NICE Planned Service/Schedule Changes

[Amtrak7]

That should be good for routes like the N27 where there are no streetlights and its basically pitch dark along Roslyn Rd.

 

 

The old preprinted MTA signs were also reflective but it has since worn off. (I don't think those formed by number stickers were reflective)

 

I overlooked it in the original post but the N78 stickers do say "peak hours only". N79-only stops have not had any changes yet.

Edited April 5, 2012 by Amtrak7

[N6 Limited]

Well, this is the last weekday of current service. Monday there will be no N6 Limited , but there will be the N6 Express, N22 Express, N17, N43 Hempstead Extension, N16 NCC Non-Stop., N2/N8 Loop, reduced mid-day frequencies, etc.

 

Sunday we'll see the N24 Extension/N79 truncation, N23/N27 Combo, No N21, Rearrangement of the Hempstead Bus Terminal, Mineola Intermodal Center and Roosevelt Field Bay assignments, etc.

[N4 Via Merrick Rd]

There was nothing else added like "peak hours only"?

Are they still working with the MTA (besides leasing the fareboxes and some buses)?

o yea there was.

[N4 Via Merrick Rd]

No N21,

 

there's still gonna be a n21

[N4 Via Merrick Rd]

The old preprinted MTA signs were also reflective but it has since worn off. (I don't think those formed by number stickers were reflective)

 

I overlooked it in the original post but the N78 stickers do say "peak hours only". N79-only stops have not had any changes yet.

say when did those preprinted MTA signs go up?(i mean like what year) im curious

[N6 Limited]

there's still gonna be a n21

Not on Sunday

[N4 Via Merrick Rd]

Not on Sunday

ohh yea thats right

[N6 Limited]

A couple of Articles/stories:

First: http://www.newsday.c...unday-1.3645760

Major changes to Nassau's bus system will take effect on Sunday, providing faster trips for thousands of commuters but leaving some riders without a bus.

On some NICE Bus lines, riders will wait twice as long for a bus. On others, midday service will no longer be offered. And the 45, 48 and N51 will drop Saturday service altogether.

The service changes aim to close a $7 million deficit and provide better service for about 11,000 of the system's 35,000 unique daily riders. The changes include the creation of new express buses to and from Queens and some severe cuts on routes with low ridership.

Officials with Veolia Transportation -- the private company that took over Nassau's bus system in January -- said only about 1,000 riders will be hurt by the deepest cuts, although many more may have to wait a few extra minutes for their bus.

NICE Bus chief executive Michael Setzer said he remains confident the changes will be a net gain for riders.

"I think more people are going to be pleased than displeased," he said.

Legis. Francis X. Becker Jr. (R-Lynbrook) said that regardless of how few people are hurt by the cuts, he is "disappointed" that Veolia did not bring its plan before the county's newly created Transit Advisory Committee.

The five-member board, which has yet to formally meet, was formed in February to oversee the system.

"There's always people who are not going to be happy," he said. "We have a transportation board so that these feelings could be aired out and people could have their say. And that's not happening."

Setzer said he offered to give the committee a presentation on the changes, but the county never arranged it.

Ryan Lynch, of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, a nonprofit transit advocacy group, also criticized Veolia for not doing enough to communicate with the public ahead of Sunday's changes.

"This was billed as a more transparent process. But clearly, it hasn't been transparent," Lynch said.

Setzer said Veolia has done "everything we can think of" to educate riders about the changes. He said the company distributed 85,000 postcards, brochures and maps detailing the changes, posted 2,000 signs inside buses, and held six hours of community meetings last month.

 

If riders don't know then they're not taking responsibility for their own transportation. If they can sit on the bus and play with their smartphones, they can look up www.nicebus.com. These transit advocate groups are full of hot air. They seem to consist of people who don't use transit. Most riders on NICE are and should be aware of the changes since the information is where it is most pertinent, on the website, in the bus terminal and ON THE BUSES themselves. Sitting at a desk at a transit advocate office is not going to bring you the same awarness as someone who actually uses the system

 

As for feelings not being aired out, NICE held 2 community meetings when they were not obligated to. If riders didn't go when they had the capacity to go (meaning they weren't at work/etc) then that's not NICE's problem.

