JubaionBx12+SBS

Last I heard it was the 15 and the 82

With artics the B15 would have 10 minute PM Rush headways which would be quite high for a route that would be running artics. I would find another route for them.

Has the Stillwell Ave stop on the Bx12 SBS been activated yet? Is it still there?

BusTime does not recognize it after months of being active. SMH.

I'm not concerned about riders lacking knowledge about short-turns. I'm concerned about dispatchers lacking knowledge about the effects of short turns, especially on the Bx12.

Subway shuttles should absolutely be included in BusTime. One route that's really been screwed up and i'll screenshot it for tomorrow is the B46 local. Half hour wide gaps during the afternoon rush hour have not been uncommon. 

Rode the BX15 today, felt like an SBS route with the amount of people that farebeated 

Based on pure ridership levels alone it's one of the busiest routes in the city so i'm sure it feels that way even when we exclude farebeaters. By the way how bad is fare evasion on the Bx15?

What do you guys think of moving one or two of the intervals out of Nereid Avenue and sending them to Woodlawn and label them as trains instead?

 

I know in the morning they're probably needed on WPR but they won't really be missed in the evening, especially since the trains aren't even dispatched properly in the PM.

If you're going to get rid of any Nereid Av trips it would be best to switch them to Dyre Av trips. Ridership on Dyre Av trips is severely underestimated and during AM Rush trains are already SRO in most cars approaching Gun Hill Road. One thing I'm adamant about when it comes to the is to get more trips running to/from Dyre Av.

Or just take the difference in times that's posted on the schedule. If the schedule says buses arrive on the :00s, :10s, :20s, :30s, :40s, and :50s, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the bus is scheduled to arrive every 10 minutes. 

 

How do you distinguish between a bus that arrives every 10 minutes consistently, and one that basically comes whenever it wants? For example:

 

Route A:

:00, :10, :20, :30, :40, :50

 

Route B:

:03, :11, :25, :37, :40, :52

 

Route C:

:08, :29, :35, :37, :56, :59

 

Route D:

:00, :25, :26, :28, :49, :53

 

All of those are scheduled for 6 buses per hour, but there's a big difference in the reliability of all 4 routes. 

If most routes in the system are performing like your C and D scenario how the schedule is written is the least of your problems.  In your B scenario there's no wait above 14 minutes and the only people experiencing that are those who just miss the :11. In other words nearly every rider will have a wait equal to or less than the headway despite the fact that the buses did not show up like clockwork. Telling riders of route B that every bus arrives on the threes (assuming the first showed up exactly on time) allows riders to perceive it's OTP as worse than it is in realty and suckers riders who timed the :13 into a 12 minute wait (assuming the :13 showed up 2 minutes early as the :11 thus screwing riders around). If you just say 'every 10 minutes' riders will randomly arrive at stops expecting short waits so some of those who would have timed the :13 and missed it on route B may have shown up earlier at the bus stop and caught it thus saving the wait. Less riders get screwed when spacing between buses is communicated and individual bus timings are left ambiguous. I think that's why SBS schedules are headway based.

Unless the route is super-frequent (like every 5 minutes or less) I would actually rather stick with an actual schedule. At least you would have an idea of when the bus is supposed to arrive (e.g. On the :10s, :20s, :30s vs. the :15s, :25s, :35s vs. the :18s, :28s, :38s) and if it's reliable you can time yourself for the bus.

In a bus system where buses are either struggling to keep with the schedule or are outright disregarding the schedule the headways are more useful to know because then I can estimate the chances that a bus will arrive within a few minutes of me appearing at the stop. 

I would rather the headways get posted in lieu of a schedule at bus stops for mid and high frequency routes. We already see this on the SBS routes.

A crazy proposal to improve bus reliability in the Flushing area. Think about this more as a thought exercise than a serious proposal.

 

Q25 SBS: Runs from the Bronx Zoo to Jamaica, replacing the Q44. Northbound buses turn off of Kissena onto Barclay before heading north on Union, avoiding traffic on Main St. Southbound buses turn from Union onto Sanford, and then turn onto Kissena.

Q34A/B: Takes over College Point Q20A/B routing, via same routing as Q25 SBS.

 

By avoiding the mess on Main St, travel times should improve.

