Robert Spire

I wonder if they'll leave the express alone like they did with the Bronx?

The thing is with bicycling is that Citibike is operating at a loss and Lyft may be looking to dump it. The same people wanting publicly subsidized bike share complain about express bus and commuter rail subsidies.

I think it is more than that. Some of the kool aid drinkers are part of groups like Riders Alliance who are there to take advantage of the lack of solidarity between non express bus riders to claim to speak for ALL transit riders when they really speak for the big tech, hedge fund and other corporate interests that fund them.

That was the original route but was changed due to 2nd Avenue Subway construction. They reverted back to the original route as many drivers were using it anyways. There's even some drivers who use the FDR Drive to 96th street.

The bus system being free wouldn't make much of a difference. Most bus customers transfer to and from the subway and theoretically pay the subway fare anyway. Those who take unlimited rides would likely ride subways enough times that you could get them all there. My plan would be make the entire local bus network free, but have the subway fare be $3 with no unlimited rides.

Now the majority of bus operators at MTA Bus are from what's called the consolidated list which are operators hired after June 6, 2009. If they cut CP express service, if they want to work express that bad they can always pick into EC or YO the next year. I'll make a point of saying there's no more people hired from Queens or Steinway Transit driving anymore and only about 65 or so Queens Surface operators still driving at CP out of about 560 operators.

I have a gut feeling this time is the charm

MTA wants that because they don't like express anyways. In terms of College Point operators behaving badly, one of the unofficial reasons the QM4 was moved to Baisley Park in 2016 was because College Point had poor attendance and moving the QM4 and having less express work at College Point was supposed to send a message to the union leadership

They could've bought some retiring MTA Bus MCI's on the cheap?

Have the run via 63rd Street weekends? But that would create another merge.

Bureaucratic inertia?

One thing I am noticing for several months, each new Metrocard has an expiration date of 1/31/2025, none of them have later expiration dates as was the practice before. I am getting the sense that there may be a non reduced fare switchover to OMNY around that time. Otherwise why are new Metrocards given a 1/31/2025 expiration date when its 2/29/2024. Also Metrocards given out by MTA customer service when filing a claim this month have expiration dates of 9/30/2024 when its usually more than a year as was the practice before.

I would assume Westchester County will be cutting Liberty Lines a nice check as a result of this redesign and everything will be competitively bid with the redesigned routes. The Bernacchia family doesn't necessarily only do buses, they own restaurants too. https://riverjournalonline.com/around-town/dining-out-around-town/half-moon-restaurant-to-set-sail/839/

Are they going to actually get rid of Liberty Lines? Is Liberty Lines deciding to exit?

It's run by NYCEDC. NYCEDC gave up the SIM23 and SIM24 so that they aren't considered a transit agency so that they can run ferries.

In the 1970s and 1980s during the Pioneer Bus and early Command days, the BQM1 didn't even stop at Linden Blvd and 79th Street. It meant that the bus went via Queens to Manhattan.

They're paying for this service in its entirety because MTA Bus Company is a no man's land. The city doesn't want to be directly accountable for bus service, the MTA does its thing and no one upsets the apple cart. This is partly why I believe the proposed express bus cuts in 2018 were stopped, this is why the Bronx express bus routes haven't been redesigned, this is why in the final plan MTA is more willing to leave Queens alone compared to before. The moment NYC upsets the apple cart for any reason is when this all breaks down.

I think it is cover for the MTA to continue to insist on other cuts. So when the public hearing comes around they'll walk back this cutback and keep other cuts.

They would have big problems with seniority since ATU 1056 depots have depot seniority and you can't move from one depot to another.

Worth noting when the College Point depot was built, the old QTC/QSC facility stayed open throughout.

The Q101R when started under Steinway Transit did run to Manhattan. It was Queens Surface in the early 1990s that got it cut back to Queens Plaza.

We had a 21st Street service running to Manhattan, the QM22. When it started in 1988 (as an unsubsidized route along with today's QM24, QM25 and QM34 which were also unsubsidized) it had a 7:15, 7:30, 7:45, 8:00, 8:15, 8:35, 9:00 to 6th Avenue and a 7:20, 7:40, 8:00 trip to 3rd Avenue. Eventually trips were taken off the QM22 and given to the QM24 which by 1990 actually carried more riders than other subsidized express routes. When Triboro Coach got the subsidy in 1990 (the QM22 riders have the QM24 riders who fought to thank for that routes survival), they had to do a "spending reduction plan" and as part of that plan, they found out it was the one 6th Avenue and one 3rd Avenue that carried and that's how the QM22 got the schedule it did from 1990 until it was cut in 2010. The other issue is that Astoria has gentrified so much that the target market for a Manhattan to Astoria service either uses the subway or ubers/lyfts on the regular. Since uber and lyft came on the scene, the issue of taxi drivers refusing to serve Astoria is no longer an issue.

There is a vehicular bridge to Roosevelt Island.

The oldest equipment in the system are the 2005-07 MCI's at MTA Bus and the 2007 OG Orion VII buses.

And why is this trend taking place all of the sudden? I have a lot of questions.