Via Garibaldi 8

3 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

The ones that duplicate the subway or railroad, yes.

And so are the railroads - they are also heavily subsidized.  Any commuter service is going to be heavily subsidized because the turnover is lower.  

3 hours ago, MHV9218 said:

Express buses are subsidized to all hell already. The MTA loses a ton of money on nearly every express bus they run but they do it as a service to the public. No need to make them free. 

And so is the ferry service.  I know it pains you to provide anything for outer-borough residents (your disdain over the years couldn't be clearer from the comments you have made with anything related to benefitting outer-borough residents), but the majority of New Yorkers live in the outer boroughs and we pay taxes just like you do.  I could think of a number of things that benefit Manhattanites that other New Yorkers subsidize.  

35 minutes ago, ABCDEFGJLMNQRSSSWZ said:

Why does 75th Av have such lower ridership relative to neighboring Forest Hills 71 Av and Kew Gardens stations?

Both Forest Hills and Kew Gardens had nearly 12k daily riders in 2021.

75th Av didn't even have 1.5k.

Sure, the former 2 are express stations but I doubt the  would be that heavily favored over the . My main thought might be feeder busses? Idk.

 

That's exactly it.  That and it's an express station.  For a chunk of Northeast Queens, they need to get the local bus to Forest Hills 71 Av.  It's also pretty busy because you have Queens Borough Hall right there.

1 hour ago, MysteriousBtrain said:

Express buses is a bit much to add. Discount yes, but express service is not something everyone should be getting on for free.

Yeah, I've never called for free express buses. I've had a number of conversations with his office about express bus fares, including having lower fares and fare capping for OMNY. I will say that he is working to deliver for the district.  I've been very outspoken, not only to the electeds, but my Community Board about the idea that the district is bus dependent because of the lack of subway access.

That said, I understand why this is being pushed for (the whole thing (local buses, express buses, etc.) in general).  Vehicular congestion is worsening and there have to be ways to incentivize people to use the system again.

My Assemblyman claims that there's a bill that's been introduced that would also include the express buses... Bill A4122... See screenshot below.

22 minutes ago, GreatOne2k said:

Every bus EXCEPT express buses would be free (Local, Limited, Select). Express Buses seem to be left out of everything (discounts, frequency increases), even commuter rail is cheaper with CityTicket.

My Assemblyman claims that he has introduced legislation that WOULD include the express buses (as in being free to ride), so we shall see.  Up until recently, I've heard nothing about express buses being included, but he is on the Transportation Committee so I'll take his word for now. It's Bill A4122.

3 hours ago, TheMTAEmprie said:

I was under the impression that the contractual agreements were going to be moot once NYCTA and MTA BC merged. Is that still in progess or has that pla been halted due to the pandemic?

lol I wouldn't call them "moot" at all.   In terms of unions, I would argue that the union for Spring Creek is not as strong as the one for Ulmer Park given the concessions they made previously, so there's that as well.  Then there is the issue of making service.  Spring Creek Depot can barely make service with the lines it has now. Adding some of the heaviest express bus lines to that depot makes no sense.  There are cancellations out of the depot during rush hour and off-peak regularly.  

11 minutes ago, TheMTAEmprie said:

Be that as it may, last I check the neighborhood of Spring Creek is in Brooklyn and the Depot itself started out as a Brooklyn division Depot dating back to the Command bus days. Also, I was speaking more on the logistical side as Ulmer Park has 40ft, 45ft, and 60ft buses and since Spring Creek is better suited for 45ft OTR buses, they should take all the express routes. Since the lanes are being renumbered, the whole NYCTA vs MTABC boundaries are going to be a bit blurred, so I think it would be possible to get away with that despite whatever the unions try to say...

It's not that simple. Some unions are more vocal than others, and I can assure you that when it comes to work, especially express work, no depot is going to want to give up lines like the X27, X28, X37 & X38, some of the busiest in the City outside of Staten Island, which means lots of work would be lost and at good pay (not all runs pay the same). Furthermore, since you bring up logistics, having express buses deadhead from the Spring Creek area all the way to Bay Ridge, Sea Gate, etc. doesn't make much sense when there is a depot much closer to those neighborhoods and could increase operating costs for the . It wouldn't just be the unions screaming, but also elected officials. I am almost certain that the union for Ulmer Park would reach out to them if need be as they have in the past years ago when the  took away work and a deal was brokered to bring back the X27 & X28 on weekends.

