B35 via Church

As long as the amount of farebeating having been & being what it still is, coupled with some routes being fare free (temporary or otherwise), for me, these stats aren't even worth having discussions about anymore for me... I'm not even curious about what routes, or to what level those routes have rebounded (or however you wanna put it) from late 2019/early 2020, onward.....

12 hours ago, biGC323232 said:

On weekends that wouldnt be that bad...Christ hospital not that far from JSQ and the 125 runs terrible and that might boost ridership a little on the 123 in my opinion...To be honest the 119 should only stop inside the terminal is overnight with they stop the 10....

Yeah, the #125 runs like crap, but length isn't the reason why I wouldn't bother running the #123 to JSQ... @BreeddekalbL's "random thought" there appears to be rather implicative of having the #123 take the place of the #119 running inside JSQ, which I can't concur with....

8 hours ago, FlxMtroD said:

Why not have the #123 extend to Exchange Place via Newark Ave instead of Journal Sq? Already have enough bus routes in and around the Journal Sq area that goes to New York. Exchange Place will have their very own bus line going into Mid Town Manhattan 

5 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

Can we get rid of all these variations to the 126? There’s no reason large buses should be running down some of these tight *** side streets…

I'd kill two birds with 1 stone here, because I never cared for the #126 running past Hoboken to serve that pocket of Jersey City at/around Hamilton Park....

I can side with the general idea of running the #123 to Exchange Place, but during peak hours (peak direction), I'd divvy up trips between 1] short turning at Congress st. HBLR, 2] terminating at Hamilton Park (less total trips serving it than the current #126), and 3] terminating at Exchange Place - however, peak trips to/from Exchange place would be all 'X" trips (inbound trips would run straight to PABT after Congress st, outbound trips would have Congress st. be the first stop after leaving PABT).... All other times, no service to Hamilton Park, but I would still have a significant enough an amount of trips short turning at Congress st. HBLR....

7 hours ago, BreeddekalbL said:

The counter-point is would it run against path?

You mean like the current #126 from Hoboken & the current #119 & #125 from JSQ?

5 hours ago, BreeddekalbL said:

Random thought after JSQ rehab is finished would it be worth it to extend the 123 there, following the 84 there and back from christ hospital due to hypothetical complaint that they don't want buses ending in the residential neighborhood etc

For what? The #119 would go back inside JSQ.....

On 3/24/2024 at 7:26 PM, BreeddekalbL said:

Random thought what about swapping the 119 and the 125 routings north of Journal sq? 🤔

Hard disagree.... Subjecting the #119 to the helix & that stretch of 30th/31st st in Union City would loom that much more detrimental to the thing, compared to the way the route currently slogs south of Congress....

37 minutes ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

So I found out there's a free shuttle to the Hopewell campus from the Stuyvesant-Prospect neighborhood: https://www.hopewelltwp.org/DocumentCenter/View/11739/TIPSMART-Guide-Mercer-Hospital-Listing-3323

I guess that's an alternative to taking the #608 to the last stop and walking along the highway, but it should be better-publicized, and in any case, the #608 should be extended there anyway (connections to/from the West Trenton SEPTA station, and to areas along State Street, not to mention the direct connection to the Trenton Transit Center).

It's not better publicized because it's not for the general public... It's only for Mercer county residents.

On 4/18/2024 at 6:58 PM, Lawrence St said:

Complete waste of time & money. Microtransit won't work for routes like the 12 or 32. 

I'm more of a proponent of microtransit being used within denser areas, as opposed to within semi-rural areas... In either case, as I not too long ago said in the SCT redesign thread, microtransit shouldn't be used to supplant public fixed routes (especially those that are under-performing, or otherwise below par)....

Specifically to the 2 routes mentioned, well, as we both know, Bee Line themselves destroyed the #12... As for the #32, I honestly think fixing that route is an easy fix... Get rid of the portion west of Park Hill & have it circulate to/from MNRR Yonkers - something like this..... The #8 is all is needed for the portion of SW Yonkers, west of South Broadway....

2 hours ago, Lex said:

I'm not sure if I agree with that bolded bit.

I have no doubt about it..... Otherwise, SCT would've unapologetically cut the 10B/10C outright.... Public transit providers are (mis)using microtransit as a passive means to slowly cut bus service... The concept will be used as the scapegoat as to why to the "East Hampton Zone" & the "Southampton Zone" will end up failing.... It puts the (performance of the) 10B & the 10C off the hook.

