Gotham Bus Co.

 

Which routes in the system only operate 1 bus throughout the day?

You still wouldn't save that much money, so you might as well run the route to Manhattan.

No, it wouldn't save much money, but it would be much less vulnerable to delays (and thus more reliable).

I actually have to agree with you on this. The only reason service is provided to Manhattan is because terminating in the LIC would cause bottleneck, and the turnarounds aren't feasible in the area.

Idea :  Last stop on Queens Plaza North, then continue on Queens Plaza North, left 21st Street, left Queens Plaza South. 

Idea :  Continue on Jackson Avenue to Vernon-Jackson Station (lay over with Q103) or to L.I.C. ferry terminal.

How can we relieve bunching on the q53?

The only way to get rid of bus bunching in general is to get rid of buses.

It's really not gonna be that easy in Queens. LGA/BP/CP, the TA depots, SC and JFK/FR all have different unions. If the other union gets "their" work there will be problems, that's why you don't see routes moved between JFK/FR and LGA/BP/CP or SC today.

 

Once the consolidation is all done there will still be different unions in place.

Even within NYCT, there are different unions which previously claimed that work could never be moved from one bargaining unit to another. A good case in point is the Q32...

Until 1994, the Q32 (previously M32, previously FACO/MaBSTOA #15) was all OA work based in Hudson Pier Depot.

In 1994, the Q32 was split between Hudson (later Quill) and Casey Stengel, meaning that some OA (TWU-100) work was given to TA (ATU-1056).

In 2010, the Q32 was consolidated in Casey Stengel, meaning that more OA (TWU-100) work was given to TA (ATU-1056). 

Along the way, other routes (M22, M35, M50, M60, M66, M72, M116) have flipped back and forth between TA and OA.

In each case, the arbitrator ruled that the work does not "belong" to the union at all — it belongs to Transit, in keeping with the "management rights" clause of each contract (in essence, "management reserves the right to manage").  Given this precedent, it should be relatively easy to swap routes within MTAB (e.g. Q53 in Far Rockaway Depot, Q60 in Baisley Park) and, eventually, between MTAB and NYCT (e.g. B84 in Spring Creek, BM1/3/4 in Flatbush, Q18 in Grand Ave, Q29 in Fresh Pond, Q32 in LaGuardia, Q110 in Queens Village).

But the service planners have been wanting to eliminate B20 Fresh Pond service for years due to its relatively poor ridership.

 

I'd be interested in knowing the amount of through riding between the southern and northern sections of the B20. Is there really that much of a Post-Office-Penn Av-to-Ridgewood market, or do most riders from each end leave at East New York station? If nothing else, maybe the part north of ENY could either become its own route or be attached to a different route.

I'm also wondering the same thing about the Broadway section of the Q24 — should it stay linked to Atlantic Avenue, or should it be a separate route (which, for historical reasons, I would call B22)?

MTA does have meetings. However, the problem is that very few people can make these, because New Yorkers are a very busy, generally apathetic people.

It's not necessary to actually attend an MTA public hearing.  Written comments submitted by mail or through the web site have exactly the same standing in the official record as spoken testimony.

Something I forgot to bring up. How about extending the Q19's hours?

And maybe extend the route to 2nd Street.

Thought I'd map this out. B44 local moves to B44 SBS route, B49 runs on Bedford in both directions between Foster and Dean, and new B40 to provide service on NY/Marcy Aves and Nostrand.

Yeah, yeah, it's not well thought out, but you get the point, a B40. Probably a better idea to have it run down Nostrand southbound for the entire route and not half.

https://www.google.com/maps/ms?msid=202807188220210378870.0004ec5b658de8ba24022&msa=0&ll=40.665752,-73.949002&spn=0.084115,0.176296

Isn't that block of Lincoln Road one-way in the wrong direction?

I hate their schedulers.

