Interested Rider

the Bay News and the Marine Park/Mill Basin Courier has this information on its front page in the issue that was issued this past Friday The complete article is on page 14.

I am in agreement with you as I do not use a credit card to add money to my metro card as i prefer to pay in cash. My credit cards are for purchases of items that I want to purchase and where I can pay it off as soon as the bill arrives, not for a subway or bus ride. Pardon me, but I am old fashioned when it comes using technology and with the exception of the Metro Card which produced a trememdous cost saving for me when I was working (the total cost of going from where I live to where I work was $1.75 each way. and I rode 5-6 different lines),I am one of the skeptics.

Never has true words been written

I spent 12 years of my life working under Pataki's so called "Commissioner" and to say the least, i was one of those who felt that three terms were more than enough, let alone two terms.m He was succeded by Eliot Spitzer and he appointed the best commissiner that I worked under during my entire tenure in the department. In one year, the department processes were bought up to date and our complaints were heard and resolved.The difference in the department was like night and day as he was a hands on administrator. It is quite likely that if Andy Byford would have held the position under Spitzer not Cuomo, things would have been different,

Andy Byford would have not taken the position at the MTA if Pataki was governor as if anyone thinks Cuomo is bad, Pataki was far worse You could not say anything without the approval of either Al D'Amato ro better yet Zenia Mucha and who cannot forget the picture of Al D'Amato taking ole George by the hand after George was nominated in 1994, It was either the Post or the News that had it on the front page. Everything had to be screened before it was issued and nothing went out without permission. The Albany Times- Union finally was able to get an audience with the Commisisoner of Correctioanal Services and he could not say a word without looking first at the Pataki person as to what to say and therefore speak.(I have the complete citation somewhere and I remember it was from 2000). Politicians like to control the flow of information to the public and even though there are laws that""protect" employees from management taking it out on them for making the information avaiable after going through the chain of command to have the problem resolved,the laws very seldom if ever work..(New York State Civil Service Law 75 (b)(2) is the prime example). I feel for Mr. Byford as he had the courage for speaking out and I know how he felt the wrath of a Cuomo (or a Pataki) who would do everything through their subordinates to get someone removed for speaking the truth. My opinion of Mr. Byford is of a person who is an honest individual and he will do quite well where he willbe offered and accepts a position

When this entire issue came up, you and I discussed this issue and the sudden implementation. The time frame for response was too constrictive as there was less than a week involved between the announcement and the implementation.It was one week around the passover holidays that this change was announced and the time for community imput which was nothing. Since we are on te other side of Nostrand Avenue which was not part of his district but the part that was in another councilman's district, we were told to go through our councilman which we did. Our councilman tried to speak to this individual raising the issues that we bought to the attention of our councilman such as how it will impact upon our large senior population especially in bad weather and, the location of the bus stop heading toward our area in a dark spot especially at night. To say the least, our councilman got nowhere with him even though we had a legitimate argument that no change be made at all. As far as his relationship with the NYCDOT is concerned,weI could not care less as obiviously, he cares more about his relationships with his govenment friends as compared with this community. We now have useless bike lanes on Avenues W & X and two way traffic on Avenue V west of Nostrand Avenue which has turned the street into a speedway. As far as where the B/36 stops going toward Avenue U, we wonder how his friends in the NYCDOT made the situation better especially with there are three bus routes at the stop and in many cases coming at the same time.thus tying up traffic on Avenue Z in both directions at East 15th Street. The last time there was a congressional primary in 2018, the number of actual voters that voted in this area was extremetly low or about 20 voters voting per district. If the councilman thinks he can win this part of the district especially with his track record concerning my community then I wish him well, On the other hand, why is he appealing to Republicans and Independents to change their party regisltations, so that they can vote for him especially with his record on transit in our community?

its funny that I I just had a discussion about this a couple of days with a member of the opposite political party. about how this change occurred. We remember the b/36 change and how it was implemented at that time as it was put in place without any real discussion with us (the riders). Everyone in the community knows who was involved and how this individual who has announced that he is running for congress wants their votes, (I cannot vote in their primary as I am a member of the opposite party). However, I will do everything that I can to remind the voters and residents that ride the B/36 that this is the individual who changed the B/36 and refused to take responsibilityfcor his actions. What I am afraid of with this clown is that just to get even with the B/36 riders on Nostrand Avenue that he will use his influence and have the B/36 route go down Nostrand Avenue and replace the B/4 to Knapp Street..

