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

[B35 via Church]

13 hours ago, IAlam said:

So apparently on the Transit app they show a couple express runs on the n24 I suspect that they aren't real, but the fact it comes with its own schedule is very interesting.  

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jLXbGIoDPQtBC6eOVbZwIVCreYri2mKI/view?usp=sharing 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16yoGmKf0OI8yla3vkmm0pcIGNDJ6YFTn/view?usp=sharing

Good find....

(If that's a future implementation of an n24x), For all that, buses may as well stay on Hillside, running nonstop b/w Francis Lewis & Braddock, then run down Braddock to Jamaica, to where buses would take on its regular route... I wouldn't chance doing the CIP to the GCP (or vice versa) during the rush.....

[N6 Limited]

On 1/13/2019 at 8:21 PM, IAlam said:

So apparently on the Transit app they show a couple express runs on the n24 I suspect that they aren't real, but the fact it comes with its own schedule is very interesting.  

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jLXbGIoDPQtBC6eOVbZwIVCreYri2mKI/view?usp=sharing 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16yoGmKf0OI8yla3vkmm0pcIGNDJ6YFTn/view?usp=sharing

 

On 1/13/2019 at 10:54 PM, RES2773 said:

Since Transit just displays the data from NICE's GTFS feed, I imagine Transdev messed something up along the way. Unless this is an inclusion of a plan to be implemented... Either way very interesting, wonder if something will come of it.

During rush hour that route would be pretty slow=, most traffic is going east and south.

[Joel Up Front]

An old NG on the N32 by Hempstead Avenue was surrounded by no less than three Lynbrook PD SUVs with a fire department vehicle nearby last night.  Was this an accident?

Edited January 16, 2019 by Joel Up Front

[RES2773]

New schedules took effect today. Spotted at Mineola Intermodel earlier:

Makes sense, for now, to label as both routes, however I believe in their GTFS data they are still labeled as separate routes. Transit (app) lists them still as two separate routes that alternate on trips, however pdf schedule has been written to make trips indifferentiable. Let me know if your thoughts are different, but I imagine that they are moving towards eliminating the n41 tag on all mediums and making the route solely the n40, pending when they can update physical signage.

Interestingly, although I was not taking this bus, as the bus door opened I heard the route designation as "n40". Of course, the next one could've said "n41" but I'm not sure if the route numbers are alternating on vocal announcements as they seem to be in route data. 

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

I still don't see what the point is of labeling the route like that. Just leave it at N40 and call it a day.

[NY1635]

The n43 has a few morning trips that begin at East Pennywood Avenue and Nassau Road in Roosevelt bound for Freeport. Southbound service has also been altered to exit NCC at Charles Lindbergh Blvd and go around to get to Earle Ovington due to the changes in the NCC Parking Lot.

[B35 via Church]

On ‎1‎/‎21‎/‎2019 at 12:48 PM, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

I still don't see what the point is of labeling the route like that. Just leave it at N40 and call it a day.

Although I think it's also temporary (as RES2773 suggests), I'm inclined to believe it's nothing more than damage control.....

Pretty smart actually, if you think about it.... Nobody really likes to be overt about it, but you have to treat the general public like they're dumbasses.... You'd be surprised at how many people don't like to think for themselves & have everything spoonfed to them..... Eventually riders'll get the message/grow accustomed to the n43 only servicing Babylon Tpke....

Now if it's going to be something permanent, then that's something I'd question..... That's almost tantamount to rubbing it in.

[Cait Sith]

Whatever they did with the NICE app....it's trash now. Now they use the version of the e-ticket app that the MTA uses, and not the one they used previously smh. Their older app was far more convenient, with in-app bus tracking at that. This "new" app is trash.

[IAlam]

On 1/21/2019 at 12:48 PM, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

I still don't see what the point is of labeling the route like that. Just leave it at N40 and call it a day.

The reason I think they called it n40/41 is that if the stopped using n41, people would see it as a service cut. Regardless of the fact that all the runs were absorbed into the n40.

[NY1635]

4 hours ago, IAlam said:

The reason I think they called it n40/41 is that if the stopped using n41, people would see it as a service cut. Regardless of the fact that all the runs were absorbed into the n40.

Main Street and Nassau Road from Babylon Turnpike to Grand Avenue actually got more service as a result in consolidating the n40/41. Babylon Turnpike has slightly more on weekdays, and less on weekends due to the n43's bus schedule. 

[IAlam]

5 hours ago, NY1635 said:

Main Street and Nassau Road from Babylon Turnpike to Grand Avenue actually got more service as a result in consolidating the n40/41. Babylon Turnpike has slightly more on weekdays, and less on weekends due to the n43's bus schedule. 

