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


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1 minute ago, Around the Horn said:

1. I totally agree with you on that, lol...

Once I started commuting regularly to school, the X27/37 has become a godsend. I used to (foolishly, I'll admit) think they were a waste.

I was there trying to fight through the VMAs mess to get to the 48th Street bus stop for my X37 (usually I go to Bryant Park, and I probably should have in retrospect). It was a complete mess. A long conga line of buses for what felt like miles.

2. What was kinda funny and annoying was that  I saw the X37 cross 49th while I was still walking east so I ran over to 48th and 5th to find out that they put up the SIMs there and took down the X27/28/37/38 sign without replacing it <_<. I wasn't gonna risk the bus passing me so I ended up running down to I think 44th where there was a X27/37 sign, and it took 15 minutes after I arrived for that bus to get to the stop. Meanwhile, theres a SIM6, SIM10 and SIM30 stuck in the bus lane cause some moron parked their car there...<_< and there was no way for the buses to go round it until it moved so my X37 was just sitting behind the SIM30 for what felt like forever. Thank god there wasn't a pop up shower cause I had no umbrella with me lol

 

1. Uh huh... I've been riding the express bus for a good 12 years now and I still remember my first ride as a 20 something year old... Tried it out for the first week after being sick.  Quite frankly it was my last resort because I had been leaving earlier and earlier to get to work because the S98 was worse and worse, and I was sick of spending more of my sleeping time waiting at the damn bus stop with the bus coming late if at all or so packed that I couldn't get on, so I said let me try this as a one week experiment and I never looked back.  Sure the express bus has its problems and delays, but I had the S98 to the ferry to the (1) to Chambers to the (2) or (3) to 14th or the (1) to 18th and then a walk to my office.  It made things a lot easier because I had fewer transfers to make, with fewer chances to be delayed, and more reliable and faster service.  Sometimes with the S98 being delayed and late and missing the ferry, I would spend an extra 30 minutes minimum on top of what is an hour and 15 minute commute.  

2.  Yeah, that car parking there in the bus lane is just the tip of the iceberg. Just think about what it'll be like when school starts up again... The end of August is usually the least busiest part of the year traffic wise and you see how bad it's been.

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1 minute ago, trife86 said:

B.O.s are being told to call BCC if their bus has overcrowding, what BCC does on each instance I'm not sure.

But it's the first time i ever seen the BCC actually tell us to call up and say when we have overcrowding

I guess they're trying to get some data to adjust the schedules? Seems like automated passenger counters would be more accurate though...

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11 minutes ago, Around the Horn said:

I guess they're trying to get some data to adjust the schedules? Seems like automated passenger counters would be more accurate though...

Please.  They had data.  What they leave out of that info that is posted above is there are FEWER routes so f course it looks like there is more service and there should be since you should more people using the buses with fewer routes.  

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I'm annoyed at how they've been trying to act like they're being proactive instead of admitting that they f-cked up royally with this "re-design".  Every day now they've put up notices about there being delays due to traffic on 5th Avenue when we're in August and there's two bus lanes on 5th Avenue.  Now the question is are they going to realize how stupid this plan was of moving everything to 5th Avenue...

 

MTA Service Status

Delays  Posted: 08/23/2018  4:57PM 

SIM3, SIM6, SIM8, SIM23, SIM24, SIM25, SIM26, SIM30 and SIM31 buses are running with delays because of traffic on 5 Av at 42 St. 

Service Change  Posted: 08/23/2018  4:45PM 
 

SIM15 buses are detoured because of construction on Warren St and Broadway.

Detour is as follows:

SIM15 Staten Island Bound: Via Church Av, right on Chambers St, right on Broadway and regular route.



Service Change  Posted: 08/23/2018  2:05PM 
 

As promised, we've been monitoring the brand new Staten Island express bus service since the first bus left the depot, and we've been making immediate adjustments in response to customer feedback and observations on the ground.

So far identified and addressed:

Morning Service

We've expanded our early morning Midtown, Manhattan-bound SIM1c service with four extra buses departing Eltingville Transit Center at 4:10AM, 4:26AM, 4:41AM and 4:56AM.

Looking to take early morning SIM10 service? We've added more Midtown, Manhattan-bound buses departing Eltingville Transit Center at 4:48AM and 4:58AM.

Great news for SIM8 customers: We've added supplemental Midtown, Manhattan-bound service departing Huguenot, Staten Island at 6:00AM.

We've increased Downtown, Manhattan-bound SIM34 bus service departing Mariners Harbor, Staten Island at 6:54AM and 7:54AM.

