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Random Thoughts Thread - Suffolk County Transit


Amtrak7

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Well, I had to be at Stony Brook by 9am, the train got there at 7:46 and the next one was at 9:43. So I just took the first train to Port Jeff and SCT back to kill time. The scheduled 5min connection was more like 7-8min between the slightly early train and slightly late bus so I didn't have to run.

 

The seats were also a lot more comfortable than NICE's. Also it was my first time on a <40ft transit bus (excluding cutaways).

 

I paid a $3.75 fare on the Pittsburgh farebox type pictured last year. It wasn't easy, it timed out a few times as I tried to stick bills in at the right angle with one hand holding luggage.

Welcome to Suffolk county dude. I made a trip last Thursday took the S92& 90 and 10D. Damn those areas were empty.

Ironic, advertising advertisement opportunities. Must be a comeback.

They have ballz now.

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I found the 2009 route study online, I thought it was taken down:

 

 

Now that was a waste of money. The only thing done was ordering the 81 buses. (Which needed to be done anyway, the only difference was that originally the order for new buses was to be for 50 something buses.)

 

I'm not sure if the study suggested a fare increase, if so then that was done. 

 

The only thing different was that the Study said the 81 buses would come from Gillig when the buses actually came from Orion. 

Edited by mac5689
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  • 5 weeks later...

The amount of service given on the S66 on Saturdays is insane.

 

The fact you're singling out Saturdays leads me to think you're saying that the S66 is overserved on Saturdays (and underserved on weekdays)?

Edited by Amtrak7
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I completely agree, but for SCT I'd say it suffices for now.

Yup..... Which was the message I was conveying the whole time....

It not being enough (as Q23 made the point of) is a whole 'nother issue.....

 

You won't see SCT throw a myriad of trips (service additions) on a route all at once.... They're not major providers like a MTA, NJT, etc....

 

The fact you're singling out Saturdays leads me to think you're saying that the S66 is overserved on Saturdays (and underserved on weekdays)?

Lol.... I thought the exact same thing upon first skimming of the post..... Had to reread the post a 2nd time to fully get what he was saying....

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New schedules for the S27 and S66 went into effect yesterday. Added S66 trip, revisions in Saturday S27 service, maybe more.

 

 

They were going to expand service to the routes the 2008/2009 study had suggested. Since the S66 was on that list, I'm thinking that the rest will follow. Since Sunday Service isn't suppose to go into effect until January, or at least that was the last I heard, I would assume that maybe the rest of any Service expansions will be rolled out between now and then. 

 

I think this is also the only Service expansion that SCT didn't update on their website, though they put notices up on the buses, or at least a friend saw a notice about the S66 on 1058 while it was on the 7D/E. 

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IMO, evening service (bidirectionaly until 8-9pm on most routes) should come before Sunday service on all but the busiest routes. Last buses at 5-6pm are unacceptable.

 

They seem to be providing more early morning Saturday service than I would expect (prior to 8am), can it be pared or eliminated on some routes?

Edited by Amtrak7
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IMO, evening service (bidirectionaly until 8-9pm on most routes) should come before Sunday service on all but the busiest routes. Last buses at 5-6pm are unacceptable.

 

They seem to be providing more early morning Saturday service than I would expect (prior to 8am), can it be pared or eliminated on some routes?

Would service eliminations be necessary at this point in time? If the trips can be operated without much or any loss I'd say run them.

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Would service eliminations be necessary at this point in time? If the trips can be operated without much or any loss I'd say run them.

 

Well, if the trips are removed in order to add potentially more productive evening/Sunday trips, then it's worth it.

Edited by Amtrak7
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New schedules for the S27 and S66 went into effect yesterday. Added S66 trip, revisions in Saturday S27 service, maybe more.

 

The first three weekday trips out of Babylon for the S27 have been changed to leave about 5 minutes earlier then before. They also eliminated the alternate routing that went to Montauk Hwy and Higbie Lane. Tanger Outlets has also been added to the schedule. All buses leaving Bablyon seem to have kept the same time after the 7:00 bus., all the stops especially after Tanger seem to have changed by about 10 minutes. 

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The 5:30 PM S66 runs non-stop from Mastic to Riverhead?

 

And there's another bus that originates in Mastic to Riverhead?

 

I think that's not a typo, the bus really does run express.

 

 But the only reason anyone would run two buses when the express doesn't save time would be if the original through trip was over capacity. Was that the case?

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I think that's not a typo, the bus really does run express.

 

 But the only reason anyone would run two buses when the express doesn't save time would be if the original through trip was over capacity. Was that the case?

 

I'm not aware of the 5:30 S66 running express after the Pathmark Shopping Center before, and all the times I've seen that run it's always seems to have the assigned bus that that run would have done earlier in the day. It could be a new thing though. The Company that operates the S66 had to have a special pick because of changes, since the S66 is so far the only route they have that had changes (Other then service on the S47 and them moving some routes to another yard.) it is conceivable that it is a new thing. Also since they added the last run from Riverhead being 6:50, and the 5:30 driver use to go back to the yard at that time, they could have done it so that a new driver could do the 6:50 run run and the 5:30 driver could head back to the yard as they always had. 

