We Pay Taxes; We Deserve Answers

[BrooklynBus]

http://www.sheepsheadbites.com/2015/04/the-commute-we-pay-taxes-we-deserve-answers/

 

THE COMMUTE: The heart of a democratic society is being responsive to its citizens. A dictatorship does whatever it wants. However, our transportation agencies have been more dictatorial than responsive. I wrote about inefficient bus management at Kingsborough Community College here. I wondered why shuttle buses only operated in service from the college, when buses going toward the college are often too full around 5:00pm to stop for passengers.

 

So I posed a question in a formal email to the MTA. I informed them that Kingsborough-bound buses frequently bypass the Coney Island Avenue stop because they are too full while shuttle buses are operating in the same direction “not in service.” I asked them why the shuttle cannot pick-up in both directions. I thought it was a reasonable question deserving an answer. This was their initial response:...

[Via Garibaldi 8]

OMG... I'm sorry but you are wearing out the same topics over and over again... SBS service or B1/B49 service.  You would think there are no other transportation issues to cover...

[MHV9218]

As Demetri Martin put it...

 

[BrooklynBus]

OMG... I'm sorry but you are wearing out the same topics over and over again... SBS service or B1/B49 service.  You would think there are no other transportation issues to cover...

Sorry, but I don't ride express buses. That's why we have you.

 

You should be happy to hear that I was just on TV with more of the same. And Thursday I avea piece in the Rockaway Times that is more of the same.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Sorry, but I don't ride express buses. That's why we have you.

 

You should be happy to hear that I was just on TV with more of the same. And Thursday I avea piece in the Rockaway Times that is more of the same.

I just think there are other issues in the immediate area that you could discuss besides beating the B1 and B49 to death.  Talk about the B4... I rode that on Saturday from Knapp Street to the Sheepshead Bay Road train station, and then again from Ocean Parkway and Avenue Z to Bay Ridge.  You could also talk about the BM3 that serves Sheepshead Bay and the border of Manhattan Beach.

[BrooklynBus]

Yes there are other issues. Service also sucks on the B36, the B68 and the B3. I have heard complaints about all those routes. That's why I am pushing my councilman to hold a transit Town Hall which he has agreed to do. I did mention a few weeks ago how my friend waited an hour for the B4 in the afternoon and I invited the reporter to come down to Sheepshead Bay. He said he will have to talk to me more often.

 

I don't know what you want me to say about the BM3. I suppose they could extend it to Manhattan Beach. But I really don't think there is enough demand for it. Right now it only picks up about three people at the first stop. I suppose anyone who wanted it could take the B49 and change for it.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Yes there are other issues. Service also sucks on the B36, the B68 and the B3. I have heard complaints about all those routes. That's why I am pushing my councilman to hold a transit Town Hall which he has agreed to do. I did mention a few weeks ago how my friend waited an hour for the B4 in the afternoon and I invited the reporter to come down to Sheepshead Bay. He said he will have to talk to me more often.

 

I don't know what you want me to say about the BM3. I suppose they could extend it to Manhattan Beach. But I really don't think there is enough demand for it. Right now it only picks up about three people at the first stop. I suppose anyone who wanted it could take the B49 and change for it.

Well I'll leave that up to you, but I think you owe it to the community down there to address other issues going on, be it positive or negative.  As a former resident of the area, there are a lot of changes going on down there and I feel as if a lot of it is transit related.  I'm down there a few times a month to run errands and I see how the area is transforming (in some ways positive and in other ways not so positive).  Transportation alleviates a lot of problems and also can help to spur development, which Sheepshead Bay DESPERATELY needs.  The area has really seen better days. It is nice to see a revitalization of sorts in spots along Emmons Avenue, and I'm sure that the B4 has helped in that, as the bus picked up nicely all along that corridor.  As for the BM3, why don't you go out and do some investigating? Speak to riders about the route and what could be done to make it better.  It's a service that could benefit many riders in the area, especially those far away from the Sheepshead Bay train station.  Additionally, with the planned development and the glut on condos sitting empty,  it's an area that really should be doing much better in terms of ridership.  I'd like to hear more about ridership patterns in general in the area.  I took the BM4 down to Gerritsen Beach instead of BM3 on Saturday due to the horrid traffic in Midtown, and then took a stroll over to the B4, passing by the old school I attended along the way.  As I was walking down to Knapp along Voorhies Avenue, I saw a kid jump in car service. I said to myself, things have improved slightly but still not that great, as I get the impression that many folks still are using car service due to the poor transportation in the area.

[BrooklynBus]

And how do we get the MTA to even look at car services? That is a great indicator where bus service is deficient. But they hae no incentive or want to make bus service better. They only care about their budget and want to run the least amount of service they can get away with politically. Until that changes, bus service will not improve.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

And how do we get the MTA to even look at car services? That is a great indicator where bus service is deficient. But they hae no incentive or want to make bus service better. They only care about their budget and want to run the least amount of service they can get away with politically. Until that changes, bus service will not improve.

Well perhaps you should be highlighting areas where service could be better.  The B1 and B49 aren't the only problems, nor is the SBS service on the B44.

[BrooklynBus]

Well perhaps you should be highlighting areas where service could be better.  The B1 and B49 aren't the only problems, nor is the SBS service on the B44.

I already proposed an entire set of bus route changes. All they do is make up reasons why it can't be done.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

I already proposed an entire set of bus route changes. All they do is make up reasons why it can't be done.

Well the public should know about this. You need to do more to highlight other issues that exist in the community. 

[BrooklynBus]

Well the public should know about this. You need to do more to highlight other issues that exist in the community.

 

My route proposals for Brooklyn have been on the Internet since 2003. I have over 40 pages of reasons from them why they are all no good. I was thinking of posting all the nonsense reasons do everyone can see how stupid they are, but never got around to it. They can't even measure route distances accurately. I proposed a zero time change and they said it was a quarter mile extension costing $50,000 a year. And they assumed no new bus riders would use the route. I calculated that one new passenger per trip would pay for the increased costs. It would have helped about 500 households by lessening the walk to the bus.

 

If they do like something even if it's a very minor change, it takes them five years to study it like when I proposed the B83 extension. They didn't even know they could operate buses on the Belt Parkway until I told them all they needed was an exemption from DOT. Now they do a bunch of Belt Parkway run ons and offs from Ulmer Park.

 

Brooklynbus.tripod.com. I haven't updated the site in nine years and am not sure if I even remember how to do it.

 

I also made several proposals involving Marine Park and Bensonhurst on Sheepsheadbites.