 

Q44 SBS: Northbound, turns off of Main St at 41st Av, before heading north on College Point Blvd, replacing Q65. Southbound, takes 41st Rd.

Q20: Follows same routing as Q44, then heads east on 35th before using current Q34 routing past Linden.

 

Also avoids Main St traffic, and serves Skyview shopping center and Flushing West.

 

Q65: Adopts current Q25 routing north of Northern.

Two major things that stand out here are.... 

1) Bronx to Queens bus travel revolves around the Q44. Selling Bronxites on a ride that is not a Q44 and on top of that runs along Kissena Blvd (a street most Bronxites couldn't even tell you exists) is likely not to work. 

2) Bus to bus transfers become a little more difficult. Now you'll be asking riders to walk across Main St at the junction with Kissena to transfer between Q44 and Q25 buses. What about a Q13/16/28 passenger seeking Q44 service?

 

Turned out to be a good move, looking at how crowded that bus is...

There was likely a wide gap between that bus and the one ahead of it. 

Speaking of RTS's I saw a broken down one at Eastchester Rd/Mace Av around 5pm today. Two northbound Bx31 buses passed shortly after I saw this and both were sardine cans. I wonder if said RTS broke down in service on the Bx31 and screwed things up.

Well, I do like the idea of a route covering the Ely/222nd Street corridor, but I don't think it should go up WPR to Mount Vernon. If any Mount Vernon route should be extended deeper into The Bronx, it should be the #52 or #55.

 

There's something to be said for covering it with the Bx8 (which already runs down 222nd for a few blocks heading eastbound, as you know). Have it take Bronxwood-Gun Hill-WPR, and then take 222nd down.

 

While we're talking about the NE Bronx, I do think something should be done about the way the Bx16 meanders around. Maybe have the Bx34 cover the Nereid Avenue portion (and either end at Mundy Lane, or the #54 terminal at South Fulton), and just have the Bx16 run straight across 233rd (with a new route running from Wakefield to Bay Plaza via Baychester Avenue). 

 

 

Hmmm....he has a specific routing in The Bronx, to serve corridors which currently have no bus service, and the Mount Vernon routing is yet to be determined.....I wonder which county this route is intended to primarily serve.....

I've settled on a Northern terminal at the Fleetwood MNRR stop with the route traveling along W 1st, Gramatan and Broad St W going up from WPR/241. Next consideration of mine is an express bus type set-up to reach Yonkers on a one seat ride from the NE Bronx but I have even begun to think about a physical routing for it.

Give it a rest....

 

The hipsters & other riders of the train simply won't consider the B39 & any extension of it - or any other bus carrying riders between areas that the serves, and a part of Manhattan the masses that even take the L are not trying to get to.....

 

The L train from Brooklyn to Manhattan is a transfer line enough as it is, and you want to have those riders take buses running on half-hourly headways over the Williamsburg bridge......

==================================

 

 

 

If anything that > > commute is gonna be the norm; or as it's infamously called around these parts, the 3 borough commute

(that is, for those that aren't crying about literally moving out of their homes closets because a subway line is going to be knocked out... JFC, such babies)

 

The Canarsie folks that need Manhattan... Well, let's just say I wan't no part of being anywhere around Utica/Eastern Parkway.... It's going to end up being a bigger shitstorm than it is now....

So you're expecting a considerable increase in B17 usage? If anything I would expect the B103 to benefit most from this.

BusTime is showing 7 Bx41 SBS buses Northbound and only 1 Southbound. SMH. I've about had it with the local buses (all of them). 

I've only taken the BxM7 and 10 as far as express buses go. 

What's even worse is that it isn't even running on an artic route.

Interesting, didn't know that. When did this happen?

The Bx28/38 do get occasional artic trips during Morning Rush Hour and GH will not hesitate to put an SBS wrapped bus on one of those trips if necessary.

Dealing with another busy route, should B46 service be revised to where every other SBS trip on weekdays starts/ends at Williamsburg Bridge Plaza (as with the B44) with local trips going no further than Malcom X/DeKalb? I don't see how local B46 service needed to be screwed with the way it has (and yes 20-30 minute gaps in local service during rush hour are quite common based on my BusTime checks) in order for SBS to work when SBS B44 buses run the full route distance on a longer route to boot. 