You are right on the money on that one as it is the only way that the city and state comptoller's offices that can justify their existence. The purpose of the aduits are to grab headlines complaining about the agency and then we hear the agency's response and then the report gathers dust on the shelves until the next one is done sometime down the road, We used to make the papers on regular basis as the bills were never paid on time and it took a complete change in commissioners to finally get the problem corrected or close to 30 years as the agency finally decided to centralize purchasing and payment

Pardon me for repeating myself, I posted on a thread here a couple of weeks ago that the mayor wants a complete audit of the MTA before he will release any more money to the agency. This sent the penny pinchers into a panic which resulted in the blob that is called the Queens redesign. In my readings here and in oter places, I see that many of my colleagues have picked up on this fact. It is my opinion that the purpose of releasing the changes now was to provide cover for the local politicians who would garner press coverage and yet do nothing to claim after this garbage is implemented and they are re-elected to say that they tried but yet in reality did absolutedly nothing to help the MTA. For those who are hoping that Republicans will come to the rescue, it reminds me of the announcement made by Chaim Deutsch that he was running for congress this past week. He is asking that republicans and Independents should register (or re-register) as members of the Democratic Party to help defeat the radicals. Most of the Republicans in this city are leaving or dying off and it is the same thing in other parts of the state. As the numbers decrease, it becomes harder and harder to get elected as not only it is the money issue, it is the support of our media being the unabashed cheer leaders for the Democratic Party, The problem is that the ones that vote in primaries are the ones commited to these policies that got us into trouble in the first place.. When 75 -80% or more of the registered party members do not vote in the primary, the candidates chosen will not reflect the views of the majority, unless the number of voters in a Democratic primary starts reaching a reasonable figure of 50-60%

If a depot is to have any major changes done such as UP, does it not have to appear in the MTA minutes? Had it appeared there, someone would have reported it here and we would have discussed it. I could be wrong but I do not remember reading about any UP depot changes here.

I forgot about the B/68 as it now runs from the Stillwell terminal, not West 5th Street. Shared facilities at the terminal. Everyone is mentioning KCC but during the summer the B/1 had the extra Manhattan Beach runs from 25th Avenue. Could this be a reason (besides KCC) that artics are being placed on the line? The B/9 had school runs running out of UP. This also could be a factor in the route possibly going to UP.

I feel that the B/1 going artic will be a straight swap with the B/9 going back to Ulmer Park. As far gaoing to Flatbush, I am thinking that it could be possibly in the future but not now as if the garage is to be converted to artics, it will have to wait until the B/41 and B/49 are converted. It will also have to wait until the Brooklyn routesare redesigned.

The Mayor today stated that he will not contribute one more penny until the MTA receives a complete audit. That is what I call "chutzpah!" The MTA knew about this before this garbage appeared and it is my opinion that this is the reason that the Queens redesign was issued in this form. The MTA is not the only agency that is impacted as the leaks have started and the inability of the elected officials both here and Albany to reduce spending in certain areas has come back to haunt them

The whole Queens redesign comes aross to me as a political hit to cover up something else. In this case it is the ferries which are far more wasteful than the existing system and by doing something as crazy as what we have here, the focus will be on the multitiude of changes and not on the issue that should be the focus. The New York Post had an article on the cost of ferry service and in my opinion the cost is far higher per passenger than for local and express bus service. When an agency takes a long time to respond to Freedom of Information Law requests on something like ferry service where the information was avaiable, it becomes clear since it did not fit the goals of the mayor's agenda, the responses were "conveniently delayed" as on purpose. The practice is usually commonplace when the information that the person requesting it will harm the political goals of the agency or the elected official. The mayor has signaled to the agency and his appointees that he plans to cut funding to the MTA and MTA bus and the penny pinchers must have had a heart attack. This is the end result of something that should have been divided into at least two different parts with Union Turnpike being a line of separation done at two different times as based on such a lage number of changes, The orders went down to come up with something like this disaster. I am not saying that changes did not have to be made quite the opposite but that by not doing the enitre borough of Queens, at one shot, the changes that should be made could have been done. It is quite clear that those who came up with this "redesign" are counting on the public just plain accepting it. That is not getting together with others and using everything to stop these changes now. The MTA will still try to ram through these changes even with public opposition and I would be very wary of any proposal to implement these changes after November 2020. It is that time when a bigger can of worms will open thanks to our elected officials in Albany and City Hall. That may be fine for express and limited routes but for many local routes which carry elderly riders like myself, it is totally wrong. You cannot use an arbitrary figure to determine whether a stop is needed or not as there are many stops that should remain close together especially with local routes are there are other factors that determine usage.