Spring Creek Depot is an  Bus Depot and Ulmer Park is a NYCT Depot. Spring Creek Depot currently (and for years) has had an issue keeping drivers at that depot because of the contractual agreement made years ago to allow for part-time drivers there, not to mention that there are some compensation differences that still exist between  Bus and NYCT. These are all reasons that logistically it likely wouldn't happen, and if the  insisted on it, elected officials can threaten to withhold funding for starters. That area of Brooklyn has generally always had an elected official in some capacity overseeing Transportation with regards to the and it receiving funding that it desperately needs. For example, Senator Golden served as the Senate’s Representative to the Metropolitan Transit Authority Capital Program Review Board. That Board is responsible for overseeing and approving the 's capital spending programs.  

1 minute ago, TheMTAEmprie said:

Well, if it's assgned to NYCTA, then JG is almost a 100% guarantee unless FB gets it (which is also doable). However, from what I can tell, looks to me that the B81 is basically just a split route. Basically, the MTA is giving the B103 Limited the M5 treatment and the B81 would be the "M55" segment. In any case, I see no reason why Spring Creek can't continue to serve Downtown Brooklyn. While they are at it, they should give ALL the Brooklyn express bus service to Spring Creek, making it the sole express bus depot in Brooklyn since Ulmer Park will probably get the B5 and others. Take the load off of them.

That is just not happening. Ulmer Park Depot would raise hell. Some drivers, esp. the senior ones like picking the express work. I have a number of UP drivers in my group that do express. For the record, Spring Creek Depot is technically part of the Queens Division, even though it has the BM lines and other Brooklyn lines.

51 minutes ago, QM1to6Ave said:

These alerts are so useless, i almost wish they would stop. Even today, a QM31 was emailed and listed as canceled in the PM but it did run and i took it home,  because I had a feeling it would run 

The problem with the Queens express bus lines is some of the cancellations are legit. The rest are bugs and then you have trips that are cancelled but re-instated at the last minute by dispatch, but they don't relay always that info to Customer Service to update on their end.  This initially was a problem only on the X27 & X28 lines and apparently it was due to a bug in the API interface.  It was fixed but has resurfaced again on those lines over the last several weeks here and there. Sometimes Customer Service can clear the issue on their end.  Other times the issue is more complex and has to be worked on by the tech team.

I think the real issue is BusTime is well over ten years old and is starting to show its age. I believe they refreshed the interface a bit some months ago, but that's about it.  They were trying out something where cancellations were automatically posted (in other words not by Customer Service by hand as it is now), but that has not worked out.

51 minutes ago, B35 via Church said:

Yeah, and this is why to this day, I continue support the dollar cab services..... The cabs along Church av here are $3 now (more than the MTA fare), yet I see no shortage of folks on them..... Nobody cannot tell me any different; when the B35 went from 40' to artics (and before this apparent/current culture of farebeating), I noticed a drastic spike in demand for dollar cabs around here.... Why, because overall service decreased.... So while not exactly a 1-to-1 comparison, I still concur with the point.

So they've raised the fare to $3 and people still flock to them? lol Two very interesting observations...

1. The  can't get people to pay for its bus service on a heavily used line.

2. People pay more to use a non service. lol

How often do the dollar vans run vs the B35?

2 hours ago, ABOGbrooklyn said:

You are very wrong about this. Majority is Bensonhurst is poorer immigrant and working class. It's not the old working class italian neighborhood it was of the 90s. I know plenty of Bensonhurst people who go to Coney Island for the beach except they don't take the B82 when the D, N and F trains go to Coney faster than a bus.

3 hours ago, EastFlatbushLarry said:

No one in that community goes to coney Island for anything, that's first of all. if they want the beach, they drive to jones Beach or the jersey shore. people who live in Bensonhurst/Gravesend view coney island as ghetto. secondly, the only people who utilize the 82 are home health aides & nurses down that strip of cropsey. the 82 carries air south of Ulmer Park Depot. passenger service has consistently taken an absolute nosedive to/from Stillwell over the past decade. I'm shocked they're still doing that. i remember being at east ny depot and lateness on that run would cause most of our runs to be short turned at Ulmer Park. Stillwell terminal wasn't that big of a deal back then (2009) hence why 82 sbs's don't go there. for the time being they need to cut overnite service from Stillwell imo. the 82 now reminds me of the B12 back then. they barely sent buses to Cypress hill to the point it service cut and never came back. 

