cgs878

Well, at least they got some brand new buses that look fantastic on the outside rather than more of someone else's retired-but-still-have-a-few-years-left retreads from California. If NICE does the correct, manufacturer-recommended maintenance, they should be good enough for our County for a decade.

It is true, but the new New Flyer buses are already here. Some are being run as "Training Bus" in the Mitchel Depot area. They are scheduled to run real routes in November. If I walked the perimeter of the Mitchel Field depot fence and took lots of photos, would I get escorted away from the facility? Hmmm.

Last weekend, while riding the LIRR to Atlantic Terminal on the Babylon line, I noticed (from my overhead vantage point on the train) that the NICE renumbered buses (pre-1700, I believe) still have their large original bus numbers on the rear roof. I guess the repainting budget didn't include those. Then again, that's not surprising considering that many of the 1700-series buses are still blue and whites like the MTA buses.

Bus # 1005 (an old Foothills Transit model) was "disabled" with flashers on on Stewart Avenue in Garden City at about 4:20PM. I saw it later as it crawled back to the NICE garage, still with flashers on. This is the first time that I have seen a "new" old Orion V Foothills Transit in trouble. Usually, they are loudly chugging by with no problems. Has anyone else seen a problem with these 1000-series buses? Yes, the nice new buses (pun intended) should be appearing in early 2016. They posted some pics on the Facebook page.

How will 1528 be in Riverhead and in East Meadow on the same day? Also, you didn't give a time in East Meadow.

The N46 from Hempstead to Bellmore has several >90 degree tight right turns (Prospect Ave to East Meadow Ave + Jerusalem Ave to Bellmore Road), and articulated buses would not be able to make it. In fact, since N46 goes through a lot of tight areas, it's quite a challenging route. Unfortunately, it's not very well used by riders (no full buses).

Good evening everyone. I'm a new member (as of the Admin's approval this evening), but I spent the weekend catching up on this thread, so I'm up-to-speed. My name is Chris, and I live in Bellmore on the N46 route. I have a few questions and observations on NICE in general. Yesterday (Sunday), 2 NICE buses came past my house at about 1:15PM. Since the N46 has no weekend service, I thought that maybe the drivers were lost or on some long detour. I looked out my window just in time to see that the second one was #1650, and the information sign said "Training Bus." Ahhhh, that explained it. Is it a normal thing for NICE to conduct training on weekday-only routes? Is it normal for 2 "Training Bus" units to follow each other? I had never seen this before. Occasionally, I see buses with a "Promotional Bus" information sign on them. I always wonder what that means. Do the lucky bus riders get a free ride on these units? If so, do they have to pay first and then receive a voucher for a free ride in the future, or is it just "no charge" as soon as a rider gets on? I think that part of the problem with the lateness of NICE buses is the redesign and traffic light resequencing that was done on both Hempstead Turnpike and Jericho Turnpike. These routes have become a lot slower to drive due to the long red lights (so that pedestrians can cross safer) and the light sequences that prevent traffic from going more than a half mile without stopping. The lateness of the buses is a side effect of these changes. That's all I have for now. G'night all.