Not A Good Morning For Staten Island, Major Gowanus Expressway Accident

[SIR North Shore]

Every major street on Staten Island was gridlocked this morning because of an accident causing the closure of the Gowanus Expressway this morning. Richmond Terrace was also at a standstill because of all the express buses that were using the Bayonne Bridge and more people than normal driving to the ferry. To make matters worse the New Jersey-bound Goethals Bridge was closed because of an accident and soon after that there was a 3-car accident at Clove Rd & the SI expwy. It was awful trying to get around this morning.. :tdown:

[checkmatechamp13]

The S89 was more crowded than usual today. Some of my friends who were already on the bus said that it's because an S92 (they said S62, but they probably meant S92) went MIA, so there were two busloads of people tranferring at Victory Blvd. But since there are only a few standees after Walker Street, I don't think many people were resorting to the S89->HBLR->PATH to reach Manhattan.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Yeah, I heard about the accidents this morning on NY1, all except the one by Clove :eek:, so I left a bit earlier than usual since I needed to be in earlier anyway to meet a client. Forest Avenue was a mess in both directions and Clove Rd was quite busy too. My X30 was almost 15 minutes late and he actually came down from Clove Rd deadheading heading towards Castleton Depot, so as to try to get back on schedule. I looked at him because I was thinking this bus is probably not going back to Castleton because I have never seen a bus deadheading to or from Castleton at that hour. I was able to see that he had a Meredith sticker but he had his "Not In Service" sign up but then he must've saw me looking in curiosity and he signaled to me for me to wait for him across the street and he put up his X30 signage and picked me up there and I thanked him accordingly. I've seen some Meredith buses deadheading back to Castleton, but I had a feeling based on the traffic that he was an X30 because when the X30s ran out of Castleton, they would just deadhead over from Castleton up to Clove and Forest and turn there and start there if they were late. The thing is though some of them won't friggin stop. I saw a really late X30 one morning heading down Forest while I was waiting for the X16, so I run across the street to catch him and he waives me off like he's not in service with his X30 signage up. I was pissed. :mad: He was most certainly in service and was the last bus and just refused to pick anyone up in West Brighton until he got back on schedule so I filed a complaint. :mad: That's the one thing that I hate about the X30 when they f*ck up. Everybody in Sunnyside, Randall Manor, and West Brighton past Clove Rd in the affluent neighborhoods get screwed with the X30 bypassing all of those areas to get to the poorer Port Richmond and Mariners' Harbor. :mad:

 

Going down Forest there was a good two bus loads of folks at just about each stop, even stops that aren't usually that crowded, so I was thinking that it would be crushloaded. By the time we reached over by Mariner's Harbor where those gas stations are, another X30 came and wasn't too crowded, so he picked up the rest of the folks where necessary so that we didn't have an SRO bus. I think they could've sent out another bus from Meredith and had it deadhead over to Richmond and Forest because it would be tough for the other X30 to catch up that fast coming around from Victory unless he was flooring it. Ideally they don't want any standees going through NJ because the legal situation with that and I've noticed that anytime the X30 has been messed up in the morning, there is usually another X30 that comes flying down Forest to help out.

 

In short a few other folks and I still had seats to themselves when all was said and done because I was going to be quite cranky with someone next to me. :mad: The X17J must've been helping out too because there were only a few folks at the last stop. :cool:

[checkmatechamp13]

So that first X30 pretty much bypassed the stops east of Clove Road? I don't see what's discriminatory about that. Port Richmond and Mariners' Harbor are closer to the Goethals Bridge than West Brighton. (Plus, I see you left out Westerleigh, which is just as "affluent" as West Brighton).

 

I mean, at least the people west of Clove Road benefit. Is it really going to do any good if the X30 takes the long way around (via Victory Blvd) and then people are crowding on, and then finally an exmpty X30 catches up to you?

[Via Garibaldi 8]

So that first X30 pretty much bypassed the stops east of Clove Road? I don't see what's discriminatory about that. Port Richmond and Mariners' Harbor are closer to the Goethals Bridge than West Brighton. (Plus, I see you left out Westerleigh, which is just as "affluent" as West Brighton).

 

I mean, at least the people west of Clove Road benefit. Is it really going to do any good if the X30 takes the long way around (via Victory Blvd) and then people are crowding on, and then finally an exmpty X30 catches up to you?