I'd say you are both wrong.  People in Southern Brooklyn absolutely went to Coney Island back in the day, myself included. Bensonhurst was a middle class Italian area back years ago (I wouldn't call it working class - not quite the same thing - it was a place where people who made it to the middle class moved to who worked their way up).  Now it is indeed more immigrant overall, though I wouldn't call it poor.  I'm sure some of the immigrant population, esp. if they are new arrivals may be working class or perhaps poor, but to categorize the whole neighborhood as poor is crazy. Simply not true.

With the demographic changes there, both in Bensonhurst & Coney Island that there is a stronger connection between the two areas, especially now. Lots of Russians in Coney Island moving in from Brighton Beach and some in Bensonhurst as well, along with Asians, with some Italians still there and other groups (most have left, but there are definitely still some Italians there). 

Just now, N6 Limited said:

 

While I understand that the Belt Parkway has always had congestion problems, since they’ve rebuilt many of the bridges it has been mostly flowing in that section. Except  that, when eastbound traffic is congested in Brooklyn, it’s usually up to the “Betts Creek” bridge (Brooklyn/Queens Border), and then fine after that, until the usual delays around Guy R Brewer Blvd. So, it appears to be some sort of bottleneck. 

Certainly possible.

11 hours ago, N6 Limited said:

While this route would likely be faster than taking local streets, they have to address why the Belt Parkway is chronically congested eastbound, up to the bridge over the Brooklyn/Queens border. I’m not sure if it’s the grade change or sight distance and/or the cars entering from Gateway, but it’s annoying.

I grew up not too far from the Belt Parkway.  Always been a mess. Like @BrooklynBus said it's just an issue of volume.  The times I've used it, I've been shocked when it wasn't backed up.

9 minutes ago, 7-express said:

Did something crazy happen at CP depot this morning?  BusTime Looks like this with similar effect on the QM1/4/5/6/7/8/10/11/12:

 

I'm pretty sure some of this is a glitch on BusTime. They've been having some serious issues lately where it shows almost every trip is cancelled, then they clear it. I had worked with the  to fix it on the X27 & X28, but it keeps popping up and now it is spreading to other lines. The QM1 is running just fine, yet it shows almost every QM1 trip is cancelled. One way to confirm this is to check the  social media feeds. If the trips aren't posted there, it's usually a glitch because they normally post there first and then BusTime is updated with the same info. Example is below... 

2 hours ago, BrooklynBus said:

I know it’s slow, but the only way to fix it would be to run another route along the Belt Parkway that makes a few stops in Bay Ridge, goes on the Belt and gets off at Ocean Parkway and rejoins the B1 to serve the eastern end. However, I don’t know if there would be enough demand to justify it. My neighbor makes that trip everyday by cab because it takes 20 minutes as opposed to the B1 taking about 45. 

Yeah it couldn't run under the EL just because as you said, very little time would be saved.

1 hour ago, BrooklynBus said:

I don’t think it would be a good idea for several reasons. Because of the el and the traffic under it, skipping stops will not save much time. The other reason is the very high amount of turnover under the el which I noticed the few times I rode from end to end. Between 18 Av and 25 Avenue at least ten got on or off at each stop. At transfer points it was like 20. Also, the buses tend to bunch a lot, so often you have to wait 20 minutes instead of ten. If half the buses skipped stops, that would increase the wait to 30 or 40 minutes when there is bunching.
 

Also, while you think you listed all the major stops, Lincoln HS is a major generator at West Avenue at arrival and dismissal times with like 30 getting on or off there. So there are times they need every bus stopping there. It might work if there were more through riders with less turnover. But given the ridership patterns I noticed, I don’t think it would be a good idea. 
 

Also except for beach traffic which is at Hastings and Falmouth, the number of buses that make additional stops between West End and the College are few. So when they do make one or two stops, it doesn’t add more than ten or 20 seconds. 

