New express bus service: MTA continues to answer riders' concerns

[Lil 57]

Quote

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- As the implementation of the newly redesigned Staten Island express bus network rapidly approaches implementation on Sunday, Aug. 19, the MTA continues to respond to commuter inquiries. 

During Monday's live Twitter chat, hosted by the MTA and the Advance/SILive.com, New York City Transit President Andy Byford responded to a host of questions from local residents.

Questions ranged from new bus stop locations and gaps in scheduling, to bus lane enforcement and New Jersey construction projects. 

Some questions required additional research or could not fit into the 280-character tweet limit. The MTA provides answers to four such questions below:

The SIM7 at 13th & Broadway doesn't leave NYC until 3:30 p.m. Last off-peak SIM1x leaves at 2:07 p.m. That means an hour and a half without bus service. Can you fix this gap? #AskNYCT

You still have options in this window for a faster trip home than waiting for the 3:30pm SIM7: The SIM10 stops at 23 St/Broadway at 2:24 pm and the regular SIM1 begins at 2:40 pm at Broadway and Chambers Street. From 13th Street and Broadway the SIM10 can be reached by walking 10 blocks north to 23rd Street or by taking the R or W trains or the M1, M2, or M3 bus uptown. The SIM1 can be reached by taking the N, R, 4, or 5 trains or the M55 bus downtown. You can make a free transfer between Staten Island express buses and subways or local buses. We will also monitor service once it launches and adjust schedules as needed.

I work in the early morning and have to be at work by 6 a.m. According to the new schedule, you have eliminated the X1 that I took to work to make it to work by 6 a.m.! Why doesn't the SIM1/SIM1c run 24/7 like it used to? Because of this, I have no way to make it to work!#AskNYCT

This was an error that will be corrected in the online schedules. There will be weekday SIM1c trips starting from Eltingville Transit Center at 4:10 a.m., 4:26 a.m., 4:41 a.m., and 4:56 a.m. These trips will be operating when weekday service starts on August 20. 

#AskNYCT What bus will stop at Woodrow and Arthur Kill Road? I take the X21 to work from Arthur Kill Road and Woodrow Road and return home on the X17 which was eliminated as a drop off only at this stop. Why was this changed? I now have almost a mile walk home!

You will still have a bus stopping in the same place, and schedule extensions give you more trip options, too. The SIM22 (similar to the X21) will pick up and drop off on Arthur Kill Road at Woodrow Road. The SIM22 begins its last trip in Midtown at 7:00 p.m., which is one hour later than the X21 operates today. Additionally, the SIM8 (similar to the X17J) will drop off on Woodrow Road at multiple locations. The SIM8 will begin its last trip in Midtown at 9:00 p.m., which is more than two hours later than the X17J operates today.  

@NYCTBus Are there plans for a Park-and-Ride on Hylan Boulevard to supplement the loss of the South Beach Park-and-Ride for SIM7 riders? This is an extremely heavily traveled route to Downtown and would cause at least 75% of the current cars to jockey for spots in residential streets. Will not work in winter and bad weather!

There are currently no plans to acquire a Park-and-Ride lot on Hylan Blvd, but given that customers drive to Park-and-Ride lots from various locations, we think that many customers who drive today may find that walking to a new SIM route is faster and more convenient, and as we've said we will monitor the new network and make adjustments as necessary and feasible.

MTA Mobile Information Centers

In addition to responding to questions from the Twitter chat, the MTA is continuing its outreach campaign by staffing customer ambassadors at key bus stops throughout Staten Island and Manhattan to answer questions and distribute information.

The mobile information centers will be at the following locations throughout August, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.:

Eltingville Transit Center:

Thursday, Aug. 16

Monday, Aug. 20

Wednesday, Aug. 22

Tuesday, Aug. 28

Thursday, Aug. 30

College of Staten Island Campus (near Administration Bldg. 1A):

Thursday, Aug. 23

Monday, Aug. 27

Staten Island Mall, on Marsh Avenue at Richmond Hill Road:

Tuesday, Aug. 21

Wednesday, Aug. 29

Source: https://www.silive.com/news/2018/08/express_bus_questions_mta_cont.html

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Oh God... Who in the hell checks these schedules?? I'm telling you I find it utterly ridiculous that their information is always so riddled with errors!! I really would like to know what internal process they go through before posting these schedules or detour information online because it seems like they have idiots working in the back offices or people that simply NEVER use public transportation.  I suspect it's a combination of the two!!

