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30 minutes ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

He's been at the meetings. Basically, he lives in Grasmere and would either have to take the S53 to the SIM6 or the SIM10 to a crosstown bus (because service between northern Hylan and East Midtown has been eliminated).

Funny enough, I've seen comments about how people are going to go back to taking the ferry and it'll cost the MTA revenue, when that's exactly what the MTA wants (since on an absolute basis, express buses have a greater subsidy per passenger than local buses, especially peak express riders)

I see.

Don't know if he can walk to/from the Rosebank branch of the SIM30. That serves East Midtown (albeit in the AM).

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This new QM24/34 schedule is horrible. Saw two QM24 buses within a minute or two from each other. One had a standard, and the other was on its way to having standees. There were still two more (relatively heavy) pick-ups left. This "cost-neutral" BS is so annoying. Yeah, the QM25 deserve that almost 150% increase in AM peak service, but cutting the QM24/34 in order to add the QM25 service is such a stupid idea. This whole ordeal brought to you by the beancounters.

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40 minutes ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

This new QM24/34 schedule is horrible. Saw two QM24 buses within a minute or two from each other. One had a standard, and the other was on its way to having standees. There were still two more (relatively heavy) pick-ups left. This "cost-neutral" BS is so annoying. Yeah, the QM25 deserve that almost 150% increase in AM peak service, but cutting the QM24/34 in order to add the QM25 service is such a stupid idea. This whole ordeal brought to you by the beancounters.

Wait till the fall. If you think Queens Division has it bad. Brooklyn Division will have it worse in September when the B12 is severely reduced throughout the day. I don’t know who’s bright idea was to decrease service throughout the day. 

**hopes and clings that new bus action plan comes to Queens and Brooklyn before they examine Bronx and Manhattan*  

#rant. 

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On 6/17/2018 at 7:30 PM, MysteriousBtrain said:

The BxM3 was in Yonkers before MTA. It also wasn't an issue because the BxM3 was own by Liberty Lines, which also owned bee-line.

 

On 6/17/2018 at 6:45 PM, Lawrence St said:

Yes but I heard a few years back that bee line and MTA were having a money fit over the BxM3 in Yonkers which is why I asked.

Why would Bee Line be having a fit? It doesn't operate the BxM3.  When the City rolled over the private lines into (MTA) Bus, the agreement was that it would allow the City to save money and provide better service by having all the routes under one operator. 

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16 hours ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

I see.

Don't know if he can walk to/from the Rosebank branch of the SIM30. That serves East Midtown (albeit in the AM).

Then he might as well walk over from 6th Avenue on the SIM10. Notice I said he would take the S53.....to walk from anywhere along Clove Road (or McClean Avenue for that matter) over to Hylan & Tompkins would be ridiculously long (and then to have to ride through all of Staten Island and sit in Lincoln Tunnel traffic on top of it?).

To give you an idea, Grasmere is the area around Clove Road (you could almost make the case for the west side of the SIR tracks to be Concord. Targee Street is definitely Concord). South Beach is south/east of Hylan or McClean, depending on where exactly you are (that whole area around the S52 loop is in South Beach). Rosebank is the area between Hylan and the SIR tracks, north of the SIE, and Arrochar is the area between Rosebank and South Beach. (Then there's also Shore Acres in the mix, which to me would be the area east of Tompkins between School Road & Hylan Blvd, though in practice, people will usually just consider that part of Rosebank. The old X18 signs used to say it as such). 

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On 6/20/2018 at 11:12 PM, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

Lol at the comments section. Some guy named Brian P. is venting about his commute apparently being changed to include two buses (not sure), and another one is complaining about how useless express bus service is and how subways would be better instead, in addition to talk about subway extensions to Staten Island

The anti-bus commentaries I pretty much ignored, but I found that "sonicboy" character much more annoying.....

As for the video clip itself, not only does it sound like they're trying to sell something (as per one of the YT comments), it sounds to me like they're trying to sell something they don't believe will be successful..... The backlash to come later on this fall (from SI exp. bus riders) aint fin to be pretty....

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I really wanted not to chime in on this Staten Island Express project. However, from what I’m reading about this new SIM30 which could be making the whole tour of the north shore (correct me please). 

