checkmatechamp13

To be fair, the next stop after 27th Street is Lispenard Street, so to go down and go back up, I could see how it would take a good 30-40 minutes. (On the other hand, why would you assume that it would stop at 26th after having already stopped at 27th?)

A couple of updates: Port Washington will keep a few of their express trains https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/in-the-news/anna-m-kaplan/express-service-remain-along-lirrs-port-washington-branch https://new.mta.info/press-release/lirr-announces-six-express-trains-included-port-washington-branch-revised-grand And the third track is officially open for business (unfortunately, it looks like the extra reverse-peak service won't be added until ESA opens in December) https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/all-aboard-governor-hochul-celebrates-completion-lirr-main-line-third-track-time-and-under

So I saw a #96 pass by the northern end of Roseville Avenue with about 3 people on board and a "Standing Room Only" sign. Does the #96 typically get crowded around school hours and if so, is it only around West Side High School?

I found out that Greyhound has two eastbound and one westbound trip between Newark Penn Station and the GW Bridge Bus Terminal (on its Boston - Philadelphia route). What are everyone's thoughts on a Newark - GWB route with a stop in Fort Lee? I think it could be a useful alternative to the #76 for Newark - Bergen County travel (and I think there should be some demand between GWB and Newark itself).

@B35 via Church In that case, maybe it would be best to have the Hawthorne branch of your proposed #13 run down towards Valley Fair (or in other words, run the #13V via Hawthorne). Or maybe spin off the Valley Fair/Hawthorne branch as a separate route heading to Newark Penn. Out of curiosity, how much of the #39, #65/66 and #70 usage comes from Newark Penn vs. Downtown Newark (say, anything between Raymond Blvd and Lincoln Park). I know for the #62, it seems the vast majority are seeking Newark Penn itself, but I was curious as to how it was for some of the other routes heading south out of Newark Penn. For the Newark-Paterson route restructuring, I would have the #74 run down McCarter Highway and Broad Street to Newark Penn (in other words, Paterson-Passaic local and Passaic-Newark express). I would replace the Passaic-Branch Brook Park portion with a standalone route (let's say #77). The #72 would be truncated to a Paterson-Bloomfield route (or possibly a Paterson-Bloomfield-Branch Brook Park route). But in any case, the #74 would be the main route from Passaic County to Downtown Newark, while the #72 (assuming it ends at Branch Brook Park instead of Bloomfield) and #77 would provide the connection to the North Ward.

@B35 via Church How busy are the #13 and #27 west of Bergen Street? If they're not super-busy, I could see that working out. (I'm assuming the entirety of the #13V once it turns off Clinton is low ridership, with most people in Weequahic making their way to the #39 for service towards Downtown Newark, correct?) And yeah in that scenario, I'd get rid of the #27B. If anything were to cover that part of Franklin, I might consider having the #72 run over there (as opposed to ending in Bloomfield, as part of the #72/74 restructuring I mentioned earlier)

@BrooklynBus If they start work at 1am, that means they finish around 9am (congestion time) and if they finish work at 1am, that means they start around 5pm (also congestion time).

So you couldn't have told him directly? The key is good communication. If the B/O had let everybody know that they were waiting for a relief, the riders could've transferred to another bus.

@Jsunflyguy I wouldn't throw out the whole thing just off a few inaccuracies. Just look from a case by case basis. I agree he goes a bit overboard in trying to reduce non-revenue mileage (e.g. an 8:52am and 8:54am out of Jamaica to Hunterspoint Avenue) but I generally like a lot of the concepts he's proposing.

It's also the only eastbound train directly to Montauk during the midday hours. The next direct train is the 4:30pm out of Hunterspoint Avenue. (There is a 12:43pm out of Jamaica to Speonk, where you wait 36 minutes for an SFCC connection, but that's a seasonal train until October 7th). Also, I found this interesting letter of comments (189 pages worth) on the LIRR Today, including some suggested schedules for the diesel branches: https://www.thelirrtoday.com/2022/09/east-side-access-comment-letter.html

@B35 via Church Ah, I see. It seems I underestimated the amount of through-riding coming from the North Ward, and overestimated the amount of ridership on the southern portion of the route. To answer your question, I was thinking to have the #99 run every 15 minutes as planned (actually, for that matter I was planning on having the #96 run roughly every 30 minutes). For the southern terminal, I actually wasn't sure. Possibly somewhere around Kean College or Union NJT Station. For the splitting, it was more from the perspective of thinking that 3 routes on Mount Prospect was overkill. But I wouldn't have a problem with cutting the #27 back to Newark Broad and having the #98 and #99 serve Mount Prospect. (If anything that balances everything out for that section of the North Ward...the #13 provides service straight down Broad Street, the #98 serves Newark Penn directly, and the #99 provides crosstown service) Maybe having the #99 run down Bergen and the #96 swing over to Irvine Turner Blvd would help. That way both routes directly serve the hospital along Bergen) On a side note, I haven't had a chance to watch this, but here are some updates on the redesign and Newark Penn Station reconstruction:

I wouldn't say the #96 improvement would necessarily be at the expense of the #99. It's more having it take a load off it as far as doing too many things at once IMO. I think the resulting route would still hold its own ridership-wise. I think if anything, having the #96 heading towards Irvington Terminal might be more problematic for the #90, compared to running down Bergen Street being a problem for the #99. Can you do a walk-through of a typical #99 trip heading southbound? (In terms of how much turnover there is at Broad Street, at University Hospital, and through the residential section of the Central Ward to Beth Israel?)