We've added SIM4c service to make it easier to travel to the College of Staten Island. A S/B bus now departs Midtown, Manhattan at 7:40AM.

Afternoon and Evening Service

Eltingville Transit Center, Staten Island-bound SIM7 customers are receiving two earlier options for S/B service: Buses are departing Downtown, Manhattan at 2:30PM and 3:00PM.

We've moved the Staten Island-bound SIM6, SIM10, and SIM31 bus stop previously located at 5th Avenue and 43rd Street to 5th Avenue and 41st Street, to allow for faster trips by allowing for southbound buses to bypass the congestion of 42nd Street.

We are continuing to review PM rush service including monitoring closely when it is necessary and feasible to add additional buses.

It's important to us for Staten Islanders to understand our new SIM network as well as our vision for further improvements. Don't forget to sign up for the new SIM routes' e-alerts at mymtaalerts.com

---

That last line is funny...

 

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8 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

It's important to us for Staten Islanders to understand our new SIM network as well as our vision for further improvements cuts. Don't forget to sign up for the new SIM routes' e-alerts at mymtaalerts.com

 
1

Fixed 😉

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6 hours ago, Future ENY OP said:

There wasn’t enough planning and methodology to release these new Staten Island Express routes. How do you go from 30+ express buses to 21 express buses and most don’t serve the whole entire part of the island. 

The purpose of a re-design is to cover all areas not serviced by subway and local bus. In this instance the dense parts of Staten Island. All this penny pitching is getting the (MTA) in trouble. 

Most areas are still covered in some form (some lost off-peak service, and some lost evening service, but neighborhood-wise, they still have some type of service).

But yeah, that's the key: There really wasn't enough planning. Back in 2010, they released both an original report attempting to justify the changes, and a follow-up report once the changes were implemented. They showed how much money was saved for each reduction, how many people were affected, and the extent to which they were affected. We had no explanation this time around.

The Co-Op City Bus Study and Northeast Queens Bus Study had a decent amount of detail (over 100 pages each), yet we wait 2 years for a report (and 3 years for implementation) and we get a little 25 page Powerpoint that covers the express system of an entire borough.

6 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

It isn't just in Midtown either... Downtown was a mess too...

More people left behind this morning...

39913616_2105722516104734_85921297841447

I'll guess the SIM7 at Steuben & Narrows....

6 hours ago, biGC323232 said:

I agree....Worrying about saving a penny and gonna lose a 100 dollar bill.....

The sad thing is, this supposedly cost them an extra $1 million per year.

6 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

There are people out. In that photo there's an orange vest, which is why that lady on the line is talking to them likely because she's been waiting and can't get on the buses that are coming as they overcrowded.  Conceptually this is a good idea overall. In other words, I totally agree that the buses should be making fewer stops. However, I DON'T agree with them all running down 5th in Midtown and primarily running up 6th when people need the East Side and Madison Avenue. That forces them to have to transfer when you've already removed their stop or changed it so that they either have to now WALK or DRIVE to reach the new bus stop, so maybe they save 10-15 minutes on the actual bus ride, but then lost it right back walking, driving or transferring, so the only one that saves is the (MTA) . It's a joke that unfortunately isn't really funny.  

I don't get how you think the majority of buses run up 6th Avenue, when it's only 2 lines from the FDR. Meanwhile 2 lines from the FDR still run up Madison, and the 7 lines through the Lincoln Tunnel still run up Madison. I know the SIM10 is frequent, but the SIM6 is also frequent, and the frequencies for the SIM3/31 are also similar. Add in the "via NJ" buses and clearly they still put more on Madison.

1 hour ago, Union Tpke said:

This about sums up how bad the plan has been.

....and there's still so much more left to address....

38 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Please.  They had data.  What they leave out of that info that is posted above is there are FEWER routes so f course it looks like there is more service and there should be since you should more people using the buses with fewer routes.  

They had data, but they clearly didn't use it.

And in terms of trips, they added 68 weekday trips, but a lot of them were the off-peak SIM2 trips

1 minute ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

So day four of "normal weekday service"... <_< This is the SIM7...

As soon as I pointed out the lack of service on that line, both myself and the lady who sent that picture knew it was going to be nowhere near enough. Even doubling it probably wouldn't be enough.

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1 hour ago, Around the Horn said:

I guess they're trying to get some data to adjust the schedules? Seems like automated passenger counters would be more accurate though...

Yes but those counters would not be able to address real time issues, the farebox counts it all, how often it gets uploaded anywhere I'm not sure. But the express busses fareboxs only get 'probed' every other day.

 

Sorry I can't be of much else help lol I hate express.