All the planners needed to do was to create another route SIM36 from Rosebank to Midtown/Downtown. A pure lost opportunity for (NYCT) to address more express bus issues in SI. 

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8 minutes ago, Future ENY OP said:

I really wanted not to chime in on this Staten Island Express project. However, from what I’m reading about this new SIM30 which could be making the whole tour of the north shore (correct me please). 

All the planners needed to do was to create another route SIM36 from Rosebank to Midtown/Downtown. A pure lost opportunity for (NYCT) to address more express bus issues in SI. 

X30 buses are almost empty by the time they get down to Forest & Victory. Whether they're running empty to Sunnyside or empty to Rosebank won't make much of a difference.

Edited by checkmatechamp13
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5 minutes ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

X30 buses are almost empty by the time they get down to Forest & Victory. Whether they're running empty to Sunnyside or empty to Rosebank won't make much of a difference.

Gotchu Checkmate. In your opinion what do you think did (NYCT) missed out on the redesign plan for Staten Isl. 

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51 minutes ago, R68OnBroadway said:

Read the SI LIve piece about this and most of the complaints seem to be about how they removed buses from Madison and Lex. 

Thus forcing people to walk over to 5th Avenue. Yikes for Staten Island Service. 

Also, additional branches need to be created or else this is going to turn to another whole tour of the island to the VZ via Brooklyn. 

Send me the link on this. 

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2 hours ago, Future ENY OP said:

Thus forcing people to walk over to 5th Avenue. Yikes for Staten Island Service. 

Also, additional branches need to be created or else this is going to turn to another whole tour of the island to the VZ via Brooklyn. 

Send me the link on this. 

See my response below to R68.  Additionally, I understand what they're trying to do because traffic on Lex can be murder, but still.  Why not work with the DOT to re-configure Lex better and have a bus lane there?

3 hours ago, R68OnBroadway said:

Read the SI LIve piece about this and most of the complaints seem to be about how they removed buses from Madison and Lex. 

Yes.  These bus lanes on 5th Avenue are going to be a mess. They've already been implemented, and on just about every block there are cars blocking BOTH bus lanes because so many cars need to turn onto the side streets, so buses still can't move quickly.  

11 hours ago, Future ENY OP said:

I really wanted not to chime in on this Staten Island Express project. However, from what I’m reading about this new SIM30 which could be making the whole tour of the north shore (correct me please). 

All the planners needed to do was to create another route SIM36 from Rosebank to Midtown/Downtown. A pure lost opportunity for (NYCT) to address more express bus issues in SI. 

This is purely political. The (MTA) made their stance well known during the 2010 service cuts.  They DON'T want to run Downtown express bus service on the North Shore.  This is why there's no X16 or X18 coming back.  Their stance is that those people can take the ferry.  Additionally, they've been bending over backwards for the South Shore and Mid Island.  The politicians down there work hard and they have the (MTA) 's ear.  Meanwhile the North Shore has WEAK politicians like Debi Rose. Absolutely useless.  Many of us were furious about what they did with the X16.  We circulated a petition around and meanwhile she goes around basically acting like she's begging the (MTA) to restore the bus. Do your job as a politician and demand the bus back!!  None of this begging crap.  We were very clear on why the X16 wasn't being used, and it wasn't because we weren't using it.  It was because of tons of missing buses, drivers running hot and drivers not knowing the route and skipping portions of it. 

Castleton Depot has a hand in this mess too because management allowed drivers to do whatever they wanted.  If the last bus came early one day and people called the depot to complain because they were stranded, nothing was done to address the problem, so the driver would just keep coming early.  Obviously people started driving to other routes that were more reliable and that ran longer, and that pretty much doomed the X16.  The same was true with the X13. Ran like crap and the drivers didn't have a clue with regards to doing the route correctly.  You have no idea how many times drivers missed stops, turned the wrong way and so on, with passengers yelling at them because they were missing their stops.  This again points to poor management in that the drivers weren't being trained properly on the routes.