 

Yeah, the first bus just came straight down Clove and turned onto Forest and picked up me there across the street from the bus stop. The thing is that the bus after him, which is the last bus, may not have caught up with us. I strongly believe that the bus we saw was another bus that started over at Richmond Avenue. It has happened before when X30s have been backed up. We who use the X30 in West Brighton, Randall Manor, Sunnyside and to some extend Westerleigh have far longer commutes than the folks in the poorer more western parts of Staten Island (i.e. Port Richmond and Mariners' Harbor) and therefore what they should do is pick us up first and bypass some of the stops later on after say Decker Avenue and send a bus over from Meredith to pick up from Richmond Ave on.

 

Aside from that the folks in Port Richmond have the X10 and the X12/X42 as alternatives, while many of us only have the X30, thanks to the geniuses cutting the X16. :mad: Folks in Mariners' Harbor have the X12/X42 as alternatives.

[checkmatechamp13]

Yeah, the first bus just came straight down Clove and turned onto Forest and picked up me there across the street from the bus stop. The thing is that the bus after him, which is the last bus, may not have caught up with us. I strongly believe that the bus we saw was another bus that started over at Richmond Avenue. It has happened before when X30s have been backed up. We who use the X30 in West Brighton, Randall Manor, Sunnyside and to some extend Westerleigh have far longer commutes than the folks in the poorer more western parts of Staten Island (i.e. Port Richmond and Mariners' Harbor) and therefore what they should do is pick us up first and bypass some of the stops later on after say Decker Avenue and send a bus over from Meredith to pick up from Richmond Ave on.

 

Aside from that the folks in Port Richmond have the X10 and the X12/X42 as alternatives, while many of us only have the X30, thanks to the geniuses cutting the X16. :mad: Folks in Mariners' Harbor have the X12/X42 as alternatives.

 

You're commutes aren't far longer, unless by longer you mean an extra 10-15 minutes. And the X30 is much faster than the X12/X42, not to mention the fact that the X42 ends at around 07:30.

 

In any case, you're not really going to save time bypassing the stops west of Decker Avenue, unless you just send the bus straight up the Bayonne Bridge (but then you'll have a harder time getting over to the NJ Turnpike), but I guess if the bus is already crowded, you might as well do that.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

You're commutes aren't far longer, unless by longer you mean an extra 10-15 minutes. And the X30 is much faster than the X12/X42, not to mention the fact that the X42 ends at around 07:30.

 

In any case, you're not really going to save time bypassing the stops west of Decker Avenue, unless you just send the bus straight up the Bayonne Bridge (but then you'll have a harder time getting over to the NJ Turnpike), but I guess if the bus is already crowded, you might as well do that.

 

Excuse me, but maybe 15-20 minutes is nothing to you but I value my time. That's an additional 30-40 minutes total each day so yeah it is far longer. As for the X30, the X42 can be quick as well, especially if the Lincoln Tunnel is f*cked up. I mean it takes me 8-10 minutes to get from the first stop there at Victory & Slosson on the X12 to Shop Rite, so it isn't that much quicker on the X30 for them.

[checkmatechamp13]

Excuse me, but maybe 15-20 minutes is nothing to you but I value my time. That's an additional 30-40 minutes total each day so yeah it is far longer. As for the X30, the X42 can be quick as well, especially if the Lincoln Tunnel is f*cked up. I mean it takes me 8-10 minutes to get from the first stop there at Victory & Slosson on the X12 to Shop Rite, so it isn't that much quicker on the X30 for them.

 

Well, if you valued your time that much, you wouldn't move out here. I mean, you're spending well over 2 and a half hours per day traveling. Is it really that much extra to add an extra 30 minutes to avoid an area that you conider "bad"? It definitely isn't "far" longer.

 

In any case, the X42 may be fast, but like I said, its hours are short.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Well, if you valued your time that much, you wouldn't move out here. I mean, you're spending well over 2 and a half hours per day traveling. Is it really that much extra to add an extra 30 minutes to avoid an area that you conider "bad"? It definitely isn't "far" longer.

 

In any case, the X42 may be fast, but like I said, its hours are short.

 

That is not true... Even with the messed up X30, I still got in about 09:30. Tonight I got the 20:03 X12 at 45th & 5th and was at home putting my laptop bag down at 21:03. :cool: I also value quality of life, which Staten Island offers. My commute time isn't much more different then when I was living back in Sheepshead Bay. On the train it is a good 45+ minute ride to Midtown