[SIMplicity]

Mobile information centers from 10am to 2pm on weekdays??? Aren’t people going to be at work...

The whole SIM7 span reduction thing is ridiculous but at least there’s alternatives (subway to SIM1 and 10). But what about the hour-and-a-half gap between the SIM34 and SIM3c for Watchogue Rd? And the hour gap for Gannon Ave, which has no local buses, between the SIM32 and SIM4c? And the two-hour-plus gap for Port Richmond between the SIM35 (which ends almost an hour earlier than the X14) and the SIM3c?

[Gotham Bus Co.]

3 hours ago, Lil 57 said:

Source: https://www.silive.com/news/2018/08/express_bus_questions_mta_cont.html

"...leaves NYC...?"  Staten Island has been part of New York City for the past 120 years (since 1898). It's time for people to finally accept that and get on with their lives.

[Future ENY OP]

 

6 hours ago, Lil 57 said:

There are currently no plans to acquire a Park-and-Ride lot on Hylan Blvd, but given that customers drive to Park-and-Ride lots from various locations, we think that many customers who drive today may find that walking to a new SIM route is faster and more convenient, and as we've said we will monitor the new network and make adjustments as necessary and feasible.

The  did wrong by not supplying additional bus service for the Hylan Blvd Park and Ride lots.

Again, all this penny pitching is nerve reckoning and bad for Staten Island.

[checkmatechamp13]

6 minutes ago, Future ENY OP said:

The  did wrong by not supplying additional bus service for the Hylan Blvd Park and Ride lots.

Again, all this penny pitching is nerve reckoning and bad for Staten Island.

I think they actually did right by that. That South Beach Park & Ride is in the middle of nowhere, and it's 3 stops from the bridge, so you're not saving anything on a super-express. They would've been better off with the old pattern as far as distributing the service ("New Dorp via Hylan" and "ETC via Father Capodanno")

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

8 minutes ago, Future ENY OP said:

Again, all this penny pitching is nerve reckoning and bad for Staten Island.

It's bad for everyone. They can only screw around with service so much on SI because of the political clout. In Brooklyn and Queens, most districts tend to not be as vocal. Even for those who are vocal, the politicians aren't doing anything. They only bring it up around election time, and then we never hear about it again. No matter who it is, it's the same song and dance over and over again.

[bobtehpanda]

4 hours ago, Gotham Bus Co. said:

"...leaves NYC...?"  Staten Island has been part of New York City for the past 120 years (since 1898). It's time for people to finally accept that and get on with their lives.

They shouldn't let the door hit them on the way out.

[161 New York]

9 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Oh God... Who in the hell checks these schedules?? I'm telling you I find it utterly ridiculous that their information is always so riddled with errors!! I really would like to know what internal process they go through before posting these schedules or detour information online because it seems like they have idiots working in the back offices or people that simply NEVER use public transportation.  I suspect it's a combination of the two!!

It is unbelievable. Especially with the detours. I check the MTA website and Google Maps before I start my day and try to inform the newer folks (and folks I like ) about the *possibility* of them running into trouble. They have been more/less OK with posting signs as of late for the B/O's, particularly at YU.

[Deucey]

18 hours ago, Gotham Bus Co. said:

"...leaves NYC...?"  Staten Island has been part of New York City for the past 120 years (since 1898). It's time for people to finally accept that and get on with their lives.

Well, yeah, but my mail is addressed to Staten Island NY; when I lived in Fordham Hill it said Bronx NY.

Unless I'm wrong, despite "being NYC" by law, isn't the only place in these boroughs called New York City just Manhattan?

[bobtehpanda]

2 hours ago, Deucey said:

Well, yeah, but my mail is addressed to Staten Island NY; when I lived in Fordham Hill it said Bronx NY.

Unless I'm wrong, despite "being NYC" by law, isn't the only place in these boroughs called New York City just Manhattan?