This whole SIM30 nonsense is just the (MTA) trying to act like they're being proactive.  They don't really want to run express bus service to Rosebank, because if they did, they would've restored the service that people asked for and have been insisting upon for years.  People wanted the Downtown route back. Instead they extend some SIM30 trips, which involves an elongated tour of Forest Avenue and the entire North Shore.  On top of that, they have no X14 to assist this new SIM30, so I'm really curious to see what the headways will be.  This is a nice way of telling the North Shore, you either take this service, OR you can drive further south and use the express buses along Hylan Blvd which is exactly what people have been doing. The whole thing is disgusting, and checkmatechamp can keep running his mouth about how poor usage is all he wants.  He doesn't live in the area and understand the politics involved with what's going on.   Factually his information is correct, but that's about it.  

Edited by Via Garibaldi 8
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There's already word that this new x18 revival won't work as intended.....that was just the MTA's way of catering to people, whereas most of the routes(except for the 14th Street routes) were developed by the union, with some changes here & there from higher-ups in the MTA(considering that Andy Byford was siding with the operators, saying that management and the higher-ups need to listen to the operators that actually drive on the island).

What concerns me is that 100% use of 42nd Street during the rush hours.....Considering that they now have double-bus lanes on 5th Avenue, how are they going to ensure that buses move smoothly on 42nd Street?

Edited by Cait Sith
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13 minutes ago, Cait Sith said:

There's already word that this new x18 revival won't work as intended.....that was just the MTA's way of catering to people, whereas most of the routes(except for the 14th Street routes) were developed by the union, with some changes here & there from higher-ups in the MTA(considering that Andy Byford was siding with the operators, saying that management and the higher-ups need to listen to the operators that actually drive on the island).

What concerns me is that 100% use of 42nd Street during the rush hours.....Considering that they now have double-bus lanes on 5th Avenue, how are they going to ensure that buses move smoothly on 42nd Street?

I'd really like to know who came up with the idea of a Midtown express bus for Rosebank? I've never heard Rosebank asking for anything BUT the old X18 back for years now, so having this branch come over and go to Midtown makes no sense.  That then means that those who do use it would likely be forced to transfer to the subway, and this route has its own problems.  Going via New jersey is no cake walk and was another reason I avoided the line at times and opted for the X14.  You can be slammed with traffic and the commute can be well over an hour in New Jersey alone one way, not to mention that if they close things off to NJ, you're going via West Street and making your way over the Verrazzano. When it does that, it takes the old X16 route.  Most of the X30's ridership comes from the Richmond Avenue and west of that so they would suffer the most when service is a mess. I understand them trying to maximize the use of the buses, but I just think this is a big mistake, particularly not having another Midtown express bus east of Richmond Avenue along Forest Avenue.  

The other thing I think about which you've noted is the 42nd street issue.  42nd is already a mess at night as it is trying to turn off of 5th with the tourists and general traffic.  Now you want to have ALL express buses coming down 5th and dealing with that congestion.  The NYPD doesn't enforce the bus lanes the way that they do on Madison for whatever reason.  The other day I saw an X17J fighting through parked cars and cars running into the bus lane trying to turn. Not a traffic cop in sight.

Edited by Via Garibaldi 8
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11 minutes ago, Cait Sith said:

There's already word that this new x18 revival won't work as intended.....that was just the MTA's way of catering to people, whereas most of the routes(except for the 14th Street routes) were developed by the union, with some changes here & there from higher-ups in the MTA(considering that Andy Byford was siding with the operators, saying that management and the higher-ups need to listen to the operators that actually drive on the island).

What concerns me is that 100% use of 42nd Street during the rush hours.....Considering that they now have double-bus lanes on 5th Avenue, how are they going to ensure that buses move smoothly on 42nd Street?

I have a problem with the SIM30 being the only Midtown option on the North Shore during the AM and PM peak. I really want to know how much service they're planning to give to that route. Like I also said, a Midtown route should have been created with the Sunnyside and Rosebank Splits of the SIM30. Yeah there aren't a lot of people on those buses by that point, but how much is it because you basically have to go through the Goethals and then go through the entire North Shore before getting to Sunnyside/Rosebank.

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On 6/21/2018 at 8:57 AM, Future ENY OP said:

Wait till the fall. If you think Queens Division has it bad. Brooklyn Division will have it worse in September when the B12 is severely reduced throughout the day. I don’t know who’s bright idea was to decrease service throughout the day. 

**hopes and clings that new bus action plan comes to Queens and Brooklyn before they examine Bronx and Manhattan*  

#rant. 

