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PinePower

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Everything posted by PinePower

  1. Seeing lots of complaints on NICE's Facebook & Twitter about buses not showing up. This is a big reason why. Yup, a sad sight, a 3G broken down in Mineola. Just look at that engine compartment. NICE's lack of good maintanance may be killing these buses so much there will be no point of return, you can only screw up an engine so much before its toast.
  2. Well for once we can agree. While I'm not pleased with NICE one bit, they are NOT the bad guy, it is Nassau County and their lack of funding, which once again, wouldn't be at this point in the 1st place if Mangano didn't balk at paying the MTA. The lower cash fare was done as a "favor" to please these crybabies and now they are whining because its over. News 12 runs this stuff on purpose to make bus riders look greedy & to show they don't deserve better service. Just like Mocker did when he interviewed me back in 2011 and specifically picked empty buses even when I told him where to find crowds to interview. Jobs With Justice & LIBRU dont represent bus riders, thats why hardly anyone is involved with them. Most bus passengers will vote with their feet and switch to driving, the LIRR, or cabs (which makes Mangano happy for his cabbie friends). Nowhere in the story is it mentioned how ridership has declined to almost half of what it was with Long Island Bus, or all the breakdowns and poor conditions of the buses. Most riders dont care about paying 25 cents more, most already use Metrocard anyway, and most care more if their bus shows up on time or at all. I already contacted News 12 about all the breakdowns, they could care less and run this garbage instead!
  3. Reliable it sure aint, but I stepped off this bus just in time, westbound n20 from Hicksville left Greenvale in a big cloud of smoke. Smelled like burning oil. Buses cant even handle highway speeds for long w/o breaking down!
  4. I've whined too and been called out on it in the past, but so far it seems everyone wants to avoid criticizing him for doing the same. And being "different" is no excuse for it either. Its no benefit to this thread and this forum for him to continue derailing topics and posting inappropriate comments. NICE has alot of problems and everytime some of us try & point it out he comes in and posts this stuff. Its a buzzkill and its a big reason why activity in this section is down so much. When Brett was in charge things were much more active with new posts & information daily. But when he was removed from his position the spam returned and ppl stopped posting, because they are sick of Yuki trying to promote LIBRU everytime someone posted something meaningful. He lives in Queens, he doesn't have to ride NICE, I do because I live here, and I resent him hijacking subjects to promote LIBRU's agenda or talking about how there should be more buses at Whole Foods in Jericho (for goodness sake...they are in NYC!). And yes he does the same thing at the NICE hearings, even getting extra time because someone else has to read his comments. I'm sorry someone had to stand up and say it.
  5. And the maintanance is worse than ever! What you guys should be doing instead of sounding like a bunch whiners is blaming Ed Mangano for refusing to properly fund the bus system. I saw the photos on the LIBRU website of the protest, no one is going to take you seriously with those signs. It's not "Corporate Greed" and its not Veolia's fault, it's the fault of Ed Mangano and the Nassau County Government for refusing to pay the MTA for their perfectly reasonable request to continue quality bus service. Veolia saw an opportunity to try and prove itself, but as we all can see, it has been a complete failure. And that sign "Stop Making Me Late For work"...you dont even work, just come out here and try and push the LIBRU agenda and making us all look bad in the process. You SHOULD be protesting in front of Ed Mangano's office, even his home, because HE is the reason we are in this mess in the 1st place. But instead you whine about a fare hike that should've been done when MTA raised their Metrocard fare. I can't stand the NICE Bus system but its not their fault, Veolia is just willing to have much lower standards of service than the MTA, thats how they can do it for less. They wouldn't be here if Ed Mangano paid up! "We can no longer afford to pay more for less. We can no longer make the decision between a bus fare and a meal." I dont think 25 cents is very much at all, stop making a big deal out of it! Yes the County needs to increase funding but if you want to get taken seriously stop acting like a bunch of crybabies whining over spilled milk! I'm sorry everyone but this had to be said, its why I miss Brett's moderation and am still annoyed the powers that be on this forum allow this nonsense spam to be continued to be posted here.
  6. Not NICE. Hole in the seat of the back of an NG. That's gonna fall on somebody!
