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

[DS4Ever]

The reason for the lateness of the n20 isbecause of traffic in queens especially in the narrow Sanford avenues. ..imagine this a double parked car in Sanford ave can really hold up traffic at a extreme level. ..then again when i was waiting for a 120pm n20 bus in flushing it made it at 1:42pm and at touch stared its scheduled run to Hicksville. ..25 minutes behind scheduled and arrived Hicksville at 3:40pm almost one hour behind scheduled

[Mtatransit]

The reason for the lateness of the n20 isbecause of traffic in queens especially in the narrow Sanford avenues. ..imagine this a double parked car in Sanford ave can really hold up traffic at a extreme level. ..then again when i was waiting for a 120pm n20 bus in flushing it made it at 1:42pm and at touch stared its scheduled run to Hicksville. ..25 minutes behind scheduled and arrived Hicksville at 3:40pm almost one hour behind scheduled

Based on my experience n20 gets backed up between City Line and Great Neck. I was stuck there for 20 min. Then Queens traffic of course slowed us down furthur. It would have been better if we didn't leave Hicksville Late like always. Edited December 30, 2015 by Mtatransit

[N6 Limited]

The reason for the lateness of the n20 isbecause of traffic in queens especially in the narrow Sanford avenues. ..imagine this a double parked car in Sanford ave can really hold up traffic at a extreme level. ..then again when i was waiting for a 120pm n20 bus in flushing it made it at 1:42pm and at touch stared its scheduled run to Hicksville. ..25 minutes behind scheduled and arrived Hicksville at 3:40pm almost one hour behind scheduled

 

 

Based on my experience n20 gets backed up between City Line and Great Neck. I was stuck there for 20 min. Then Queens traffic of course slowed us down furthur. It would have been better if we didn't leave Hicksville Late like always.

From the both of you two's experiences, Sounds like the split is justified

[MTA Orion Bus]

Based on my experience n20 gets backed up between City Line and Great Neck. I was stuck there for 20 min. Then Queens traffic of course slowed us down furthur. It would have been better if we didn't leave Hicksville Late like always.

 

That's exactly what I originally said about the traffic in that area:

 

During rush hours, it's between Middle Neck Rd in Great Neck and Marathon Pkwy in Little Neck. The light at Northern Blvd & Great Neck Rd can be a problem, and usually causes a backup with increased traffic in the area.

 

From the both of you two's experiences, Sounds like the split is justified

In a year (or even a couple of months) after the changes take place, the truth of how justified it really is will come to the light.

[N6 Limited]

Perhaps simply adding bus lanes to Northern Blvd will solve the issue.

[Amtrak7]

Rode the n50 this morning from (7:30am out of Hicksville). 13 passengers, ex-Foothill bus (they ride really well!). We followed an n49 so local traffic got on that.

 

The n2, n8, and n81 are on every discontinuation list NICE has put out, even those on the buses which say that n46 trips are becoming n47's. So I'm really starting to doubt what Hound said about them remaining.

Edited December 30, 2015 by Amtrak7

[mac5689]

Shhh, mac5689 doesn't like us saying that unless we have concrete proof!

 

So sue me if I believe in the whole innocent until proven guilty.  I know it's hard to believe that someone can have that stance especially when the the town they grew up in use to have a nickname with Crook in it because of Corruption.

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

Rode the n50 this morning from (7:30am out of Hicksville). 13 passengers, ex-Foothill bus (they ride really well!). We followed an n49 so local traffic got on that.

 

The n2, n8, and n81 are on every discontinuation list NICE has put out, even those on the buses which say that n46 trips are becoming n47's. So I'm really starting to doubt what Hound said about them remaining.

They're not staying. They're all facing elimination. The n81 I took on Monday (10:40 to Sunrise) had 11 people alone from Hicksville, and several people got on in Northern Massapequa.

 

The n50 I also took Monday had like a handful of riders. I was the only one for like a third of the route (12:34 out of Hicksville).

 

The ex-Foothills are nice. I'm able to recline on them. I got one on the n43, and it looked neat.

[N6 Limited]

Rode the n50 this morning from (7:30am out of Hicksville). 13 passengers, ex-Foothill bus (they ride really well!). We followed an n49 so local traffic got on that.

 

The n2, n8, and n81 are on every discontinuation list NICE has put out, even those on the buses which say that n46 trips are becoming n47's. So I'm really starting to doubt what Hound said about them remaining.

Was the n50 empty after crossing Hempstead Turnpike? 

[MTA Orion Bus]

Perhaps simply adding bus lanes to Northern Blvd will solve the issue.

In Nassau County? Probably never going to happen given the ratio of actual bus riders to population. In Queens (like for the Q12/N20/21), probably not going to happen either since the right most lane is pretty much used for parking 24/7 and that only leaves 2 other lanes with no other room to spread out.

 

Rode the n50 this morning from (7:30am out of Hicksville). 13 passengers, ex-Foothill bus (they ride really well!). We followed an n49 so local traffic got on that.

 

The n2, n8, and n81 are on every discontinuation list NICE has put out, even those on the buses which say that n46 trips are becoming n47's. So I'm really starting to doubt what Hound said about them remaining.

I don't think management at NICE is doing a real great job at informing anyone clearly, and that includes the drivers. Their webpage was different from their powerpoint at the time of the pubic hearing. The operation is simply a mess.

[RtrainBlues]

NICE should try to reroute buses to minimize the number of left-turns.  Sometimes you need to wait for 5 or 6 cycles of the light to get through a left-turn signal during rush-hour.  The N22, N22X, N22A and N24 are prime examples of this. 

