PinePower

20 minutes meal break? That's a lot compared to most bus companies here. Most of 'em here get only a few minutes meal break if they're on time.

Yeah that's above what most lines I've seen give. Most routes in Nassau & Suffolk generally give only around 10 min layover, some as little as 5. 20 mins is a pretty good deal and I bet a high seniority pick.

Well you don't get named school bus driver of the year for falling behind schedule...sorry I couldn't resist 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPYMm2cAs24

I noticed new bus stop signs on Glen Cove Rd in Carle Place today, but instead of saying n22a, they have n22 on the top, n23 in the middle, and n27 on the bottom. 

Free wouldn't ever be an option for LIRR, but they could make the fare the same as on NICE between Mineola and Glen Cove.

I think the issue here is that they have to pay twice, once for the LIRR and again for NICE bus to HTC or RF.

It pretty much puts Glen Cove in a double-fare zone outside the system unless you allow an extra hour for missed connections.

Even Suffolk WOW that's sad. Will you just abandon the n27 already they don killed it's usefulness but then again LIRR is infrequent so yeah.

Suffolk doesn't always provide a replacement bus. Many times the S58 broke down particularly from Middle Island on east, they never got a replacement bus. A couple of times this happened on the 3:40pm S58 from Riverhead, and everyone had to wait for the next one at 4:45pm. To make things worse, that 4:45pm run is often a 30' Orion VII, so it's crushloaded.

Because it took so long to get a replacement bus out there, by the time the breakdown driver got relieved he'd have to deadhead to have any hope of being on time. This may change with the Coram depot but from what I hear they dont have many spares, it's either 9908 or one of the clipper buses. The n27 is probably the same situation. A 3rd depot on the north shore would help, but that's an awful large expense for just a handful of routes. I'm not surprised NICE lied about it, because if they could have a 2nd bus on standby, then they'd have 2 buses to run hourly service between Roosevelt Field and Glen Cove.

I know originally NICE was supposed to have "standby buses" stationed in various parts of the county in case of a breakdown, dont know what ever became of that. 

I know I have abandoned the n27 on weekends, more or less.

QTJ, little off-topic that some poor people or senior citizens don't want to paid for train if they missed n23 and n27 connection. They wait every hour when they missed connection.

I have taken n27 bus many times on weekends before NICE made mistake and it were very busy bus route they got.

When n27 misses n23 connection, n23 bus gets CRUSH LOADED.

I have to say LIRR should show a little sympathy here and let people ride for free between Mineola & Glen Cove weekends only. This would help, but the has no sympathy, they even have the nerve to make Seniors/Disabled pay full peak one way fare on AM rush hour trains!

Is it just me or do Glen Cove riders really don't want to vouch in on this? They were quite to NICE all the time about the n27 but now even on Yuki's petition? I mean, I'm all in for n27 to RFM on weekends but 29 people is not that much if we go by the petition alone. More of those people need to speak up.

 

@PinePower: What did NICE say exactly? There are spare buses for missed connections on weekends? Or in general? Plus, something could've happened which prevented the spare bus from coming in. Not trying to be a fan boy, just trying to understand the situation

They told me at that meeting that spare buses would be available in case connections were missed at Roslyn. Obviously that is not the case. Not wanting to go too much off subject here but I think the lack of outrage from Glen Cove riders has to do with their inability to speak english. Look at how fast they responded to n6 & n6x complaints...so it's obvious NICE isn't getting enough complaints. Probably why they restored the n21 all day weekdays and not the n27 on weekends.

Speak of n27, I took myself challenge today again.

This time I took 10:50 n6 Hempstead #1652 bus, which was Orion V Green, which every time good female bus driver turns the bus, somehow, HORN KEPT HONKING, but she was not touching the horn. Every motorists in front of her, even MTA Bus Driver was staring at her while she was honking. She radio in dispatcher about this bus.

Suppose to arrive Hempstead 11:40, arrived 11 minutes late at 11:51.

 

I gave copy of missing person Avonte Oquendo flier to one of Nassau County Taxi drivers, then  Kennedy Fried Chicken.

