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NICE Bus plans changes aimed at improving service


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So all bus schedules will be eliminated on the N40/N41 soon, at all hours of the day?  So on a Sunday around 10pm, the schedule will say "every hour out of Freeport starting 10pm".  You won't have any idea when the bus will leave Freeport, and it's up to the bus driver's discretion to leave any time at all within that hour?

 

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1 hour ago, RtrainBlues said:

So all bus schedules will be eliminated on the N40/N41 soon, at all hours of the day?  So on a Sunday around 10pm, the schedule will say "every hour out of Freeport starting 10pm".  You won't have any idea when the bus will leave Freeport, and it's up to the bus driver's discretion to leave any time at all within that hour?

2

I would think it would be similar to the SBS and subway where there is an official schedule with timepoints, but at the individual stops, it'll say "Every X minutes", except for the first few buses of the day and the last few buses of the day (So in other words, if the bus is running a couple of minutes early, they won't tell the B/O to slow down and/or wait at the timepoints). But the thing with NICE is that unlike NYCT/MTA Bus, they cut the schedules much tighter, so it's unlikely the bus is running early in the first place (even with the B/Os flooring it). 

The issue of course, is that service on the individual branches isn't that frequent, so having an exact time that the bus is at least scheduled to arrive is important to the passengers. (Unless their ultimate goal is to merge the n40/41 and have the n43 cover Babylon Turnpike, or worse, eliminate service there altogether).

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21 hours ago, NY1635 said:

I guess they're expecting people on the nb n40/41 to get off at the District Court and walk over to Jackson for a transfer to the n6.....

Based on the fact that they're moving the nb n40/41 elsewhere inside the terminal? What......

8 hours ago, RtrainBlues said:

So all bus schedules will be eliminated on the N40/N41 soon, at all hours of the day?  So on a Sunday around 10pm, the schedule will say "every hour out of Freeport starting 10pm".  You won't have any idea when the bus will leave Freeport, and it's up to the bus driver's discretion to leave any time at all within that hour?

Solely judging n40/41 activity at Mineola intermodal, there needs to be some uniformity on that routing pair; they don't seem to arrive on any schedule as it is.... Buses depart the terminal almost empty or damn near crushloaded... It's too hit or miss in terms of passenger activity on that end; something's gotta give.....

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6 hours ago, B35 via Church said:

Based on the fact that they're moving the nb n40/41 elsewhere inside the terminal? What......

Solely judging n40/41 activity at Mineola intermodal, there needs to be some uniformity on that routing pair; they don't seem to arrive on any schedule as it is.... Buses depart the terminal almost empty or damn near crushloaded... It's too hit or miss in terms of passenger activity on that end; something's gotta give.....

I'm basing it on the fact that more people are using the n6 now that it has articulated buses to help reduce crowding on it, and people from the n40/41 usually get off at the District Court just so they can catch it on Jackson Street. They're only used during the rush hours and certain express trips to prevent them from bunching up with the locals or the 40ft express buses. The articulated have been a success, so much that people want them on the n4, and n22/24 to reduce crowding on that route.

Based on my experiences with the n40/41 at Mineola Intermodal, the crowds for the bus are either coming from Winthrop Hospital, connecting from the n23 because it's a much more direct route to North Shore than the n27, the n22/24, and on rare occasions the LIRR.

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54 minutes ago, NY1635 said:

I'm basing it on the fact that more people are using the n6 now that it has articulated buses to help reduce crowding on it, and people from the n40/41 usually get off at the District Court just so they can catch it on Jackson Street. They're only used during the rush hours and certain express trips to prevent them from bunching up with the locals or the 40ft express buses. The articulated have been a success, so much that people want them on the n4, and n22/24 to reduce crowding on that route.....

You made that original statement in question in correlation to the new bay assignments in HTC..... It's suggestive of conveying that an xfer b/w the NB n40/41 & the n6 will no longer be available inside HTC....

