The Omnibus Roundup – photos of nowhere, bike share, transit info tech

Wait, the site in the image above couldn’t be in Manhattan, could it? It is, in fact. It’s one of the many overlooked spots of our dense urban island in which a recalcitrant nature has overcome vestiges of a forgotten built environment. For his Nowhere in Manhattan project, photographer Michael Jensen has found and framed such places and aspires to display the images on a billboard near you. Anyone out there got the hookup at Clear Channel?

As always, kind of hard to tame the beast. Another beast many New Yorkers would love to tame is the mass transit system. Last week, Mayor Bloomberg pledged reform and improvements, just as reports this week find many transit agencies slow to spend stimulus funding.

If it were up to you, what small or large changes – in the routes, timing, infrastructure, wayfinding, information display, aesthetic experience – would you make to the way you get to work and around the city? This is one of the questions we’ve been kicking around with our cityscapes buddies at WNYC Culture, so drop us a line or leave us a comment below with your thoughts and stay tuned for more discussion on this theme next month.

For starters, we can think of one simple change that would make deciding whether to wait for the bus or not a whole lot easier. Tell us the ETA of the next bus! And, guess what: miracle of miracles on 34th street.

Remember way back in 2007 and then again in 2008, when our friends at the Forum for Urban Design partnered with everyone’s favorite Storefront and others to prove that bike-sharing was not only fit for Parisians? Yet another way that use-on-demand systems can make our cities more efficient, convenient and fun. New York Bike Share may not yet have become a permanent reality for New Yorkers, but other American cities have taken the plunge, notably… Denver. Denver? Yes, Denver. Check out the video below from GOOD’s excellent green tech series.

The Roundup keeps you up to date with topics we’ve featured and other things we think are worth knowing about.