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On 1/4/2019 at 11:55 AM, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I spoke with someone at the (MTA) about this the other day and we both agreed that it's a managerial problem, and it won't change until there's a huge shakeup on Staten Island. When that will happen is anyone's guess. A big part of the problem is express bus service is a MUST there. There is NO subway at all and the SIR only serves a part of the island, so it's the express bus or a long bus to the ferry to the subway ride for most, and everyone knows this, so this is why the attitude can fester the way that it has.  The people running the show have power and any time that anyone tries to step in and make change they face push back (to put it lightly without going into details).  The B/Os aren't going to say anything, but I'm sure some of them know the deal out of depots like Yukon.  Cait can talk to the cows come home about how it isn't a big deal.  People on the inside know what goes on on the island. It's a problem and a big one and the bus numbers are just the tip of the iceberg. Maintenance remains horrendous overall.  No other way to put it...

It has been like that for as long as I can remember and I go back to the middle of the 1970's and back then it was the air-conditioning during the summer and the heat during the winter. It was though we had air conditioned buses assigned to the island where the air conditioning never worked on the locals . As far as maintenance was concerned, if it was either January or June on the calendar, rest assured that a considerable portion of the local fleet was out of service, It should be noted that they had to borrow local buses from the rest of the city for many years from the late 1960's through 2008. For many years, it was not uncommon to have local buses used on the express routes.

The garages were finally built and the water problem at Castleton was finally fixed up after almost a half a century but the maintenance problems are still there, new buses, old buses, it is the same problem  that has been going on for fifty years and continue to go until someone will finally do something about it.

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41 minutes ago, Interested Rider said:

It has been like that for as long as I can remember and I go back to the middle of the 1970's and back then it was the air-conditioning during the summer and the heat during the winter. It was though we had air conditioned buses assigned to the island where the air conditioning never worked on the locals . As far as maintenance was concerned, if it was either January or June on the calendar, rest assured that a considerable portion of the local fleet was out of service, It should be noted that they had to borrow local buses from the rest of the city for many years from the late 1960's through 2008. For many years, it was not uncommon to have local buses used on the express routes.

The garages were finally built and the water problem at Castleton was finally fixed up after almost a half a century but the maintenance problems are still there, new buses, old buses, it is the same problem  that has been going on for fifty years and continue to go until someone will finally do something about it.

It’s because the unions run the show out there and they know that they have Staten Islanders by the balls, so they don’t have to run good service. The maintenance guys do whatever they want (usually nothing), and as you said, nothing will change unless someone does something about it. There needs to be a SERIOUS shake-up with management, but good luck with that. I had a LONG conversation with someone on the inside about this, not that anything said wasn’t anything I didn’t know already. 

Edited by Via Garibaldi 8
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There are quite a few things that I would have preferred with the 33C, with the first being that it go non-stop into Manhattan after Slosson Avenue. There's absolutely no need to have it compete with the 3C, that's overkill, and especially since part of that area is already served by the 1C. All this looks rosy at first, but I feel like the north shore will get hit soon, especially if the south shore communities push for off-peak service in Prince's Bay and Tottenville.

What they did to the SIM2 was terrible. This is no redesign, it's a redistribution. Despite the imperfections of the route, it's unbelievable how fast the MTA gave up on that service, unlike X27 and X28 weekend service.

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1 hour ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

There are quite a few things that I would have preferred with the 33C, with the first being that it go non-stop into Manhattan after Slosson Avenue. There's absolutely no need to have it compete with the 3C, that's overkill, and especially since part of that area is already served by the 1C. All this looks rosy at first, but I feel like the north shore will get hit soon, especially if the south shore communities push for off-peak service in Prince's Bay and Tottenville.

What they did to the SIM2 was terrible. This is no redesign, it's a redistribution. Despite the imperfections of the route, it's unbelievable how fast the MTA gave up on that service, unlike X27 and X28 weekend service.

I mentioned this to one of my friends in Port Richmond (and I believe I said it before here to when I first noticed they added the Narrows Road stops). I said the plan is likely to just eliminate the SIM3C and keep the SIM33C (in other words the X10 to Mariners Harbor)

In a previous conversarion he said "they literally sit there and say "Who haven't we screwed in a while?" I reminded him of that and he said "Yeah it's Port Richmond's turn"

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5 hours ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

I mentioned this to one of my friends in Port Richmond (and I believe I said it before here to when I first noticed they added the Narrows Road stops). I said the plan is likely to just eliminate the SIM3C and keep the SIM33C (in other words the X10 to Mariners Harbor)

In a previous conversarion he said "they literally sit there and say "Who haven't we screwed in a while?" I reminded him of that and he said "Yeah it's Port Richmond's turn"

Very possible. If they’re looking at changing demographics then surely Port Richmond would be a target. Never got the feeling that the neighborhood was that outspoken either, plus you have a large immigrant population, some of whom don’t speak English, so they may not vote or be that involved (may not even be here legally). Just the reality of things...

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6 hours ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

I mentioned this to one of my friends in Port Richmond (and I believe I said it before here to when I first noticed they added the Narrows Road stops). I said the plan is likely to just eliminate the SIM3C and keep the SIM33C (in other words the X10 to Mariners Harbor)

In a previous conversarion he said "they literally sit there and say "Who haven't we screwed in a while?" I reminded him of that and he said "Yeah it's Port Richmond's turn"

One of the things that the (MTA) promised during the redesign is that if you had service during a certain time in the old network, you would be guaranteed that service during the new network. They tried screwing around with that at first with Arden Heights/Huguenot. But people opposed, and they extended the SIM4C when the SIM2 wasn't running. They already started screwing with the SIM3C off-peak by pushing it back to 10:20 AM outbound on weekdays. That's most likely why they decided to have the SIM33C serve the Narrows Road, so that those riders didn't lose 3 hours of service. However, the easier thing would be to just keep the SIM3C schedule and to have the the SIM33C skip it. (The SIM3C is 5-10 minutes faster to the Narrows Road than the SIM33C anyway).

Port Richmond service is needed, ridership has been increasing with the SIM3/3C and alot of the local buses just miss the ferry so it usually takes an hour and a half just to get to the tip of Manhattan from Port Richmond alot of times with the ferry.

Edited by Lil 57
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On 1/11/2019 at 8:54 AM, LegoBrickBreaker101 said:

On the Bx11, there's currently 10 buses roughly bunched together heading to Washington Heights and 7 buses bunched together heading to West Farms Square... what even is normal bus service these days?

Albeit that being one example, you just answered your own question.....

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9 minutes ago, Lil 57 said:

SIM3C buses are bunching again.

Maybe it's a plot to detour ridership so that they can cut it in April. I wouldn't be surprised.

Pretty sure bus bunching isn’t a plot to detour ridership. Bunching can happen for lots of reasons, traffic, being ahead over schedule, or it just happens, etc. 

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Just now, IAlam said:

Yikes, this is really a mess and I'm still waiting for their twitter response.

This will remain a mess because if any of my contacts saw my post (I'm sure they did) and told someone to radio it in, if any driver doesn't hear the announcement, he'll go off of what information he has, which is via 6th Avenue, but the signage must say via Madison on the bus as it does on BusTime and on the MTA website.

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