bobtehpanda

-Q104: That area has three bus routes already, neither of which are busy enough to warrant more service. The Q102 already brings people to the , so why is the extension necessary? -B43 & B24: It duplicates the B62, which is certainly busy, but it's not the worst bus line to improve service on. Not to mention, it would probably siphon riders off of the .

Could you put this on a map? Ashland Pl and Meeker Av don't intersect, and in any case, Meeker Av dead-ends at Newton Creek, so you'd either have to jog over to the Pulsaki bridge (into the heart of LIC's congestion), over the Greenpoint Av bridge (into all the drivers coming off the LIE to get to the Queensboro), or the Kosciuszcko Bridge, which is the pinch point for the BQE (it's so bad that the state DOT is tearing it down and building a new one). For a long route like that to work, you would need either almost non-existent traffic, or reserved right-of-way, or even signal priority, which this route would have none of. If you want to get to Jackson Heights from Downtown Brooklyn so badly, take the to Court Square and transfer to the . (Also, you still haven't addressed the point you made about HOV lanes from Tillary St to Williamsburg, on a highway that has no shoulders and is already over capacity. Way to breeze over your plan's flaws.)

HOV with what lanes? The BQE is six lanes and no shoulders, and widening it is never going to happen, nor should it ever happen (Robert Moses destroyed these neighborhoods once, destroying them again is like kicking the knees of someone on crutches). I also disagree with the sentiment that every single transit need in this metro area should be served by public operators. If there was a truly latent demand for downtown Brooklyn - LGA service, a private operator would have created the service by now. When enough people are aggrieved by a transit service, or enough people are calling livery cab dispatches for a certain service, private operators notice - these aren't stupid people. This is how Flushing-Chinatown, Flushing-Sunset Park, Sunset Park-Chinatown, and Elmhurst-Chinatown van operators started out, and how the Jamaica vans started out - enough people were complaining about the lack of good options that a bunch of drivers got together and created regularly operated routes. Downtown Brooklyn is a fairly dense area that probably uses a lot of taxis, livery cabs, and Zipcar-like services - if enough of them were going to LGA, then someone would've done something by now. Now, before I get called out as a shill for privately operated transit, this is actually also a good thing for the MTA. Why? Because MTA bus services already have terrible cost/rider performance relative to their peers. This is going to be a long route affected by traffic jams, that has to run at least every 15 minutes. That is a lot of cost for fuel and drivers that the MTA simply does not have. On the other hand, private operators only charge the cost that they can make a reasonable living off of, and it's cheaper than the MTA express bus fare - Flushing-Chinatown is $2.75. The cost burden is taken off of the MTA's hands, some drivers can make a living, and consumers get a lower fare (without transfers). This is a win-win. Let's not forget that there are only two types of regular transit riders to the airport: business travelers and airport employees. Downtown Brooklyn has been growing as a business hub, but it hasn't grown to the point where it deserves a fast transit link to LGA more than Lower Manhattan does. Airport employees live mostly in the Bronx, Uptown Manhattan, and Queens. There aren't that many hotels in the area, either, so the only transit demand would be locals taking their once-a-year vacation to a domestic destination, and most people would prefer to take a cab. TL;DR: Operating a route like this makes no financial sense because there's no transit demand, and it's going to be slow because you can't expand the BQE or take existing lanes to make an HOV lane. If Downtown Brooklyn riders want transit access to the airport, they can call a cab. /endrant

My idea with the Q19 and Q69 was to extend a more frequent line from court sq down the q19 route, with its 20 minute headways. If the Q69 is turned into the Astoria Blvd local, theoretically the MTA can also boost frequencies when SBS comes. Q47 riders would be afforded a one-seat ride to Rego Park on the , and the current one stops at 69th St and not QBL (although Roosevelt is so close that you could probably walk to it) I've amended the map here, but I think I have two really long routes and extra service on Penelope Av now...

