Riders, lawmakers ask MTA to improve bus service

[checkmatechamp13]

Where are you talking about? That bus terminal would still have the S53, S57, and S59 not to mention the S40/90.

 

In any case yeah sure they got countdown clocks (thought I'd prefer that money be used for the service itself). Nowadays they have free phones for low-income people and cheapskates like me have flip phones with cheap plans where you can text the code and receive a text back.

 

In any case I'm not saying there should be more cases like the politicians and residents advocating for a Q34 extension down Willets Point Blvd or bringing it to the MTA's attention that there was overcrowding on the Q58 in Corona and people were having ridiculously long waits before they could actually get on a bus. There's plenty of gaps in service across the city but it is much harder to get a new route started or extended compared to fighting to avoid losing a route.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Where are you talking about? That bus terminal would still have the S53, S57, and S59 not to mention the S40/90.

 

In any case yeah sure they got countdown clocks (thought I'd prefer that money be used for the service itself). Nowadays they have free phones for low-income people and cheapskates like me have flip phones with cheap plans where you can text the code and receive a text back.

 

In any case I'm not saying there should be more cases like the politicians and residents advocating for a Q34 extension down Willets Point Blvd or bringing it to the MTA's attention that there was overcrowding on the Q58 in Corona and people were having ridiculously long waits before they could actually get on a bus. There's plenty of gaps in service across the city but it is much harder to get a new route started or extended compared to fighting to avoid losing a route.

That's easier said than done. The has become quite frugal with bus service overall, so getting any sort of improvements has become a huge fight.  I've opted for the bus to subway a few times in the last few weeks due to my schedule and so on, and local buses are a mess despite all of the complaints even with school being out and the weather not being too hot.  Missing buses with long waits during the rush.  They can't even run the current service, so you can't expect them to do much more than that.  Their response continues to be the same, which is we're implementing tracking technology, etc., etc., technology that they've had now for years, so that shows just how interested they are in addressing a problem that they've said don't control, citing traffic as the main issue, which I don't buy.

[checkmatechamp13]

That's easier said than done. The has become quite frugal with bus service overall, so getting any sort of improvements has become a huge fight.  I've opted for the bus to subway a few times in the last few weeks due to my schedule and so on, and local buses are a mess despite all of the complaints even with school being out and the weather not being too hot.  Missing buses with long waits during the rush.  They can't even run the current service, so you can't expect them to do much more than that.  Their response continues to be the same, which is we're implementing tracking technology, etc., etc., technology that they've had now for years, so that shows just how interested they are in addressing a problem that they've said don't control, citing traffic as the main issue, which I don't buy.

 

Well they should be fighting that fight. We should be seeing more articles of cases like the ones I mentioned (heck, even the article that was just posted about express bus service to Maspeth) and those politicians should continue to fight if that's what they believe in. They should be pointing out the stats that help their case, and keep pushing. Maybe organize some rallies and get petitions going or something or get people to show up at the MTA board meetings.

 

If it's already happening, then great, keep the pressure on. If it's not, well that's what needs to be done. At least if there's attention drawn to the issue, you have something to go off.