Management Association). Here's their website: http://hudsontma.org/index.php?page=r ... id=44&cat_id=18&Itemid=54