This is also technically not true, but that's because New York, NY refers to New York County and not New York City.

[NewFlyer 230]

I’m starting to think that this whole system redesign is a way for the MTA to secretly cut service while telling people that these routes are better than the old ones. Can’t wait to see what they do with the local and limited routes. I guarantee since this is the MTA we are talking about the riders will get the shorter end of the stick.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

17 minutes ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

I’m starting to think that this whole system redesign is a way for the MTA to secretly cut service while telling people that these routes are better than the old ones. Can’t wait to see what they do with the local and limited routes. I guarantee since this is the MTA we are talking about the riders will get the shorter end of the stick.

Of course it is. How do you do a redesign that only costs an extra $1 million dollars???

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

1 hour ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Of course it is. How do you do a redesign that only costs an extra $1 million dollars???

And on top of that, one that was originally intended to be cost-neutral. Unbelievable.

[QM1to6Ave]

They played the same game when they cut the QM1's hours a few years back. They marketed it as "additional service to Fresh Meadows!" since a grand total of 2 stops got additional QM5 service, but in reality every one lost a lot of service. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

1 hour ago, QM1to6Ave said:

They played the same game when they cut the QM1's hours a few years back. They marketed it as "additional service to Fresh Meadows!" since a grand total of 2 stops got additional QM5 service, but in reality every one lost a lot of service. 

Not to mention all of the B/Os out of CP that skip stops along the route...

[Cait Sith]

On 8/17/2018 at 7:55 PM, checkmatechamp13 said:

I think they actually did right by that. That South Beach Park & Ride is in the middle of nowhere, and it's 3 stops from the bridge, so you're not saving anything on a super-express. They would've been better off with the old pattern as far as distributing the service ("New Dorp via Hylan" and "ETC via Father Capodanno")

They most definitely did....especially since with the creation of these routes, the corporate goons at the MTA didn't have as much of a say in how these routes are created, especially since Byford stood up for the operators out there.

[Future ENY OP]

How did the South Beach and Staten Island Mall super expresses did this morning?  

From what I’m reading there’s bunching already. However, this is day 1 with the official rush hour.  I could only guess with time buses will get with the schedule and there won’t be so much bunching. Maybe with few exceptions on certain lines. 

Honestly and truthfully the politics need to stay out of the way with bus service. The  missed the mark on some of this SIM planning. Hoping some tweaks can be made in the future. 

[Mtatransit]

55 minutes ago, Future ENY OP said:

Honestly and truthfully the politics need to stay out of the way with bus service. The  missed the mark on some of this SIM planning. Hoping some tweaks can be made in the future. 

I don’t think it was politics in this instance, I think it was penny pinching. Somebody needs to separate the planning department and the budget department in the MTA, or else for every route they are improving they will be looking to cut something else

[Interested Rider]

They will never separate the penny pitchers from the planning department as someone (or some group of employees)  always has to have the ability to say no and stop all those revenue producing ideas in their tracks. After all, it is the budget department that can tighten the screws any time that they want to to make another part of the agency's job worse by refusing to fund the request.  We cannot eliminate the politics from creating mischief when it comes to bus service as many of the top officials owe their jobs to the politicians in question. 

Any new start up program has teething problems but it is usually exacerbated by the failure to spot the errors at the beginning or at the pre-test stage and then delaying the necessary change for a considerable period of time or months after the error should have been corrected, By then, the damage has already been done and whatever should have implemented soon after the problem was noted has become worse. I have experienced it,  during the many years that I have taken transit and then watched as it took many, many years to correct the problem.  The point here is that if a change has to be made, it must be made quickly and not drag on forever with the hope that the ridership will become disgusted and seek alternatives 

In almost all agencies there is no mechanism to go outside the agency to correct a problem when to comes to budget and if it tried, the consequences could be detrimental to the worker. There are rare exceptions, however and it has happened and usually on a small scale.