  7. I see there was a story in Newsday about LIBRU upset over the fare hike. I dont get their whining, their raising the cash fare to match Metrocard & GoMobile fares, MTA would've done the same! http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/nice-bus-advocate-rolls-out-list-of-demands-to-improve-service-1.9228998 Of course what is completely left out in the story is how UNRELIABLE the buses are. A week ago last Friday I spent 90 minutes in Nassau Community College because I missed my n35, because he came 10 minutes early! Then the next 2 buses never showed up, because they both broke down. Everyday it's a problem, I've never seen the buses in such sorry shape. Last Saturday 1865 kept feeling like it was gonna stall at a light, yesterday the n46 was 30 minutes late because 1644 broke down, overheated, no other buses available so it went back into service, everytime we stopped it felt like the thing was gonna stall out. 1640's engine was shaking so badly on the n45 today. Funny thing a girl I know who works in Bellmore and who lives in Freeport stopped taking the n19 & uses the LIRR instead, because the n19 runs less often now and is unreliable. If anyone needs to be fired it should be Ed Mangano for letting things get this bad. MTA never kept buses in this poor shape. And for y'all who keep saying how many LIB's failed inspection in 2011, thats because once Mangano decided to get rid of the MTA, they were out the door. It hasn't even been that hot this summer, and the buses are breaking down constantly. None of the buses run correctly, even the 3Gs sound like shit. That's what $30 less per operational hour gets you. I dont even see how the V's are going to last even another summer. They can't keep this up, major cuts ARE coming, they dont have the $$, equipment, or drivers, and I do not intend to live here for much longer, and move to someplace along the Babylon Line with decent train service.
  8. Had another "nice" fail today. Had 1720 on the n51, last trip from Merrick to Roosevelt Field, the bus kept stalling out at stoplights, and finally gave up at Merrick Ave & Jerusalem Ave. This route has lost alot of riders, we had a few commuters on the bus who use it to go from the train station to East Meadow, they got off & walked. I see alot of the people who USED to take the bus now getting picked up at Merrick, quite a few take taxis (I'm sure Mr.Mangano is happy about that!). These are folks who do have access to cars but chose to take the bus to avoid parking hassles, they make good salaries so a $10 cab fare every day is no big deal to them. They probably got burned too many times by breakdowns & no shows. And I'm sure after today the cabs will have a few more customers. As for myself, I decided not to wait if or when the replacement bus would come, and got the n54 to HTC. Last time I took the n54/55 to HTC actually was when MTA was still around. Today my bus was only half full, and only about 15 ppl were going all the way to HTC. When it was MTA there were probably 95% of the seats taken. HTC was unusually quiet too, I didn't even see any packed n6's. Then to add insult to injury the driver on the n35 almost misses my stop. And we got delayed 10 minutes because the light at Endo & Miller in NCC wouldn't change, he actually called it in, instead of just going through it. So I lost 45 minutes tonight thanks to NICE. If I was well-heeled I'd probably take a cab too. Look closely you can see scratch marks. Seeing more unwrapped NG's too, they can't afford to fix the peeling ones...
  9. The County needs to kick in more funding, that is the problem in the 1st place. MTA never would have left if Mangano just paid up. Suffolk County does. So does Westchester. So what makes Nassau so special? Lets see if there would be so many breakdowns & missing buses if the funding was raised alot. But if they still were, then should come back. has higher standards, they knew it couldn't be done on the budget Nassau was providing. Veolia saw an opportunity to prove itself and stepped in, offering to run the service for much less money. But I think even they are realizing that trying to run the bus service on this budget isn't do-able. It sure will be interesting what happens when their 5 year contract is up. For now I do not want to rely on the buses. And am trying to move next year to a good area on the Babylon line (Bellmore, Merrick, Wantagh, Seaford,etc) where there is frequent train service so I dont need to use NICE to get around much. There isn't that much in Westbury and the train service isn't great either. Despite that I've been noticing alot more folks using the LIRR between Westbury & Hicksville. And that is NOT a coincidence, I do it as well, I dont want to deal with the n22. How else can you explain how the nearly 50% drop in ridership? Mangano would like to do away with buses altogether, and I'm sure he's happy less are riding. It will give him more of a reason to cut bus funding entirely. If he did truly care about the bus system, he'd be upset about the dropping ridership (means less revenue for the county), and the loss to the economy as those riders may be moving or doing business elsewhere. Hey, I'm definitely no fan of the and how it favors NYC, but we would've been better off if Nassau coughed up the money (one of the wealthiest counties in the nation, we CAN afford it..gimme a break) and stayed. I bet ridership would've been going up instead of down.
