Gotham Bus Co.

Then maybe every route should get the Interstate/Intra-commuter zone structure.

What if you get off the bus and then get back on?

If I board the bus in ThisTown and ride to ThatTown, why do I pay less to cross the zone barrier than someone else who boarded in NY?

Questions: Why are passengers traveling interstate not allowed to buy or use transfers? Why are fares lower in the Southern Division than in the Northern Division? Why are zone increments higher for interstate routes than for intrastate? NJT's costs for continuing from one town to the next don't change based on where the passenger boarded, yet one passenger might pay 50 cents extra while another pays 75 cents extra. (My thought: Maybe keep the fare at $2 for the first local zone, $0.75 for each additional zone, and a flat surcharge to cross the river.)

Is there any actual demand for such a route (beyond the one person who wants it)?

On a political level, it is very difficult to "fix" anything when so many people have a vested interest in preserving the problem (whether real or perceived).

They tried that and the NIMBYs got loud.

I think the idea was to have them mimic the QM21. The block from 2nd Avenue to 1st Avenue isn't too far to walk, and using 2nd Avenue is faster than the 34th-FDR slog.

NIMBYs along 73rd Avenue have already shot down that concept. May as well combine QM4/44 and QM5/35 into one route.

Devil's Advocate: Does every neighborhood need a direct bus to every CUNY college? (Far Rockaway already has relatively easy transit access to York, Queens, and Brooklyn Colleges.)

And how much actual demand is there for this?

From KCC, you're looking at the neighborhood of Breezy Point, which has no public bus service (and wants to keep it that way) — and barely wants to admit being part of NYC.

I like the idea of separate routes, but there may be too much through riding for a complete split. My preference would be the following: Q94 Limited/Express: Fordham to Jamaica with stops only at Fordham Plaza, St. Barnabas, West Farms, Parkchester, Lafayette, Main St , Horace Harding, Jewel Av, Union Turnpike, Jamaica LIRR, Merrick/Archer. (If it were a subway or light rail line, where would the stations be?) Q44 or Bx44: West Farms to Flushing, local with a few stops removed. Q20: Enhanced service along full route, local with a few stops removed, short trips if needed south of Roosevelt.

I agree about the imbalance. I would keep the branches "blended" along Broadway in both directions. Or maybe forget about "blending" and schedule the branches individually (compare with M14A/M14D).

Of it could drop off on 3rd Avenue with the Bx17, then right Fordham, right Washington to lay over, then right 189th to pick up with Bee-Line, then left 3rd Avenue.

There was also the Q12 to Great Neck (using Great Neck Road instead of Middle Neck Road). It would have approached QCC using East Hampton Blvd and 56th Avenue, but the whole concept was NIMBYed away.

Eastbound to Little Neck via QCC: HHE, left Springfield, right 56th Ave, right East Hampton Blvd, into West Alley Road. Short trips end at 56th Ave & 223rd Street. Westbound from Little Neck via QCC: HHE, West Alley Road, East Hampton Blvd, left 56th Ave, left 223rd, right 58th Ave, left Springfield, right HHE. Short trips start from 223rd Street & 56th Av. Drawback: NIMBYs along 56th Ave and East Hampton Blvd.

I like that idea, too, but the NIMBYs along 73rd Avenue (west of 188th) don't like it at all. I might have made this Q75 an extension of the (via Jewel, 164th, Horace Harding).

The Columbia University crowd would complain very loudly if that were proposed. They love the M60 (they just didn't like it ending and laying over at 116th (1994-1995).

Except that an M35 from Astoria would get "thisclose" to Manhattan and then jump off the bridge to take the grand tour of Randalls and Wards Islands before returning to the bridge. The Astoria-Harlem crowd voted with their feet when the M60 started and never looked back. A Wards Island-to-Queens link probably should be a separate route (Q89 based at LGA or CS?) with a stop in Astoria and then continuing to Jackson Heights (to maximize transfer opportunities). For the M35 itself, is Lexington/125th the right place, or should it end somewhere else?

What is your concept? Revisit the three-headed hydra? A new Wards Island route to Queens?

Yet you conveniently refuse to recommend more frequent overnight service. It's the age-old principle of "if there is even 1 person who won't benefit from this, then nobody should be allowed to benefit from this."

I'd actually prefer to scrap the alternate names entirely, on the grounds that they are outdated and do not reflect those streets' current actual names. Obviously, lots of people would object to that — and some might even push to scrap the current names in favor of the old names. (I would ask them which specific historic names are accepted by the U.S. Postal Service.) At most, the secondary name should appear in a smaller font with parentheses, to indicate that both names refer to the exact same street. For example... 46 St (Bliss St) (I've heard some conductors override the automated announcements to announce "46th Street and Bliss Street" as if they were separate and distinct streets that happened to intersect there.)

Please do not assume that public transportation has never existed in NYC at any time in the history of history.

It should be the reverse: The ridership should determine levels of service.