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4 minutes ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

I don't get how you think the majority of buses run up 6th Avenue, when it's only 2 lines from the FDR. Meanwhile 2 lines from the FDR still run up Madison, and the 7 lines through the Lincoln Tunnel still run up Madison. I know the SIM10 is frequent, but the SIM6 is also frequent, and the frequencies for the SIM3/31 are also similar. Add in the "via NJ" buses and clearly they still put more on Madison.

It's about what I don't get. The people that need the service are the ones complaining about having to transfer to reach Madison, so clearly there's a problem. The fact of the matter is there are fewer routes running than before and they're trying to pass this off as a service enhancement when it isn't.

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2 minutes ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

Most areas are still covered in some form (some lost off-peak service, and some lost evening service, but neighborhood-wise, they still have some type of service).

But yeah, that's the key: There really wasn't enough planning. Back in 2010, they released both an original report attempting to justify the changes, and a follow-up report once the changes were implemented. They showed how much money was saved for each reduction, how many people were affected, and the extent to which they were affected. We had no explanation this time around.

 

*Key word. Lost service*

The purpose of a re-design is to establish service that has little to no bus service and not to cut on service.

However, in this case in Staten Island. I don't know too much about the Island, just only by driving down the SIE/278 and 440, and the Staten Island Mall. All the other areas you lose me. Its people like you, @Via Garibaldi 8, @trife86, @SevenEleven that keep me in tuned to what's going on in Staten Island. The ends have to justify the means and in this case the (MTA) blew it. Lucky the media hasn't made a field day YET besides the Staten Island Advance and maybe NY1.

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Starting Aug. 24, two trips will be added to the SIM6, at 7:20 p.m. and 7:50 p.m., to give commuters options to go home later in the evening

Starting Aug. 24, two trips will be added to the SIM35 at 6:35 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. to give commuters options to go home later in the evening

Starting Aug. 24, a shuttle will be run to provide service from Eltingville Transit Center to Woodrow Rd and Huguenot Av between 10:43 p.m. and 1:30 a.m., to provide better service to points on the southern end of the Island

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9 minutes ago, SIMplicity said:

Starting Aug. 24, two trips will be added to the SIM6, at 7:20 p.m. and 7:50 p.m., to give commuters options to go home later in the evening

Starting Aug. 24, two trips will be added to the SIM35 at 6:35 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. to give commuters options to go home later in the evening

Starting Aug. 24, a shuttle will be run to provide service from Eltingville Transit Center to Woodrow Rd and Huguenot Av between 10:43 p.m. and 1:30 a.m., to provide better service to points on the southern end of the Island

Being us operators already have our picked work in effect I'm not sure where they would get these extra operators for for these extra trips they are supposedly adding.. unless they are utilizing people directly off the extra list which in turn would make the extra list a lot smaller and therefore less runs being covered elsewhere, which in turn does not help a God damn thing....

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22 minutes ago, SIMplicity said:

Starting Aug. 24, two trips will be added to the SIM6, at 7:20 p.m. and 7:50 p.m., to give commuters options to go home later in the evening

Starting Aug. 24, two trips will be added to the SIM35 at 6:35 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. to give commuters options to go home later in the evening

Starting Aug. 24, a shuttle will be run to provide service from Eltingville Transit Center to Woodrow Rd and Huguenot Av between 10:43 p.m. and 1:30 a.m., to provide better service to points on the southern end of the Island

A shuttle? Are they too cheap to have direct service to Manhattan? Of course they are.

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18 minutes ago, trife86 said:

Being us operators already have our picked work in effect I'm not sure where they would get these extra operators for for these extra trips they are supposedly adding.. unless they are utilizing people directly off the extra list which in turn would make the extra list a lot smaller and therefore less runs being covered elsewhere, which in turn does not help a God damn thing....

What route would the shuttles go under? Thanks.

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23 minutes ago, Union Tpke said:

What timetable would they show up under on the website?

Usually they do not, the internal MTA website where I can pull up paddle reports for Every NYCT revenue bus does not have shuttles on it. I think the shuttle schedules are made on that day....

 

I could be wrong but I never seen them listed anywhere...

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1 minute ago, trife86 said:

Usually they do not, the internal MTA website where I can pull up paddle reports for Every NYCT revenue bus does not have shuttles on it. I think the shuttle schedules are made on that day....

 

I could be wrong but I never seen them listed anywhere...

Even if it is a permanent service?

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9 minutes ago, Union Tpke said:

Even if it is a permanent service?

It might be there somewhere but I never seen it.... ( I don't try to be know it all like some on here) I have no problem saying I don't know or I'm a dumbass lol

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