 

Example #1- the Jamaica-bound N22A should not take the left-turn at Glen Cove Rd/Jericho Turnpike to turn onto Jericho Tpke (since it can take 3 traffic light signals to get thru this mess).  It should continue northbound to Hillside Ave and make the left turn there.

 

Example #2 - the Jamaica-bound N22X should not take the left-turn at Herricks Rd/Jericho Turnpike to turn onto Jericho Tpke (since it can take 5 or 6 traffic light signals to get thru this mess).  it should instead continue northbound on Herricks Road to Hillside Ave and make the left turn there.  It's a slightly longer route by 2 minutes on Hillside Ave since you're no longer taking the diagonal shortcut up Marcus Ave to Hillside Ave, but you'd be saving 10 minutes of sitting at a dead-stop at the traffic light on Herricks Rd/Jericho Turnpike.

[N6 Limited]

NICE should try to reroute buses to minimize the number of left-turns.  Sometimes you need to wait for 5 or 6 cycles of the light to get through a left-turn signal during rush-hour.  The N22, N22X, N22A and N24 are prime examples of this. 

 

Example #1- the Jamaica-bound N22A should not take the left-turn at Glen Cove Rd/Jericho Turnpike to turn onto Jericho Tpke (since it can take 3 traffic light signals to get thru this mess).  It should continue northbound to Hillside Ave and make the left turn there.

 

Example #2 - the Jamaica-bound N22X should not take the left-turn at Herricks Rd/Jericho Turnpike to turn onto Jericho Tpke (since it can take 5 or 6 traffic light signals to get thru this mess).  it should instead continue northbound on Herricks Road to Hillside Ave and make the left turn there.  It's a slightly longer route by 2 minutes on Hillside Ave since you're no longer taking the diagonal shortcut up Marcus Ave to Hillside Ave, but you'd be saving 10 minutes of sitting at a dead-stop at the traffic light on Herricks Rd/Jericho Turnpike.

Have you suggested that to NICE? They listen to reasonable suggestions.

[Amtrak7]

Was the n50 empty after crossing Hempstead Turnpike? 

 

No - since we followed behind an n49, that was practically the peak load point. The most common destination was Bellmore, around half of those 13 riders were going there.

 

Edit: to clarify, that's 13 total boardings, not 13 people out of Hicksville.

Edited December 31, 2015 by Amtrak7

[DS4Ever]

YOu know they should make better pedestrian bridges instead of having too many traffic signals

 

The aforementioned one that the n22 gets stuck for quite a long time and especially the ones adjacent to sunrise mall really ticks one off...then again the signals mostly works for automobiles and not pedestrians. ..my bad thought I was in NYC area where there's a traffic signal in every block intersection

[MTA Orion Bus]

Here's a random thought, lmao:

 

 

 

No seriously, search "NICE Bus" and sort by Upload Date and this stuff comes up.

[FamousNYLover]

Here's a random thought, lmao:

 

 

 

No seriously, search "NICE Bus" and sort by Upload Date and this stuff comes up.

I was holding poster that says, "HONK TO SAVE OUR NICE BUS TO SAVE OUR BUSINESSES." Only 1 red car driver honk to save NICE Bus.

This video made inspired to do "Save Our NICE Bus. Keep our bus moving"

Edited December 31, 2015 by FamousNYLover

[N6 Limited]

It should be telling that FamousNYLover is the only one at the N2/8 bus stop

[Joel Up Front]

At most, I've seen 4 people on any iteration of the N8.

[N6 Limited]

I did see an N8 on Dutch Broadway with about 7 or so people on it one day.

[NY1635]

At most, I've seen 4 people on any iteration of the N8.

 

That's pretty weak compared to the n1.

Edited December 31, 2015 by NY1635

[checkmatechamp13]

I was holding poster that says, "HONK TO SAVE OUR NICE BUS TO SAVE OUR BUSINESSES." Only 1 red car driver honk to save NICE Bus.

This video made inspired to do "Save Our NICE Bus. Keep our bus moving"

 

I think he was honking to tell you to get out of the way. 

[MTA Orion Bus]

It's funny how they've been trying to discontinue limited notations, and limited service, and try to implement their type of express (X) service. They're really trying to distance themselves from the MTA every way possible. 

 

Will the limited buses be used to maintain service or improve runtime on the n20's, or would it just be a straight elimination? Either way, the n20 change is really stupid for everyday riders, but for nice, it's a pretty sneaky way to shift resources to/from other routes. Also, what will the operators who currently work on the soon-to-be eliminated routes do? Will they just be on standby, or what? Also what would happen to any interline partners (e.g; n36 and n62 at Freeport)? Would headways be increase just to maintain a certain amount of buses (in the n36's case, 1) bus along the route, or would other routes interline with the route?

Charlton D'souza just asked about that on NICE's Facebook page. This was NICE's response: "There will not be n20L service because it is too difficult to manage traffic delays over such a long distance in Flushing and Northern Blvd. All buses will instead pulse out of Great Neck which will improve on time performance."

 

Hope that helps!

[FamousNYLover]

I think he was honking to tell you to get out of the way. 

I wasn't on street when that red car honk. I was on sidewalk.

[Joel Up Front]

That's pretty weak compared to the n1.

The n1 has had quite a ridership base.  VS residents who live nowhere near the n25 often use it to catch the n6.

[FamousNYLover]

n2/8 bus stop I visited on Sunday because I want to take picture of flier.