PinePower

The situation with the Orion V CNG's is getting dire. They are so many dropping, runs are going missing. Had one break down on me on the n22L right at the corner of Roslyn and Jericho (video coming later). Got on the n23, waited for the 4:30pm n27 in Roslyn, never showed up (breakdown #2). This meant there was no leader for the 5:35pm n27 out of Glen Cove. Then the bus that was supposed to pass thru Greenvale around 5:30pm to Glen Cove (4:40pm out of HTC) never showed up (breakdown #3). Today was like LIB's final days, so many missing runs. How much worse are things going to have to get before the sends us some of those Orion V CNG's sitting idle in a yard not doing anything?? The Orion VII's seem to be fine, but the V's must be getting no maintanance, perhaps Veolia is running them into the ground on purpose. I dont see how we're even gonna make it to September at the rate we're going. All the ones with the green signs, the 2000 models are 12 years old and should all be retired at this point. We need some of the MTA V's just to make score until we get more buses.

I didn't even try and ride NICE today. Tomorrow I will have no choice. I dont understand how these drivers could even think about shutting off the a/c in this weather, I'd rather breakdown and get another bus. Things aren't much better at Suffolk Bus Corp, a driver I know says there's loads of breakdowns on their ST routes, and that he has to shut off the a/c to keep the buses from overheating. The 1500s are finished and really shouldn't be used at all on the north shore where it's hilly and hotter as well. Of course since Nassau has had the Orion V CNGs drivers have had to shut off the a/c on hills because you couldn't make it up. As much as I like those buses, I think their time is done.

Actually it's this guy...

Totally unacceptable. The breakdowns are getting out of hand, and the summer hasn't even started yet! They dont have enough money to properly maintain the buses. And when one breaks down on a busy route is winds up delaying the other buses as well. Some of these people can wait 2 hours for an n4, but I bet alot of others decided to say "screw NICE" and take the LIRR.

Probably a breakdown or traffic delay. I bet 2 or 3 buses showed up at once. At least I hope...otherwise ppl would be fighting to get on that bus. Of course if I wanted the 4 and that happened I'd just hop on a Babylon train...

Knowing Hampton Jitney they'll want at leats $15 for that ferry. They are the biggest ripoff on the East End, but many folks seem to think they feel special riding it.

My suggestion for the S90 would be to change the routing and combine with the 10DE. I would discontinue S90 service to Speonk and Center Moriches. I honestly think there needs to be a 2nd route between Hampton Bays and Riverhead, and this is where the S90 comes in. The S90 would travel between Hampton Bays and Riverhead, via Quogue and Westhampton. It would travel down CR 104 to CR 31 (all trips would pass by the airport where there's passenger use there) then down 27a to Mill rd then east on the existing routing. But instead of heading through upper Quogue, the route would continue east along the existing 10E route, and do a loop through Hampton Bays like the 10D does. In summer the bus would cross the bridge to provide service to Ponquogue Beach (good ridership generator). The S92 needs to be streamlined on the south fork. I'd get rid of the 10B and have certain S92 trips continue straight down 27 instead of the Sag Harbor detour. These trips would also continue straight down CR 39 instead of Southampton Village. There needs to be more frequent service as well on the south fork, which is why there'd be some runs only betw Riverhead and E.Hampton, to provide half hourly service all day Mon-Sat (hourly Sun). This is where the S90 comes in as an alternate for the Hampton Bays - Riverhead riders, which there are ALOT of. This has two purposes, aleviating the crowding on the S92 and filling up empty S90s. Though I will say the S90 isnt always empty, it gets busier in the morning (first run out of Riverhead and last run back to Riverhead). Then there's the issue of the S66, which really needs help as many of the buses are getting pretty crowded. An idea would be to extend the S68 to Riverhead, rush hours. And to think this route used to end in Center Moriches, but the past couple of times I've been by the County Center in the afternoon I see SRO S66's leave toward Patchogue, and come in often just as packed. The route has become a victim of it's own success. They also need a later bus back from Riverhead, the last one is 6pm and it's packed. They have one that comes in at 6:50pm but it deadheads instead of going back to Patchogue. The S58 also needs a later bus, I've been on the last trip at 5:45pm and sometimes there's ppl standing on that last trip out of Riverhead. There's another one that comes in at 6;25pm, but you guessed it, deadheads back as well. Really stupid waste of resources, driving an empty bus back in the direction of where people need to go. I dont see how much additional cost there would be to run that last bus coming into Riverhead back at 6:45pm, back when it was CBS it would just end in Coram, of course it could probably go farther west now since SBC is in Ronkonkoma (or are they using that yard in Coram now?). If the S66 operates out of Bay Shore (or even Ronk) I dont see the big deal heading it west as a run instead of DHD. As you can tell, I'm not crazy about deadheads, they are a waste in most instances.

