Via Garibaldi 8 Posted October 8, 2015 Share #1 Posted October 8, 2015 I will be using the QM15 starting soon and need some feedback on how reliable service is particularly on Saturdays? I know service can be spotty on weekends, but the plan is to use the bus earlier in the day, which should make my commute easier. I'll be commuting from the Woodhaven/Lindenwood area. Any feedback would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BM5 via Woodhaven Posted October 10, 2015 Share #2 Posted October 10, 2015 Well, it really depends on certain factors, such as what times you're taking the bus. Going to Lindenwood, buses are most reliable in the morning, specifically that first trip or two. It also depends what stop you're planning to get off. Anything south of the Conduit going to Lindenwood, and you'll probably get there a little later than mentioned because of the traffic in that area. Anything after about 12 PM or so to Lindenwood, and buses are bound to be late, moreso south of the Conduit. Going north, buses will almost never run on time, being 5-12 minutes late by the time it reaches the LIE, but it will usually catch up anyways by the time it gets to 34 Street, or it'll be 5 minutes late at most. North of 34 Street though, it'll start running late. On Saturdays, buses will usually not run extremely late, unless there's roadwork (such as on the QMT) or severe delays along the route, which doesn't happen often. Weekdays, buses will arrive/leave late regardless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted October 10, 2015 Author Share #3 Posted October 10, 2015 Well, it really depends on certain factors, such as what times you're taking the bus. Going to Lindenwood, buses are most reliable in the morning, specifically that first trip or two. It also depends what stop you're planning to get off. Anything south of the Conduit going to Lindenwood, and you'll probably get there a little later than mentioned because of the traffic in that area. Anything after about 12 PM or so to Lindenwood, and buses are bound to be late, moreso south of the Conduit. Going north, buses will almost never run on time, being 5-12 minutes late by the time it reaches the LIE, but it will usually catch up anyways by the time it gets to 34 Street, or it'll be 5 minutes late at most. North of 34 Street though, it'll start running late. On Saturdays, buses will usually not run extremely late, unless there's roadwork (such as on the QMT) or severe delays along the route, which doesn't happen often. Weekdays, buses will arrive/leave late regardless. I used it today and it was pretty much like you said. Going towards Lindenwood the bus was on time but I got to my destination REALLY early. Going to have to figure out what to do to kill time and find something along Woodhaven Blvd... There was one lady one the bus when I boarded. Going back to the city the bus was a few minutes late and was fairly crowded, with a few more folks getting on as we reached Middle Village. Seems like the bus gets held up by the Q52 and Q53 though. I see why they're giving those lines SBS service. The dwell times are insane and those buses are far too small to handle the loads. Aside from Middle Village, where does most of the usage on the QM15 come from? Doesn't seem to be much in Woodhaven. I also don't understand why the BM5 only makes a few stops along Woodhaven Blvd, esp. on Saturdays, but doesn't stop further south even though it's running along the same route as the QM15. I'm going too far south to have access to both and the hour headways on the QM15 suck quite frankly, but it's better than nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B35 via Church Posted October 10, 2015 Share #4 Posted October 10, 2015 I used it today and it was pretty much like you said. Going towards Lindenwood the bus was on time but I got to my destination REALLY early. Going to have to figure out what to do to kill time and find something along Woodhaven Blvd... There was one lady one the bus when I boarded. Going back to the city the bus was a few minutes late and was fairly crowded, with a few more folks getting on as we reached Middle Village. Seems like the bus gets held up by the Q52 and Q53 though. I see why they're giving those lines SBS service. The dwell times are insane and those buses are far too small to handle the loads. Aside from Middle Village, where does most of the usage on the QM15 come from? Doesn't seem to be much in Woodhaven. I also don't understand why the BM5 only makes a few stops along Woodhaven Blvd, esp. on Saturdays, but doesn't stop further south even though it's running along the same route as the QM15. I'm going too far south to have access to both and the hour headways on the QM15 suck quite frankly, but it's better than nothing. The BM5 makes those stops in Queens to spawn usage on the route, since it isn't doing all that grand w/i