Random Thoughts Thread - Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE)

[N6 Limited]

On 11/22/2017 at 8:38 AM, NY1635 said:

That's kind of unnecessary given that the n41 is usually a few minutes, or literally right behind the n40 during the day. Plus, the n6 articulated bus stops right near the Glen Cove, Mineola, and Roosvelt Field Bays for the n27, n40/41, and n16.

It was quite necessary because the N40 was pulling out of the bay as the N6 doors were opening, and I had 15 mins to catch a train at Mineola.

[NY1635]

2 hours ago, N6 Limited said:

It was quite necessary because the N40 was pulling out of the bay as the N6 doors were opening, and I had 15 mins to catch a train at Mineola.

Isn't Mineola served by 3 LIRR branches? I think I understand the situation given that the n40/41 is the only one that connects to the LIRR at that station.

[N6 Limited]

8 minutes ago, NY1635 said:

Isn't Mineola served by 3 LIRR branches? I think I understand the situation given that the n40/41 is the only one that connects to the LIRR at that station.

Yes but I needed a Ronkonkoma Train.

[N6 Limited]

NICE put a sticker over Mangano's name on Buses, it says "Transdev Mobility inspired by you"

[Joel Up Front]

That "inspiration" really shows.

[NY1635]

23 hours ago, N6 Limited said:

NICE put a sticker over Mangano's name on Buses, it says "Transdev Mobility inspired by you"

I noticed those same stickers when I rode the n1 to Hewlett two Sundays ago.

[N6 Limited]

On 11/28/2017 at 1:11 PM, Joel Up Front said:

That "inspiration" really shows.

Perhaps they're inspired by riders, but discouraged by funding 

6 hours ago, NY1635 said:

I noticed those same stickers when I rode the n1 to Hewlett two Sundays ago.

I think It fits well, doesn't look out of place or anything.

[NY1635]

I don't see NICE getting better unless Curran does something to convince NIFA not to put the funding for buses on the chopping block for when it comes time to balance the County's budget.

Edited December 1, 2017 by NY1635

[Joel Up Front]

Is NICE even trying to get riders back anymore?  Why do I still see so many missing buses?  People are waiting 30 minutes just because one bus didn't come.  Absolutely disgusting.

[NY1635]

1 hour ago, Joel Up Front said:

Is NICE even trying to get riders back anymore?  Why do I still see so many missing buses?  People are waiting 30 minutes just because one bus didn't come.  Absolutely disgusting.

I don't really know because they've pretty quiet lately. Bus service system wide has been reduced since April due to budget cuts and there's been no major changes since then. I'm guessing they're waiting for the County to give it's budget before making the necessary changes to their routes.

[RtrainBlues]

They don't have nearly enough service between Mineola & Roosevelt Field, and between Roosevelt Field and NCC via Stewart Avenue.  They need to make buses that go "Mineola, Roosevelt Field, NCC via Stewart Ave" - a.k.a. "Nassau Hub" like they had in the past.   Eastbound N22x buses at Mineola are timed to pull out 1-2 minutes before the arriving LIRR, and they don't care!!!!  Meanwhile people car pool, take cabs, or find a job somewhere else, so less & less riders.  They will keep losing more & more riders until they figure this out.  How stupid could they be to have the eastbound N22x schedule arrive at Mineola 1-2 minutes before the connecting LIRR does, so everyone misses the N22x to Roosevelt Field?

Sooner or later, everyone there will be out of a job.  The people making the schedules need to all be fired.  They are grossly incompetent.

[NY1635]

2 hours ago, RtrainBlues said:

They don't have nearly enough service between Mineola & Roosevelt Field, and between Roosevelt Field and NCC via Stewart Avenue.  They need to make buses that go "Mineola, Roosevelt Field, NCC via Stewart Ave" - a.k.a. "Nassau Hub" like they had in the past.   Eastbound N22x buses at Mineola are timed to pull out 1-2 minutes before the arriving LIRR, and they don't care!!!!  Meanwhile people car pool, take cabs, or find a job somewhere else, so less & less riders.  They will keep losing more & more riders until they figure this out.  How stupid could they be to have the eastbound N22x schedule arrive at Mineola 1-2 minutes before the connecting LIRR does, so everyone misses the N22x to Roosevelt Field?

Sooner or later, everyone there will be out of a job.  The people making the schedules need to all be fired.  They are grossly incompetent.