 

After stopping at Greyhound/Trailway Office got trailway schedule booklet, and our 12:25 n23 Manorhaven #1715 on 2 minutes late, arrive Roslyn Station ontime at 13:19.

 

Next, while I waited for 13:27 n27 Glen Cove, I gathered petition from English and Spanish commuters and they eagerly signed petition to restore n27 to Roosevelt Field Mall.

I used Spanish Direct translator.com to translate my n27 petition into Spanish.

Our 13:27 n27 Glen Clove #1734 was good male driver who knows me. I gathered more signatures along the route, which was 10 minutes late, and suppose to be Pratt Blvd/Bridge St at 13:51, but arrived late 14:02.

 

Our 13:54 n27 Roslyn Station #1734 didn't leave until 14:07, and traffic on Glen Clove Rd, suppose to arrived Roslyn Station at 15:20, but we arrived 15:32, which we missed 15:00 n23 Hempstead connection that came in 15:31, so we were forced to wait about 56 minutes for n23 Hempstead bus, which our 15:03 n23 Hempstead #1859 was suppose to arrive at 15:11, but show up at 15:18.

Total "Weekend n27 Restoration" signatures were over 29 signatures from English and Spanish community riders.

PinePower, I found out Spanish riders they do complaint about bus. Some of English riders who speaks Spanish translated petition for me because online translation is not very good.

Arrived at Roosevelt Field Mall at 15:49, 4 minutes late from 15:45.

 

Our 15:30 n22 Jamaica #1719 suppose to arrive 15:55, but showed up at 16:07, suppose to arrive 165th St Terminal at 16:50, but arrived 17:04.

I see NICE lied to me when they said they'd have spare buses available in case of missed connections at Roslyn at the community meeting I went to in Hicksville. This is by and far their biggest blunder and they should have fixed it by now. It's BS they have not restored the n27 to RF on weekends with THREE PHASES OF ENHANCEMENTS this year. Do post what happened to you on their Facebook. I bet that n23 going back was packed, unless some decided to take the LIRR. This is why I call it a useless shuttle because thats exactly what the n27 is on weekends. I will forever be  with NICE over this, absolutely no reason unless you want to just abandon Glen Cove riders on weekends. If they dont fix this in January I'm bringing this up at the next TAC meeting...they keep saying they're trying to fix the times but the n27 & n23 are traffic prone routes, this arrangement doesn't work and hasn't worked since April 8 2012.

Huge traffic mess today in the Roslyn/Greenvale area. The n27 was running anywhere from 20-45 min late, not sure if this was affecting the n23 or not but those 27s were pretty crowded and I bet alot of ppl waiting in the cold in Roslyn.

Glen Cove road was pretty backed up too. Never heard anything on 1010 WINS or 880 about an accident. I never bother with the shuttle and took the n20, and it was 35 min late going to Hicksville.

Funny thing is it was the same bus I had leaving Hicksville earlier just after 4pm, and once in Hicksville later it turned into an n24 which according to schedule is supposed to leave 6:53pm, but didn't until 7:20pm.

Not sure what January's schedules will bring but I'm hoping for the n27 situation to be resolved once and for all, all they need is one more bus on that route and 2 buses can provide hourly service between RF & Glen Cove. 

Brett do you have any further info?

They're working on the January schedules now, this was posted on the NICE F/B page.

Not sure if anyone saw the Nassau Co. Exec debate on WCBS & WLNY yesterday but Suozzi looked like a deer in the headlights. Had several opportunities to address transportation issues when Mangano spoke of transit hubs, he could've said "hey Ed if you want transit friendly downtowns why are you not putting more money into NICE?" but he didn't. Suozzi blew it and lost my vote period. 

Yeah, some people is better than no people at all.

 

 

 

I hate to break it to you, but I'm not saying that train 604 doesn't carry people, it's that train 604 had to depart UN on or close to schedule to avoid messing things up.  If they chose to hold 604 until whenever the its connection arrived, it would not be able to leave Huntington until 613 came through at 7:45 or else it would risk running into 611.  At that point, the buses probably would have gotten people to their destinations faster.  And even after waiting until 7:45 the train would be further delayed because it would have to meet 615 someplace else now (probably at DUKE).