I agree with you about the turnover, but there should be some sort or SBS line on the B1. It is REALLY slow. One of the main issues in Southern Brooklyn (as you know living there and me growing up there) is West-East routes are really filling a void in a lack of subway service. That is one reason the B1 is so popular.

1 minute ago, B35 via Church said:

This is one reason I stopped bothering to casually taking express buses like I used to.... The cuts to the BM's span on weekends is another.

Compared to the past couple years, I've found myself taking the subway more on weekends... There's almost always some homeless dude/s whenever I'm on the ... I'm shocked at how many of them are on the (again, it's been a long time since I consistently did the whole from Houston to Chambers for the bit).... On the , I tend to get the weed smokers moreso than anything.... Haven't seen too many homeless/nutcases on the 's I've been on.....

OMG... I used to have to be in Brooklyn for a bit on weekends pre-COVID, and I would grab the  from the express bus and get off by Grand Army Plaza.  The cars were so filled with homeless that there were more of them than us actual passengers. Got to the point to where I started thinking about just going there by car.  The  used to never have homeless people like that, but yes, I have noticed it and they are also very aggressive and mentally unstable to boot, not to mention the people doing their business on the platform, and I don't just mean #1 either.

The  seems to be cleaned up of them from years ago.  For whatever reason, when they extended the  to 96th St, that's when I started noticing more homeless people and I don't ride the subway that frequently to begin with so I definitely took notice.  The last time I rode, there were tons of mentally unstable people riding, to the point to where I actually switched cars.  Given that those cars are locked, I just don't like the idea of riding in one with some crazy person, esp. after what happened with that guy on the   train.  If anything, I'd say I'm still reluctant to ride the subway overall and would rather take the local bus in Manhattan before taking any subway.

33 minutes ago, B35 via Church said:

Sounds like you're referring to DASH (Alexandria, VA)..... I remember reading a while back about how they did away with fares on its buses... Too bad it ultimately led up to its residents ending up paying more for residential trash collection.... There were other cuts & increases that city ended up doing to fine tune their budget, but the garbage collection fee increase bit stuck out to me....

As far as the farebeating culture, man, I see old ass people here on the B35 alone hopping the back of the buses all the time... At this point though, while a factor, I don't see it being nearly as much about the cost of the fare by itself (as to why people are farebeating).... There is a certain entitlement as you point out, and I believe there to be a certain *let's stick it to the MTA* mindset that some have also.... It's seldom brought up, but quality of service can most certainly be a reason you have people simply going f*** it, and not bothering to pay.... Then of course, there are the followers; as if to say, if he/she is getting away with it, then why the f*** am I continuing to pay..... All of that combined fostered this culture in this city - regardless of ethnicities or income levels/brackets....

MTA's pissed off far too many people in the past, to where merely having fares waived are going to bring them back.... I've said it before on here & I'll say it again - If I wasn't a transit advocate & enthusiast, I would've been in that very category.... The very reason I started driving to work everyday (when I was still in Mineola), was finally being fed up with the LIRR & the B12.... While the B12 continues to be run through the ringer (being that I live around this route), I couldn't tell you if things gotten any better on the LIRR (main line in-particular), as I don't currently work near any LIRR station.... As far as commuting on the subway 5 days a week, damn, I'd have to go back to when I was over in the West Village, which was over a decade ago.... Apparently, with all the f***ery on the subways (whether some people are embellishing matters or not), it's not exactly a recipe for spawning patronage.....

Because the fares have gone up as quickly as they have, you have more people unwilling to pay.  The service in terms of quality has definitely gone down, both the bus and the subway.  People are still very concerned about crime, but the service is also poor, from the long waits (bus and subway, to the rude, unprofessional service).  Some of the things I see posted are just amazing.  If you do get a bus, you have to jump through hoops to get it and hope you don't get run over in the process.  Drivers not picking up at the stops, skipping stops on purpose and putting up "NOT IN SERVICE" (repeatedly in some cases).  The amount of drivers doing this just because they don't want to pick up passengers seems to be at an all-time high.  None of these things are helping matters.

