One idea I had to balance passenger load between Hempstead and Roosevelt Field/NCC is to do the following:
-Mid-day n6x trips to/from NCC would be eliminated.
-The n15 would run via the current n16 route to Roosevelt Field. County Seat Drive service would also be eliminated as part of this.
-The n16 would run via Clinton Road to Roosevelt Field, then down Stewart Avenue, and would terminate at the East Campus bus loop.
-The n35 would remain as-is in terms of alignment, but instead of every other mid-day trip turning back at Hempstead, those trips would terminate at East Campus loop.
Pros of this plan include:
-Balanced frequencies via Clinton Road (every 15 minutes with the n16/n35 combined)
-Probable cost savings (I'd imagine that even by extending some mid-day n35 trips, money would be saved by eliminated the n15 via County Seat as well as mid-day NCC service via the n6x)
-Improved service to NCC campus (currently, service to Hempstead is six buses per hour mid-day, this would increase the amount to seven buses per hour).
-Less bunching of buses at NCC (currently, the n6x and n16 arrive within minutes of each other, for example)
Cons of this plan include:
-No more County Seat Drive service (This could cause some more crowding on rush hour n40/41 trips.) -Slightly longer trip times to/from Hempstead
-Increased unreliability of n15 service (It's already a long route, and adding a big ridership generator will probably make things worse. However, need be, the n15 could probably sustain artics, as it has much more ridership south of Hempstead than the n16).
-NCC students will need to walk a few extra minutes depending on where they are on campus for more frequent service (they're gonna be quite annoyed if they typically use the Student Union stop.)
-Some trips at times during which classes start/finish (such as around 1:40 PM on Monday/Wednesday) will probably be overcrowded due to the more evenly spaced timing