Ouch, they cancelled the last northbound #13...definitely not good... Also, here is the full list of routes that have new schedules for this pick: https://njtransit.com/service-advisory/1534989

Part of it is trying to maintain some sort of crosstown service in that section of Newark, but part of it is trying to avoid some of the meandering currently done by the #99 (and also provide a bit more coverage around Springfield-Belmont). Under the proposed plan, the only straightening out of the #99 is having it bypass the (back end of) Newark Broad Street. I think it would be better to maintain that connection to Newark Broad Street, and split up the way the route serves the hospital. The other thing is that the section of Newark along Mount Prospect Avenue and along Broadway doesn't have a direct connection to Newark Penn (the #13 & #27 leave you off along Broad Street, and obviously the #99 goes nowhere near Newark Penn). So at least this would give a direct connection to that general area from Newark Penn.

What neighborhoods do you hear specifically mentioned for Newark? I would imagine Forest Hill, Ironbound, and Weequahic get referenced a lot, but what about Fairmount, Springfield-Belmont, Clinton Hill (I imagine people wouldn't make a distinction between Upper/Lower), University Heights, North Broadway, etc

They mentioned they would have the new draft released by the Spring, but it's almost the end of Summer and still nothing. Anyway, I'm thinking of how to split up the #99 route. I'm thinking something along the lines of the following: #96: Branch Brook Park light rail station to Beth Israel Hospital via North 6th Street-1st Avenue-Roseville Avenue/South 8th Street-12th Avenue-Bergen Street-Lyons Avenue #98: Forest Hill/Lake Street Loop - Newark Penn Station via Verona Avenue-Mount Prospect Avenue-Bloomfield Avenue-Broadway-Broad Street-Raymond Blvd #99: Newark Broad Street-Hillside via Orange Street-Norfolk Street-Irvine Turner Blvd-Avon Avenue-Bergen Avenue (Irvington - Hillside is already covered by the #26, and Irvington-Weequahic is already covered by the #37/107). Also, I think the two #34 branches should remain split in East Orange, rather than concentrated on Springdale Avenue.

On Richmond Avenue (deadheading from the Yukon Depot) or on Victory Blvd?

My thinking was residents of Bloomfield, North Newark, Belleville, and Kearny heading out to Union City.

Sometimes the work needs to be done directly on the live track (e.g. Inspections) and the work zone is a moving one (the flagger escorts the inspectors down the track). For long-term work like between 36th and 59th a few years ago, they usually install something more permanent.

I figured Forest Hill would be the type of area that realtors would emphasize considering its reputation as the most affluent section of Newark (e.g. If you were to refer to Riverdale as North Bronx or something like that). When you say that they don't use the terms Upper/Lower Roseville, do you mean that residents of that area just generally say "Roseville" or that they just say North Ward/North Newark? For the #44, do you think having it stop in Union City would boost ridership? (Yeah, the current intrastate portion is mostly residential neighborhoods, without any major transfer points or shopping centers along the route, with the exception of maybe Bloomfield itself (and even then, it stops just short of Bloomfield Avenue). During rush hour, most trips should bypass Union City because of the availability of the bus lane (maybe have some extra trips that only run Bloomfield - Union City) but off-peak, I think it should stop there.

@B35 via Church So I'll be moving out to Upper Roseville (though most listings put it down as North Newark. I wonder if that's just a generic term used for anything in the North Ward outside of Forest Hill or if that's just another term for Upper Roseville specifically). But yeah one of the big selling points of that neighborhood is access to the light rail, not the bus (the main area I hear Decamp associated with is Montclair, though even then I'd probably just stick with the regular NJT bus and rail services) Yeah it would be nice if NJT took over those DeCamp routes. I could definitely see decent demand for direct service to Manhattan from the areas they serve. I suppose the #44 would be a slightly less busy version of the #107 (meaning serving North Ward vs South Ward) and I could see an NJT run version of the #44 having more usage than the present-day #108.

@shiznit1987 It's mainly the rush hour commuters complaining about express service not the off-peak commuters (off-peak is mainly the frequency being divided and the transfers at Woodside being untimed)

I'm looking into it as a commute, but yikes...$8.20 per trip and the bus runs once per hour...and on top of that you have to buy the tickets at specific locations (you can't just pay on the bus). Looks like I'll be sticking to rail-based methods of getting to work lol (NLR to PATH or bus to NJT at Newark Broad)

Just double-checking, is DeCamp running? (Particularly their #44 route) If so, are these schedules the most up-to-date? (Their direct website doesn't seem to work) EDIT: Just double-checked, and they're running with these schedules.

I think part of it is also the bus service on Ocean Avenue a block away. It would be like running a route down Avenue E in Bayonne. On a side note, is the Broadway Bus in Bayonne still running?