Brooklyn.... Basically spared it from being on any chopping block of axing the thing (for now anyway),.... It's not what's in Woodhaven that has people from other areas wanting to go there.... It's that Woodhaven is dense & that its patrons are trying to get to wherever it is that they're going (Usually QB for the subway & that (overrated) mall they call Queens Center.... lol)..... To put things in perspective, it's not like they have another realistic option for north/south service - the nearest bus route west of Woodhaven is in Brooklyn..... QM15 usage... IDK about the weekend, but during the weekday, I'd say Ozone Park/Lindenwood/Howard Beach constitues 1/3 of the ridership it gets..... The rest of the ridership is well spread out (in terms of usage per stop, I mean) b/w Penelope & 101st.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BM5 via Woodhaven Posted October 10, 2015 Share #5 Posted October 10, 2015 I used it today and it was pretty much like you said. Going towards Lindenwood the bus was on time but I got to my destination REALLY early. Going to have to figure out what to do to kill time and find something along Woodhaven Blvd... There was one lady one the bus when I boarded. Going back to the city the bus was a few minutes late and was fairly crowded, with a few more folks getting on as we reached Middle Village. Seems like the bus gets held up by the Q52 and Q53 though. I see why they're giving those lines SBS service. The dwell times are insane and those buses are far too small to handle the loads. Aside from Middle Village, where does most of the usage on the QM15 come from? Doesn't seem to be much in Woodhaven. I also don't understand why the BM5 only makes a few stops along Woodhaven Blvd, esp. on Saturdays, but doesn't stop further south even though it's running along the same route as the QM15. I'm going too far south to have access to both and the hour headways on the QM15 suck quite frankly, but it's better than nothing. The only stop the BM5 makes in the South is Piktin Avenue. As for why it doesn't stop (and I have asked the same question), I remember being told that riders in Lindenwood or in the South are have a stigma towards the bus, among other things. In other words, the bus is coming from Brooklyn, from ENY, it gives a bad vibe, especially since ENY is not one of the safest areas in NYC. Well, ridership picks up in Lindenwood, then in Forest Hills and everything north of Metropolitan Avenue. That partially explains the BM5's stops on Woodhaven (since they're all in the north, save for Piktin). I also believe that in the north, specifically in Forest Hills and Rego Park, more riders choose the BM5 over the QM15. They don't really care that the bus comes from Brooklyn, they'll use it. I've seen families sometimes get on the BM5. Why that may be, probably since the BM5 is faster to Midtown and goes more into the center of Midtown. In the South, not only is ridership not as strong (save for Piktin and South), but they'll stick to the QM15, but they try to keep the bus running along the main road as to avoid delays along the service road. They also don't have a stop that's in Middle Village entirely, but that's because the QM24 already runs there during those time periods. So on weekends, basically South of Liberty and the area north of Metropolitan define the ridership. On weekday off peak trips, moreso the trips in the mid-late afternoon to Manhattan and the first few from Manhattan, it's essentially almost all coming from the area south of Liberty. What's interesting about the QM15 unlike other express buses on Saturdays is that loads are pretty decent towards Manhattan basically all the time, with like 1-2 trips in the mid afternoon rather low, and 1-2 trips with a high amount of loads in the early morning. Ridership in the opposite direction is very concentrated in the afternoon, so most riders utilize the bus after 2 PM to Queens, but to Manhattan, you'll get decent loads on most buses. Even the last inbound trips does decent, you'll sometimes get as many as 10 riders on the bus. The early morning trips to Lindenwood aren't and early afternoon buses aren't used as much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted October 10, 2015 Author Share #6 Posted October 10, 2015 The BM5 makes those stops in Queens to spawn usage on the route, since it isn't doing all that grand w/i Brooklyn.... Basically spared it from being on any chopping block of axing the thing (for now anyway),.... It's not what's in Woodhaven that has people from other areas wanting to go there.... It's that Woodhaven is dense & that its patrons are trying to get to wherever it is that they're going (Usually QB for the subway & that (overrated) mall they call Queens Center.... lol)..... To put things in perspective, it's not like they have another realistic option for north/south service - the nearest bus