News reporter times herself against slow buses

[Trainspotter 0]

News reporter times herself against slow buses

BY DENISE ROMANO

NY Daily News

Tuesday, November 6th 2007, 4:00 AM

 

[float=right]

Reporter Denise Romano walks up Fifth

Ave. as B63 bears down on her.

[/float]The B63 bus isn't so pokey after all − at least compared to me.

 

The B63 was a runnerup for the annual citywide Pokey Bus Award presented by the Straphangers Campaign and Transportation Alternatives, and Brooklyn's slowest-moving bus, clocking in at about 5 mph. The B15 won the borough's Schleppie Award − for the bus most prone to being late.

 

Brooklyn News decided to find out if I could walk faster than the B63, which runs from Bay Ridge to Cobble Hill.

 

At first I felt like a winner because I had to wait 15 minutes for the bus at the 86th St. and Fifth Ave. stop.

 

But once it showed up and took off, I managed to stay ahead of it for only four lousy blocks.

 

I was walking pretty fast. My feet didn't hurt, but I was getting queasy. I had eaten an egg wrap from a Starbucks near the bus stop.

 

But I guess I can't blame the coffee chain for my performance.

 

I kept walking, but that bus was long gone. I moved so fast I broke a sweat, but another B63 came along just as I hit the corner of Fifth Ave. and 41st St.

 

The third bus showed up at 14th St. − and I did stay ahead of it. For seven blocks.

 

To be fair to myself, let me just say there was no traffic during this little experiment, which began at 10 a.m. on Thursday. Nobody was double-parked, so the buses − three B63s − whizzed right through the streets.

 

Finally, I caught a break at St. Marks Ave. There was no sign of a bus, but there was tons of traffic. With the coast clear, I even had time to buy a bottle of water before I hit Atlantic Ave.

 

Standing at the corner of Fifth and Atlantic Aves. with no bus in sight, I declared myself the winner − at least against this B63.

 

After that, I took my aching legs to Bed-Stuy to check out the Brooklyn Schleppie Bus winner, the B15, which runs through Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights out to Kennedy Airport.

 

The B15 earned the citywide runnerup spot for a Schleppie Award because of its mind-numbing 88-minute journey.

 

The B15 "is horrible," said Adrienne Williams, 19, a student who rides the bus between Bed-Stuy and St. John's University in Queens every day. "It's slow and unreliable. It takes forever."

 

Almost makes you want to walk . . .

 

Well, maybe not.

 

SLOWEST BUSES

 

• B63 at 5.4 mph, from Fort Hamilton to Cobble Hill
  
• B52 at 5.9 mph, from Ridgewood to downtown Brooklyn
  
• B35 at 5.9 mph, from Sunset Park to Brownsville
  
• B43 at 6 mph, from Prospect-Lefferts Gardens to Greenpoint
  
• B60 at 6.1 mph, from Canarsie to Williamsburg Bridge Plaza
  

FASTEST BUSES

 

• B31 at 11.9 mph, from Midwood to Gerritsen Beach
  
• B15 at 10.9 mph, from Bed-Stuy to JFK
  
• B24 at 9.5 mph, from Greenpoint to Williamsburg
  
• B74 at 9.5 mph, from Coney Island to Sea Gate
  
• B51 at 9.2 mph, from downtown Brooklyn to lower Manhattan
  

Source: Straphangers Campaign

[DOB2RTO 29]

Looking at her picture, I would say she needs to walk a little more. Just like reading, exercise is fundamental.

[sebbieprops 0]

I'm surprised the Bx35 didn't make the list.

[Harry 1,088]

The B63 route is not that slow. It can be slow at times but usually it does pretty well. She chose the wrong route to go up against.

[DOB2RTO 29]

I'm surprised the Bx35 didn't make the list.

 

They call the Bx35, the baby Bx36. I was told to stay away from there, by my fellow West Farm drivers.

[Tracknut 0]

Looking at her picture, I would say she needs to walk a little more. Just like reading, exercise is fundamental.

 

I think she looks okay. A little on the chunky side but okay.

 

I would have gave her a piggy back ride and beat that bus.:mad:

[DOB2RTO 29]

I think she looks okay. A little on the chunky side but okay.

 

I would have gave her a piggy back ride and beat that bus.:mad:

 

A little on the chunky side, some men like that. I don't due to the fact most most women on the little chunky side wear tight clothes, which when they come off, they are a little on the fat side. But then again some men like big (aka healthy) girls. My father does, for sure. I hope you can handle giving a girl who is a little on the chunky side a piggyback ride. The only chunky thing I like, is chocolate chip chunks. MMMMMMMMmmmmmm.......

[Harry 1,088]

I think she looks okay. A little on the chunky side but okay.

 

I would have gave her a piggy back ride and beat that bus.:mad:

 

You're crazy man.

[sebbieprops 0]

They call the Bx35, the baby Bx36. I was told to stay away from there, by my fellow West Farm drivers.

 

 

They sure gave you some good advice. Last Thursday afternoon, a short ride from the Concourse to Simpson was just horrible.