I bet. I see alot more cabs on the street now. It's amazing that some people are willing to spend $$ on cabs. It can be $10 or more just to go a few miles. This is playing out exactly the way Mangano wants, so his cabbie buddies make out like bandits. Of course not everyone has money for cabs. I refuse to ever take one, I'll walk 20 miles before I do. I'm guessing the n79 ridership is down because of the transfer to the n24, which just like the n27, doesn't wait. I was up in the Greenvale area today, before the changes you'd see fairly full n27's pass by, now they are all empty. And these people at Veolia think they are "experts"

Better complain to NICE about that. Why are buses flagging your stop when there's room to board? Of course you may just be better off walking to the city line and catching an bus there, since NICE has made the n6 impossible to use.

Post Ave will be closed as well which will effect the n35, they seem to be missing that detour for now.

And by the way I spoke with a bus operator today who was training someone, he drives the n6 and told me that the situation "could explode at any moment". He said he's been on the n6x and had to drive past HUNDREDS of people waiting at bus stops in Elmont and Franklin Square. And when he's stopped at a light people start yelling and banging on the bus door to get on. But he cant pick them up. Thats gotta be torture. I gotta head down there myself and document the chaos. I'm sure eventually those pax will get fed up and discover the LIRR is only a mile or two walk north.

And that is worse than the cuts. If only the routes that go to the NYC subway remain, vast areas of the county will be left without any bus service at all. It'll make Suffolk Transit look NICE. The message Mangano is sending is simple, if you rely on the bus, get a car, walk, or take a cab, because the county doesn't give a damn about you. I've been noticing more cabs around the county, I wonder if Dollar Vans are next? At least they're cheaper than a cab.

That mentality is what's driving riders away from NICE. I'm sure there will be more than 20,000 lost by the end of this year. Could be a 50% reduction in ridership, which is what the county wants, less riders, less buses. They dont care about the n27 connections either. Cab business is booming, and remember cab companies sit on the NICE advisory board! Anyone with standards will use the LIRR, get a car or a ride with friends or family, or walk. What's left will be those with no standards. Sadly some of the riders dont mind delays and dont complain about waiting another hour. That's what'll be left riding NICE.

The wraps are like lipstick on a pig. Veolia has no maintanance whatsoever. Thats how they are "able" to run a bus system for much less than the MTA, because they dont maintain the buses! Fortunately they'll be easy enough to remove IF the comes back.

They should have kept the n6 limited. As far as the drivers, yes they have alot of new ones who seem clueless, better get used to it. We're not going to have the same quality of operators that the MTA gave us, it will be more like Suffolk Transit! The other day I took the n22L at Westbury, going west, he made a turn onto Cherry Lane instead of going straight, after I told him he backed up down a one way street to turn the bus around, then north on Cherry and a left onto Westbury Ave. I bet there's gonna be alot more accidents. Another guy opened the door before the RR crossing like school bus drivers do. Alot of the former LIB operators are leaving too, Veolia doesn't want to pay anymore than 7 hours each day. Who can survive on that?

Same here as well. Taking a cab is like asking to be robbed, because that's what cab companies do to people. $20 just to go 5 miles and I'm not kidding! A long time ago, when the 10c screwed me at East Hampton and I needed to get to Amagansett (and there were no e/b trains for 3 hours) I walked the whole way!

Well its less confusing than the current setup!

A missed connection means another hour wait in Roslyn, I think I'd consider that a pretty big deal.

What really upset me most was the missed connection in Roslyn. There was simply no excuse for that. I can understand the difficulty with the n20-n27 Greenvale connection more, which is why I think they should bring back some n21 trips, or figure out a way to merge n20 Roslyn trips into n27s.

I couldn't be quiet anymore about just how bad things are, especially on the north shore. The n23/n27 is a disaster. I noticed crush loaded buses heading south this afternoon (Saturday), just as I predicted, standees from front to rear, couldn't pick up everybody by RF. And this was on a V! What's even worse though is that the connections at Roslyn are not waiting. Was stranded in Roslyn as the 6:30pm n27 pulled out just prior to the n23 arrival, a man waiting for the other bus told me. Another guy who was on the n23 and equally as furious told me it happened to him last Saturday as well and he had to wait another hour for the next one. Since I was going to Greenvale I decided to walk the 30 or so minutes which would be quicker, the guy said he'd be taking the LIRR from now on, he'd had enough. Also the n27 is not waiting for the passengers coming off the n20 in Greenvale either, and today I saw 20+ passengers waiting by the former gas station (NE corner of 25A+Glen Cove Rd) who had missed their n27 connection. I've already been in contact with both NICE customer service and Michael Setzer via email, who told me the connections were supposed to wait. Well they still aren't waiting. Changing the n21,n23,and n27 was a BAD IDEA plain and simple and it needs to be restored, and it can be paid for by trimming back service on the n80,n81 and some other south shore routes that carry air, but Mr.Setzer he ran into "Problems" reducing service anymore on those routes, of course the reason does start with a big fat P...