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Why are the bus stops always on the OTHER side of the red light?


error46146

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Having a stop on the near side of the intersection can often block a right-turn lane, which can cause an unsafe situation with other vehicles trying to pass the bus on the left and then make an immediate right turn in front of the bus.

 

You got it. That is exactly the reason. Before the 1970s, common practice was to have all bus stops before the light (near side). It turned out that the most frequent accident buses had was by vehicles cutting off buses to make a right turn, and buses pulling out at the same time. So it was decided to move all of them to after the intersection (far side) and within about 5 years most of them were moved. But for some reason, and I don't know why, some have remained near side and never have been changed.

 

Anyone know if moving the stops changed the statistics? Are right turns by cars cutting off buses, still the most frequent type of accident?

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So it was decided to move all of them to after the intersection (far side) and within about 5 years most of them were moved. But for some reason, and I don't know why, some have remained near side and never have been changed.

 

There could be a few reasons:

 

- Maybe a far-side stop would be in front of a school or church.

 

- Maybe a far-side stop would be in front of well-connected NIMBY's house.

 

- Maybe a near-side stop better serves a subway station entrance.

 

- As I mentioned in my earlier post, DOT actually prefers near-side stops when elevated support structures are in the street.

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You got it. That is exactly the reason. Before the 1970s, common practice was to have all bus stops before the light (near side). It turned out that the most frequent accident buses had was by vehicles cutting off buses to make a right turn, and buses pulling out at the same time. So it was decided to move all of them to after the intersection (far side) and within about 5 years most of them were moved. But for some reason, and I don't know why, some have remained near side and never have been changed.

 

Anyone know if moving the stops changed the statistics? Are right turns by cars cutting off buses, still the most frequent type of accident?

 

I was thinking about this a little earlier this evening as I was along Forest Avenue and Bement. As was mentioned earlier, Staten Island is probably one of the boroughs where there are an equal amount of stops before the light and after it. There are two problems on Staten Island. One is that the streets are generally narrow with a few exceptions and the second thing is that there are so many gas stations and plazas where parking is needed that it makes placing bus stops in general rather difficult. Take the stop at North Burgher and Forest on both sides. You have a gas station on one side of the street and a parking area on the other side. On the other side of North Burgher, there is another parking area for the Italian Salumeria and other businesses and then a narrow side walk across the street with businesses, so in that instance you have one stop before the light going towards the SI Ferry and one stop after the light, but neither of the stops are in the greatest spots. One is practically in front of the gas station and the other is practically infront of the plaza where parking is provided.

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(B44)

Possibly, but I don't think that's one of the main reasons at all....

 

 

The nostrand av line, heading towards flatbush av (especially during the rush, but not only limited to the rush hour) tends to get congested south of sterling...

 

Not uncommon to see a train sitting at church, look ahead & see a train in the distance stalled at beverly, and see a train in the distance (in the other direction) stalled at winthrop.... and if a train is stalled at beverly, it pretty much means there's one @ newkirk, awaiting to pull into flatbush.....

^^ Luckily, my stop IS church (whenever a blue moon appears & I do decide to take the (2) home), so it's not a problem for me... but I've long seen people that's been in the same subway car as me, get off & go run to the bus.... which is another thing..

It's probably un-intentional, but the bus (B44) is almost always right there when ppl. are coming up out the subway... then again, B44 runs like wildfire in that direction anyway, so the chances of it happening are much more greater....

 

to help ease congestion, that's why they have some (5)'s head out to Utica....

 

Regular riders realize the congestion & feel like they're better off taking the 44...

Why church av though.... well, guess they can kill two birds w/ one stone... if they have any shoppin to do, or are just hungry or whatever, they can hit up the mickey d's, little ceasars, that west indian restaurant across from the golden krust , as well as the golden krust itself, etc (usually the younger folks do this... the older folks just go directly to the bus/stop).... plus church is a LTD stop on the 44 (whereas sterling st, winthrop, and president on the subway, don't "directly" link up to LTD stops on the 44), which doesn't limit their options to just 44 locals....

 

I know someone that used to drive the (B44) and stated that a lot of customers would ride the (B44) up to Fulton for the (A), instead of taking the (2). Its possible that some of the customers were heading towards Queens, and some were riding for one or two stops to Downtown Bklyn.......

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It is after the red light to speed up service. If it is before the red light, the B/O would have to wait for all those cars to go and eventually it will turen red again. If it is after the red light, more people could catch the bus and after all cars gone ahead and everyone came onboard and the lights turn red, the bus could go which is faster.

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So we can have this thread!! and does it just suck to have to look at the red light and look at the bus stop and look at the bus driver....and then it happens....."can I get off here" LOL NNNNNOOOOO SAFETY FIRST!! :P

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Speaking of moved stops: years ago the s/b stop on the B9/B41/Q35 at Kings highway was north in front of a gas station and a Dunkin Donuts. They moved that stop south in front of a bank. I assume this was done because the B9's last stop on Av L was just in front of the DD and it was pointless to have those two stops so clsoe together just around the corner?

But in any case, the stop was before the traffic light and was then moved past it.

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Speaking of moved stops: years ago the s/b stop on the B9/B41/Q35 at Kings highway was north in front of a gas station and a Dunkin Donuts. They moved that stop south in front of a bank. I assume this was done because the B9's last stop on Av L was just in front of the DD and it was pointless to have those two stops so clsoe together just around the corner?

But in any case, the stop was before the traffic light and was then moved past it.

 

I think it may have to do with the gas station if anything. Where possible, they will move those bus stops since you have cars coming in and out which is dangerous for the folks waiting at the stop, not to mention the potential for accidents.

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The Bx36 has that on both directions at Grand Concourse i dont get that

 

So people won't have to cross a wide street which happens to cause many accidents in order to catch a particular bus in a certain direction, such as the Bx1/2 on the Concourse, the Q60 on Queens Blvd, and others. Sometimes, it could be for trains too, such as the case of the Bx11/18 on 170th St/Grand Concourse. The east side of Concourse stop is for Uptown (D) trains, while the west Concourse stop is for Downtown (D) trains.

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