Knowing how stuff usually works, Brooklyn and Queens will get them last. The Bronx is up next, so we'll see what happens from there.

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36 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I'd really like to know who came up with the idea of a Midtown express bus for Rosebank? 

I can happily say that it wasn't anyone from the island.

It's probably the same people that thought that 14th Street express routes would be beneficial....

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47 minutes ago, Cait Sith said:

I can happily say that it wasn't anyone from the island.

It's probably the same people that thought that 14th Street express routes would be beneficial....

I actually don't mind those and I'll explain why.  Coming up 6th, buses can become stuck in a maze of traffic at 23rd street.  Cutting it back to 14th street, people still have access to the express buses there and those who work near 23rd can either take the Super Express buses or walk down to 14th if they're concerned about getting a seat, etc. 

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16 minutes ago, MHV184 said:

Does anyone know why the MTA always splits 1 train shuttle bus stops into 3 parts. Isn't it better for it to be split into 2 parts like from 191st to 137st and the second part 242st and 207st. 

What are the 3 parts? I do know that the shuttle buses from 242nd to 207th are PACKED, as people to and from get off there for the (A) .  Now the Broadway Bridge has two lanes closed on weekends, which adds more problems getting around.

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16 hours ago, Future ENY OP said:

Gotchu Checkmate. In your opinion what do you think did (NYCT) missed out on the redesign plan for Staten Isl. 

I think they were too fearful/cautious in implementing the peak concept during off-peak hours. If they had cut the SIM1c/3c/4c back to Lower Manhattan, that probably would've saved enough money to run a few more off-peak routes on Staten Island and provide more coverage (e.g. South/Midland Beach with either the SIM5 or SIM6, Mariners Harbor with the SIM34, and Rossville with the SIM26). I'm really not wild about how they combined the busiest portions of the X10 & X17 into the SIM4c.

I think they messed up bad along Hylan Blvd. That's not a missed opportunity, that was just taking one problem and replacing it with another. Basically, the idea on Staten Island is that the longer routes from Eltingville travel via Father Capodanno, and the shorter routes from New Dorp cover the northern part of Hylan. The inefficient route is the X1, which takes the slower route via Hylan even though it comes from Eltingville, so if they had just divided its service among the other variants and tweaked the Manhattan routings, that would've been sufficient. Instead, they're taking the inefficiency on the Manhattan end, and replacing it with inefficiency on the Staten Island end. That South Beach park-and-ride super-express service is just dumb.

They definitely should've added more Downtown service from the deep South Shore (at least a Downtown variant of the SIM26). Having a Midtown variant of the SIM15 isn't the craziest idea, so they should've at least implemented it on a trial basis.

8 hours ago, R68OnBroadway said:

Read the SI LIve piece about this and most of the complaints seem to be about how they removed buses from Madison and Lex. 

Most Midtown buses will still run up Madison. It's just the SIM3 (basically the X42) and SIM10 (basically, a combination of the X2 and X9 that is extended to the ETC) will run up 6th.

Yeah, all the Lexington buses (you hear mostly about the X2/5, but the X22/31 also run along Lexington) will be moved to 5th.

5 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

This whole SIM30 nonsense is just the (MTA) trying to act like they're being proactive.  They don't really want to run express bus service to Rosebank, because if they did, they would've restored the service that people asked for and have been insisting upon for years.  People wanted the Downtown route back. Instead they extend some SIM30 trips, which involves an elongated tour of Forest Avenue and the entire North Shore.  On top of that, they have no X14 to assist this new SIM30, so I'm really curious to see what the headways will be.  This is a nice way of telling the North Shore, you either take this service, OR you can drive further south and use the express buses along Hylan Blvd which is exactly what people have been doing. The whole thing is disgusting, and checkmatechamp can keep running his mouth about how poor usage is all he wants.  He doesn't live in the area and understand the politics involved with what's going on.   Factually his information is correct, but that's about it.  

The SIM3 will run much more service compared to the X42, so that'll help out on the North Shore.

Understand the politics? When was the last time you've been to a Community Board #1 meeting or contacted any of the board members or been involved politically in any way? Years ago, before you moved to The Bronx? Yeah, that's what I thought.