It is quite possible that I may have misinterpreted your previous statements based on the fact that we worked in two different agencies where suggestions had different ways of being evaluated. It is great to hear that the MTA had a unit that read the suggestions and evaluated them to see if it would work. I had the opposite problem and it was the reason that employees were reluctant to submit anything that would imporve services. I found this to be true when it comes to those agencies that are under the direct control of either the governor or the mayor. Unless the program is strongly supported by management in the way you describe and not just with posters as it was where I worked, it will not be effective. The vast maority of agencies in government are run by people that have loyalty to the executive that appointed them. During my time working in government, I noticed a marked shift in management thinking and style when it came to employee suggestions. When I started in 1979, it was "don't send me problems, send me solutions" to one where it became don't bother wiith suggestions as we know everything. Unfortunately, it is my opinion that this has become the standard today in government

I would not be surprised that the Mayor is behind the cuts as he is more interested in ferry service that serves the communities that voted for him. I know the mayor is not running for re-election but his goal now is to maximize the damage done to the city before he gets a job with one of those think tanks that come up with many of these "ideas". As far as NYCDOT is concerned, it is more important to put up useless bike lanes in communities that do not want them or need them (May I ask who uses them on Avenues W and X in Sheepshead Bay?) What I am afraid of is this year's and next year's gloom and doom budgets that have started toappear on the state and city 's horizon. I think that we are seeing here is the opening shot with the proposed cuts in Queens.

Pardon my sarcasm but "what is revenue?" I thought all of the agency's money comes from the taxpayers of the city and the state when the two governmental entities voted on a budget each year.. By the same token "why should we advertise?" I thought we have a captive audience and we do not need to advertise our services to them. With the bunch that is running (ruining) the system even if there was an advertising department, the penny pinching gang would find a way to get rid of it the moment one of the political candidates runs against one of their patrons and of course,, the department would disappear in a New York minute.. Yes! I too remember the ads on the inside of buses and it bought in revenue for the agency but was a time when ideas went up the chain of command and were discussed and implemented. Today, if the idea does not come from the mountain top, it will never see the light of day and how many employees would take a chance at upsetting someone who will find a way to abolish their item without batting an eyelash. For the record, someone tried to do it to me and they were unsuccessful. Many of us that are part of that generation were not afraid to stick our neck out for something that were believed in to be right and did suffer the consequences for it. It is a different world out there as compared when we started in the 1970's and my heart goes out to those who are first coming into goverment today.

I have had the same problem with the southbound b/44 sbs as there are three terminals (U,X and Knapp) and my eyes have to be very fast to catch which one is the bus going to where at that time. For the record there is no pole listing when which bus is coming at the stop that I board (Avenue L) The problem is that the sign says "select bus" three times before a mention of the route and then finally the bus destination. At which time the sequence reverts back to the" select bus" and if your eyes are not that good as many in age bracket will attest, you land up asking the driver the question. The sign itself is very hard to see as both the bus itself and its destination sign are blue although different shades and the letters are in yellow. When the sign just says one terminal, there is no problem A large percentage of the b/44 sbs riders know it is an SBS even from a distance so that there is no need to repeat SBS three times. What is needed is for the bus destination to be repeated more than once before the system rotates the signs again.

The Q train has had work being done at night all this week with service between Barclays Center and Kings Highway replaced by shuttle buses. This morning there was a switch problem at Prospect Park that delayed B and Q trains.

I know about the the cutting of the B/4 route in 2010 at the hospital. The point that I was making however is that there seems to be a move to straighten out bus routes so that there should be no deviation from the straight route and that was the reason that I referred to Ocean Avenue as a terminal point. I have taken the B/4 from the hospital to the Sheepshead Bay station during the early afternoon and it was a typical B/4 run as it was not crowded (and for the record neither is the rest of the line) and this can be seen in the 20 -30 minute headways at that itme. As long as I can remember even when the B/4 terminated at Harway Avenue up and until November 1978, the headways on the line were close to 20 minutes during the day so the B/ 4 ihas always been a poor performer compared to routes that parallel the route even on the west end. The neighborhood may be car centric but there is a large amount of persons who are elderly who live on the route who do not drive and rely on it. If the B/4 is cut at the hospital, then the link to Sheepshead Bay Station from Knapp Street will be cut for many of them.and that means no access to shopping and the post office. When the route was cut at the hospital in 2010, there was a vast outcry from the community organizations, political leaders and the Community Board for the route to be restored. If this change is proposed, the community will fight tooth and nail to stop it. As far as the B/36 is concerned there are only three streets that allow for a crossing of thr Belt Parkway from the B/36; Ocean Avenue, Bedford Avenue and Nostrand Avenue so if a rider lives (for example) between these streets or east of Nostrand Avenue on Emmons Avenue, I sincerely doubt that someone will take the B/36 but will tkae a cab instead. of relying on the b/36 or walking. In my many years of taking the B/36, I have not seem anyone who would take the B/36 to Nostrand Avenue and Avenue Z and then cross over to take B/44 to Knapp Street

