M5 Bus Route Assignment - TEXT

Being a regular “blogger” I loved the idea of this assignment because of its simplicity – get the M5 bus, go to its last stop and back, and write your impressions and reactions to New York City.

Having biked quite a few along this route when going to Bear Mountain as a weekend exercise, I knew a little what I could expect in terms of neighborhood changes and what I would see. I thought I’d might add a little to the narration of this ride by, after doing it on the bus and jotting down notes of what went through my head and what music I was listening to, I would do it on the bike and film the entire ordeal while collecting GPS and heart rate information.

The initial idea was to present this in a synchronized fashion as an interactive presentation where the video would be playing in fast speed and my commentaries, as text, would appear on the video while a map displayed my exact position to the side of the video.

Unfortunately I faced some technical limitations due to the devices I was using, the geography of New York City, time constraints, and my own technical skill level and planning so the final look and feel of the presentation is not what I had initially imagined in my mind.

I guess that is the nature with any project – but I hope that these are some of the things that I will be able to improve on through ITP – better planning, better technical skills, and better interactive presentations.

Somehow I would have to create and animate this... graphically I would know how to do it as a video but I really wanted to program it all so that it was synched up. I wanted to have GPS information (latitude and longitude) being displayed from real data collected on the scene, my position blink on the map, heart rate data being displayed, text and video all synched up...

My first difficulty was to get GPS satellite reception on the GPS. There are simply too many buildings in NYC blocking the skies. I figured I could jot down the locations of where I was at in different points in time to then manually insert them into the map synchronizing with what I had written down, taken pictures of or shot videos of.

Second difficulty: shyness to film on the bus. This one was overtaken easily but then a second problem appeared - battery life. Did not take enough battery to film the entire trip. So scratched the idea of filming the entire bus ride since I was going to film the entire bike ride (assuming that I would go back to ITP and get a LOT more batteries). Decided to do the textual part on the bus and some pictures.

On the way back down from George Washington bridge the traffic stopped - total grid lock due to a parade around times square. Needed to meet with a real estate broker to look at some apartments so jumped off the bus and got into the subway. I figured that it would be OK to not have the entire ride recorded since it was already the ride back and I was already running out of ideas and comments to jot down... they were becoming merely factual observations of the scene around me.

The next challenge was to strap the camera to the bicycle - not too big of a problem. Used some bubble wrap to be a cushion under the camera and duck tape to hold the camera in place making sure that all of the surfaces of the camera were covered in plastic so that no glue from the tape would be left behind once I unmounted the contraption.

Having stocked up on batteries, the final challenge was to physically endure the ride. I knew it was doable but did not know how my out of shape body would take it. Turned out to be excellent during the ride, but needless to say that I was dead by the end of it.

My general impressions and reactions to the ride were the following:

NY is a compact town where each block has its own story, peculiarity, style, and attitude. May seem like an overstatement or generalization but it seems to hold for the most part of the city - especially downtown where the blocks are smaller and less commercial. There is so much diversity in terms of the people you see on the streets and even though every block has almost all you need, every block has a slightly different style of commerce.

Starting downtown you get a small neighborhood feel to each block. Families are strolling with their children, young people are going out for their jog, and older people are simply enjoying the sunny day on the sidewalk and quaint little parks. The buildings are no more than five or six stories high and the stores have little advertising no their windows – they simply state their name and display what they have to offer.

This scene slowly fades away when you get into the midtown area where a plethora of small businesses flourish and thrive on the millions of people walking to and from work. Flashy signs attempt to attract you into buying their products. The visual pollution contrasts with the tranquil scenery from the downtown area, just four or five blocks away. Construction sites mix up with the street vendors and the people walking around like it is a regular work day.

As you get close to the park the buildings become imposing and rich. Spacious and high ceiling marbled and wood lobbies observe important looking men and women on their blackberries and cell phones coming in and out with stretch limos and car services. Hotels display their luxurious doormen opening car doors and helping tourists and business men carry their bags. The old is mixed up with the new.

Once you hit the park the scenery changes again into a more residential feel yet different from downtown. Homes here are high rising apartments where walk-up buildings are unheard of. The music scene seems to be concentrated here as well with some Jazz places and the obvious New York City Opera with its expansive white courtyard entrance.

The impressively chick residential buildings give way to the beautifully tree lined River Side Drive. Made me reconsider the choice of living downtown when I saw this area. To wake up with a view of this park and the Hudson River would be spectacular. There is virtually no commercial activity along this drive, only the wide residential buildings on one side and the sloping park on the other.

Once you leave this area around Grant’s Tomb you seem to enter a foreign country. You abruptly see Spanish signs everywhere, no yellow cabs, and many street vendors. For some reason the population seems to have a larger proportion of overweight individuals yet there is something about the mannerisms of the people that make this a pleasant and cheerful scene.

This scenery does not change too much up till the end of the ride. The streets are wider, the buildings are lower and the residential and commercial buildings are mixed up in a colorful setting all along the avenues.

At the final stop the scene is quite unexpected. A large building with a very interesting walkway aligns the view to the George Washington Bridge in the backdrop. The colorful commerce sells a wider variety of fruit and vegetables than scenes on your local stores downtown – not to mention the price!

On the ride down I decide to sit at the back of the bus to be able to observe the people. On the ride up I sat right up at the front to be able to look at the scenery. The actual people watch proved not to be so effective because the bus ride was quite empty all the way down. A big contrast to the subway ride I took after hoping out of the bus.

For the second part of my “mission” I hopped on my bike and retraced the bus route on my bicycle. The range of my observations changed from the residential/commercial building analysis to a people/car analysis. Being on the bike you are obviously closer to the people on the streets and the cars.

The largest differences were the kinds of cars zooming around me. Downtown you see very few private cars and many yellow cabs and buses. Midtown and closer to the park you see more limos and car service cars and a lot more commercial vehicles performing their deliveries. Around the park the concentration of delivery trucks falls drastically and you see many more private vehicles while still seeing some yellow cabs. Once you reach the River Side Drive and upper Manhattan close to the bridge you see practically no yellow cabs and the selection of private cars change in taste/style. You see more customized cars with special wheels, spoilers, tinted windows, and quite a few motorcycles as well.

Another difference between the bus and bike ride is that you get more feedback from the surroundings. On the bus you are a mere passenger in this big tin can watching what is around you. What is around you sees only the tin can go by. On the bike you are an individual moving part of the traffic scheme. Cars open up space for you to go by and wait for you to change lanes. People look at you wondering who is this crazy biker weaving through traffic at high speeds with a camera mounted on his handlebar. And you are trying to predict the movements of all the cars, people, and traffic lights to find the best path to rush to your destination. An exhilarating feeling.