On the subway side, I have only taken a few trips the last several months, and I have found my waits to be long and packed trains to boot - all on the weekends I may add in Manhattan.  While the last few trips had no homeless people or crazies, I would still rate the service as poor just because of how long I had to wait.  I assume that the City is finally doing something to address all of the mentally unstable people riding, but even with that somewhat under control, you still have the service to contend with. The people driving all note the things above I mentioned.

2 minutes ago, B35 via Church said:

Personally, I think all these transit providers waiving fares (for whatever length/time period) is only expediting the inevitable....

 

To be fair, while it wasn't someone's explicit comment (like he claimed), it was framed in the effect of - With so many buses & farebeaters, some say they may as well make the fares free like they did in DC (paraphrasing).... I remember hearing that part on the news before one of the other mgr's turned the TV off in the cafeteria before we left.

The MTA's lost the pulse of the people (so to speak) many moons ago.... Even if they were to waive fares again, there aint goin be nearly enough motorists taken off the roads.... Hate to say, but the contrary is a pipe dream..... Doesn't help that NYC's highway network is utter shit.... What also wouldn't help, is that the MTA wouldn't run commensurate service anyway, have enough people ditch their vehicles for public transit....

There have been a few instances where it has actually worked.  In Luxembourg for example, the City suffers from crazy amounts of congestion and a large number of residents work outside of Luxembourg, so in order to mitigate vehicular congestion, they made transit free for the residents.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-07/inside-luxembourg-s-experiment-with-free-public-transit

It's important to note that Luxembourg is an extremely wealthy and tiny country, so you have a tax base that is able to support such programs.  I believe Finland is trying something out with their buses as well.  Here in the US, I heard of some small town in the South that offers free transit.  Supposedly it's been great, but again a small town can't compare to almost 9 million residents here in NYC.

NYC is a completely different animal. As it is right now, even with the Fair Fares Program, people that only have to pay $1.35 are said to still skip the fare.  People just have an attitude that they don't have to pay for it.  In other words, they feel entitled to ride for free because why not?   As the report noted, there are also a growing number of riders that still pay that become more and more resentful with each fare hike (the next one being proposed currently would be a little over 5%) because they see so many people not paying and feel like suckers.  I also agree with you that we are past the stage where tons of people will be enticed to use transit if it were free and as you said, I too think that the  would not run an adequate amount of service. 

They are quite obsessive with costs.  That was the first thing out of Janno Lieber's mouth when asked about the idea. lol

1 hour ago, Lawrence St said:

Fox5 did a story about the outrageous farebeating happening on the Bx1 and Bx2, and someone’s comment was “oh we keep losing money why don’t we just make the bus system free.”

what???

That actually wasn't the comment...

https://www.fox5ny.com/news/fare-evasion-spiking-on-mta-buses

Some places here in the US and abroad have made their bus systems free as a way of mitigating congestion and increasing public transit use. They are generally much smaller cities than NYC though.  Of course the word "free" is not quite accurate. Obviously it would be still be funded via taxpayer dollars (City & State likely), but there would be no fare.  I think the system is too big here to offer it for free. The expense to taxpayers would be enormous.

However, less congestion could mean greater productivity for NYC overall and a more economically sound City, but as I said, the upfront cost would be astronomical.

8 minutes ago, BrooklynBus said:

I was talking about sidewalks when no pedestrians are present. Yes there are many sidewalks in outer areas that are seldom or never used by pedestrians. Example Flatbush Avenue on the way to the Marine Parkway Bridge. 
 

As far as ads, I was not talking about digital ads but paper ads which I guess was before your time. There was a time when each bus carried fifty ads in the  interior of the bus near the ceiling, like in the subway. Those generated revenue. 

Paper ads still exist, and I do recall them, but the  has been moving towards more digital ads for obvious reasons. You can push more content that way.

12 minutes ago, BrooklynBus said:

Yes traffic deaths will continue to increase as long as the city encourages cycling to commute and a study has shown that protected bike lanes make cycling more dangerous, not safer. That is because 90 percent of fatalities occur when trucks, buses and other vehicles are turning and protected lanes decrease visibility. Another reason is the many who cycle or use scooters who do not wear reflective clothing so they can be seen. According to the city it is the vehicles responsibility to see you, although that may not be possible. Why aren’t cyclists who don’t wear reflective clothing at night not fined? Because the city never blames the cyclist for anything. It is always the driver’s fault. Yesterday while driving, I saw four very bright LEDs coming toward me. I thought perhaps it was a motorcycle. It didn’t look like a car. It turned out, it was someone on a skateboard. I was about to give him credit saying, that’s one smart guy. That was until I saw he was wearing black with black socks and black shoes and not even a reflector or light anywhere. 
 

