Staten Islanders give MTA Bus Time a thumbs up

[Via Garibaldi 8]

"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -

GRANITEVILLE -

 

For Annmarie D'Elia, the morning commute to her Brooklyn office often started with a pre-dawn chase up Hylan Boulevard. At 5:30 a.m., she and her husband, Thomas would leave their Great Kills home and head for Hylan and Hillside Terrace, where Mrs. D'Elia was supposed to catch the X8 bus to Lower Manhattan.

 

But most mornings, the couple would instead see the bus speed by on Hylan Boulevard. Or, if they were even later, Mrs. D'Elia would roll down her window and ask fellow commuters whether the X8 had recently passed.

 

If she had missed her bus, the couple would set off in pursuit northbound on the Boulevard. Once they passed the bus, Thomas would drop his wife at the next bus stop.

 

"It became a running joke with the driver," said Mrs. D'Elia. "He never knew what stop I was going to board the bus."

 

Those days are over, thanks to MTA's (Metropolitan Transit Authority) new Bus Time service, which uses GPS to provide the exact locations of Staten Island buses via the Internet or text message.

 

Now, Mrs. D'Elia fires up her smartphone around 5:15 a.m. to start monitoring the X8. The MTA's website tells her when the bus has left the Eltingville depot, and she watches as it approaches her neighborhood.

 

"We make sure we're out of the house before it comes up Nelson Avenue," she said.

 

She hasn't missed a bus since. "

 

Read more:

 

http://www.silive.co...m_all_shor.html

 

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Bus Time has been great for me as well. Whenever I come down from Riverdale to go to Staten Island, I can determine where the X10 is for connecting purposes and decide whether I have time for a quick macchiato or snack which is nice since it is a long ride. I can't wait for it to come to Riverdale because while the buses are on time, it would allow me to sort of plan my trips a bit better. Last night for example, I just missed a BxM1 who was right on time. I was thinking maybe he'd leave a few minutes late, but he didn't. In that case if I had Bus Time I could've used one of my backup plans and went over to the BxM2 instead of having to wait 20 minutes for the next one and go through Inwood to boot.

[XcelsiorBoii4888]

bus time is perfect to me...i get on the s52 every morning...at hylan blvd i wait till it says tompkins and broad st...then when i walk to the bus stop its at chestnut or st marys...then i check if a s93 or s53 will come first then i check the #s and use it all the time...sometimes if im riding the bus and check the bus im on...i sometimes slow...like i would be on the s53 going down clove road...i would leave a stop...then arrive at a stop...it would then say one stop away so its a lil slow but i just come a lil earlier

[checkmatechamp13]

I was wondering why the article said "Graniteville" when it was talking about an X8 rider in Great Kills. It mentions a Graniteville rider in the unquoted part of the article.

 

In any case, I think Mr. Lipkin needs to recheck his options. He says he can take the X11 to a local bus, when in reality, the X17 would be much faster. If he gets off at the stop by Armand Street, it's like a 5-7 minute walk from the X17 stop under the SIE (and if he feels really lazy, he could take the S44 or S59 for a couple of stops). If he gets off by ShopRite (Vedder Avenue), then it's still faster to take the X17 to the S44/S59 instead of taking the X11 to those buses.

[cotb16]

I was wondering why the article said "Graniteville" when it was talking about an X8 rider in Great Kills. It mentions a Graniteville rider in the unquoted part of the article.

 

In any case, I think Mr. Lipkin needs to recheck his options. He says he can take the X11 to a local bus, when in reality, the X17 would be much faster. If he gets off at the stop by Armand Street, it's like a 5-7 minute walk from the X17 stop under the SIE (and if he feels really lazy, he could take the S44 or S59 for a couple of stops). If he gets off by ShopRite (Vedder Avenue), then it's still faster to take the X17 to the S44/S59 instead of taking the X11 to those buses.

 

 

Graniteville is the "dateline," or where the story was written.

[checkmatechamp13]

Graniteville is the "dateline," or where the story was written.

 

 

I know, but the thing is that the story was about a woman in Great Kills, and the office of the SI Advance is in Grasmere (unless the author of the article lives in Graniteville and typed it from home). I didn't realize it mentioned somebody in Graniteville until I actually opened the story up, and then it made sense (kind of)