 

My critique about their service planners is that they are extremely delusional to demand that new routes must have 100% cost recovery ratios and to claim that there is insufficient operational and/or financial resources to add new routes.

 

 

And why not?  Filling in service gaps, where feasible, will boost ridership and revenue.  And that's a good thing.

 

In public transportation, "boosting fare revenue" is not a realistic goal statement because the cost of generating revenue is usually much higher than the revenue generated (i.e. the agency loses money on every passenger).

With the state legislature leaning over like a vulture, ready and eager to take money from the MTA to use for upstate "pork barrel" projects, a better goal is to maximize the overall efficiency of mobility. 

In the early 1990's NYCT proposed to extend the Bx34 in order to give a one-bus ride between Woodlawn and Mount Vernon.  Based on ridership projections at the time, the extension would have payed for itself.  At the public hearings, there was widespread support.  But Westchester County DOT balked, as that they didn't want NYCT to operate local bus service within their borders.

Not quite.  The WDOT folks actually supported the idea because it would have let them discontinue the #54 route. Even the mayor of Mount Vernon liked it because it would have given Bronx bus riders the option of shopping on Gramatan Avenue and connecting to Metro-North away from Fordham.

The opposition came from two fronts...

The Comptroller of Mount Vernon, who demanded that NYCT reimburse Mount Vernon for damage to its streets. NYCT agreed to the same level of reimbursement that WDOT provided (i.e. none).

Residents of Woodlawn, who didn't want "those people" riding through their neighborhood and filling up their empty buses. (What they actually said at the public meeting was that bus riders should stay on their respective sides of the border — people in the Bronx shouldn't travel to Westchester and people in Westchester shouldn't travel to the Bronx.)

Service on Little Neck Parkway---break up through service into 2 parts...the aim would be to reduce deadhead dstance on the Q36 since the Q12 runs on and runs off from Main Street.

 

Q36 - would only run up to the Grand Central Parkway. There, the Q36 would turn right, run via the North Shore Towers, turn right on Lakeville Road, operate via LIJ, and then turn right at 77 Avenue and left at 270 Street to Union Turnpike, which would be its terminus. Return to Jamaica via Union Turnpike and Lakeville Road Since the Q36 approaches LIJ from the north, the Q46 turnaround is not available.

What "deadhead distance"? There aren't any Q36 deadheads to or from Little Neck — every Little Neck trip goes there and returns in service.

North Shore Towers management has repeatedly gone on record stating that local buses are too low-class and will never be allowed on NST property; that opposition would probably extend to a stop outside the gate as well.

 

Coach USA – Mahwah Garage (Short Line)

Total Buses: 18

Routes: 17RG, 17SF, 17WY, 17US, 17x, M59, W59

Limited Service routes: 17RG, 17US

2003 MCI D4500 Cruiser: 8788-8805

 

These routes don't serve New Jersey residents. Why does New Jersey Transit subsidize them?

This one is of a Q64 extension to Fresh Meadows...

https://maps.google....075317,0.154324

 

Interesting idea, but I'd tweak it a little...

- Route Path: Use 73 Av instead of Jewel east of 164th. (Jewel gets very narrow there.)

- Eastern Terminal: At 230th where the Q75 used to end.

- Peak hours, both directions: Some trips would still begin/end at 164th.

- Non-Peak: Every trip full length

M14C service got eliminated in 2002 btw.

It wasn't "eliminated" - Con Ed didn't want buses passing its power station (security risk), so rerouted the "D" branch over the "C" path. Since both branches were doing exactly the same thing, it made no sense to use both letters.

_{I would just restore the M6. I was never with the M5 going to South Ferry.}

Not likely to happen without funding.

I would actually restructure the M5 at the upper end:

M5

- Northbound via Riverside and 135th, to Amsterdam (to serve City College and connect with M100, M101).

- Southbound via Amsterdam, 133rd, Broadway, 135th, Riverside.

M104

Extend via Broadway to G.W. Bridge.