So anyone from the front could see him coming, but he was totally invisible to someone from behind. He made himself a target to be hit. If the city wants to take action, there’s plenty they can do. For one thing, where no one is on a sidewalk, it is much safer to ride on the sidewalk than in the street, yet that is illegal. Accommodations should be made. 
 

Back to the MTA. Look at how much ad revenue was lost by the city buses not carrying interior ads like the subways for the past like 50 years. The MTA claims no one wants to advertise in a bus? BS. If that is true, there is a good reason. Costs too much or ad must remain in place for too long. Or you have to buy too many. The MTA just contracts it out and hasn’t looked at the terms in years. Even if they charged like $10 per ad, it’s money they wouldn’t have had otherwise. Plenty local businesses would advertise if terms were reasonable and cheap enough. Even when there were ads, it was always only large corporations buying them because the little guy could never afford to. Yet the MTA is always crying for money when they get revenue from at least 30 different sources including your electric bill. And why don’t they enforce fair evasion. I remember when the bus driver would through you off if you deposited 10 cents instead of the required 15 cents. 

Sidewalks are for walking, not e-bikes and the like.  I was walking on the sidewalk the other day and this delivery guy on an e-bike is just riding along on the sidewalk like it's nothing, so I said to him, "So you're going to keep riding on the sidewalk?", but I said it in a way to imply that he was an idiot for doing so, as he should be riding that thing in the street in the bike lane.  He goes, "No" and mumbled something else, likely that he was just trying to get to the street at the corner, as he was coming from a store.   I've seen too many people almost run over on the sidewalk by bikes, so I don't support that at all.  What's worse about the e-bikes is you can't even hear them coming at the high speeds they travel at. In fact a few years ago I saw a guy almost go flying off of his bike (regular bike, not an e-bike). He was on the sidewalk riding and almost ran into someone walking. He banged into the guy and the guy sort of shoved him a bit in anger, as he hit the guy from behind and startled him (it was totally justified IMO).  Seeing this, I then told the guy on the bike (another delivery guy) that he should ride in the street (this was a side street and there were no vehicles coming).  He says "Oh you think what he did was right"?  I said yeah and then I gave him a few choice words that I won't repeat, as we got into a shouting match.  I don't understand the point of having bike lanes if people are still going to ride on the sidewalk.  It's ridiculous.

Regarding ads, I think I spoke with Sarah Meyer about them a while back, as the discussion about hiring more bus operators came up (and yes it's relevant to this thread because bus operator shortages is something that continues to plague bus service, even as these redesigns are completed - it's sort of the elephant in the room not being mentioned).  You can redesign these lines all you want, but you need bus operators to run the service and I have noticed that a number of lines in Queens are now suffering with cancellations of service that weren't before.  Anyway, we were talking about the ads and finding ways to better advertise that and other things.  Whenever they use digital screens for ads, the provider pays for them in exchange for getting ads played, but that sometimes means that  things don't get the time they should.  I know it isn't easy and they need that ad revenue, but they need to work on those things.  Since Sarah left, they haven't hired anyone permanently either.  That's something else I complained about on a call a few weeks ago. The Customer Service experience is lagging.

2 hours ago, BrooklynBus said:

I can’t really disagree with what you said here. The main reason people choose to drive over mass transit, even with the difficulties that DOT causes, is that it is still quicker for many trips, they are assured of getting a seat, they have gear to carry, using the system requires too much walking, and the system isn’t set up to handle many regional trips. 
 

And yes we do not need more cars on the road. So what is the answer to encourage more use of mass transit? Regional bus routes to make more trips available by mass transit. The MTA is not doing that. Provide more seats and more frequent service. The MTA’s newest cars provide no more seats than a city bus which has also been reduced in the past 50 years, The MTA constantly cuts service. Make it easier to carry gear on buses. The MTA has made that more difficult on buses by placing barriers above the wheel covers to prevent you from leaving your groceries there. They are reducing the number of bus stops to increase walking distances, not reducing it. 
 