Reading N6 Limited's post, I'm clearly not the only person who saw it that way.....

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2 hours ago, B35 via Church said:

You made that original statement in question in correlation to the new bay assignments in HTC..... It's suggestive of conveying that an xfer b/w the NB n40/41 & the n6 will no longer be available inside HTC....

Reading N6 Limited's post, I'm clearly not the only person who saw it that way.....

The articulated runs on the n6 aren't frequent enough for such a thing to happen. NICE only has 5 of them at Mitchel Field and they can only afford to put them into service during the weekday rush when demand is high. The n6 local and express runs that use 40ft buses still stop inside HTC and people from the NB n40/41 will still be able to make the transfers inside the terminal. It's just that the DOT forbids articulated buses from entering the terminals at HTC and 165th Street because of their length, so stands on Jackson Street in Hempstead and Merrick/89th in Jamaica had to be created to accommodate the articulated buses. 

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33 minutes ago, NY1635 said:

The articulated runs on the n6 aren't frequent enough for such a thing to happen. NICE only has 5 of them at Mitchel Field and they can only afford to put them into service during the weekday rush when demand is high. The n6 local and express runs that use 40ft buses still stop inside HTC and people from the NB n40/41 will still be able to make the transfers inside the terminal. It's just that the DOT forbids articulated buses from entering the terminals at HTC and 165th Street because of their length, so stands on Jackson Street in Hempstead and Merrick/89th in Jamaica had to be created to accommodate the articulated buses. 

Exactly...

...which is why initially stating that you guess NICE is expecting riders from off the NB n40/41 disembark at the Dist. Court & walk over to catch the n6 at Jackson, made no sense to have brought up.

 

 

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1 hour ago, B35 via Church said:

Exactly...

...which is why initially stating that you guess NICE is expecting riders from off the NB n40/41 disembark at the Dist. Court & walk over to catch the n6 at Jackson, made no sense to have brought up.

 

 

The whole thing sounds really confusing the way I say it because NICE markets the n6 Articulated Buses as if they're separate from the n6 local and express service. The stop outside HTC for when the articulated buses have their own arrival times that's separate from the 40ft buses stopping inside the terminal. The paper schedules even have AX to show when they run. Instead of being treated as part of the route, it's treated more like a variant:

n6: local service

n6x: Express Service

n6Ax: Articulated Express Service

http://www.nicebus.com/NiceBus/media/NiceBus-FrontPageSlider/NICE-n6_Apr2018_v2.pdf

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On 4/13/2018 at 8:40 PM, NY1635 said:

The whole thing sounds really confusing the way I say it because NICE markets the n6 Articulated Buses as if they're separate from the n6 local and express service. The stop outside HTC for when the articulated buses have their own arrival times that's separate from the 40ft buses stopping inside the terminal. The paper schedules even have AX to show when they run. Instead of being treated as part of the route, it's treated more like a variant:

n6: local service

n6x: Express Service

n6Ax: Articulated Express Service

http://www.nicebus.com/NiceBus/media/NiceBus-FrontPageSlider/NICE-n6_Apr2018_v2.pdf

NICE has to market it that way because of where the Articulated buses terminate. When the artics started service, they would leave Jamaica and Hempstead virtually empty because riders would wait at the normal n6 bays for a bus. Also, for intermediate stops it'll help riders know which buses have extra seating and USB ports.

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On 4/15/2018 at 4:05 AM, N6 Limited said:

NICE has to market it that way because of where the Articulated buses terminate. When the artics started service, they would leave Jamaica and Hempstead virtually empty because riders would wait at the normal n6 bays for a bus. Also, for intermediate stops it'll help riders know which buses have extra seating and USB ports.

It's pretty easy for n6 riders to notice a blue accordion bus going thru Hempstead Turnpike and Hillside Avenue during the rush. So far the articulated buses are effective at handling the crowds on 168th Street and 179th Street without negatively affecting the n1's rush hour trips  to Jamaica.

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