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  • 1 month later...
Suffolk County Budget Expands Bus Service and Creates Jobs
suffolk-bus-sct.jpg

Source: Suffolk County Transit. Sunday bus expansion will not only add service, but create jobs.

Last month Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone released his proposed operating budget for 2014. As expected, the budget included a $2 million increase in funding from New York State over last year’s budget-$24.1 million in 2014 versus $22 million in 2013-which, with the help of a Federal Job Access Reverse Commute (JARC) grant, will be used for the expansion of Sunday bus service throughout Suffolk County. This is the first time Sunday bus service will be provided throughout the County, though a successful pilot summer program was implemented on two east end routes beginning in 2011.

County Executive Bellone touts this unprecedented service expansion as one of the County’s “Key Recommendations” for the Department of Public Works, while including approximately $5 million more in County funds to the bus system as well.

Sunday service, initially expected to be rolled-out this fall, is likely to be pushed back to January 2014, however. While the delay will no doubt disappoint riders, Suffolk County Transit explains that additional drivers and mechanics must be hired in order to accommodate the service expansion.

According to Suffolk Bus Corporation, which is contracted by Suffolk County to run bus service and is the largest transit provider for the County, and data from the National Transit Database, the additional $2 million in funding could provide approximately 18,400 more hours of service, and also create roughly 30 jobs through the hiring of new drivers and mechanics.

With this additional funding injection into the bus system, County Executive Bellone is showing what happens when dedicated transit funding goes towards its intended purpose: more service is provided and jobs are created.

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Suffolk County Budget Expands Bus Service and Creates Jobs
 
suffolk-bus-sct.jpg

Source: Suffolk County Transit. Sunday bus expansion will not only add service, but create jobs.

Last month Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone released his proposed operating budget for 2014. As expected, the budget included a $2 million increase in funding from New York State over last year’s budget-$24.1 million in 2014 versus $22 million in 2013-which, with the help of a Federal Job Access Reverse Commute (JARC) grant, will be used for the expansion of Sunday bus service throughout Suffolk County. This is the first time Sunday bus service will be provided throughout the County, though a successful pilot summer program was implemented on two east end routes beginning in 2011.

County Executive Bellone touts this unprecedented service expansion as one of the County’s “Key Recommendations” for the Department of Public Works, while including approximately $5 million more in County funds to the bus system as well.

Sunday service, initially expected to be rolled-out this fall, is likely to be pushed back to January 2014, however. While the delay will no doubt disappoint riders, Suffolk County Transit explains that additional drivers and mechanics must be hired in order to accommodate the service expansion.

According to Suffolk Bus Corporation, which is contracted by Suffolk County to run bus service and is the largest transit provider for the County, and data from the National Transit Database, the additional $2 million in funding could provide approximately 18,400 more hours of service, and also create roughly 30 jobs through the hiring of new drivers and mechanics.

With this additional funding injection into the bus system, County Executive Bellone is showing what happens when dedicated transit funding goes towards its intended purpose: more service is provided and jobs are created.

 

 

I was wondering when they would say something about the Sunday Service expansion. 

Edited by mac5689
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I'm surprised there hasn't been a bigger announcement with more media covering it.

 

I wonder what the delay in rolling out the service is, giving contractors time to hire/train the additional drivers or actually the funding in hand later than expected.

 

This is a big thing for the economy for Suffolk County with the added jobs and the ability for those who rely on buses to be able to go out and spend money shopping on Sunday's!

 

I wish instead of just Sunday service SCT would expand service beyond the usal 8-9pm and add more frequent service to some of the routes.

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I'm surprised there hasn't been a bigger announcement with more media covering it.

 

I wonder what the delay in rolling out the service is, giving contractors time to hire/train the additional drivers or actually the funding in hand later than expected.

 

This is a big thing for the economy for Suffolk County with the added jobs and the ability for those who rely on buses to be able to go out and spend money shopping on Sunday's!

 

I wish instead of just Sunday service SCT would expand service beyond the usal 8-9pm and add more frequent service to some of the routes.

 

They were suppose to expand a few lines to run later, I'm not sure by how much. So far only the S66 had it's service expanded an hour later in both directions. I think that they are probably waiting to roll out any more expanded service to roll out Sunday Service. I only know that for expanded service they were going to use the routes that were listed for expanded service in the study a few years ago, which seems like they will since the S66 was on the study's list for expanded service. 

 

As for the delay, I think they probably picked January because either it was easier for the contractors either for hiring, or maybe it gave them enough time to work out new driver schedules. (I mean besides the added run at 5:30 on the S66 to Riverhead, which makes one seemingly run express, they also did the same thing for the first S66 bus out of Riverhead in the morning (which is 7:00)  

 

 

When I first saw the article with the picture of the S92, I had thought it was talking about how they expanded Sunday Service on the S92 and 10C til the end of the year. 

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