 

2nd Story: http://fios1news.com...land/node/11989

As for Veolia saying that service has been more reliable and more on time, I see bunching virtually every day. Just going near Hempstead Turnpike I will see at least 2 N6's bunched together. If I go to Merrick Road, I'll see N4's bunched. On time? NO. Reliable as in "no missing runs" possibly.

 

And this is one of the notes about service adjustments on NICE's site: (its been up for a month)

"n6 Local: Based on customer feedback and independent research, additional service will be added on the n6. Also, to reduce crowding between 7pm and 8pm, additional trips will operate eastbound to Hempstead."

I checked the schedule, they added one trip between 7 and 8PM. That hardly constitutes a plural.

Edited April 6, 2012 by N6 Limited

[Joel Up Front]

Another note: The "Transit Advisory Committee" is a group of 5 tools who donated large amounts to Mangano's campaign and only know about buses from what they see on the news, which isn't any better. The "LI Bus Group of Riders Who Complain About Everything To Make Their Egos Bigger" and that stupid group only prove how laughable the system is to people who have never ridden it on a regular basis.

[N6 Limited]

Another note: The "Transit Advisory Committee" is a group of 5 tools who donated large amounts to Mangano's campaign and only know about buses from what they see on the news, which isn't any better. The "LI Bus Group of Riders Who Complain About Everything To Make Their Egos Bigger" and that stupid group only prove how laughable the system is to people who have never ridden it on a regular basis.

 

Exactly. The biggest complainers are the ones who don't use the system. Idiots complaing about changes that benefits riders and/or riders actually like. Complaining about N16 short turns? Really? They don't even know the system, where the buses go, understand how the routes are used, etc. Hearing information from the news is not the best source because they focus on anything percieved as negative and exponentially blow it up to larger than what it is. You have ignorant fools on commenting on articles, saying how the bus is "welfare" etc, while the same people use the LIRR which is just as subsidized if not more so. You have others saying to cut the bus completely, and some saying to raise fares. ugh.

 

 

That's the problem with the MTA, instead of efficiency first, they raise fares and tolls to cover wasteful practices, "No, lets not modfy the system/this route to make it more efficient, lets continue to run buses with 4 people, lets not re-route the bus to where passengers want to go, lets just raise the fare or beg Albany for more money and keep the status quo"

Edited April 6, 2012 by N6 Limited

[N6 Limited]

More stories:

1: http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/video?id=8610913

 

2: http://www.news12.com/articleDetail.jsp?articleId=315072&news_type=news&position=1&regionId=1&region_name=LI

[User]

More stories:

1: http://abclocal.go.c...ideo?id=8610913

 

2: http://www.news12.co...&region_name=LI

 

Look at the video on the News 12 story. Why do they say there's no midday service on the N24?

[N6 Limited]

Look at the video on the News 12 story. Why do they say there's no midday service on the N24?

 

Misinformation, There will be no Midday service to East Meadow on the N24 and they used a blanket statement for the whole route. Nice job News 12!

[N4 Via Merrick Rd]

has anyone ever thought about how the luminator signage is going to display info for the n2/n8 loop route?

[N6 Limited]

Good question. I wonder about Destination since it will wind up in the same place it started lol. Perhaps "n2 Green Acres Loop via Fletcher" "n8 Green Acres Loop Via Dutch Broadway"

[N6 Limited]

Letter: Bus changes will help most riders

http://www.newsday.c...iders-1.3647476

 

 

 

While "cuts" has been the word most used to describe service adjustments to the new Nassau Inter-County Express bus schedule going into effect today , much more is going on.

 

The 48-route system is being redesigned with a combination of new and restored service on routes with the greatest demand, reduced service on some underutilized lines, and adjustments to schedule frequency. Far more of the system's 35,000 daily riders will benefit from the changes than will be inconvenienced.

 

About 16,100 daily riders (or about 46 percent of all passengers) ride on routes that will experience little or no perceptible changes. These routes will have frequency adjustments only, the majority of which are less than 10 minutes. Waiting times should be reduced by allowing buses more time to travel from stop to stop.

 

About 11,200 customers (32 percent) ride on heavily traveled routes that will enjoy significant service enhancements. This includes the new express service between Nassau and the city that will save two-way commuters as much as 30 to 40 minutes daily.