In other words, the MTA is doing everything possible to make it more difficult to use mass transit. Yes, they operate within a constrained budget, but they are not doing things that would be cost effective and require little money. They could reopen dozens of subway entrances closed in the 70s because of high crime and to reduce the number station agents needed. Those reasons are no longer valid to keep those entrances closed. They opened like six bathrooms. What about the hundreds of others that still remain closed. Paint is cheap, but virtually every station could use new paint on the ceiling. I was walking through the otherwise beautiful connection between the Sixth Avenue Line and the Flushing Line. The ceiling looked dirty and filthy. 
 

So why don’t they try harder to encourage mass transit use? Could it be that Transportation Alternatives which now has become a big MTA supporter funded by large corporations including Lyft which runs Citibike, actually have it in their best interests for less subway and bus usage? That is also in the MTA’s best interests, because fewer riders means a smaller deficit for them. 

Sadly some of it is just them not knowing.  I met with the senior planners (NYCT &  Bus) a few years ago Downtown and the discussion about advertising came up.  I mentioned how Metro-North had converted me from an occasional rider into a monthly pass buyer and they said how did they do that? I said by advertising at the bus stops. They aggressively advertised at the bus shelters for several months.  I looked at the ads and said hmm... Interesting. Tried out the service a few times and eventually bought a pass even though I still had my express bus pass and just alternated between them.  They could run promotions and add service for certain things too.  I think they are far too focused on costs, and while I understand that they must have a balanced budget by State law, you can't have a healthy transit system if you are looking solely at costs and constantly trying to cut service.   

I imagine they must have some sort of advertising budget and if they do, it's probably very small for buses, but you have to spend money to generate money.  They've also taken away things like the Fun Pass. They should bring some of those programs back.  That Fun Pass I'm sure was used by tourists, but it could be good for people that only occasionally use public transit.  A lady in my group was talking about how when she goes to the City on weekends with her grandkids, it is actually cheaper for her to drive than to take public transit (express bus).  I think it's three of them so $40.50 minimum round trip unless she has a senior pass, but that just shows you some of the problems.  When it's cheaper to drive in, the choice is a very easy one.

2 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

And that’s exactly why legislation in NYC needs to change. 

Other then VERY FEW “safe streets” advocates I’ve heard from, the logistics of changing an entire street grid to appease less the 2% of the population is atrocious. NYCDOT can not pick and choose who listen to. If one Streetsblog says that 8th Avenue has to many cars, and literally every resident opposes a plan to do any change, why does NYCDOT basically go “yeah, screw you, we’re gonna do it anyway.”

Literally every recent NYCDOT project I’ve seen (except fixing the retaining wall on the SB HHP), is road diet this, road diet that, bike lane here, bike lane there, speed camera here, red camera here, while residents are literally screaming that they don’t want it.

And I understand that NYC is a pedestrian city, but NOT in every single street. I could understand imposing a 25 MPH limit on more pedestrian dense zones such as 42nd St, but a 25 MPH limit on Cross Bay Blvd, Atlantic Ave, Pelham Parkway, etc? Come on now.

Putting the safe streets advocates aside, the main issue is what I said earlier. Vehicular fatalities have continued to increase, and when you have people being killed by cars, action has to be taken.  Now the safe street advocates are all saying "See"? This is why we need this that and the other because too many people are being killed by cars and sure some of their complaining is BS.  It's not necessarily about DOT favoring such groups, but being forced to take action because despite efforts to mitigate the number of traffic deaths, they continue to increase.

27 minutes ago, BrooklynBus said:

1. And why are more people driving? Because mass transit service is constantly being cut with fares rising. 
 

2. And DOT blatantly lies. They stated they only install bike lanes where the communities have requested them. Not true.  They also install bus lanes where they are unnecessary, not helping bus riders, but only done to slow down traffic further, increase congestion, make driving more difficult and raise revenue. Yet with all this, more are driving. So what does that tell you? 