Q69 - replaces the Q19, and provides more frequent service on Astoria Blvd to QBP, Queens Plaza, and Court Square. Q104 - replaces the winding Q102 route, and links Roosevelt Island to Astoria, Sunnyside, Maspeth, Ridgewood, with connections at Broadway , 46th St , 46th St , and Forest Av . Q18 - replaces the Q67, and provides a link between Astoria, Woodside, and Middle Village, providing connections at 30th Av , Elmhurst , Woodside LIRR, and Middle Village . Q39 - replaces the Q67, Q47, and Q38's Penelope Av leg, providing a link between LIC, Sunnyside, Elmhurst, Middle Village, Rego Park, and Corona. Links to QBP, Queens Plaza, Court Square, and 63rd Dr - Rego Park . Q38 - shortened, and runs on Elliot Av and Fresh Pond Rd from Woodhaven Blvd to Fresh Pond Rd . Q102 and Q67 service would be ended, because they largely run with or very close to the Q103, the Q39, and the , and because parts of their routes would be merged into other routes. A lot of the existing services in Western and Southern Queens (defined here as bounded by the Brooklyn-Queens border, the East River, BQE, Queens Blvd, and Woodhaven Blvd) are infrequent and run as closely as two blocks together in some areas. Bus routes would be consolidated to reduce duplication, and the buses/money freed up by this consolidation could be used to run more frequent services on the remaining routes. Plus, it provides better connectivity, thus providing ridership potential, and most importantly, it's a lot easier to read on a map.

*cough cough* http://goo.gl/maps/Wnjjs

That's a good one. I take it you don't use the BQE between Tillary St and the GCP very often...

Just going to point out that the R142As are little more than a decade old, and that subway cars have lasted 40 years or so, so the R142As aren't going to be super unreliable... If anything, that would be an argument against the R62As, which date from the 80s.

Not to mention, isn't it either fiendishly difficult or impossible to serve Randall's from a route using the Triboro?

The underlying idea behind the FIND isn't exactly unreliable (a LCD that displays variable messages? Digital billboards have existed for quite a while now, in major cities all over the world.) It's the fact that they decided to use multiple LCDs for all 3 FINDS on an 8-10 car train when 1 per FIND could probably suffice. That being said, the R188 doesn't need them.

So something like a black background and green LED for the local , and a green LED background and black text for the express?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=google+transit

I don't believe FINDs are inherently costly, but ripping out the strip maps to put in FINDS probably would be, because they're so different. There's nothing inherently expensive about a screen that can change its display, but if you're ripping out a linear pattern of flashing lights and rewiring it to hold said screen, it's probably not worth the effort or the cost.

In my experience, the bugs on the FIND decreased in frequency after a year or so on the and . It's not perfect, but it's never going to be. FIND would be more useful on IRT lines that shared significant trackage, like the and - it seems like cars with strip map on one line always seem to wind up on the other. Within the cars' lifetime, the only plausible extension would be a station at 41st/10th and just maybe a station at around 23rd St, but changing the strip maps wouldn't be too difficult to add one or two stations.

I'd support Q88 short turns at Springfield and 73rd, but the Q88 from 73rd to Jamaica Av does serve a useful purpose. As someone who uses the bus over there, it's a much faster alternative to the Q17, and in terms of ridership it certainly isn't a Q79. If anything, the problem with the Springfield routes are their tendency to bunch a lot. Whenever I'm waiting to change to a Q27 or a Q88 at Hillside and Springfield, it always seems like both routes send their buses in twos and threes.

You think you went nuts with that one, check out this. I got lazy, so I didn't make a legend, but each line represents a pair of tracks, and black station stops means that not all trains on those set of tracks stop (5, 6, 7, D express, J/Z skip-stop). You can't see it in here, but the Jamaica El would also be three-tracked east of Broadway Junction under this plan, with service becoming a peak hour express, and becoming a local at all times east of Myrtle Av.

If trains can still run through the tunnels, they can just skip stops. (You also can't say that debris from a plane crash can fall in just one specific intersection, but okay...) runs via 63rd St tube and switches back to Eighth Av at W 4th St. & run to Broad St at all times to provide transfers at Fulton You know there was already a plan with no Manhattan service developed for Hurricane Sandy, right...? NEXT: A tanker truck has been involved in an accident and is ablaze on the Manhattan Bridge. As a result, the bridge is closed to all road and train traffic.