 

A third group is customers riding on underutilized routes. While these routes will experience the greatest reductions, an estimated 6,700 customers (19 percent) ride on the busier portions of these same routes and will perceive little or no change.

 

The remaining 1,000 people (3 percent) who ride on the least utilized portions of these routes will have to switch to alternate routes, travel during peak hours rather than midday, or make other arrangements.

NICE has made significant efforts to ensure that customers are aware of the changes and can offer feedback. New schedules and service change summaries are available on buses and at terminals and at nicebus.com.

 

NICE was able to make these adjustments without eliminating any routes, a far cry from the dire cuts proposed last year that would have eliminated half of the system's routes.

 

Mike Setzer, Garden City

 

Editor's note: The writer is chief executive of Nassau Inter-County Express.

 

Interesting Stats.

[N6 Limited]

Expressway: A statistic in the bus cutbacks. ["Expressway" are reader essays to Newsday]

http://www.newsday.c...backs-1.3647086

 

It is 6:55 a.m. on a recent Saturday. While the kids sleep and my husband is starting his shower, I am standing at the bus stop in East Meadow, waiting for the N48.

 

I don't know precisely when it will arrive; the timetable states only the time it will roughly cross my stop en route to the Hicksville train station. But that's OK. I've been doing this Saturday-morning routine for 16 years: Get on the bus, then board a train to Manhattan to teach classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

 

Suddenly it is 7 o'clock. No bus in sight. Then 7:05. I start to calculate the "connecting with the railroad schedule" in my head. At 7:10 I begin to sweat. I tell myself I'll be OK without breakfast and a breath before class. Finally, the bus arrives a few minutes later and I heave an audible sigh to some birds and a nearby dog walker.

 

This uncertainty will hit many others hard starting tomorrow. That's when the Nassau Inter-County Express, as Long Island Bus is now known, cuts back or eliminates service on four low-use routes. A week from today, the N48 line will not run on Saturdays at all. No other bus will come early enough to get me to my Hicksville train on time, and, for the first time in all these years, I'll have to get a car ride to the station.

 

It's troubling not to be able to rely on mass transit. Before my family moved to Long Island from Brooklyn in 1995, my husband and I used it for everything -- even our "baby handoff," when we met at the 23rd Street subway station so one parent could go home with our daughter while the other started a later shift at work.

He and I learned how to drive based on New York City bus routes. We timed our trips door to door for each subway line. Our umbrella stroller had more mileage than an old Buick.

 

In retrospect, I suppose I have never fully acclimated to a county synonymous with car pools and minivans. While one of us usually commutes to the city for work via mass transit, the other is home on the Island with our car. Years of Little League, summer recreation programs and birthdays could be supported only that way.

 

Now I am a statistic, among the 3 percent of unique daily riders who will be "significantly impacted," as reported in Newsday, when Nassau's bus system is beset by these "adjustments" starting tomorrow. I realize that the bus company is at the same time adding expresses to and from Jamaica, and restoring service to Jones Beach. But in a time when riders need the system most, isn't there something our county could do to accommodate all of its workforce?

 

I am not wealthy or one of the working poor. I'm just another commuter trying to put food on the table. I look to government to protect the way I get to work so I can pay taxes and buy the goods that support the local economy. I'm tired of being cast among the forgotten Long Islanders. We're here, we ride and, as they say, we vote.

 

So, for those with later personal schedules, there will be alternatives on other bus routes. As for me and my fellow riders -- the nurse's aides, construction workers and retail employees who normally catch the early N48 on Saturdays -- we have a week left to establish our "plan B."

Reader Lauren Isaacson-Lev lives in East Meadow.

[N4 Via Merrick Rd]

Good question. I wonder about Destination since it will wind up in the same place it started lol. Perhaps "n2 Green Acres Loop via Fletcher" "n8 Green Acres Loop Via Dutch Broadway"

i was thinking something like that.

[checkmatechamp13]

IIRC, the MTA said that the N48 performed reasonably well on Saturdays, so I think it should still be kept, especially since they're going to run the N49 every 40 minutes. The marginal cost of adding the extra service and providing easier access to those along Carman Avenue shouldn't be that much.

 

In any case, I don't know how far that woman's tolerance is for walking, but East Meadow goes up to Salisbury Park Drive, and the distance to Newbridge Road for the N49 is about 3/4 of a mile, so if she's willing to do the walk, she still has transit as an option.