I was waiting for an Eastbound Bx12 bus at Fordham Plaza this evening and noticed that on Webster Av two northbound Bx41 local buses pull in back to back. I'm thinking to myself that 12 minute headways (or maybe 10, given it's rush hour) is rather high for buses to be showing up back to back. About 30 seconds later I see two northbound Select Bx41 buses show up back to back. Now i'm thinking what the hell is this. Funniest part is that ALL of the buses in this caravan were carrying below a fully seated load. Isn't the Bx41 a high ridership route? Why were so many buses pulling into one of the busiest stops on the route empty? 

A bus on 15 minute headways (just to give example) doesn't sound like a bus that has heavy crowding. If that were the case 10 minutes would be better. You shouldn't have two buses together on 15 minute hedways.

I've seen this happen on the Q50. 

Route proposal from Northeast Bronx to Mount Vernon. Originating from Bay Plaza Mall the route would take Bartow, Ely, 222nd St, and WPR northbound into Mount Vernon. The last remaining piece of this proposal is the routing and terminal within Mount Vernon. I will add that when it's settled on.

Those are ridership figures from 2015. The B46 claimed the top spot last year.

We have no available ridership figures from 2016 to confirm this so until April, my point stands. It would be nice if the MTA got the numbers out earlier or did what CTA does and posted month by month ridership reports. It would be much easier to follow the trends in usage if the reports were posted on a monthly basis.

Given the trends in usage these days I would not expect to see any big differences from 2015 unless some of the high ridership routes losing passengers took big dips again. 

The Bx12 aint the busiest anymore. The B46 took that title.

Since when?

http://web.mta.info/nyct/facts/ffbus.htm#routes

Who would I go to push for the BusTime countdowns that have been installed at stops along various SBS routes to be installed at a bunch of Bx12 SBS stops? It's a travesty that such a feature was implemented without the busiest route in the city being addressed.

My app idea wasn't meant with the general commuter in mind. It was meant for the very niche group of folks who would want to play watchdog and put the MTA's feet to the fire regarding the quality of service being provided. Basically, folks like us. I never said that a major tech company should produce such a thing, just some tech-savvy transit watchdog type. With the way the MTA is going, there needs to be a group of studious watchdogs (with all the tools possible) on their case making sure the service provided is up to snuff because lots of times the service is inexcusable. 

It would be interesting if the BusTime app or BusTracker can be used as a visual to show just how bad service is performing on any given route. You could have one overlay that shows the buses moving at the rate they would if they all followed the schedule to a tee (something like the TRAVIC client someone posted to SubChat) and in the same app an overlay showing the real-time service. Obviously the bus symbols would need to be differentiated between the schedule based feed and the real-time one but having that kind of feature in a tracking app would sure be a wake up call to folks.

The M5 won't have RTSes since they don't have that bus model in Manhattanville.

 

I think today a lot of the lines are slow in the ridership department, since it's cold and it's the Sunday before a Monday holiday, which implies that people either went out of town for the weekend or are waiting until tomorrow or next weekend to go out on the city bus. I was on the Bx12 SBS today and both buses I was on only had about 50 people at most, while Bay Plaza itself wasn't terribly crowded (more people shop Saturdays usually.)

 

As far as overall ridership goes, maybe they can trim some service in Manhattan and perhaps give some more service to the outer boroughs, where the buses are bursting at the seams a lot of the time.

This sentiment behind that sentence is very problematic. In the case of said route, packed buses are so common that 50 people on a bus is looked at as underperforming when it is not. The off-peak loading guidelines called for buses to average a fully seated load at and above a 6 minute headway. For an LFSA a fully seated bus would be 52 people so a 50 passenger bus is almost right on the nose of 100% guideline capacity. Outside of rush hour no one would look at a bus carrying 50 people (artic or not) and say that bus is undercrowded and could use more people. Except, with the Bx12 SBS where buses should be averaging 50 people folks like you and I would make mention of the less than terrible crowding as if it's special. Riders on no route should be that desensitized to overcrowding to where buses carrying fully seated loads on a Sunday are seen as nearly equivalent to empty. I feel part of the MTA's willingness to cut service and the loss of ridership resulting from it stems from a desire to have routes doing so well that the riders are desensitized to crowding. That is a huge problem.