2 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I'd really like to know who came up with the idea of a Midtown express bus for Rosebank? I've never heard Rosebank asking for anything BUT the old X18 back for years now, so having this branch come over and go to Midtown makes no sense.  That then means that those who do use it would likely be forced to transfer to the subway, and this route has its own problems.  Going via New jersey is no cake walk and was another reason I avoided the line at times and opted for the X14.  You can be slammed with traffic and the commute can be well over an hour in New Jersey alone one way, not to mention that if they close things off to NJ, you're going via West Street and making your way over the Verrazzano. When it does that, it takes the old X16 route.  Most of the X30's ridership comes from the Richmond Avenue and west of that so they would suffer the most when service is a mess. I understand them trying to maximize the use of the buses, but I just think this is a big mistake, particularly not having another Midtown express bus east of Richmond Avenue along Forest Avenue.  

That would be the one time it would make it easier for people in Rosebank, since they would be the first people off the bus. Of course, it doesn't do them any good to plan their commute around if it isn't a consistent route.

2 hours ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

I have a problem with the SIM30 being the only Midtown option on the North Shore during the AM and PM peak. I really want to know how much service they're planning to give to that route. Like I also said, a Midtown route should have been created with the Sunnyside and Rosebank Splits of the SIM30. Yeah there aren't a lot of people on those buses by that point, but how much is it because you basically have to go through the Goethals and then go through the entire North Shore before getting to Sunnyside/Rosebank.

The SIM3 counts as a North Shore route in their eyes. They mentioned that they wanted to shift the main express corridor for the North Shore from Gannon Avenue to Watchogue Road/Victory Blvd. 

2 hours ago, Cait Sith said:

I can happily say that it wasn't anyone from the island.

It's probably the same people that thought that 14th Street express routes would be beneficial....

That route would be beneficial. How else would you cover Greenwich Village if all the Midtown buses are running via the FDR or via NJ? They've already established that there's a lot of ridership from the WFC area (and it's an easier approach to the tunnel), so it would be stupid to abandon the West Street corridor like they planned originally.

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1 minute ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

The SIM3 will run much more service compared to the X42, so that'll help out on the North Shore.

Understand the politics? When was the last time you've been to a Community Board #1 meeting or contacted any of the board members or been involved politically in any way? Years ago, before you moved to The Bronx? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Who cares what Community Board you're on?  Your neighborhood gets good bus service (despite your complaints), and you have late night express bus service too, something that my old neighborhood never had.  We have never had good representation there when it comes to transportation, let alone express bus service (sure we had four express buses along Forest Avenue, but none of them ran reliably), and the SIM3 caters does nothing for people who are east of Richmond Avenue near or along Forest Avenue.  You're right it'll help out, but it'll help out a small portion of the North Shore, particularly those in the western parts of the North Shore, so let's be specific.  Debi Rose, Matthew Titone and Michael E. McMahon were all useless on the North Shore. 

The fact of the matter is the (MTA) has an agenda with the North Shore when it comes to express bus service.  If you work Downtown and live east of Manor Road, they want you to take the local bus to the ferry.  What they (and you for that matter) fail to realize is people on the North Shore will continue to use the express buses.  They'll simply drive to other lines further south, especially since they keep giving those lines more service to cater to the South Shore and Mid Island residents.  I don't have a problem with that because they have long commutes, but I do have a problem with how they've basically told certain residents on the North Shore that their commutes don't matter and have taken express bus service away to cater to the South Shore and Mid Island areas in particular.  

With that said, no, you don't understand the politics in my former community because you didn't face the same transportation issues that my neighborhood did.  It was the lack of transportation that made me move in the first place from there. We had four express buses.  We lost two of them and had the X14 consolidated, for an elongated commute.  Meanwhile you've continued to receive more X17 service over the years and when that doesn't run you have direct access to the X10.

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1 hour ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

What are the 3 parts? I do know that the shuttle buses from 242nd to 207th are PACKED, as people to and from get off there for the (A) .  Now the Broadway Bridge has two lanes closed on weekends, which adds more problems getting around.

There are three shuttle routes whenever the 1 is oos from 242 to either 137 or 96. The first one runs between 242 and 207 via Broadway. The second one runs on St Nicholas between 168 and 191. The third one runs between 168 St and either 137 or 96 St via Broadway. He's just asking why is the 1 shuttle set up like this during the weekend service changes.

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