1 & 2. There are many many reasons why people are driving.  I mentioned some of them before.  For years, you've had the attitude with the  of "if you don't like it, drive". This has been manifested in the way service has been run for YEARS, from the poor attitude of bus operators, as well as some saying that some communities don't need such and such service (some bus drivers still say this in fact, which I don't get, as they are advocating for LESS work for their colleagues lol).  There was a bus operator in the Queens Redesign Group doing just that.  Only when I pointed out that if they cut such and such local bus line, it would mean less work for him and his colleagues did he make the connection. I mean there is only so much work to go around and with the  when they cut service, they believe in gutting it, so people would lose their jobs. There is no question about that, and this happened back in 2010 when they cut a lot of bus service.

You also have some New Yorkers moving here with the means to afford to drive and they are because they can and those people would likely be doing so regardless of what was happening with the . Then you have the people that are fed up with using the  and the poor service and overall poor experience and rude behavior.  Those people now either drive always or have cut back their use of public transit considerably and WFH has further exacerbated the problem.

And yes, DOT does lie.  As I said earlier, they come in with a plan in place and the community is just told about it and it's pretty much a done deal.

You say "and people are still driving" as if that's a good thing.  It's not... I am far from anti-car, because as I said, I do get around by car as well, but looking at this from a practical standpoint, when you have people ditching public transit to drive here in NYC, a City that is not laid out to have so many cars on the road, it almost always means more congestion.  This is not an either or situation where the blame is squarely on DOT either. Yes, they are exacerbating the problem for sure by constricting streets and taking away parking to make driving more difficult and they should be.  We simply do not have the space available to have hundreds of thousands of more cars on our streets.  What are we seeing now is people driving because of convenience and once people become comfortable, it is VERY difficult to break them from wanting to drive.  All of it means higher costs for the City.  Congestion means less productivity, lost revenue for the  (and the City) and so on. I didn't even mention the environmental impact.

What's dangerous with the  is they absolutely know that they need to cut their operating expenses sooner rather than later, especially with farebox revenues being down substantially, and so while they know bus ridership has declined and was declining even pre-pandemic, they still are trying to find a way to do more with less and cut service.  The culture at the  needs to change though.  They have made strides for sure, but there's a long way to go.

4 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

So if Vision Zero isn’t working (traffic accidents among other things are up), why isn’t the new mayor cancelling the program and taking a different approach?

See, the city keeps saying we need congestion pricing…yet they’re the ones who keep making it congested with all these street redesigns! I really do wonder where they expect all this traffic to go if it’s implemented, it will clog up all of the other local and express buses in the area.

Because this approach has been used elsewhere and from a logical standpoint, if you reduce speeds, in theory, you should see fewer pedestrian injuries and fatalities.  Of course that's assuming that drivers are following traffic laws (a number of people are not or are obscuring their plates to drive in bus lanes, drive at high speeds and not be ticketed by the speed cameras and also not pay tolls).  The higher speeds allowed have shown that if someone is hit, they often times die while if they are hit at lower speeds, their chances for surviving increase. New York City has always been a pedestrian city, and the majority of New Yorkers do not drive. They walk, take public transit, etc., so from that point of view, I get it.  

We've also seen more and more recklessness from drivers - the street racing/drag racing has not helped and the proliferation of fake paper plates from people that shouldn't be driving in the first place - they likely don't have a license to even drive, but are on the road just the same - those people are really the ones causing most of the problems and giving all drivers a bad reputation.  They City has cracked down on a lot of this, but they have a long way to go.  This has allowed some organizations to seize on the opportunity to call for more pedestrian plazas and bike lanes and they are being placated because the goal is to lower pedestrian fatalities to near zero. It's pretty much impossible, but at the same time when people are killed and those numbers go up, government is always forced to find solutions.  Same thing here, so that means doubling down on constricting streets to force drivers into one lane to mitigate speeding and reckless behavior, etc. That's the thinking. You can't speed if there's only one lane to use to begin with and you also can't speed if the lights are synched in a way that doesn't allow you to gain lots of speed going from one block to the next, assuming you are following the traffic laws and going the speed limit (some cars are not). All of this has hurt bus speeds, as the fabricated congestion means buses move slower. The City is moving at a snail's pace to add more bus lanes. Why? It's expensive.  The City is sending alarms out that it will be facing serious financial issues come 2025.  A lot of the federal funds it received during the pandemic will start to dry up and when it does, it may not be pretty.  Things will have to be cut and drastically unless something changes and fast.