Dan1

On 9/5/2019 at 11:34 PM, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

It came down to a few things... 

#1 The Spencer Estates Civic Association said from the start that they did not want any bus running down Stadium Avenue because they didn't want all of that noise, etc. 

#2 Putting the bus on Stadium Avenue meant longer walks, particularly for the elderly, and they were esp. opposed to that.

Since I started my advocacy group, I have been meeting quite a few people, and the person I got this from is heavily involved in the community there. They said they were going to fight months ago, and they did just that. They got the elected officials involved, and got petitions going and so this is where we are. Ultimately it's their neighborhood and that's how they want it, although others may not feel that it's as good as it could be.

They like it quiet there, and quite frankly some streets are simply too narrow or lack sidewalks to have a bus coming down them, so I get it.

Aside from that the people in Edgewater said they would raise hell if they tried to remove the bus from serving Edgewater Park or any other funny business given the nonsense that the  has tried in the past. That's a sizable community and they spoke. 

Whether or not a route carries that much should not be the deciding factor. These areas lack subways and serve numerous areas with several complexes. Smaller versions of Co-op City to some extent in terms of the population size.

Is the MTA intentionally trying to use residential streets for bus routes now? I'm not a Bronx resident but I've been following the Bronx redesign just to see what may be in store for the SI local route re-design in two years.

22 minutes ago, Future ENY OP said:

This should of been on the list a long time ago during the express bus revamp. Hopefully this new service can provide direct access to Hudson Yards.

Also, there needs to be a Staten Island, Bay Ridge to Downtown Brooklyn express service. The  train is pretty horrendous.  I don’t know how much of a market there is for service between Staten Island and Downtown Brooklyn. (At least peak service 6-10am and 3-8 pm.)  I hope the TA can also monitor the development in Downtown Brooklyn also. 

As more employers settle in Downtown Brooklyn / MetroTech / Dumbo an express bus service will become necessary. Maybe even a Bay Ridge-Park Slope-Downtown Bklyn route for Brooklynites too. But with the MTA's new express bus numbering scheme the route may be designated 'SIB-1'. We will then have SIMs and SIBs. Let's say that Long Island City is eventually included. Can you say 'SIBQ-1'? 🙂

https://www.bisnow.com/new-york/news/office/brooklyn-office-market-97168

4 minutes ago, Orion6025 said:

I wonder how much of that queens total (and increase for that matter) has to do with all the taxi garages in the borough... i wonder how much uber/lyft helped increase that number? I figured a good amount of those types of drivers were just normal citizens taking up a side job, but seeing all those black cab livery vehicles (LUXOR or whoever rents those out) makes me think that that might also be contributing to the increase in reg’d vehicles...

The numbers are for passenger vehicles only. The info is from the two pdfs I linked to. I'm assuming that the 'Standard' column in the pdfs means passenger vehicles. There is a separate 'Taxi' column which again I'm assuming includes traditional taxis as well as Uber/Lyft vehicles with 'TLC' plates. The DMV should be clearer but this is the only info I have.

Here are the registration numbers for passenger vehicles only in 2012 and 2017 (last year DMV stats available). My own theory is that as more New Yorkers become more well-off they buy cars for the freedom and convenience. A 7.61% (+146,505) increase in passenger car ownership between 2012 and 2017 is pretty impressive when you consider how expensive and potentially difficult it is to own a car in NYC. The Alternate Side Parking rules alone are an impediment to car ownership

nyc 2012:
BRONX 227,105
KINGS 408,007
NEW YORK 221,916
QUEENS 671,816
RICHMOND 247,692

NYC 2012 TOTAL 1,776,536

nyc 2017:
BRONX 249,216
KINGS 457,980
NEW YORK 225,179
QUEENS 725,906
RICHMOND 264,760

NYC 2017 TOTAL 1,923,041

https://dmv.ny.gov/statistic/2012reg.pdf

https://dmv.ny.gov/statistic/2017reginforce-web.pdf

The same thing happens on Clove Road at the Grasmere SIR station. The S53 buses block up the road when they load/unload passengers, but you can't say that the bus route should be removed from the street, or even that the stop should be removed from that location. The same thing should apply here: If the bus has to block traffic for 30 seconds, so be it. Same thing for the Broadway portion of the route (and the portion of Clove served by the S54. And parts of Manor Road & Jewett Avenue)

 

The thing is that if the SIR stops were closer together, I don't think you'd really need a bus down Amboy. I mean, the only areas of interest that aren't within a short walk of the SIR along Amboy are the area around Armstrong Avenue and the area by the Greaves Lane shopping center. (On a related note, a well-placed Park Hill/Rosebank station would eliminate the need for a bus along Osgood/Mosel).

Amboy Road is narrower than even Clove Road. Amboy basically an old Indian path that over the last 125 years grew into an arterial roadway. Rosebank SIR station one of those things talked about for years, doubtful it will ever happen. Staten Island Bus Study report overdue. At the end of October Jimmy Oddo said meeting with MTA was a few weeks away but nothing yet. Happy Thanksgiving!

S75: Takes Amboy Road all the way from Richmond Road to Richmond Avenue (instead of taking Amboy Road just to Nelson Avenue and having the S59 cover the portion between Richmond & Armstrong). This makes it more closely resemble the S79 and act as a local variant (the only differences would be the routing around South Beach, and the routing between New Dorp & Eltingville).

Amboy Road between Clarke Avenue and Wilson Avenue is for the most part too narrow for a bus route. Only one lane each way, bus stops would slow up traffic considerably as there is no safe way for vehicles to pass them.

Speaking of the ever grungy Hylan Plaza. It is to be demolished over the next year and replaced with a modern shopping center to be called 'The Boulevard'. There will be a new entrance/exit on the Mill Road side. Shop-Rite is rumored to be the center's grocery store, their current space on Hylan Blvd & Burbank Ave is awkward. No other retailers have been announced.

http://www.theboulevardstatenisland.com/

http://www.kimcorealty.com/the-boulevard-brochure