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Random Thoughts Thread - Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE)


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  • 3 weeks later...

https://www.nicebus.com/Passenger-Information/Now

n54/55 will have somewhat of a better connection with all the other timed routes in SCT especially on weekends. n55 will run hourly on Saturday now instead of every 90 minutes, providing every 30 minish service along with n54

n24: Service on weekend now split at Roosevelt Field. Slightly more frequent service west of RF, slightly less frequent east of there, with absolutely zero effort to connect the two halves. (man the eastern n24 is completely done for at this point). They also need to work on the transfers, because I stop trusting NICE with my Metrocard, as it always double charged me.

n6: short turns not on the schedule between UBS and Jamaica? I would argue it should atleast continue out to Elmont Rd

n1: Slightly more frequent n1 service with short turnsaat Green Acre. Yeah they didn't really need that many buses south of Green Acre anyways

n35: Some buses now terminate at Roosevelt Field (out of both Westbury and Baldwin) most likely to bring the buses/driver back to Mitchell Field Depot and reduce deadhead

They also suspended all n72 bus "temporarily". All trips continue to Farmingdale State College. Not sure if they cut any service there. That n71S is still alive and will have a 4 min connection from all SCT pulses, and make all outgoing SCT pulses as well. It will also have what seems like timed connections at Farmingdale State College with n70 as well (weird they can do that but provide completely unusable connections for n22/24 passengers)

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Yeah, it's rather evident they're slowly trying to kill off the n24 east of RFM.... While I don't think it should be killed off per se, I will say that the bulk of the service between the n22 & n24 east of RFM should go to the n22.... They need to have the n22 from Jamaica terminate at RFM & have the n24 from Jamaica terminate at Mineola.... Something else I've been thinking of when it comes to NICEbus lately, is the n22x...

Not to pat myself on the back (when I saw the signs posted on the utility pole), but they're FINALLY going to have n22x's stopping at Glen Cove/OCR (the stop for the Country Glen shopping center).... Now that they got that Aldi's & that last mile Amazon bldg. up around Glen Cove north of OCR out there in Carle Place, I'm quite sure passenger activity at that stop has significantly increased.... Word is that that Macy's along OCR's about to close (it's pretty dead anyway) & only god knows what they're going to put in its place in the future...  Fact of the matter is that nobody wants that stop for "1 Old County Road" (not only is that building not remotely sought after anymore, I'm not so sure if there's any tenants/businesses operating out of there these days! ) & the stop at Glen Cove/OCR is literally right in front of that shopping center.... So what if it's the next stop after RFM (which is the reason why I firmly believe that n22x's didn't originally/initially stop there)... I mean hell, for me, it's a 10-12 min. walk b/w the 2 stops - so for the average person, it's easily over 15+..... Hell, during peak mall hours, it can take buses 10+ minutes to get between the 2 stops with all that traffic spilling onto, off of, and already along OCR alone....

That n35 change I actually agree with, for whatever their reason.... Anything that comes close to splitting the n35 at Hempstead, I'd support - I never really cared for the old N35/N37 combination (that formed today's n35).... I'd just have all n35 service run between Westbury & Hempstead.... The n35 portion south of Hempstead (or, the old N37) would be used to form an n16 complement... Meaning, I'd have an n16/"n17" type setup that'd run b/w NCC & either Baldwin or RVC... Instead of doling out service equally south of Hempstead (current n35 routing vs. current n16 routing), I'd allocate more service towards the current n35 portion.... Yes, the n16 is quicker than the n15 b/w RVC & HTC, but the n15 simply carries more....

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8 hours ago, Mtatransit said:

How much are they really saving by having n54 buses run every two hours like that on Saturdays? They should have ran it every hour like they seem to do in the early AM and the PM.

That's also the other thing, why do they seem to be operating some of these routes with little to no service outside the usual (weekday) rush hours? Weekend ridership is very different, and it isn't like these routes are serving any major industrial areas where I could see such a schedule potentially being useful. Same thing goes to the n78/n79. When they severely trimmed headways or stop running them, is precisely when they should be running.

Cool that they fixed up the transfer to the n71 at Amityville, however should be providing that transfer on weekdays too. Hopefully they fix that sooner rather than later.

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On 12/30/2023 at 4:53 AM, Mtatransit said:

n6: short turns not on the schedule between UBS and Jamaica? I would argue it should atleast continue out to Elmont Rd

I agree. UBS Arena feels like an inconvenient spot to short turn, as it's kind of in the middle of nowhere. Looks like NICE are doing their own spin of the proposed Q82 /s

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  • 2 weeks later...

Relying on the n4 makes me wish I had a car. This route gets treated like a stepchild to the n6 in terms of priority. Every new pick that comes around it always seems like they are getting rid of service especially n4x service. Last pick there was an n4x that ran out of Jamaica at 7pm along with a n4 local. Of course the n4x trip was eliminated and now the crowd that would have been split between two buses now has to cram on the one n4 and of course with more people on one bus the service is slower. 
 

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Those n15's at Mineola are doing nothing more than taking up space (from the n40).... Just like that n22x experiment with having it go nonstop b/w RFM & Hicksville, these n15's to Mineola aren't working.... People are still gunning for the n40 for Mineola service at HTC & the n15's that aren't going to RFM are tanking at HTC... I'd go as far as to say if they're not going to have some n40 trips serve County Seat Dr, then they should get rid of service to those county office bldg's altogether.... Virtually nobody takes buses to/from there like they used to, back in the 90's or so.... The n15 trips they got running to Mineola may as well be Long Beach - HTC short trips.....