[N6 Limited]

So, the new NICE signs for the N2/N8 that I've seen were on Meacham Ave southbound. I didn't look on the other side.

 

Northbound along Rockaway Ave, Hendrickson Ave, and N. Fletcher Ave, they simply put an "8" sticker over the "2" on N2.

Eastbound along Dutch Broadway, they put a "2" sticker over the "8", on the N8.

Cost conscious indeed..Stickers for only what's necessary.

[N6 Limited]

Someone on youtube did a compilation of the adjustment videos:

[N4 Via Merrick Rd]

So, the new NICE signs for the N2/N8 that I've seen were on Meacham Ave southbound. I didn't look on the other side.

 

Northbound along Rockaway Ave, Hendrickson Ave, and N. Fletcher Ave, they simply put an "8" sticker over the "2" on N2.

Eastbound along Dutch Broadway, they put a "2" sticker over the "8", on the N8.

Cost conscious indeed..Stickers for only what's necessary.

 

did they cover over the logo

[N6 Limited]

They didn't bother to cover the MTA logo on any signs that I've seen. But the new signs say NICE on them. I took a picture but i forgot which hosting site I have. I'll describe it.

They're rectangular like the Long LIB signs. The top has an orange band that says "Nassau Inter-County Express" in white letters. Underneath that it says "nice" with the orange dipping down over the "i" as we've seen on the buses. Then the various routes under neath that.

 

The N17 is different than the stickers they have around. The background is blue behind it, but white behind the N16 which is right beneath it. With that miscellaneous info like Wheelchair accessible, LIRR station etc that's on existing LIB signs.

 

Now that I think about it the N2/N8 sign had blue behind it too...I think.... Maybe the blue background is for new NICE routes?

[User]

They didn't bother to cover the MTA logo on any signs that I've seen. But the new signs say NICE on them. I took a picture but i forgot which hosting site I have. I'll describe it.

They're rectangular like the Long LIB signs. The top has an orange band that says "Nassau Inter-County Express" in white letters. Underneath that it says "nice" with the orange dipping down over the "i" as we've seen on the buses. Then the various routes under neath that.

 

The N17 is different than the stickers they have around. The background is blue behind it, but white behind the N16 which is right beneath it. With that miscellaneous info like Wheelchair accessible, LIRR station etc that's on existing LIB signs.

 

Now that I think about it the N2/N8 sign had blue behind it too...I think.... Maybe the blue background is for new NICE routes?

 

You could always e-mail the picture to me and I'll host it. We're all curious to see the actual product.

[User]

A letter from Setzer submitted to Newsday:

 

http://www.newsday.com/opinion/letters/letter-bus-changes-will-help-most-riders-1.3647476

While "cuts" has been the word most used to describe service adjustments to the new Nassau Inter-County Express bus schedule going into effect today , much more is going on.

The 48-route system is being redesigned with a combination of new and restored service on routes with the greatest demand, reduced service on some underutilized lines, and adjustments to schedule frequency. Far more of the system's 35,000 daily riders will benefit from the changes than will be inconvenienced.

About 16,100 daily riders (or about 46 percent of all passengers) ride on routes that will experience little or no perceptible changes. These routes will have frequency adjustments only, the majority of which are less than 10 minutes. Waiting times should be reduced by allowing buses more time to travel from stop to stop.

About 11,200 customers (32 percent) ride on heavily traveled routes that will enjoy significant service enhancements. This includes the new express service between Nassau and the city that will save two-way commuters as much as 30 to 40 minutes daily.

A third group is customers riding on underutilized routes. While these routes will experience the greatest reductions, an estimated 6,700 customers (19 percent) ride on the busier portions of these same routes and will perceive little or no change.

The remaining 1,000 people (3 percent) who ride on the least utilized portions of these routes will have to switch to alternate routes, travel during peak hours rather than midday, or make other arrangements.

NICE has made significant efforts to ensure that customers are aware of the changes and can offer feedback. New schedules and service change summaries are available on buses and at terminals and at nicebus.com.

NICE was able to make these adjustments without eliminating any routes, a far cry from the dire cuts proposed last year that would have eliminated half of the system's routes.

Mike Setzer, Garden City

Editor's note: The writer is chief executive of Nassau Inter-County Express.