The n93 got eliminated because very few people used it. The Mitchel Field area is pretty underdeveloped and it's just recently that Nassau's considering plans to redevelop the entire area around NCC and the Coliseum. The community college itself isn't really good due to internal school politics, and most of the students at the campus are usually gunning for the n16, n35, or n43. The only thing NICE can do is short turn the n24 at Roosvelt Field during the rush hour to catch the people off the LIRR at Mineola, or have the n22 short turns run between Mineola and Hicksville instead of Mineola-Jamaica to catch those same group of people bound for the mall. I think all of this is due to a lack of communication between NICE, the LIRR, and county. I rarely see anyone from either agencies at Mineola helping people find the bus.

[Joel Up Front]

I actually graduated from Nassau and I typically liked my professors.  Then again, they never spoke of their problems with the president of the college or anything like that. 

 

Anyway, it's too late to reverse the trend.  Missing runs, runs so late they might as well have not happened, and poor maintenance have plagued these from the start.  I'm actually waiting for it all to fall apart.  Who in their right mind would wait in the cold for a bus that might not even come?

[N6 Limited]

7 hours ago, RtrainBlues said:

They don't have nearly enough service between Mineola & Roosevelt Field, and between Roosevelt Field and NCC via Stewart Avenue.  They need to make buses that go "Mineola, Roosevelt Field, NCC via Stewart Ave" - a.k.a. "Nassau Hub" like they had in the past.   Eastbound N22x buses at Mineola are timed to pull out 1-2 minutes before the arriving LIRR, and they don't care!!!!  Meanwhile people car pool, take cabs, or find a job somewhere else, so less & less riders.  They will keep losing more & more riders until they figure this out.  How stupid could they be to have the eastbound N22x schedule arrive at Mineola 1-2 minutes before the connecting LIRR does, so everyone misses the N22x to Roosevelt Field?

Sooner or later, everyone there will be out of a job.  The people making the schedules need to all be fired.  They are grossly incompetent.

Yeah those are some stupid decisions, but does that bus run on time?

[NY1635]

31 minutes ago, N6 Limited said:

Yeah those are some stupid decisions, but does that bus run on time?

No, the n22 and n24 are usually behind schedule at Mineola due to the time it takes for them to pull in and out of Roosevelt Field and then go to travel to Hicksville. The only bus that runs on time at the Intermodal Center are the n40/41.

Which branch of the LIRR does n22 misses the connection to? There's three of them (Oyster Bay, Ronkonkoma, and Port Jefferson) that stops at Mineola and the Main Line isn't exactly known for it's consistency in service.

Edited December 8, 2017 by NY1635

[RtrainBlues]

The eastbound N22x arrives at Mineola at 9:05am.  Meanwhile, the busy Port Jeff train is scheduled to arrive at 9:05am, but arrives a few minutes after that.  Next N22/N24 local can be quite delayed, and then you have several buses back-to-back.  Simple solution is to have the N22x arrive at 9:10am.  The few times I have caught the n22x (and the many times I see it pulling away as the LIRR is arriving), it's always practically empty (partially because it misses the large crowd of passengers from the LIRR who need it). 

If you're not going to run a bus to pick up passengers, you should just drop the bus run.  If you ask NICE, they rudely say "you should leave earlier & take an earlier LIRR".  They never take responsibility for themselves and their poor connections.  And they wonder why people keep deserting NICE.

They obviously don't care about the passengers.  But if they care about NICE staying in business and their jobs, they should stop with their pompous attitude and poor scheduling.

Edited December 9, 2017 by RtrainBlues

[NY1635]

2 hours ago, RtrainBlues said:

The eastbound N22x arrives at Mineola at 9:05am.  Meanwhile, the busy Port Jeff train is scheduled to arrive at 9:05am, but arrives a few minutes after that.  Next N22/N24 local can be quite delayed, and then you have several buses back-to-back.  Simple solution is to have the N22x arrive at 9:10am.  The few times I have caught the n22x (and the many times I see it pulling away as the LIRR is arriving), it's always practically empty (partially because it misses the large crowd of passengers from the LIRR who need it). 

If you're not going to run a bus to pick up passengers, you should just drop the bus run.  If you ask NICE, they rudely say "you should leave earlier & take an earlier LIRR".  They never take responsibility for themselves and their poor connections.  And they wonder why people keep deserting NICE.