 

[checkmatechamp13]

3 hours ago, Mtatransit said:

I don’t think it was politics in this instance, I think it was penny pinching. Somebody needs to separate the planning department and the budget department in the MTA, or else for every route they are improving they will be looking to cut something else

Supposedly this cost them an extra $1 million. I don't know how they arrived at that, because I see a lot of cuts (maybe they took some non-revenue mileage and classified it as revenue mileage or something)

For me personally, it was a pretty normal day. As a matter of fact, my SIM4 in the morning only had 20 people, and my SIM8 had 3 standees going home (there were more that wanted to board, but turned it down because of a lack of seats, but that's typical). There were apparently two SIM22s bunched further back, which might've contributed to it (since some people used the SIM8 to reach the ETC since it came before the SIM22)

But yeah, I'm reading the comments and the lines along 5th Avenue are crazy at the SIM6/10/31 stops. 

[Lil 57]

5 minutes ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

Supposedly this cost them an extra $1 million. I don't know how they arrived at that, because I see a lot of cuts (maybe they took some non-revenue mileage and classified it as revenue mileage or something)

For me personally, it was a pretty normal day. As a matter of fact, my SIM4 in the morning only had 20 people, and my SIM8 had 3 standees going home (there were more that wanted to board, but turned it down because of a lack of seats, but that's typical). There were apparently two SIM22s bunched further back, which might've contributed to it (since some people used the SIM8 to reach the ETC since it came before the SIM22)

But yeah, I'm reading the comments and the lines along 5th Avenue are crazy at the SIM6/10/31 stops. 

Looked on BusTime for the SIM35 and there were HUGE gaps in PM service. at 6:05 PM there were only 4 buses on the WHOLE MAP. Either the buses aren't showing up on BusTime or there were a lot of missing/late buses.

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

The SIM2 is having problems. The 6:00 PM to Downtown left at 6:20 PM. Props to the B.O. for hauling ass wherever possible though. The 6:30 PM looked like a no-show, but eventually showed up. IDK what happened to the 7:00 PM bus, but it wasn't on at 7:10 PM. I think I have a screenshot of this.

[SIMplicity]

22 minutes ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

The SIM2 is having problems. The 6:00 PM to Downtown left at 6:20 PM. Props to the B.O. for hauling ass wherever possible though. The 6:30 PM looked like a no-show, but eventually showed up. IDK what happened to the 7:00 PM bus, but it wasn't on at 7:10 PM. I think I have a screenshot of this.

The SIM2, SIM4 and SIM4c looked pretty messy. Downtown the scheduled runtime between Chambers St (2/4) or Worth (4C) and Barclay, the next stop, is 15 MINUTES. From Chambers to Barclay that’s 4 blocks. So it takes 15 mins to go 4 blocks, but the next 14 blocks with 3 stops along the way are supposed to take 10 minutes? And if you look at the schedules it’s such an obvious error. I’m not sure if the SIM2/4 left Chambers at the regularly scheduled time, or left 12-13 mins after that so they would arrive at Barclay at the scheduled time.

And speaking of the SIM2 how about that stop at Arden/Woodrow where the bus stop/digital bus arrival sign is across the street from where the bus actually stops...

What a mess...

[Via Garibaldi 8]

3 hours ago, SIMplicity said:

The SIM2, SIM4 and SIM4c looked pretty messy. Downtown the scheduled runtime between Chambers St (2/4) or Worth (4C) and Barclay, the next stop, is 15 MINUTES. From Chambers to Barclay that’s 4 blocks. So it takes 15 mins to go 4 blocks, but the next 14 blocks with 3 stops along the way are supposed to take 10 minutes? And if you look at the schedules it’s such an obvious error. I’m not sure if the SIM2/4 left Chambers at the regularly scheduled time, or left 12-13 mins after that so they would arrive at Barclay at the scheduled time.

And speaking of the SIM2 how about that stop at Arden/Woodrow where the bus stop/digital bus arrival sign is across the street from where the bus actually stops...

What a mess...

There's incompetence all around. I feel for Byford. He's the one trying to sell this plan and he doesn't have folks in place to make this work. This is really inexcusable to have this many f-ups. Clearly there is no internal process to review schedules or anything, or maybe they cut back so much that no one double checks anything. In the next Fast Forward meetings, if they aren't last minute I'm going to ask about their internal process for reviewing schedules, detours etc because they all riddled with typos. It is so incredibly unprofessional and it makes the look completely inept. If teenagers can spot these errors on this forum, why can't the people at the ?