route west of Woodhaven is in Brooklyn..... QM15 usage... IDK about the weekend, but during the weekday, I'd say Ozone Park/Lindenwood/Howard Beach constitues 1/3 of the ridership it gets..... The rest of the ridership is well spread out (in terms of usage per stop, I mean) b/w Penelope & 101st.... I'm generally not wild about most of Queens and Woodhaven is no exception... Aesthetically most of it (Woodhaven that is) is in need of TLC. It's rather dirty and industrial looking in parts, and the houses are sort of on top of each other with that cheesy siding. Parts of Middle Village are nice actually, with lots of green and architecture. It's weird that it's so dense because there's houses everywhere, and you wouldn't think it's that dense, but it is. I'll be going there for business purposes for the foreseeable future, and surprisingly enough, the person I was visiting seemed to have no idea what the QM15 was. They use the subway or drive. I honestly don't know how folks live over there. Don't see any appeal to that area at all. PITA to reach, no express bus on Sundays (the QM15 should definitely run 7 days a week) and you usually have to take a bus to get the subway. It looks family oriented, but big deal. I was looking on Google maps for some place I could go to eat or something to kill time... Would think there would be more chain stores but that's not the case. Lots of grease spoon stores though. lol The only stop the BM5 makes in the South is Piktin Avenue. As for why it doesn't stop (and I have asked the same question), I remember being told that riders in Lindenwood or in the South are have a stigma towards the bus, among other things. In other words, the bus is coming from Brooklyn, from ENY, it gives a bad vibe, especially since ENY is not one of the safest areas in NYC. Well, ridership picks up in Lindenwood, then in Forest Hills and everything north of Metropolitan Avenue. That partially explains the BM5's stops on Woodhaven (since they're all in the north, save for Piktin). I also believe that in the north, specifically in Forest Hills and Rego Park, more riders choose the BM5 over the QM15. They don't really care that the bus comes from Brooklyn, they'll use it. I've seen families sometimes get on the BM5. Why that may be, probably since the BM5 is faster to Midtown and goes more into the center of Midtown. In the South, not only is ridership not as strong (save for Piktin and South), but they'll stick to the QM15, but they try to keep the bus running along the main road as to avoid delays along the service road. They also don't have a stop that's in Middle Village entirely, but that's because the QM24 already runs there during those time periods. So on weekends, basically South of Liberty and the area north of Metropolitan define the ridership. On weekday off peak trips, moreso the trips in the mid-late afternoon to Manhattan and the first few from Manhattan, it's essentially almost all coming from the area south of Liberty. What's interesting about the QM15 unlike other express buses on Saturdays is that loads are pretty decent towards Manhattan basically all the time, with like 1-2 trips in the mid afternoon rather low, and 1-2 trips with a high amount of loads in the early morning. Ridership in the opposite direction is very concentrated in the afternoon, so most riders utilize the bus after 2 PM to Queens, but to Manhattan, you'll get decent loads on most buses. Even the last inbound trips does decent, you'll sometimes get as many as 10 riders on the bus. The early morning trips to Lindenwood aren't and early afternoon buses aren't used as much. So they'd rather settle for a bus every hour than have more service... lol... If they're that territorial, they should at least get more damn service... Every 30 minutes would be decent... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BM5 via Woodhaven Posted October 10, 2015 Share #7 Posted October 10, 2015 I'm generally not wild about most of Queens and Woodhaven is no exception... Aesthetically most of it (Woodhaven that is) is in need of TLC. It's rather dirty and industrial looking in parts, and the houses are sort of on top of each other with that cheesy siding. Parts of Middle Village are nice actually, with lots of green and architecture. It's weird that it's so dense because there's houses everywhere, and you wouldn't think it's that dense, but it is. I'll be going there for business purposes for the foreseeable future, and surprisingly enough, the person I was visiting seemed to have no idea what the QM15 was. They use the subway or drive. I honestly don't know how folks live over there. Don't see any appeal to that area at all. PITA to reach, no express bus on Sundays and you usually have to take a bus to get the subway. It looks family oriented, but big deal. I was looking on Google maps for some place I could go to eat or something to kill