I don't think an average rider would directly realize that. They would just see that the n41 doesn't exist and assume that it's a cut. Most people probably won't go online and look up the schedule and compare it to the old one.  

[Armandito]

Why doesn't Nassau Boulevard have its own bus route? If that corridor were to have one, the most likely route it would follow is from the LIJ Hospital to the Rockville Centre LIRR station, running along Marcus Avenue in the north, and then continuing straight along Nassau Boulevard and Ocean Avenue to the Babylon Branch.

Also, Adelphi University, which has no direct access to public transportation (other than a long walk from the LIRR at Garden City), could benefit...

[NY1635]

41 minutes ago, lara8710 said:

Why doesn't Nassau Boulevard have its own bus route? If that corridor were to have one, the most likely route it would follow is from the LIJ Hospital to the Rockville Centre LIRR station, running along Marcus Avenue in the north, and then continuing straight along Nassau Boulevard and Ocean Avenue to the Babylon Branch.

Also, Adelphi University, which has no direct access to public transportation (other than a long walk from the LIRR at Garden City), could benefit...

Adelphi students use the LIRR over at Nassau Blvd to get around.  It's a 13 minute walk from the campus over to the station. The University provides it's own shuttle to the Hempstead Transit Center, and I think Mineola. 

[Armandito]

1 hour ago, NY1635 said:

Adelphi students use the LIRR over at Nassau Blvd to get around.  It's a 13 minute walk from the campus over to the station. The University provides it's own shuttle to the Hempstead Transit Center, and I think Mineola. 

What can you say about Nassau Boulevard? Do you think it needs a bus route?

[NY1635]

43 minutes ago, lara8710 said:

What can you say about Nassau Boulevard? Do you think it needs a bus route?

Nassau Blvd doesn't need a bus route because the residents who live in the area don't want one.

[Armandito]

2 minutes ago, NY1635 said:

Nassau Blvd doesn't need a bus route because the residents who live in the area don't want one.

Then how come New Hyde Park Road has one (the n25)? Is it because the residents there want a bus route?

Edited February 5, 2019 by lara8710

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

18 hours ago, lara8710 said:

Then how come New Hyde Park Road has one (the n25)? Is it because the residents there want a bus route?

Because some areas are less snobby and/or NIMBY than others, while the rest of the areas with service actually need the buses. Just take a look at the overall demographic of NICE Bus riders and the areas it serves compared to those areas which lost most or all their bus service. It's a big difference. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

19 hours ago, lara8710 said:

Then how come New Hyde Park Road has one (the n25)? Is it because the residents there want a bus route?

 

19 hours ago, NY1635 said:

Nassau Blvd doesn't need a bus route because the residents who live in the area don't want one.

 

18 minutes ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

Because some areas are less snobby and/or NIMBY than others, while the rest of the areas with service actually need the buses. Just take a look at the overall demographic of NICE Bus riders and the areas it serves compared to those areas which lost most or all their bus service. It's a big difference. 

LOL... To live in the suburbs is to NOT use the local buses. The folks with the $$$ would rather the monies be used for the schools than the buses.  On Long Island you take the LIRR. That's ok, not NICE.  Same deal with Westchester. I have never used NICE or BeeLine. I'm either picked up from Metro-North the express bus or LIRR and grab car service. It's a pretty well known fact that local bus riders tend to be poor, so there's your answer.  Meanwhile, if you're in Manhattan, it's perfectly acceptable to use the local bus. My boss lives on the Upper East Side in a doorman building and doesn't hesitate to take the bus on Madison, but she wouldn't step foot on the subway. For everything else, when she goes to the house in the country, they get the car and drive.

[B35 via Church]

On ‎2‎/‎4‎/‎2019 at 9:28 PM, NY1635 said:

Adelphi students use the LIRR over at Nassau Blvd to get around.  It's a 13 minute walk from the campus over to the station. The University provides it's own shuttle to the Hempstead Transit Center, and I think Mineola. 

Yeah that shuttle stops at Mineola - right across the street from the western end of Mineola Intermodal....

On ‎2‎/‎4‎/‎2019 at 11:22 PM, lara8710 said:

Then how come New Hyde Park Road has one (the n25)? Is it because the residents there want a bus route?

They actually... don't.

On ‎2‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 6:38 PM, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

LOL... To live in the suburbs is to NOT use the local buses.

...a message paid for by the former Nassau county executive Ed DamA**hole.