They obviously don't care about the passengers.  But if they care about NICE staying in business and their jobs, they should stop with their pompous attitude and poor scheduling.

I don't think that your solution would work because it hinges too much on both agencies being consistent with their level of service. I can see NICE adjusting the schedule on the n22 to connect with the LIRR at Mineola if given more funding, but I can't imagine a scenario where the MTA would do the same with the Port Jefferson Branch. LIRR service sucks between Mineola and Hicksville, and again east of Hicksville if you don't near the Babylon or Ronkonkoma lines.

[DS4Ever]

NICE Is no responsible because the agency was an ex MTA Subsidiary so it has its MTA like remnants unlike Beeline whom always was an independent bus company however south of white plains is where the irresponsibility occurs by fact it has more frequent bus lines not like up north which sees less frequent buses like the 15 for example last bus leaves Peeskill 512pm Cortland Town Ctr at 525pm and Yorktown 545pm (the penultimate s58 departure from Riverhead for perspective comparison) 

Pleasantville 615pm...Hawthorne 623p and get this it arrives WMC at 630pm WCC 640pm Tarrytown road 645pm and Transcenter 655pm (a 1h45 trip) 

What im trying to say is that NICE is irresponsible there maybe with the Great Neck N57 and n58 since there feeder routes and not fixed routes theres a huge difference 

Edited December 19, 2017 by DS4Ever
more details

[Via Garibaldi 8]

On 12/18/2017 at 8:42 PM, DS4Ever said:

NICE Is no responsible because the agency was an ex MTA Subsidiary so it has its MTA like remnants unlike Beeline whom always was an independent bus company however south of white plains is where the irresponsibility occurs by fact it has more frequent bus lines not like up north which sees less frequent buses like the 15 for example last bus leaves Peeskill 512pm Cortland Town Ctr at 525pm and Yorktown 545pm (the penultimate s58 departure from Riverhead for perspective comparison) 

Pleasantville 615pm...Hawthorne 623p and get this it arrives WMC at 630pm WCC 640pm Tarrytown road 645pm and Transcenter 655pm (a 1h45 trip) 

What im trying to say is that NICE is irresponsible there maybe with the Great Neck N57 and n58 since there feeder routes and not fixed routes theres a huge difference 

I'm glad you're trying to provide more details, but quite frankly, I still don't understand. 

[NY1635]

Where did the buses stop at Mineola before the Intermodal Center was built?

[FamousNYLover]

6 hours ago, NY1635 said:

Where did the buses stop at Mineola before the Intermodal Center was built?

From Wiki: 

Nassau Inter-County Express, or NICE (formerly MTA Long Island Bus), operates bus service to the Mineola Intermodal Center on the south side of the station. Prior to the opening of the intermodal center on October 16, 2006, bus stops were located at Third Street, a block away from the station. Six NICE routes stop there, as well as local taxicab services.

[Joel Up Front]

To be more precise, they stopped immediately behind the Social Security building.  Before the Intermodal Center was built, there was a massive parking lot.  Today, the area where those buses used to stop is now a one-way street.

[FamousNYLover]

11 hours ago, Joel Up Front said:

To be more precise, they stopped immediately behind the Social Security building.  Before the Intermodal Center was built, there was a massive parking lot.  Today, the area where those buses used to stop is now a one-way street.

I sometimes crazy driver go wrong way in westbound bus only lane and that if n41 bus driver wasn't paying attention, that car driver almost have hit the bus, and caused major headache to passengers and bus drivers.

[NY1635]

On 12/25/2017 at 10:02 PM, FamousNYLover said:

I sometimes crazy driver go wrong way in westbound bus only lane and that if n41 bus driver wasn't paying attention, that car driver almost have hit the bus, and caused major headache to passengers and bus drivers.

Motorists in Nassau, especially on Hempstead Turnpike and Mineola are pretty reckless. They're always in a rush to get somewhere despite the roads being less congested than the city.

[FamousNYLover]

6 hours ago, NY1635 said:

Motorists in Nassau, especially on Hempstead Turnpike and Mineola are pretty reckless. They're always in a rush to get somewhere despite the roads being less congested than the city.

Motorists in Nassau County don't seem to care if bus is big or small.

When n6 articulated bus stopping at bus stop near gas station, impatient motorists go wrong way on sidewalk to cut off bus.