  10. I agree with you about the n19, the 30 minute headways should have been maintained and they lost riders as a result. The n19 does (did) well between Sunrise Mall and Freeport, so they could've saved money by just having every other trip end at Sunrise in midday hours.The same could be said for the n27, while restored to its former full routing, midday headways are still only hourly, and after the 6pm trip from Glen Cove it's only once an hour, a very bad idea. The routes that should've been reduced ironically kept most or all of their service. We're talking about streamlining routes like the n14, n36, n45,46,47, 50, 51, 62, 73, and 74. The n14 doesn't need more than 3 trips each in the AM and 3 in the PM. The n36 should be rush hours only, no weekends. The n45 was reduced, but what they did with the route doesn't make sense. The last trip in Bellmore is 5:35pm, that is way too early. 2 buses come into Bellmore from the n45 after that, and at least one of them, probably the 5:35pm from RF, should do a 6:35pm trip from Bellmore to RF instead of traveling empty deadheading back to the yard. That would balance the route with 6:35pm being the last trip on both ends. The n46 was also cut back to rush hours only, but it's already overlapped by the n48, 49, and 50. The 46 should be discontinued. The n47 should also be discontinued, I have never seen anyone on that bus! The n51 should be changed to operate rush hours only. The n62 has too many trips and very light ridership, have only 2 trips in the AM rush and 2 in the PM. As far as the n73 goes, completely eliminate any service through Division. All trips will take the Jerusalem Ave routing. And in summer extend the n73 to Jones Beach and get rid of the n87. The 87's route is close enough to the n73 as it is, plus you will be adding service on Sundays with the n73. So you're getting more service and getting rid of a route with very low ridership. The n73 certainly has more ppl on it than the 87! Plus you'll gain back the riders that dont want to deal with Freeport. The n88 will go back to 30 min service. The n80/81 have too much service. Keep both routes but run each bi-hourly (so there's a one hour combined headway between Sunrise Mall & Hicksville). I could see n80 Sunday service added as a "consolation" and maybe a few later trips. Additionally, the n21 has way too many trips. That should go back to rush hours only and the n27 should go back to 30 min service all day weekdays. The rest of the heavier routes need their service maintained or improved. But I know NICE's style, they protect the losing routes so the successful ones suffer. It's not a good business strategy! Amazing how they stay in business.
  11. Something happened to me yesterday that forced me to come back (that and the suggestions of my friends). I guess others may know me better than I know myself. So on the n35 from Baldwin Harbor, it was the 7:15pm trip, bus 1718. I'm waiting by the LIRR station & he comes at 7:13pm. The bus was very light the whole way up, and after HTC, I was the only one on the bus all the way to Westbury. So we're on Stewart Ave and he never makes the left into Roosevelt Field. Just keeps going straight. Then when we get to Privado, he hits a curb, then decides to turn around in a parking lot behind one of the office buildings, I then approach him & ask him if he knows where he's going. He told me he never did the n35 before and wasn't shown the route beforehand, and that he left his schedule & map (paddle too?) back at the yard. I told him he missed Roosevelt Field, he confused Roosevelt Field for Nassau Community College and thought they skipped RF on the weekend! Anyway, I told him he was going the wrong way on Privado (he u-turned in one of the lots) and so he had to make another u-turn. I had to show him the route the rest of the way to Westbury. When Veolia was confronted recently on Facebook about the dropping ridership, they blame the April 2012 service cuts and claim it's going up. They brag about how they are saving Nassau Taxpayers "$30 less than the MTA per service hour", but you can see where they are saving that $30, as their maintanance & driver/route training is of a much lower standard than MTA. Then I also chime in the same thread about all the breakdowns, they said this is why they "eagerly await the new buses". But I see the 3G's breaking down too! All the buses sound terrible, sure the V's get the brunt of it but even the 3G's are in bad shape. I really hope when their contract is up the MTA will come back. They are losing so many riders due to the poor service. I saw a V broke down yesterday on W.John St too. And for a couple of weeks Miller Ave was closed between Lot 3 & the west side of NCC, many drivers skipped either Lot 3 or the west side, and some skipped both (on one n35, driver asked if I was going to NCC, I said no, he said good, and skipped all of NCC). There was no notice on the NICE website & they never got back to me about a detour for NCC. You'll also notice a number of FB complaints about their new mobile ticketing app, apparently some people have lost tickets they already paid for! These people don't have a clue on how to run a bus system. Their service changes dont make sense (just look at the n87) and they keep losing riders. Nassau County is getting what it paid for, which is very little. I hope Mangano is out in the next election and the bus system is restored to it's "former glory". I could see a similar campaign for a restored LI Bus as there was for the subways in the late 80s. Long Island Bus WE'RE COMING BACK SO YOU COME BACK
  12. I guess I have to come back, NICE is a disaster