Not saying you're implicating this, but I still want to make the point.... To sum it up, microtransit is not the answer to a poorly utilized fixed route service... This is the trend (or craze, as BM5 puts it) that these public transit providers are resorting to & to me, at the very least, it's further aiding in giving microtransit a bad rep'...

The problem AFAIC isn't the general concept of microtransit (which is how the pro-microtransit folks construe the criticism) as much as it is microtransit being used by public transit providers to supplant fixed route services.... Let's just call it for what it is - it's done as a passive, gradual way of cutting bus service....

For discussion's sake I guess, I'll just leave this flowchart here from Jarrett Walker's blog for anyone to ponder where the 10B & 10C falls into this...

54 minutes ago, DCTransitFilms said:

funny enough that same 119 got lost in NY going to the Lincoln Tunnel. Ended up at 25th Street & 11th Ave

Feel sorry for the poor guy/girl..... I would've helped out with getting him/her back to PABT if I was on that bus.... Too many pax in those situations either get worried/panicky or start cursing out the b/o & it tends to piss me off....

On 4/11/2024 at 10:15 PM, N6 Limited said:

There seems to be two AM n6 trips (7:18 & 7:54) to USB arena, which appear to enable interlining with two n1 trips (7:55 & 8:32) to Hewlett.

 

https://www.nicebus.com/Tools/Maps-and-Schedules/Line?route=n6

https://www.nicebus.com/Tools/Maps-and-Schedules/Line?route=n1

In order to keep the scheme of only having n1's running [to Jamaica in the AM] & [from Jamaica in the PM], this is how they try to handle catering to n1 demand from Jamaica during the AM hours.... That's what has to be resorted to; As they can't have inbound AM n1 trips leave as n1's back to Hewlett, because almost all of them are interlined with AM n26 trips to Great Neck.

On 3/2/2024 at 1:49 AM, N6 Limited said:

When I used the N15 in LIB days, many were riding to One Old Country Rd in Nurse attire, and Clinton/Glen Cove Rds for the shopping Centers, if not East Gate Blvd. Anyone going to Roosevelt Field preferred the more direct N35. If there are trip generators in the area again, they may need to revert the old N15 routing at all times. The last southbound N15 was about 10PM and Glen Cove Rd stop would be busy, many waiting for the N15 to Hempstead/Long Beach and N22 to Jamaica ( Some for N24).

As I see it, the issue with those old n15's to RFM via OCR was that the demand was grossly imbalanced/one-sided... Virtually nil during the AM hours, but enough to warrant service during the PM hours... If there's people at the Country Glen shopping center & those other shopping plaza's up along Glen Cove rd. in Carle Place making their way to the WB n22/24 to xfer for those Mineola n15's (instead of for the n40/41), I wouldn't know it... But what I do know is that there no noticeable amt. of people walking from those shopping centers to RFM, or people making their way to that stop across from the Carle Place diner to take the EB n22/24 or SB n27 the one stop to RFM....

8 hours ago, nightmare402 said:

The 119's that stop at JSQ are labeled 119J

...but yet the #163's that short turn at GSP Mall have no suffix; go figure.... It would be one thing if GSP mall was a part of the regular #163 route to Ridgewood Terminal, but it isn't.....

JSQ, OTOH, was always a part of the #119 before the construction at JSQ, so to append a temporary suffix for that, **shrugs**....

On 4/11/2024 at 6:47 AM, aemoreira81 said:

I have to wonder if there is a reason why E450-based cutaways aren’t ordered by the MTA, especially for Hudson RailLink and some Staten Island Division routes, like the S42, S54, S55, S56, and S57. Those routes, outside of school trips, are among the lowest ridership routes in the system (the SI routes).  (I also wonder if the Bronx could use it for the Bx24, Bx29, and Bx46, given that the Bx29 no longer serves Bay Plaza…moving the Bx46 to Gun Hill via a Bruckner deadhead.) This would be about a 50-60 bus fleet.

....and as for the lowly utilized express bus routes?