 

And I don't have the timetable in front of me, but I think 604 turns for 617 at Port Jefferson, so now that that turn is thrown out of whack too (and subsequently 617's relatively tight turn for 608 at HN).  623 and 650 might even get screwed up too depending on how things go.

 

So you're saying that they should have held 604 for its connection at UN while in the process delaying 611, 613, 615, 617, 608, and possibly 623 and 650.  The entire student population at SUNY Stony Brook must be on that train to make it have more riders and more importance than seven other ones.

 

I don't like to see when connections get let go and the people are put on buses, however, sometimes it's the only option.

Hate to bump an old post but I took the 7:07am train today. Just to give you an idea of how many ppl transfer from the connecting MU, the staircases get backed up and the platform looks like this. That day they didn't hold the connection must've been a big sh*tshow. All so some suits who have jobs in the city won't get delayed 10-15 min. I doubt there would've been enough buses for everybody, and many probably had to wait for the next train 2 hours later. I wonder how many students missed class just so the suits wouldn't be 15 min late for work? 

Sunday service is a great addition! But hopefully they also use some money to improve rush hour capacity. As people throughout NYCTF have mentioned, lately more and more people start using SCT in rush hours and a few routes have buses which are either SRO or almost packed. With a few extra runs (even if only short turns depending on where people are headed to) would solve that.

Yeah the S58 needs more service. Heaviest part of the route seems to be between Middle Island & Smith Haven Mall. The 2 hour gap between 11:40am and 1:40pm from Riverhead is a killer, esp on Saturdays the 1:40pm is crush loaded right outta Riverhead. There also needs to be a later bus back from Riverhead, 5:45pm is way too early, should be another at 6:45pm, which shouldn't be too difficult with an eastbound trip arriving into Riverhead at 6:25pm, instead of deadheading, have it run at least to Smith Haven. They need to convert alot of these deadhead trips to carry ppl.

Like I said, 604 would have had to wait until 613 came west at 7:45, so that would be the earliest that train would have been able to start east.  The passing siding at Greenlawn is OOS and fixing it up so some reverse-commute trains can run during occasional service disruptions isn't in the budget.  While it may have stunk to have gotten left on the platform at UN it happens to all of us at times, and there's nothing we can do about it.  Your insistence that the LIRR should have taken care of the minority while in the process messing things up for so many more people doesn't make much sense.

 

 

It was never interlocked back when they were doing the other ones since COREY and DUKE were so close anyways.  I think the passing track is completely OOS and unusable now and there are derails on either end of it.

I think restoring the siding would be worth it, especially considering there's not much legroom at Huntington. The single track really retards reliability on the PJ branch when things go wrong. When was that siding ever in service anyways?

Yeah, some people is better than no people at all.

 

 

 

I hate to break it to you, but I'm not saying that train 604 doesn't carry people, it's that train 604 had to depart UN on or close to schedule to avoid messing things up.  If they chose to hold 604 until whenever the its connection arrived, it would not be able to leave Huntington until 613 came through at 7:45 or else it would risk running into 611.  At that point, the buses probably would have gotten people to their destinations faster.  And even after waiting until 7:45 the train would be further delayed because it would have to meet 615 someplace else now (probably at DUKE).

 

And I don't have the timetable in front of me, but I think 604 turns for 617 at Port Jefferson, so now that that turn is thrown out of whack too (and subsequently 617's relatively tight turn for 608 at HN).  623 and 650 might even get screwed up too depending on how things go.

 

So you're saying that they should have held 604 for its connection at UN while in the process delaying 611, 613, 615, 617, 608, and possibly 623 and 650.  The entire student population at SUNY Stony Brook must be on that train to make it have more riders and more importance than seven other ones.

 

I don't like to see when connections get let go and the people are put on buses, however, sometimes it's the only option.