 

 

[IAlam]

On 2/5/2019 at 6:38 PM, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

 

 

LOL... To live in the suburbs is to NOT use the local buses. The folks with the $$$ would rather the monies be used for the schools than the buses.  On Long Island you take the LIRR. That's ok, not NICE.  Same deal with Westchester. I have never used NICE or BeeLine. I'm either picked up from Metro-North the express bus or LIRR and grab car service. It's a pretty well known fact that local bus riders tend to be poor, so there's your answer.  Meanwhile, if you're in Manhattan, it's perfectly acceptable to use the local bus.

The Bee Line and NICE are both very different. Unlike NICE people actually ride Bee Line even on infrequent services. I’m always surprised at the decent loads buses get traveling some long distances. For NICE routes that should have a higher ridership just don’t. (N26 is a great example of route that really should have more people riding it) My only guess as to why NICE rider ship is so bad is attributed to the driving environments. Long Island has a lot of nice straight, flat and wide roads. While those in Westchester are much more hilly, curvy and narrow. On top of that Bee Line also offer a lot of peak express services that they don’t up charge for. Honestly I’m surprised they don’t charge premium fare on routes like the 17 and 77. NICE on the other hand doesn’t cater much for direct services, on top of that their routes and schedule are changing every few months. 

[N6 Limited]

On 2/8/2019 at 10:45 AM, IAlam said:

The Bee Line and NICE are both very different. Unlike NICE people actually ride Bee Line even on infrequent services. I’m always surprised at the decent loads buses get traveling some long distances. For NICE routes that should have a higher ridership just don’t. (N26 is a great example of route that really should have more people riding it) My only guess as to why NICE rider ship is so bad is attributed to the driving environments. Long Island has a lot of nice straight, flat and wide roads. While those in Westchester are much more hilly, curvy and narrow. On top of that Bee Line also offer a lot of peak express services that they don’t up charge for. Honestly I’m surprised they don’t charge premium fare on routes like the 17 and 77. NICE on the other hand doesn’t cater much for direct services, on top of that their routes and schedule are changing every few months. 

Didn't NICE have higher ridership than Beeline at one point?

This is kind of "old" but I came across this http://www.stephenalbonesi.com/suburban-bus-ridership/

Edited February 12, 2019 by N6 Limited

[IAlam]

2 hours ago, N6 Limited said:

Didn't NICE have higher ridership than Beeline at one point?

This is kind of "old" but I came across this http://www.stephenalbonesi.com/suburban-bus-ridership/

While I’m not sure if the overall numbers that doesn’t give you the whole story. ie. Let’s say you run a bus every hour and get 50 people on a bus and run a another bus every 20 min and get 20 people per bus. Yeah the bus service that runs every 20 min gets more passengers overall bus the bus that runs every hour gets a better usage. The Bee-Line while having a lot of short trips near NYC, it has a lot more people taking those longer trips. It’s very rare to ride a Bee Line bus that is empty for most of its trip regardless of the lines frequency. With NICE the way I see there buses is some of them have abnormally high usage while others barely have any riders regardless of the frequency. ie the n20G/H & n21 is a great example. Look at how much n21 service has been cut over the years because those buses get barely any usage. n20G on the other hand is almost always standees only. 

 

As for the the article linked I found that interesting I guess Bee Line finally passed NFTA for 2nd place in largest transit agency. Well that is if you don’t count NFTA’s LRV fleet.

Edited February 12, 2019 by IAlam

[Joel Up Front]

NICE had decent momentum going into 2013, but somewhere after that people started jumping ship in massive numbers.

[Joel Up Front]

The NGs sound like their transmissions are grinding apart and I've seen a lot of broken down 3G's.  I don't live far enough north to see the XN60s but the XN40s seem to be doing the best out of the fleet.  They'd be doing a lot better if I didn't keep seeing them involved in minor accidents.

[IAlam]

22 hours ago, Chris Alleyne said:

The main reason for that was because of the breakdowns. Things were ok in 2012-2013, but starting in 2014, the bus breakdowns started to pile up due to a couple of factors. One was the shoestring budget for bus maintenance and two was because of the aging fleet. Remember, back then the fleet was about 50/50 Orion 5/ Orion 7, and 3/4 of those Orion V CNGs were from 2000 and needed replacing badly. Because of that, people got fed up with the missing/delayed/brokendown buses and left the system. Now if NICE wants to win back riders, they have a lot of catching up to do. Since the XN40s/XN60s arrived, have the breakdowns gotten any better?

I remember very well after the nx40’s came, I got on one after taking my SAT and the bus ran out of fuel. While it wasn’t a break down it was really poor planning on their part. 

Edited February 13, 2019 by IAlam