Extend the to Springfield Blvd, and triple-track the rest of the Jamaica El.

2nd Av Line Branches - Third Av-Jamaica Center via the Atlantic Branch - Co-Op City - Jamaica Center - Springfield Blvd/Hillside Av - Kings Plaza via Utica Av (X) - TriboroRX (never happening, but it should be funded at some point in time) New Trunk Line - (Y) Astoria Blvd Line, from 125th St-Broadway - Jamaica Center via 125th St, Ditmars Blvd, Astoria Blvd, Kissena Blvd, and Parsons Blvd, roughly following the M60, Q69, Q19, and Q25 routes. A new yard would be built at the former Flushing Airport in College Point. If you're gonna foam, foam big

M60 SBS M60A: Current M60 route - 125th St - LGA via Astoria Blvd 116th St - Columbia University 125th St - Broadway 125th St - St. Nicholas Av 125th St - Lenox Av 125th St - Park/Lexington Avs 125th St - 2nd Av Astoria Blvd - 31st St Astoria Blvd - Steinway St Astoria Blvd - 49th St Astoria Blvd - 82nd St Delta Terminal, LGA Terminal C, LGA Central Terminal, LGA Marine Air Terminal, LGA M60B: 125th St - Flushing via Astoria Blvd 116th St - Columbia University 125th St - Broadway 125th St - St. Nicholas Av 125th St - Lenox Av 125th St - Park/Lexington Avs 125th St - 2nd Av Astoria Blvd - 31st St Astoria Blvd - Steinway St Astoria Blvd - 49th St Astoria Blvd - 82nd St Astoria Blvd - 94th St Astoria Blvd - 100th St Astoria Blvd - 108th St Shea Rd - 125th St (Game days only) Main St - Northern Blvd Main St - Roosevelt Av Local service is provided by an extended Q69 to Flushing, replacing the Q19. Peak Frequencies: M60A: every 12 minutes M60B: every 15 minutes Q69: every 15 minutes

Normal service runs in two sections: to Coney Island - Stillwell Av via the , and Forest Hills - Whitehall via the Broadway Express, switching to the local tracks after Prince St. to LES - 2nd Av via the 8th Av Express, switching to local tracks at Columbus Circle runs between Brighton Beach and 42nd St - Bryant Park.

This was certainly interesting... New one: Due to a sweltering heat wave in the summer, the power grid in Jackson Heights has failed. All trains running through Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Ave have been affected, and knowing Con Ed, the power will be gone for about 7-10 days.

runs from WTC - Norwood via 8th Av Express, making all local stops north of 145th. service is suspended. runs from Jamaica to LES-2nd Av via 6th Av Local. runs from Middle Village - Coney Island via the .

The MTA would probably have bigger problems than rerouting trains... How bout an actual real one - due to a water main break, Atlantic Av/Barclays has been flooded. Reroute trains accordingly.

As a person who actually lives on Hillside, I would rather make a transfer to a bus. The wait for the off-peak can be mind-numbing, and at least you can get a coffee or a snack while transferring in Jamaica. Two things: If you want to get to the Q44 from Woodhaven, you could take the Q53 to change to the Q58, or take a Jamaica bound bus (of which there are plenty) and change in Jamaica, and it would be less complicated. If you're heading to the Bronx using only buses from Woodhaven, you must have a lot of spare time on your hands... Also, how did the LIRR come up in here? I could probably count with one hand the riders on the Q23 who change to the LIRR at Forest Hills. Keeping that in mind, there are actually SIX stopping patterns on the Main Line: Penn-Jamaica nonstop, Penn express skipping Jamaica, Penn-Woodside-Jamaica, Penn-Forest Hills-Kew Gardens-Jamaica, Penn-Forest Hills-Jamaica, and Penn-Kew Gardens-Jamaica. LIRR service to Forest Hills is too infrequent to be useful to anyone on the Q23, and you'd also have to be in the first four cars of a Penn-bound train to make the transfer...