It was 27 minutes late, would've probably arrived in by 7:23am ish, and 604 would've got going by 7:30am less than a half hour late, no Biggie IMO. 604 sits in a siding so it aint tying anyone up. Of course things could run alot smoother on the PJ line if they started using that 2nd track in Greenlawn. SUNY students have only 2 trains to get to school in the morning, whereas the NYC commuters have 8. Stony Brook U is like a minicity, the LIRR needs to wake up and start leveling the playing field a little bit. 613 could've waited at Northport siding and 615 at Smithtown and 617 would've gone out with a minor delay. Let the peakers make some sacrifices...

From what I've heard from the students, they're not happy with the LIRR service because its so unreliable and whenever something goes wrong they pay the price. I'm sure if you go around and ask many of the professors they'll tell you many times they have missing students, could be as much as half the class, thanks to LIRR issues. Pretty sure those buses resulted an at least an hour's delay for them (consider rush hour traffic!), just because the RR didn't want to delay the peakers more than 10 or 15 min. This BS has to stop, just because they are students doesn't make them any less important, they still have to be places on time!  

There was bad congestion west of UN.  They had to send 604 east with or without its connection or else it would risk missing meets with 613 at FOX and 615 at STONY, messing things up for those trains with even more people on them.

 

And I think they've let 604 go a couple times anyways, for the most part the reverse-commute trains that go against the grain take a back seat to keeping the westbounds flowing, especially in single-track territory.

Hate to break it to you but 604 carries just as many people as one of those rush hour westbounds east of Huntington. The LIRR under-estimates the usage those things get from SUNY students. The RR culture needs to adapt. So the westbounds would get delayed, they have no problem delaying 604 or the other reverse peak trains when the other direction has a problem. Having the 604 leaving without it's connection is akin to leaving 40 people standing in Roslyn for an hour for the next n27. The LIRR used to always hold connections, but I've been seeing this more & more. You dont run an empty train leaving a 4 car seated load waiting for cheese buses. I'm really surprised no one has capitalized on the idea of starting a bus service that runs from points in Queens and stopping at Hicksville and SUNY Stony Brook. It could run more frequently than trains and give LIRR some competition. Perhaps thats something that 7 bus should think about...I hear they're not doing so well, probably due to the lack of intra-island options. 

I think LIRR took a page from NICE, and didn't hold the connecting train at Huntington. ALOT of SUNY students transfer to that 7:07am diesel train. What a completely BS thing to do. A bunch of ppl were late for class today!

The 5:47AM train from Penn due Huntington at 6:57AM, is operating 27 minutes late due to congestion caused by a track condition in New Hyde Park. Customers looking to travel east of Huntington will be accommodated by bus. Buses are en route to Huntington but are not currently on scene.

Wow, the S58 has the entire Yard and its 2 buses to itself.

There's more buses than that as I've been told there's about 10 buses there. And as far as routes not just the S58, they have the 5A, S71, S76, S60/69, and some S62 runs. Some routes, including the S58, may share depots. The S110 Clipper may also be at Coram, as I saw a Clipper Bus heading into the yard from Rt.112 the other night. It's a very small operation, and basically it's mostly all the former CBS buses that are back there. And they only have 1 spare bus, 9908, sometimes they have to use Clipper buses as spares, but according to my friend there those are very tired. According to some drivers, many feel this was done to put the former CBS Routes "Back Where they Belong".

The rate of pay and benefits is a direct quote from Setzer when they were gearing up to hire many new FT'ers for the big service increase.  I don't think Setzer has a reason to lie to the news regarding pay and benefits and if he did I'm sure the union would've called him on it.

 

 

 

 There are many posts here (that I'm sure you've seen) linking to news articles that state that NICE gave drivers the first raise they've had in 3 years, which included a higher starting rate for new drivers (which we found out a from the Newsday articicle quoting Setzer is $18.56 an hour).  New drivers at LIB started at about $15/$16 an hour...

 

...so yea, NICE pays more than LIB.  I think you are right that they are probably back to hiring PT'ers as they did hire a big chunk to get ready for the new service change.  In comparison LIB hired LABO (PT) drivers, so what's the difference?  Are you sure PT got more than Veolia PT?  Either way, it was and still is a foot in the door?  But Burrstone, they can't feed a family of four on PT at NICE! But I suppose they could at LIB?!