Let me add my two cents worth as I rode both the B/4, B/36 and the B/21 before the 1978 changes so I can speak about how these routes actually served the area at that time. I spoke at the meeting in July 1978 at the church in Gravesend on this subject. Many of you know me as a critic of Brooklyn Bus but the way he reconfigured the routes in that part of Brooklyn was the best thing that happened to the community and should remain as is. When I read or hear about the ideas to make the B/4 a straight route on Neptune and Emmons, I say forget it as it the Sheepshead Bay Station that generates the additional passengers for the B/4 and without it, you might as well terminate the route at Ocean Avenue. By taking away the routing to the station, you have just made the many cabs that wait at the station a lot richer as B/4 pasengers headed east cannot take the B/36 as for there is a barrier that prevents access from Avenue Z and it called the Belt Parkway, Yes! The B/36 has problems as there are many locations on the route where people forget about the traffic rules and thus the route runs into problems which is the reason that the route does not run very well. I have taken the same bus at the same time on different days and the traffic levels and the passengers could vary considerably. Avenue Z has truck traffic and since they cannot park some of them would rather do their deliveries from the street thus blocking the one lane available for traffic and of course, it has the double parked school buses at East 27th Street or the parents waiting to pick up their kids at East 19th Street. All you need is something to happen on Ocean Parkway at the Belt Parkway amd the route is DOA. In my opinion what would benefit the B/36 service is regular coverage of this portion of the route by the ticketrons. I do not remember how many times I have posted on this forum that the B/4 route should not be extended up Knapp Street over the years as it would carry air as there is virtually nothing there. What is really bothering me here is two things with first the push to straighten out the routes and the second is the 902 feet between stops. As i stated with the B/4, keep it the way it is for the reasons that I have listed. It is the push to eliminate stops that concerns me more as I am worried that instead of having intermediate stops between the Avenues such as between Ocean and Bedford and Nostrand Avenues, buses will stop at the Avenues only based on the 902 feet standard.

The problem with the B/1 is not the hospital, it is both the Brighton Beach Avenue and the 86th Street Elevated Structures. Coney Island Hospital is a major traffic generator and the bus could be on time for most of the route but once it goes under the elevated structures especially along 86th Street, the schedule goes out the window.

Anything that has been transferred from Staten Island to another garage is always in bad shape. Over the years, I remember buses being transferred to the island to replace equipment and when it was transferred back off the island, it was not the same. RTS 9382-9416, 9418-9429 were good buses in Flatbush, then spent a year out at Yukon and needed a lot of work when they were transferred to Ulmer Park. I am trying to remember if there were buses transferred from Staten Island to Manhattanville over the many years that I were on the island but I am drawing blanks. Most of the buses that were transferred from Staten Island went to either Brooklyn or Queens. If there were buses from Manhattanville transferred to Staten Island, they stayed there.

Staten Island was always known for having poor maintenance and when buses were transferred to other depots they had to be repaired. Going back years like to December 2007, i had come back to work after three weeks off and it seems that Staten Island had a group of RTS from various garages working the local routes. Right after that Flatbush sent 9382-9416, 9418-9429 to Yukon to replace other RTS. Those lasted a year and were then sent to Ulmer Park where work had to be done on them to be placed in service. The last time that I can remember Staten Island buses having good maintenance was prior to the Mid 1970's when they had the Macks and later the old looks. The reason that maintenance went down hill after that was they were adding routes and did not have the garage space to maintain them, After all it took 20+ years for Charleston to finally open for buses.

I sincerely doubt if Adrew Cuomo will take responsibility for anything. After all, it is his people that were in charge and signed the contracts. He therefore was involved one way or another since he was elected in 2010 If Andrew took responsbility for something then how about his failure to help NYCHA when he was HUD Secretary under Clinton. That was the time to do it as if he (and his partner, the mayor), would have done something for the tenants at that time, the developments would not be in the bad shape that they are in now. The political establishment will do whatever it wants as they know that the likeliehood of being voted out of office are slim and none.