    1. Show previous comments  6 more
    2. User

      User

      You guys are so friendly. Have an open mind! Chill! Love and respect eachother!

    3. BM5 via Woodhaven

      BM5 via Woodhaven

      Lmfao at "Too much stuff going on @ NICE to be silent."

       

    4. Quill Depot

      Quill Depot

      Why does that stuff have to be announced. You act like its a big deal.

  13. You think this place is successful? Ever since you got rid of Brett it's a joke. You let Yuki post his nonsense again and there's zero activity here. This section is dead! I really wasnt going to post here again but I figured I'll do it one more time so I can go down in flames too. Most people have left this forum. Just be done with it & ban me too, I want no part of this place anymore. I'm logging out for the last time. Enjoy those trips to Whole Foods & LIBRU nonsense that's all thats left here.
  14. Urbanization IMO means to me more rental housing, development, and better mass transit. Nassau is experiencing neither (unless you consider illegal rentals). When I talk decay I talk about abandoned businesses, and faltering infrastructure. There are areas in Westchester I consider very urban, White Plains, Yonkers, and New Rochelle. And all are major hubs of business, especially White Plains. And like any successful city, all income backgrounds and cultures are represented. Now Nassau really doesn't have any place like that. Where is redevelopment happening in Nassau? Sure there were opportunities, most notably the Lighthouse Project in Uniondale which for sure would have helped improve the area. The whole Hempstead Turnpike corridor is depressing. Lots of empty stores throughout. A good example is the former K-Mart/TSS site in Levittown which has sit unoccupied for many, many years. Hicksville, most of the offices around the train station are vacant. More vacancies abound in Westbury along Old Counrty Road, been to The Source Mall lately? Because it's pretty much dead. Nassau needs to look to Westchester for re-inventing itself. Because when money leaves the county it hits the economy. If it's just poorer folks moving here like you say, then it's going mean more decay. Less money into the economy, since it's all leaving for NYC & elsewhere. This relates to infrastructure since less tax revenue for the county means more cutbacks, in buses, roads, etc. Nassau doesn't want to embrace proper urbanization like Westchester has. Instead of sitting & pretending it's still 1955, we need to redevelop our downtowns. Nassau actually has alot of towns along major LIRR lines, and many of those are already hubs for buses. Of course LIRR's reverse commuting problems with the mainline hurt any potential ridership, which is why the NIMBYs need to get the hell out of the way for the mainline 3rd track. There needs to be new condos and apartments to replace vacant or aging buildings, heck, this could be a good use for some of those vacant office buildings in Hicksville. Getting people to move here & work here is key to improving Nassau. Improving the bus system is also key, since many young people want reliable public transportation. Whether it's NICE or MTA, Nassau needs to realize the value of public transit, and put more money into the system, similar to the level Westchester does. You say there's "nothing I can do about Nassau's problems", well, thats true, I alone cant do anything, other than write elected officials, provide ideas, and share them with others that we are heading in the wrong direction. We all know what happened to Detroit. You cannot have a successful economy on having more & more poor folks moving in and middle and upper class leaving. Detroit is pretty much the result of that. Nassau already has areas that would make good towns, Hicksville, Westbury, even Hempstead could become future mini-cities, since they are all hubs for transit. But it's going to take commitment from the county. They have to stand up to the NIMBYs and the special interests. Build those condos and office high rises in Hempstead and it will improve. White Plains still has poor folks too, but it's important to have all income brackets represented. If only poor people remain in Nassau, then the rest of the county will look more like Hempstead. People loitering around drinking, streets that look like war zones, grafitti & trash everywhere, not exactly the kind of urbanization that is good for anyone. Though I dont even refer to it as urbanization, I call it decay. Urbanization to me means more buildings and a higher population density. Lets get our towns on track with housing options for young people, more apartments, co-ops, and condos and legal multi-family dwellings. Improve bus service and pedestrian access. People will love here. It's been done in some of NYC's worst neighborhoods, certainly, it can be done here as well. I know its alot to read but we need fresh ideas here, the same thinking we've been doing for years isnt going to cut it.