 

 

 

Why is it you assume Veolia brought over drivers from Supershuttle?  We've already been over the fact that Supershuttle drivers don't need a CDL, so most of the workforce couldn't just "come over."  If someone had a CDL they're not going to waste their time driving a van for supershuttle as they could make more elsewhere.

 

 

 

I've traveled around the Country relying on supershuttle about half the time at airports, I don't need to go on yelp to read their reviews. lol  There are better and worse shuttles out there, the same with hotels but I don't see how hotels or shuttles fit in here?  Besides your fascination with the assumption that you think Veolia is  bringing in supershuttle drivers to drive transit buses. 

 

 

Oops I didn't see there were two facebook signs :embarrassed:  Yes I was talking about the one to the left of the pic....

Whether they came from Supershuttle or not, I've never seen drivers disregard passengers like that anywhere else, not usually, anyway. I'm not sure why these drivers think they can get away with it, and where they learned such driving styles. Now they do not represent most of the drivers at NICE, in actuality they are probably just a handful. But they keep getting away with what they are doing, thats what irks me the most.

I guess a video of them skipping points on the route will be the only thing that may get action...

I think it is more to do with the unions, if someone is facing any type of meeting that could result in disciplinary action most union employees are allowed a union rep.   Unless their is hard proof a driver did something wrong management can't really do anything, unless you had a supervisor following each bus to catch the wrong doing.  My suggestion would be to follow certain drivers (or drivers with many complaints) more often than other drivers but once a driver knows they are being watched they will be on their best behavior, so nothing will happen.  

 

 

 

Amen!  This has been going on forever.

 

But this has been going on with the as well as drivers thought they were untouchable.  

 

You've always had drivers who couldn't care less about the passenger and thought the system was there to give them a paycheck and not to give the community a ride.

 

 

 

You want to explain your theory on that?  Considering NICE starts out more per hour than LIB did, and top pay is higher now than it was under LIB (as the didn't give drivers a raise in 3 years).  Top pay is about $20. hour, medical dental, vision, etc..  So what do you feel makes it not a career?  The starting pay (even all it is higher than LIB was)?  Most college graduates start out in their industry with the same or less salary than a new NICE driver ($38,604.80)?  Is it the lack of a pension?  Most careers don't offer a pension.  So what makes this not a career, besides you saying less benefits with the is a career, but more is not a career because it's Veolia?

 

 

 

I'm sorry but that's stupid and you are disrespecting everyone who works for NICE who has a CDL driving a 40' transit bus and saying they are just a step up from a van driver without a CDL. ...and what benefits and salary does Super Shuttle offer to compare them just a step under a "real bus driver" (to quote Hound)?

 

What do you do for a living again?  Sounds like NICE needs drivers, do you make more than $18.56 an hour with full benefits?  I know you view this as "not a career" and just a job, so your career must be pretty great!

If you are correct than I'm wrong. I've been told they are only part time and won't allow much more than 20-25 hours a week at around $15/hr. This is coming of course from some drivers I know. If they pay more than LIB thats news to me. But the drivers definately get less hours. Yes I know there's a difference, a big difference between driving a Super Shuttle and a 40' bus, what I'm pointing out here is that some of these drivers act like they're still driving the Super Shuttle. Go on Yelp and read all the bad reviews about them. I had another driver run 10 minutes hot tonight, its like I now have to be at the bus stop at least 10 minutes ahead of schedule, 5 minutes isn't good enough. This is transit, there's a schedule, not just drive from point A to Point B as fast as you can. 

I honestly believe there isn't discipline on the drivers like there should be. Let's say a driver skips stops and people complain. What is NICE going to do, fire the driver? They're low on drivers as it is and that's one less list of runs that will go out on a daily basis if he/she gets laid off. They could have the driver go out and do what he/she does or not have the bus go out at all and fire the driver, risking more complaints from riders waiting for the rest of his/her runs. I'm curious to know. How long has this been happening for?

