B35 via Church

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.

Random thought:

Not sure if they changed the sign for the #52 as well, but while I was at NJT Elizabeth RR on Saturday, I saw a #26 that was signed up as "UNIVERSITY" (big letters)... As the bus was turning onto Julian pl<>Railroad av., the other frame of the sign looked like it transitioned to:

- "Eliz" (first line)
- "via Kean" (second line)

For certain though, it did not spell out Elizabeth.... I mean YGBFKM with "Eliz" ; there was more than enough space on that top-most line in that frame of the destination sign to spell out Elizabeth.... They also apparently got rid of the KU suffix next to the 26 (which is neither here nor there to me)....

1 hour ago, Lex said:

You know damn well Atlantic Terminal was brought up to stress a point related to that supplemental service.

I mean hey, none of his unwarranted snarkiness or deliberate obtuseness will nullify or change the simple fact that more Nassau & Suffolk LIRR riders at this juncture prefer Penn over GCT.... Regarding for this particular parade, he wants to argue proximity (which of course is the safe bet), but ignoring rider preference in that situation would've likely resorted to more of those riders having expressed more displeasure (to say the least) than the sheer lack of it from the actual act of the MTA having provided less of that extra service to GCT.... I'll make a quote-unquote safe bet of my own & say that all throwing (more of the) extra service GCT's way would've accomplished, is less utilized trains....

15 hours ago, Gotham Bus Co. said:

So catering to people's lack of information is more important than providing information. Got it.

Yes, customer retention is more important than "providing information" (or whatever indirect way you want to convey running more of that extra service to GCT)...

All that shoving of service down people's throats when service to GCT was first implemented resulted in, was a rollback of a significant enough an amount of peak service to Penn & direct service to/from Atlantic Terminal anyway....

14 hours ago, JAzumah said:

It is certainly cheaper. You have to go where the customer is comfortable going.

Shouldn't be that hard of a concept to come to grips with..... If the LIRR riders themselves didn't cause enough of an uproar over more of that extra service to GCT over Penn, then I sure as hell aint losing sleep over it... Lol....

12 hours ago, BrooklynBus said:

...and I doubt they would want to run all three routes on Broadway. 

This is the real reason I don't see that B53 ending up being implemented before whatever they ultimately got cooked up/finalized for Brooklyn's network...

18 hours ago, MysteriousBtrain said:

...or the final plan is updated.

...which I fully expect to happen.

18 hours ago, MysteriousBtrain said:

Separate note, people forget how the M100 was changed despite not being a Bronx route. It'll be the same concept for the above routes.

Yeah, but this nuance can't be ignored - The M100 change removed a layer of service along most of 125th.... A B53 implementation with the Queens redesign OTOH would be the exact opposite of that - an addition of another layer of service (along Broadway)....

13 hours ago, Gotham Bus Co. said:

They would get more familiar with it if more trains went there.  (I don't understand why some folks are loyal to Penn at all costs — even, or especially, when GC would be more convenient for them.)

Logic would dictate that, but I still think it's more of a longevity thing than a higher frequency thing (as far as riders growing that much more accustomed to GCT service).

In any case, I find that unlike the typical urban commuter, the typical suburban commuter isn't nearly as transit savvy - so they're more apt to latching onto one particular commute/mode/station.....

Just now, Calvin said:

The SIM1C seems to carry a lot of riders today going Uptown early today. Not sure if it happens alot during the weekends or overnights but, seeing past Hylan Blvd and Fingerboard Road, most of the side seats were accompanied by riders. 

Parade goers.

11 minutes ago, xD4nn said:

I'm not sure how throwing money at increasing bus frequencies can help at all since a few depots are short on buses.

Legislators don't give two shits about those nuances.

3 hours ago, shiznit1987 said:

All this is just security theater until they overturn the bail laws. Who's gonna care about getting caught with a piece when they're out within 24 hrs. Waste of money. 

As for gun control, NYS has some of the toughest gun laws in the nation. Canada isn't shooting free either, Toronto has some rough pockets plus the TTC has had a recent crime wave. Britian now stops people for *knives* in the poor parts of London, Birmingham, etc. 

Unless you address a) drug addiction, b) forcing the mentally ill into treatment, no more coddling c) giving these teens/young men jobs d) fixing the schools and finally real consequences for serious crime, then nothing is going to change.

Without going down the political rabbit hole, what we're seeing happen to this city is being incentivized - including the influx of illegal immigrants.... Welcome to the dark side of capitalism.

On 3/15/2024 at 2:37 PM, NBTA said:

What are the next 10 routes to go fare free?

If you're referring to @Kingsbridgeviewer382's post at the top of the page, the proposal by state lawmakers being referenced is to throw $90 million towards the (bus) system... Half of which is to go towards increasing bus frequencies & the other half to go towards increasing the amt. of fare free routes to "up to" 3 routes per borough (which is where that 15 number comes from).... There were no specifics as to which routes would get service increases, nor which routes would be made fare free in said proposal.