On 2/22/2024 at 7:05 AM, checkmatechamp13 said:

@B35 via Church Personally, I think the 17 stint north of the LIRR would be better tied into the 5. (So I would have the 5 run from Pilgrim straight to Hauppauge, and then to Central Islip, while the 17 would just run from Central Islip LIRR to Islip LIRR station). To cover the portion north of Hauppauge, I would have the 11 run to Smith Haven. There's no need for 3 routes from Brentwood to Hauppauge (5, 11, 58) and 3 routes from Brentwood to Smith Haven (4, 5, 58), and nothing should be ending in Hauppauge (evening/weekend ridership is basically nonexistent)

The connections that the 5 currently makes at Brentwood can be made in either Hauppauge, Central Islip, or Deer Park. The savings from this would be reinvested into an hourly route down Udall Road (basically, a short-turn of the old S27...it could go to Tanger Deer Park or Deer Park LIRR, either one is fine by me)

I'd also try my hand at combining the 52A/B with the southern part of the 17, and see if the connections to points east would help draw more ridership from that section of Central Islip.

Ever since they came out with the revision of the initial draft, I've stated (on here) that I thought the #11 should've ran to Smith Haven over the #5.... Specifically, I would do 2 things with the #11 at this point regarding that:

1. Smithtown is overserved with the current #5 (30 min. headways)... Not only that, but it's a waste of time having it sit in traffic in Smithtown to have every trip (on weekdays) pick up/drop off almost nobody... The waste-of-timeness (so to speak) includes the backtrack from the NYS Office Bldg. to have it serve more of Smithtown (as in, via the North Complex & via Old Willets Path)... With that said, not only would I reduce service to hourly in Smithtown, I would have a branch of the #11 to Smith Haven running via rt. 111 after serving the NYS Office Bldg....
2. I see what's going on with the #58 to Brentwood & now I'm more than convinced that the #58 should be cut back to Smith Haven.... Not because that it doesn't do well, but because too sizeable a portion of pax. getting off at Brentwood are xferring to #7's or #11's... That, and quite frankly, I think it's ultimately more beneficial to have the #58 & the #62 be the (respective) Smith Haven - Riverhead routes & the #11 offering a 1-seat ride b/w Smith Haven & points south of Brentwood (towards Bay Shore), than the current setup with having the #58 be a Brentwood - Riverhead route & the #11 being one-half of a deliberate/all-day interlining scenario with a route I don't think should even exist in its totality in the first place (of course, I'm talking about the #17 here).... So I say all that to say, I'd have the other hourly branch of an #11 to Smith Haven bypassing Smithtown via the Smithtown Bypass

I honestly don't care if each branch gets a separate route number or not, but the point is, I'd say it'd be well worth it for a Bay Shore - Smith Haven route hitting (the pulse point that is) Brentwood, and industrial & governmental (lol) Hauppauge in the process....

----------------------

As far as the #5 is concerned, my outlook thus far on it, unfortunately, is rather low..... Even given the whole 3 routes doing Brentwood - Smith Haven & 3 routes doing Brentwood - Hauppauge bit, I would look into dismantling it before having it run up to Hauppauge from Babylon, to then run back down to LIRR Central Islip (never mind that I don't think anything should be terminating there to begin with)... Speaking of which, if it's anything that should perhaps take over parts of the #17 north of the main line, it's one of the #52 branches.... Have one of them continue westward along Motor Pkwy down Hawthorne or something....

On 4/5/2024 at 5:08 PM, go25 said:

Am I the only one who doesn't like how the destination signs on the buses look when they decided to abbreviate Newark to NWK, Jersey to JRSY, or Elizabeth to ELIZ? Makes them look lazy and empty

I'm CTFU if they got the outbound #108 signed up as "NWK" in 3 big ass letters.

But yeah, I brought up the "Eliz" BS in an earlier post in this thread, referencing having seen it on a #26... Just dumb all the way around... For whatever the reason, they're regressing in the designation signage category.

Lake Success (Nassau County).

We were in a meeting (11 of us present, only 2 people felt it).... Interesting that the only 2 people that felt it were (standing) on the little podium we have.... The rest of us were sitting down.... I was one of the people sitting down.... I'd say there's about a 10-12 foot distance b/w the podium & those of us that were seated.

On 4/2/2024 at 9:17 AM, checkmatechamp13 said:

I suppose the M20 express trips are to avoid traveling in the right lane due to Holland Tunnel congestion.