time... Would think there would be more chain stores but that's not the case. Lots of grease spoon stores though. lol The DOT back then when they all had the PBL bus lines, actually wanted to add service on some expresses in Queens. They proposed adding weekend and midday service on the QM15, QM21 & QM24 (back in the days when ridership on the QM21 was actually considerably high for the amount of buses), however, unlike the 21 and 24, the DOT planned on sending BQM1's (at the time) via Lindenwood, up Woodhaven. Obviously the MTA didn't do that, and gave individual QM15 buses to the riders along Woodhaven Blvd. Now, the QM21 decision was axed by the MTA since ridership was dropping significantly, and I believe the QM24 never got it because of monetary reasons (i.e, no money in the budget). I've never really heard anything about more weekend service, including Sunday service at all for the QM15 after the addition of Saturday service back in 2008 (before that, only one trip ran in each direction), but it's nice that the MTA is adding more service on the weekends piece by piece after like 7 years or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted October 10, 2015 Author Share #8 Posted October 10, 2015 The DOT back then when they all had the PBL bus lines, actually wanted to add service on some expresses in Queens. They proposed adding weekend and midday service on the QM15, QM21 & QM24 (back in the days when ridership on the QM21 was actually considerably high for the amount of buses), however, unlike the 21 and 24, the DOT planned on sending BQM1's (at the time) via Lindenwood, up Woodhaven. Obviously the MTA didn't do that, and gave individual QM15 buses to the riders along Woodhaven Blvd. Now, the QM21 decision was axed by the MTA since ridership was dropping significantly, and I believe the QM24 never got it because of monetary reasons (i.e, no money in the budget). I've never really heard anything about more weekend service, including Sunday service at all for the QM15 after the addition of Saturday service back in 2008 (before that, only one trip ran in each direction), but it's nice that the MTA is adding more service on the weekends piece by piece after like 7 years or so. They really should... What do the riders use once the QM15 stops running on Saturdays? Subway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BM5 via Woodhaven Posted October 10, 2015 Share #9 Posted October 10, 2015 So they'd rather settle for a bus every hour than have more service... lol... If they're that territorial, they should at least get more damn service... Every 30 minutes would be decent... Yeah, it's pretty weird, I don't get it. The problem I have with 30 minute headways on Saturdays is that there probably might not be enough ridership to justify that. Besides Union Tpke west of 188 Street, and select stops on Woodhaven none of the QM's have 30 minute headways on Saturdays or Sundays, and none of the BxM's have 30 minute headways on Sundays (save the BxM7). The BxM's that have the 30 minute headways have higher ridership levels than even the QM2 or QM5, and they don't have 30 minute headways individually. The other problem, the bus on the :30 would run way too close to the BM5. The MTA moved up the bus arrivals to Manhattan by 25 minutes in order to have 30 minute service at the bigger stops on Woodhaven/Cross Bay Blvd save Lindenwood. That extra bus would also only benefit Lindenwood. They really should... What do the riders use once the QM15 stops running on Saturdays? Subway? I believe so, since that's the only option. The QM15 has more ridership than the BM1-3, but they run later. I would have the QM15 run until about 9:35 PM or 10:35 PM to Queens. As for Sunday service, I would use the old QM15 Saturday schedule, where buses just went in a loop routing without ending in Manhattan. It would run from about 9 AM to 6 PM. QM15 ridership is increased slightly on weekdays, and in a somewhat significant matters on weekends, so if it keeps up, there probably might be more trips added, and possibly Sunday service. However, there would need to be more ridership to have Sunday Service(although the BxM4/QM4 break that rule). Perhaps when QM15 Saturday ridership reaches 250-300, maybe you'll see more trips and so on being added. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobtehpanda Posted October 12, 2015 Share #10 Posted October 12, 2015 I'm generally not wild about most of Queens and Woodhaven is no exception... Aesthetically most of it (Woodhaven that is) is in need of TLC. It's rather dirty and industrial looking in parts, and the houses are sort of on top of each other with that cheesy siding. Parts of Middle Village are nice actually, with lots of green and architecture. It's weird that it's so dense because there's houses everywhere, and you wouldn't think it's that dense, but it is. I'll be going there for business purposes for the foreseeable future, and surprisingly enough, the person I was visiting seemed to have no idea what the QM15 was. They use the subway or drive. I honestly don't know how folks live over there. Don't see any appeal to that area at all. PITA to reach, no express bus on Sundays (the QM15 should definitely run 7 days a week) and you usually have to take a bus to get the subway. It looks family oriented, but big deal. I was looking on Google maps for some place I could go to eat or something to kill time... Would think there would be more chain stores but that's not the case. Lots of grease spoon stores though. lol The nice thing about Queens being okay is that it translates to more affordable real estate prices compared to more interesting or beautiful neighborhoods. With real estate prices as ridiculous as they've been getting (to the point where even the South Bronx is starting to gentrify), Queens real estate is still very affordable in a relative sense, making it the locale of choice if you want to own something decently-sized for reasonable prices, particularly if you're raising children. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted October 12, 2015 Author Share #11 Posted October 12, 2015 The nice thing about Queens being okay is that it translates to more affordable real estate prices compared to more interesting or beautiful neighborhoods. With real estate prices as ridiculous as they've been getting (to the point where even the South Bronx is starting to gentrify), Queens real estate is still very affordable in a relative sense, making it the locale of choice if you want to own something decently-sized for reasonable prices, particularly if you're raising children. Well I guess that and the lack of fast options in some areas too. If I ever lived in Queens, it would have to be Northeast Queens (i.e. Douglaston, Little Neck, Beechurst, Bay Terrace). As nice as Neponsit is, I'm not into the beach life so that would be out, but this is one reason I tutor on the side. Allows me to check out neighborhoods that I would never go to. This will likely be a long term thing, so I'll take the QM15 down and walk around here and there, but the area that I'm in doesn't appeal to me. Everything looks run down with the exception of a few areas. Not dangerous at all, but just places in need of TLC, as in the area is mainly working class so folks don't have as much disposable income to keep up their properties. Having that help to keep prices down is not my idea of "affordable" housing. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobtehpanda Posted October 13, 2015 Share #12 Posted October 13, 2015 Well I guess that and the lack of fast options in some areas too. If I ever lived in Queens, it would have to be Northeast Queens (i.e. Douglaston, Little Neck, Beechurst, Bay Terrace). As nice as Neponsit is, I'm not into the beach life so that would be out, but this is one reason I tutor on the side. Allows me to check out neighborhoods that I would never go to. This will likely be a long term thing, so I'll take the QM15 down and walk around here and there, but the area that I'm in doesn't appeal to me. Everything looks run down with the exception of a few areas. Not dangerous at all, but just places in need of TLC, as in the area is mainly working class so folks don't have as much disposable income to keep up their properties. Having that help to keep prices down is not my idea of "affordable" housing. lol Realistically speaking, the working class and poor have to live somewhere (since they are the bedrock of the service economy in this city), and it's not as if we've been keeping up with the demand for public housing. If I remember correctly, the waitlist for that is several years long and probably closed by now due to the lack of available apartments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted October 13, 2015 Author Share #13 Posted October 13, 2015 Realistically speaking, the working class and poor have to live somewhere (since they are the bedrock of the service economy in this city), and it's not as if we've been keeping up with the demand for public housing. If I remember correctly, the waitlist for that is several years long and probably closed by now due to the lack of available apartments. I guess they do, but I have to wonder about how neighborhoods are degraded in some cases. Looking at what Woodhaven was and what it is now... Rather depressing... Then there's the transportation side of things. Given the usage of the QM15 in the more affluent parts of Howard Beach, one has to wonder if there would be more usage if Woodhaven hadn't become such a working class area. Middle Village and Forest Hills by comparison has remained nice and ridership from those areas is noticeable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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