Its been going on for the past 5 or 6 months. This same driver also likes to run hot, sometimes leaving RF almost 10 minutes early on the way to Westbury. He's also pulled into the wrong bus bay at RF on numerous occasions. I know NICE is short on drivers but its stuff like this that's causing NICE to lose passengers. LIB never had these problems until near the end. Hound is right about the driver's pay, it's obviously too low, if they cant find drivers and are forced to hold onto ones that leave passengers stranded on a daily basis. You have drivers out there that dont give a damn about the passengers and just do what they feel like because its not a career, it's just a step up from driving a Super Shuttle! disciplined frequently for running hot or missing stops, but at NICE it seems almost a free for all. Of course in their mind if they didn't see it they won't do anything, there's less supervisors. I'm hoping when they finally get a working GPS system stuff like this will be a thing of the past, as dispatchers can monitor the buses and their locations from a central point. That is of course if the dispatchers they're hiring know what they're doing. 

While on the n35 waiting at Endo Rd to cross Stewart Ave I saw the 7:25pm southbound trip make a right and skip the college. There were at least 20 students waiting for a bus "to the terminal" there. After seeing this happen again, I complained to NICE. There's a driver on the n35 who routinely skips NCC w/o permission. 

"There would be a huge uproar if this was happening on the Long Island Rail Road, and it would be fixed pretty quickly," Obernauer said.

 

The LIRR doesn't read cards and the LIRR (or ) isn't quick to fix ANYTHING.  Another useless quote to stir the pot by a useless bus riders union!

Like the LIRR is that much more reliable, perhaps Obernauer should use the LIRR restrooms. Most of the time the doors dont lock, and the sinks dont work, you're lucky if they have soap..and I'm talking about the M7s. LIBRU should be talking about why NICE hasn't restored the n27 to its full length on weekends, instead of this BS. The machines are old, they're having the same problems in the city. 

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/nice-bus-fare-boxes-wipe-cash-value-off-some-metrocards-say-passengers-advocates-1.6249437

 

Apparently farebox read errors are also wiping MetroCards, and NICE is working on a smartphone-based payment system.

Cant read it or watch the video.....

Hope he keeps NICE and increases funding so service can be better than ever.

Well you probably dont have to worry since Mangano has a major lead in the latest poll.

http://eastmeadow.patch.com/groups/elections/p/poll-mangano-opens-lead-in-county-executive-race-eastmeadow

Another first I was on 1839 and saw the back door blocked off by yellow tape. At first I was like, WTF, but it makes sense now, this way people wont try to use a broken back door.

Remember that during the last few months of the MTA they don't even bother to put the detour on its website. But I guess it's just a way to make Nassau county resident protest

Yeah the last few months didn't give a damn. I remember the last day of LIB there were so many buses missing and mobs of people at bus stops. There was only one bus on the entire n27 route.

I know they did give us the loaner buses, but then took them away on the last days of the year for the scrapper, instead of giving them to us.

I really don't know what Suozzi's position will be on NICE...  He once loved the and wanted a regional transit system and he once hated the because he thought they were ripping off Nassau.  Will be favor NICE because it can do more with less money than the could or will he hate NICE because it;s not the (and he's and guy)?  I really don't know...

Well I'll try reaching out to him again another way. If he continues to ignore answering I may have to change my mind, again.

I do remember when wanted to paint the V's with a blue stripe, Suozzi protested, and the one or two buses that were taped over had to have the orange and blue restored. Alot of bus drivers over at NICE I know think Suozzi will bring the back, I'm not so sure. What I do want is more funding for buses from the county. 

Wow!  Almost half the bus riders (polled) don't vote but probably all bitched about Mangano and/or his "NICE" deal.  Not for or against Mangano, just stating the irony.

Sadly many of these are just complainers. I'm not thrilled with Mangano and will show that when I vote. It's unfortunate that we dont have a strappies campaign here, and if LIBRU is all riders have to speak up for them, it's a sad state of affairs.

I may complain but I take action about it, voicing my feelings with NICE and elected officials, and offering solutions to these problems, like more sensible schedules and better bus funding. Its funny I'm still awaiting a response from Tom Suozzi on Facebook from my question of how he'd have done things with regards to bus funding.....