That's exactly the point of doing that.... and quiet is as kept, buses randomly (unofficially/wrongfully) have been doing that for ages.

Especially during the PM rush hour on Fridays, I used to stay seeing M20's on the middle lane or left most lane (with waiting pax. getting screwed in the process).....

On 4/3/2024 at 1:17 PM, Robert Spire said:

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. 

You think.... What, is more than that?

On 3/29/2024 at 9:01 PM, BrooklynBus said:

Any question or suggestion made to the MTA gets an immediate automatic reply with a number thanking you, and you never hear from them again. The status is marked open or closed, but they never give you a reason. To me that is zero customer service. I remember years ago personally writing to Byford, and Howard Roberts and Joseph Smith when they were in charge of Buses and always received a reply usually quickly. Now if you write to any individual, they just ignore you. 

That is exactly why I never bothered wasting time filing any sort of complaint or issue their way.... Canned ass responses piss me off to no end: I'd honestly rather be ignored than to be fed some automated response....

10 hours ago, 553 Bridgeton said:

Six Flags was cut because Six Flags wanted njt to come in the car entrance. Now imagine the amount of traffic the buses have to sit in when they can just continue to go in the back and leave. We need our buses back out for other trips not sitting in an entrance with cars. Six Flags said no, and njt said ok bye. If it’s not broke don’t fix it. 

Figured it'd be something as silly as this....

4 hours ago, JAzumah said:

In a free bus system and a paid rail system, we become WMATA overnight in terms of demographics.

Not with as many people being influenced by the fear mongering & the current state of the subway system, we don't....

18 minutes ago, mikecintel said:

Yes #4 is referencing to #5.  I have no faith in the MTA anymore after this.  This pretty sad.  I agree with you about what you are saying about koo-aid drinkers. When I call CS for MTA all they say is I don't know and that is it and they hang you up.  I am so sick of that nonsense.  I work in Info Tech and I can't do that to my customers at all.  If I don't know I ask my supervisor or my colleagues for help and then when I find out the answer and I call the customers back.  Then they (customers) write an email to supervisor saying I am doing a great job and that I finding the answering calling them back.  MTA should do that too but I don't see that happening at all.  Zero chance at all.

Forget about it.... You & those that have your mindset are few & far between..... For as large an agency it is, the MTA, in this aspect, still represents a microcosm of the quality of customer service in this country, as a whole.... Some will tell you that quality customer service is completely dead... I won't go that far, but being perfectly honest, as the poor get poorer, the "quality" of the customer that's expecting exceptional customer service definitely does not help matters.....

I have said in the past on here (and still believe it to this day) that there is an adversarial relationship between the MTA & the riding public...

23 hours ago, BrooklynBus said:

From Facebook:

4. "So word has it the MTA is telling people to go to pop-up events and doing their best to hide/not host to get what they want on the plan instead of actual input. There was an instance where there was supposed to be hosting at Flushing but not only was there no tables, it is ONLY 2 college kids in regular clothing doing the Queens bus redesign. If you wish to attend these events, be aware they may do their best to hide in the general public so nobody can spot them and say they did outreach.

Share this to everyone who wants to put feedback onto the redesign and let the MTA know we will not stand for this foolishness and outright avoiding the general public!!!"

 

From NY Transit Forums:

5. "mikecintel said: >>THIS<<

Not that it takes away from the point, but #4 has to be referencing #5...

On 3/26/2024 at 9:38 PM, mikecintel said:

Did anyone go to the Main Street Flushing Queens bus redesign feedback event?  After work I get off at my station Flushing Main street.  I am frustrated because I didn't find any tables at all nor people inside the 7 line between Duane Reade exit stairs.  So I said maybe it is near Macy entrance.  Then I went to the Macy entrance and went downstairs and I did not find any tables.  I ask the token both rep and she replied the famous MTA line " I don't know".  She said there are poster on the wall and I said yes but I don't see any tables. Then the rep didn't understand what I was saying.  She then told me to call 5-1-1.  Is she serious?? Call 511 to ask where the event is held and where it is located??? GIVE ME BREAK!  I so angry and frustrated.  Then I went back up and decided to cross the street and I saw 2 people has signs and under their arms.  After I got downstairs I ask the 2 college kids do you know where the Queens bus redesign table is?  To my surprise they said to me "There are no tables and it is ONLY us 2 people doing the Queens bus redesign".  WHAT?? Is that MTA serious that they ONLY have 2 people an they are college kids and there are no adults or a table that says Queens Bus Redesign feed back? 

