User Posted April 9, 2014 Share #1 Posted April 9, 2014 When it comes to bus service, it's difficult to compare counties and determine which ones deserve more assistance from Albany. Suffolk County, for instance, made an unsuccessful play for a 50 percent bump in state aid for bus service this year, arguing that it gets only $22 million annually while Nassau gets $57 million and Westchester receives $47 million.That sounds like a fair argument, but you have to consider other factors: For instance, Nassau's bus service carries almost five times as many riders as Suffolk's. Yes, fewer are served, but Suffolk has to cover a tremendous area with less in the farebox to show for it.What is clear when you compare county bus services is that Nassau's needs an increase in subsidy from the county. Nassau Inter-County Express said last month that a $3.3-million gap in the service's $122-million budget would lead to service cuts if more money weren't found. This year's final increase of $1.2 million from the state was the figure used to calculate the budget gap.Nassau provides $2.6 million annually to its own service. Suffolk kicks in $29 million, while Westchester provides $19 million. Nassau made a smart move by privatizing its bus service in 2012; it was operated by the MTA before that. The change has saved the county at least $60 million. But the county can't get by with contributing so little.The state has been generous to Nassau's bus service, but the riders still contribute an unusually high 47 percent of costs through the fare box. Privatization and a cut in subsidy from the county have led to about $7.3 million per year in service cuts on lightly used routes, which, according to NICE, affected about 1,000 riders.For county residents without other options, bus service is a lifeline. If Nassau needs to kick in another $3.3 million to preserve routes, it should do so, and count its blessings that it's getting off so cheap.Link: http://www.newsday.com/opinion/editorial-nassau-gets-a-cheap-ride-for-bus-service-1.7612701Here are the comments on the article: http://tinyurl.com/pztbnsm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinePower Posted April 9, 2014 Share #2 Posted April 9, 2014 It really is Nassau's turn to pony up more dough, perhaps (and only perhaps) this article will help convince Nassau to increase funding to avoid cuts this summer which will not doubt pour more salt onto an already bad situation. The article leaves out alot of the problems with the bus service, like all the missing buses and delays due to breakdowns, a result of poor maintanance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N6 Limited Posted April 9, 2014 Share #3 Posted April 9, 2014 Newsday closes those comments quick. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinePower Posted April 12, 2014 Share #4 Posted April 12, 2014 Heck 1831 still has that hole in the back. And some buses won't read my NEW EasyPay Metrocard that I just got last week. This operation is as depressing as it gets. Been seeing alot of V's out lately since the new buses must be broken down sitting in the yard since there's no $$ to fix them, you're right, the summer is gonna be real bad, and the V's dont like the heat to begin with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N6 Limited Posted April 16, 2014 Share #5 Posted April 16, 2014 The focus is now on Nassau Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qjtransitmaster Posted April 20, 2014 Share #6 Posted April 20, 2014 The focus is now on Nassau One does not simply urbanize without improving transit funding. Plus most cuts were reversed If you notice N48 weekend service returned and the N23/27 fiasco was almost completely reversed. N31 was finally perfected. Shows what NICE is capable of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BM5 via Woodhaven Posted April 21, 2014 Share #7 Posted April 21, 2014 One does not simply urbanize without improving transit funding. Plus most cuts were reversed If you notice N48 weekend service returned and the N23/27 fiasco was almost completely reversed. N31 was finally perfected. Shows what NICE is capable of. Yeah, but now they're having a deficit, and there might be possible cuts this summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qjtransitmaster Posted April 21, 2014 Share #8 Posted April 21, 2014 Yeah, but now they're having a deficit, and there might be possible cuts this summer. I hope to the low routes and not the high ridership ones. If you look at the county from a every angle Routes like N17,51,73,71,46/47 are actually easy to replace. N14 especially can like others have either parts or their entire routes merged into high ridership lines. N81 well to a smaller extent based on NICE's report many walk to it which means it has residential reach. Some characteristics of many routes aren't being taken into account yet. I did complete figureing out NICE now all that's left is to use N49 at rush and probably n22x or N69. I started noticing that many high paid workers in Nassau even if transit was great can't use it due to the nature of their work. Which means the only mainstream ridership base is school workers and LIRR commuters thus limiting ridership potential on many lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewFlyer 230 Posted April 21, 2014 Share #9 Posted April 21, 2014 ^^^ The N69 is not run by NICE it's owned by a different company. It should since it's in Nassau County the N33 and N15 serve that area I believe called Long Beach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qjtransitmaster Posted April 21, 2014 Share #10 Posted April 21, 2014 It may not be ran by NICE, but Long Beach buses and NICE service go hand in hand. Long Beach seems to do a good job operating their buses, so I don't know why you would want NICE to operate them when they could screw it up or start cutting the service. Or merge it with another NICE route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B35 via Church Posted April 22, 2014 Share #11 Posted April 22, 2014 Nah, the Lido Beach route should not be run by NICE.... They would f*** around & try to merge N33 trips out there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qjtransitmaster Posted April 22, 2014 Share #12 Posted April 22, 2014 Nah, the Lido Beach route should not be run by NICE.... They would f*** around & try to merge N33 trips out there! But N33 is short enough? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NY1635 Posted April 22, 2014 Share #13 Posted April 22, 2014 But N33 is short enough? Yes. The n33 doesn't need to go past the LIRR station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B35 via Church Posted April 27, 2014 Share #14 Posted April 27, 2014 But N33 is short enough? Doesn't matter.... It's cheaper to run longer routes at mediocre headways, than it is to run 2 routes with decent/justifiable/average/whatever you wanna call it, headways..... N33 doesn't have much of an intra-Nassau riderbase anyway..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qjtransitmaster Posted April 27, 2014 Share #15 Posted April 27, 2014 Doesn't matter.... It's cheaper to run longer routes at mediocre headways, than it is to run 2 routes with decent/justifiable/average/whatever you wanna call it, headways..... N33 doesn't have much of an intra-Nassau riderbase anyway..... Hmm let me think about that it can relate to weak eastern routes. Why does N79 perform better than the N73&80? They are all hourly. What makes N79 tick and N80/81& 73/74 such duds? Heck what parts of the N49 get the most use? Does it have high front street ridership excluding HTC riders? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B35 via Church Posted April 27, 2014 Share #16 Posted April 27, 2014 Hmm let me think about that it can relate to weak eastern routes. Why does N79 perform better than the N73&80? They are all hourly. What makes N79 tick and N80/81& 73/74 such duds? Heck what parts of the N49 get the most use? Does it have high front street ridership excluding HTC riders? n79 has an actual steady & potent enough riderbase (including folks xferring to/from the usual suspects [n20/22/24] to boot) - people traveling from a part of northeast Nassau county (that has no bus service for miles, other than the n79, mind you) & Walt Whitman mall that are trying to get back to points west... The Manetto Hill folks use the n79 noticably more than the patrons that live in the service area of the "duds" you list.... n73/74/80/81 are duds (as you put it) because they largely serve residential areas with which not near as many ppl. have a real want or need for those routes in their totalities.... n49, I don't know about that route's usage.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N6 Limited Posted April 28, 2014 Share #17 Posted April 28, 2014 Hmm I know someone that uses the N49, I'll ask them about it's usage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qjtransitmaster Posted April 28, 2014 Share #18 Posted April 28, 2014 n79 has an actual steady & potent enough riderbase (including folks xferring to/from the usual suspects [n20/22/24] to boot) - people traveling from a part of northeast Nassau county (that has no bus service for miles, other than the n79, mind you) & Walt Whitman mall that are trying to get back to points west... The Manetto Hill folks use the n79 noticably more than the patrons that live in the service area of the "duds" you list.... n73/74/80/81 are duds (as you put it) because they largely serve residential areas with which not near as many ppl. have a real want or need for those routes in their totalities.... n49, I don't know about that route's usage.... Elaborate on N69 ridership. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B35 via Church Posted April 28, 2014 Share #19 Posted April 28, 2014 Elaborate on N69 ridership. I'm not doing this thing with you, where you go down a laundry list of routes in successive posts & ask me how those routes usages are.... Should've included the N69 in your last post..... All I'm going to say is that the route gets more usage than many might expect..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qjtransitmaster Posted April 28, 2014 Share #20 Posted April 28, 2014 I'm not doing this thing with you, where you go down a laundry list of routes in successive posts & ask me how those routes usages are.... Should've included the N69 in your last post..... All I'm going to say is that the route gets more usage than many might expect..... Ohh that is a good hint. Good now I am one step closer to seeing NICE's full potential even if a few routes would have to go bye bye. But there are ways to integrate parts of weaker lines into stronger lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BM5 via Woodhaven Posted April 28, 2014 Share #21 Posted April 28, 2014 Nah, the n49 does quite well, most usage is south of NUMC. Of the people that use the n49 on newbridge road, most get off shortly before Merrick Road Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RtrainBlues Posted April 28, 2014 Share #22 Posted April 28, 2014 I'm impressed that the N4 has joined the N6 in offering 24/7 service. Does anyone remember when this happened? 10 years ago, it was only the N6 that offered 24/7 service. Perhaps the N22 should be the 3rd bus to offer this service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qjtransitmaster Posted April 28, 2014 Share #23 Posted April 28, 2014 I'm impressed that the N4 has joined the N6 in offering 24/7 service. Does anyone remember when this happened? 10 years ago, it was only the N6 that offered 24/7 service. Perhaps the N22 should be the 3rd bus to offer this service. Dude N4 had 24/7 service during the MTA days since 2010. N22 nah. Not yet. Nah, the n49 does quite well, most usage is south of NUMC. Of the people that use the n49 on newbridge road, most get off shortly before Merrick Road So most use is on front street? Or HTC? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BM5 via Woodhaven Posted April 28, 2014 Share #24 Posted April 28, 2014 Dude N4 had 24/7 service during the MTA days since 2010. N22 nah. Not yet. So most use is on front street? Or HTC? Most usage is on the Front Street Portion. Some usage begin at HTC. It's more people utilizing the bus to Hempstead, than to any intermediate stop along Front Street. Intermediate service along Front Street seems to be less than people originating from HTC, so it's safe to say most come from HTC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qjtransitmaster Posted April 28, 2014 Share #25 Posted April 28, 2014 Most usage is on the Front Street Portion. Some usage begin at HTC. It's more people utilizing the bus to Hempstead, than to any intermediate stop along Front Street. Intermediate service along Front Street seems to be less than people originating from HTC, so it's safe to say most come from HTC. So most riders to Newbridge rd and hicksville come from HTC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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