  15. What else did you think? It's just another way for NICE to save $$! Of course extending the n73/n74 would make more sense, but NICE will just manage to piss off what few riders the n87 had, since they're not gonna wanna have a longer ride to pick up the rowdy trash that boards at Freeport. Just another poor idea to save $$ by NICE that will backfire in their face. With not even 10 minutes of running time between Wantagh & Freeport, expect lots of late buses. And thats if they don't breakdown. I guess if I want to get to Jones Beach now without agrivation I better get familiar with that Wantagh pkwy bike path!
  16. So you want to hear something funny? So I was on the n35 and I hear 1651 call in over the radio saying "I'm trying to get back to the depot, bus keeps stalling out, especially when I push it harder". Then about a minute later my n35, 1605, stalls out after pulling away from a stop. The alarm sounded, fortunately the driver restarted it, had to shut the a/c off because the bus was overheating! I wonder if there's going to be any bus service once temps hit 90? You can't make this stuff up! NICE is so bad it's making the former Green Lines look more reliable!
  17. No dice, no pine barrens in Westchester. NYC is expensive too, but young people are still moving there, not leaving. Long Island's Brain Drain is due in part to poor public transit & lack of walkable communities. Even Mangano himself brought that up, but he doesn't put his money where his mouth is.
  18. Well Westchester gets it more than Nassau, thats why they have more walkable communities & young people moving in, instead of leaving. But Mangano doesn't want to put the money into that, hence the aging, decaying suburb known as Nassau...
  19. Well he's right, they do suck. You can thank Ed Mangano and the Nassau GOP! I'm so fed up I wrote the governor, by snail mail, about the issues here. Alot of riders & employees voted for Cuomo thinking he'd intervene and stop Mangano, but instead he just stood with Ed Mangano while he screwed us all over. If he doesn't intervene he aint getting my vote again! What kind of Governor that calls himself a Democrat sits by while a Republican County Executive privatizes a bus system? And then winds up funding it? The taxpayers of NYS still foot the bill for Nassau buses, but this time, they're getting crappy service all while D'amato & company count the dough. With MTA we knew it was going toward GOOD SERVICE! I think Cuomo is in on the whole thing, if so, I hope he loses in November!
  20. So many breakdowns I tell ya! Generally everyday that I take NICE there is a problem. Either the alarm going off, no a/c, or no bus altogether. 1844 today felt like it was gonna stall out and the CNG leak alarm was going off. Nassau's buses have never looked this bad. Thursday I got stuck in Glen Cove, no n27 at 5:30pm, just said screw it & took the train at 6:08pm. While I was waiting I saw no less than 3 OOS buses deadheading back to garage, not filling the missing run. On Friday I heard 3 buses call in over the radio with breakdowns while I was riding the n45 back from Bellmore. Today I heard 2 buses call in with malfunctioning w/c lifts. And the reason why the radios are open was there was a burst hot water pipe which destroyed the NICE command center at Mitchell Field. And both bus washes are broken! Just another example of how bad things are, one n45 bus broke down a couple of weeks ago, missed the 3:35pm from Bellmore, 4:35pm from RF, and 5:35pm from Bellmore. And yes that was the last bus, curtailed! I wonder just how much longer this operation can function...it really should be shut down, and the MTA needs to take control. The state should control the whole operation and send Mangano the bill.
  21. I may be joining you as well. With LIBRU back posting crap and hijacking threads I might as well not put anything up either. Not worth my effort. No one cares, just like with NICE. If LIBRU is the best "activism" for NICE Bus, then there truly is no hope. I really think the folks that run this forum have made a huge mistake.
  22. Well that sucks. Sounds like you're giving up on involvement in this issue as well. Nobody cares. People in Nassau County are selfish pricks, can't stand it, if I didn't live here my whole life I probably would've moved away by now...
  23. More or less the only routing they can use. There's no cross-traffic allowed anywhere along the Marathon route.
  24. Alot of breakdowns today, and the heat has just started. None of the buses I was on had a/c. One bus had an open radio and within the 30 minute ride 5 different buses called in with breakdowns. Heard 1759 was stalling and had check engine light en route to Jamaica. All they could tell him was to shut the bus down for 15 mins at Jamaica and keep going. Another driver told me 10 drivers left NICE this week to go work for the TA. Who can blame 'em. When will ppl start giving a damn...'cause by this summer I bet half the runs dont even go out due to breakdowns...I sure hope the LIRR dont go on strike this summer because I'm gonna need them!!
  25. Hopefully once the new MCI CNG's arrive at Howell things will straighten themselves out.
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