Quite frankly, the educational level of the 2 poor souls they threw to the wolves is rather irrelevant to me (all things considered)... This debacle represents a new low the MTA has hit... Anyone would have to be a fool at this point to believe the MTA is still in it to provide optimal public transit for the NYC region... But of course, the kool-aid drinkers will still slurp-slurp & go AHhhHHhhh at this f***in' bullshit....

5 hours ago, JAzumah said:

Free bus systems do not respond well to demand spikes except at Disney. People are asking for a transportation crisis...and they will get one. The MTA could "articulate everything" to keep costs down and the subway/bus class divide would increase by making the bus system free. 

My theory for the longest has been that ultimately the MTA will end up whittling down the bus system to a certain amount of long-winded ass routes ("superroutes" as I called 'em)... If/When that will happen, remains to be seen..... With that said, if I value a certain something, you will never catch me up here or anywhere's else advocating that it be free - and public transit happens to fall into that category for me.... There's many variations of this, but the way Serena (Williams) put it, always stuck with me for some reason.... She said "Everything comes at a cost... Just what are you willing to pay for it"... If you have people that think the buses should be free, more power to them, but I aint one of them.

As far as a class divide between subway & bus riders, I started hearing (an increase of) people blurt out such a thought around early to mid 2022 or so... Quite frankly, I don't see it.... The middle class has been & still is on a perpetual decline & I don't see that changing (at least, not in my lifetime anyway).... If you're not filthy rich or wealthy, you're either broke, or not as broke..... People making 6 figures in this city for example, and barely making it - living paycheck to paycheck.... In any case, I'm of the belief that a so-called subway/bus class divide in this city is being pushed by transients and/or gentrifiers (basically, non native NY-ers) to have it become a reality! I even remember reading a post on reddit that said something to the effect of, the subway is the new express bus.... Laughable..... But yeah, the real growing divide going on right now are of people (continuing to) taking mass transit, versus those that have completely given up on it..... If the bus system were to be made officially free, that divide is the one that would increase.

10 hours ago, RSMG106 said:

Sadly, there is no public transport option to go to Six Flags Great Adventure.

Also, there was not due to the fact that it had higher ridership, or that Six Flags made an disagreement with NJ Transit, this is likely budget cuts.

Possible, but I don't think this was budget cut related at all..... I'm guessing the decision was completely Six Flags related.

Now if the #316 & #510 also ends up getting axed for the summer season, then we know what time it is.....

On 3/22/2024 at 4:15 PM, checkmatechamp13 said:

On a side note they really need a full-time east-west route in that part of NJ (similar to the 317). Maybe an extension of the 836 to Trenton or something along those lines. I know it would be a long route, but especially for those not near rail lines (where you can transfer at Rahway) it would make travel through that area significantly easier.

Trenton offers more connections, but Princeton - Asbury is infinitely more attractive....

As for the #836, the thing should just run straight to Centra State Hosp. from Freehold Center... Being that they don't have #139's serving Freehold Center and Freehold "mall" anymore, I would have a very select few (of the Freehold "mall") trips throughout the day serving Freehold Raceway Mall.... Either could serve as a P&R, but I do think a #139 from points north of Raceway mall would attract more actual mall goers than either the #836 or the #67....

Quote

No. 119 (daily): Bus No. 119 will no longer serve Journal Square Transportation Center from 4:30AM to 11PM. For these times, please use MyBus stop #20818 on JFK Boulevard between Tonnelle Avenue and Bergen Avenue for service to New York or MyBus stop #30232 on JFK Boulevard between Tonnelle Avenue and Bergen Avenue for service to Bayonne.

What this isn't telling you is that construction is taking place at JSQ.... Lane D is completely knocked out & they actually got buses running through Lane A (which normally has those Port Authority police vehicles parked there)... You can take a guess as to what affected route served Lane D

As an aside, all the bus schedules that were posted for all the routes serving the terminal have been removed... They've been replaced with this shit...

-----------------------------------

To add, they have A-frames (the folding signs) with the appropriate bus route & terminal/destination listed on them (bold, black letters with a white background) by each immediate area in Lane A, B, and C so people know what stops where.