 

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On 12/30/2023 at 1:09 PM, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

How much are they really saving by having n54 buses run every two hours like that on Saturdays? They should have ran it every hour like they seem to do in the early AM and the PM.

That's also the other thing, why do they seem to be operating some of these routes with little to no service outside the usual (weekday) rush hours? Weekend ridership is very different, and it isn't like these routes are serving any major industrial areas where I could see such a schedule potentially being useful. Same thing goes to the n78/n79. When they severely trimmed headways or stop running them, is precisely when they should be running.

Cool that they fixed up the transfer to the n71 at Amityville, however should be providing that transfer on weekdays too. Hopefully they fix that sooner rather than later.

They seem to recognize the fact that the main ridership on the n54/55 doesn’t really care which variant they end up on. There is very few riders who get on at either Broadway or Washington Ave

I also don’t understand why they are running the routes the way they are. Maybe because this way they can cover the whole day with one split crew?

On weekdays the main transfers in Amityville is atleast on paper pretty frequent 

On 1/12/2024 at 7:09 PM, NewFlyer 230 said:

Relying on the n4 makes me wish I had a car. This route gets treated like a stepchild to the n6 in terms of priority. Every new pick that comes around it always seems like they are getting rid of service especially n4x service. Last pick there was an n4x that ran out of Jamaica at 7pm along with a n4 local. Of course the n4x trip was eliminated and now the crowd that would have been split between two buses now has to cram on the one n4 and of course with more people on one bus the service is slower. 
 

Relying on NICE in general makes you wish you have a car

The service gets especially bad after 7-8pm. The ridership is there but the frequency really ramps down

Regarding the n4 . Wish they had some RVC short turns like I believe the MTA used to have. Too bad they don’t have the yard there anymore

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  • 1 month later...
Posted (edited)
On 12/30/2023 at 4:53 AM, Mtatransit said:

n6: short turns not on the schedule between UBS and Jamaica? I would argue it should atleast continue out to Elmont Rd

I agree, it’s odd that they’d choose the first stop.

On 12/30/2023 at 8:30 AM, B35 via Church said:

Fact of the matter is that nobody wants that stop for "1 Old County Road" (not only is that building not remotely sought after anymore, I'm not so sure if there's any tenants/businesses operating out of there these days! ) & the stop at Glen Cove/OCR is literally right in front of that shopping center.... So what if it's the next stop after RFM (which is the reason why I firmly believe that n22x's didn't originally/initially stop there)... I mean hell, for me, it's a 10-12 min. walk b/w the 2 stops - so for the average person, it's easily over 15+..... Hell, during peak mall hours, it can take buses 10+ minutes to get between the 2 stops with all that traffic spilling onto, off of, and already along OCR alone....

When I used the N15 in LIB days, many were riding to One Old Country Rd in Nurse attire, and Clinton/Glen Cove Rds for the shopping Centers, if not East Gate Blvd. Anyone going to Roosevelt Field preferred the more direct N35. If there are trip generators in the area again, they may need to revert the old N15 routing at all times. The last southbound N15 was about 10PM and Glen Cove Rd stop would be busy, many waiting for the N15 to Hempstead/Long Beach and N22 to Jamaica ( Some for N24).

On 12/31/2023 at 8:36 PM, TheNextGen2009 said:

I agree. UBS Arena feels like an inconvenient spot to short turn, as it's kind of in the middle of nowhere. Looks like NICE are doing their own spin of the proposed Q82 /s

Yeah it’s odd. I saw one of those trips one morning to “UBS Arena.” Maybe it’s interlined with the southbound n1, since AM n1 trips go to Jamaica?

On 1/20/2024 at 11:45 AM, Mtatransit said:

Relying on NICE in general makes you wish you have a car

The service gets especially bad after 7-8pm. The ridership is there but the frequency really ramps down

Regarding the n4 . Wish they had some RVC short turns like I believe the MTA used to have. Too bad they don’t have the yard there anymore

Yes, after 9pm the n6 is on 20 min headway and I’d always see Hempstead bound riders flagged after 179th st ( and sometimes at 179th st! Though, it was typically Francis Lewis & Hillside, Francis Lewis & Jamaica, and Springfield Blvd.) Being perpetually flagged at 20 min headway must be frustrating. I’d say they should probably run artics for those runs now that they have them.

Edited by N6 Limited
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5 hours ago, N6 Limited said:

Yes, after 9pm the n6 is on 20 min headway and I’d always see Hempstead bound riders flagged after 179th st ( and sometimes at 179th st! Though, it was typically Francis Lewis & Hillside, Francis Lewis & Jamaica, and Springfield Blvd.) Being perpetually flagged at 20 min headway must be frustrating. I’d say they should probably run artics for those runs now that they have them.

That tight budget is keeping them from adding the service that is needed. The n4 and n6 in general doesn’t get enough service in the evening and personally that’s my biggest issue. Even at the 10pm hour buses going towards Jamaica will be packed with a bunch of standees. The ridership that is there at those hours will eventually get turned away because of the lack of bus service. There has been times when a trip during the evening is missing and you wait double the times and that’s no fun. 

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