It’s so laughably predictable— the Times does a story on buses and never gets out of Manhattan.
Here’s a thought... put on your pith helmets and safari vests and venture out to eastern Queens where the subway ends and where taxis do not roam 24/7.
See what the problems are in the bus hubs of Jamaica and Flushing. They are different than the problems in Manhattan.
It’s great to want to improve bus service in Manhattan, but really, try to broaden your horizons.
25
When the Transit Police was a separate agency, the President of the NYCTA had authority to order the police to go after conditions. With the merger, that ability to get certain tasks done is gone.
2
In Ottawa, we have GPS that tells when the next bus will arrive at the stop. Is NYC’s system too large and complex for this type of system?
Buses being able to go through green lights is great! Nothing is worse than inching down a busy street with stops every 500 feet and red lights at every intersection.
6
I stop using the crosstown bus 0n 79th Street, new lanes created for buses made it worse, I can walk from York to 5th Avenue faster than the bus and I am 64. To say nurse are slow is an understatement.
4
The Traffic Signal Priority was introduced 7 years ago and is still being tested!!?
It is simply a shameful and outrageous situation. This city, for all its "capital of the world" bragging is the laughingstock of the world.
11
How ridership is counted remains a great mystery. We know that fares are part of the estimate. We in the NW Bronx have observed fairly frequent blocking of the fare boxes. Last evening (Thurs, Mar 8) the Bx20 bus that arrived around 6:15 at 231 and Tibbett had its farebox blocked by a piece of cardboard. We have even seen dispatchers order drivers to wave passengers onto the Bx10 at 231 and Broadway without paying. So, the MTA is playing games with fares and with rider counts.
8
We live in Fresh Meadows, Queens. Unless we walk .44 miles (by the MTA’s own trip planner) and then take the Q46 bus to Kew Gardens, there is no direct single bus service to the nearest subway, the F train at 179th Street, that makes any sense. Our local bus, the Q88, winds it’s way to Elmhurst to a local IND stop on Queens Blvd and Woodhaven Blvd. I’ve only tried it once but this elongated trip makes no sense.
Now walking .44 miles to a bus is okay on a nice spring or summer day but on a cold, wintry day or night and as we have aged, it can be a challenge. And, then you find your bus stop is a local one with one or more buses flying by until the local bus finally approaches.
We used to have a Q73 bus, that stopped on the corner and went directly to the 179th Street subway. But the MTA discontinued that service some years ago as a cost cutting endeavor. Now, I understand cost and benefit analysis. The first thing a transportation planner will ask is where is the demand? However, as a government operation, the question should be, where is the service and how can we provide it? When one hears that the City invested about $500 million to shave off a few minutes travel time on bus service on Woodhaven Blvd., you wonder if they could have saved the Q73 and improved a lot of other bus lines a little bit.
Our answer to our bus situation is, we get in our car, drive to Forest Hill, add to traffic and parking congestion, and walk a couple of blocks to the subway...
13
Yes - buses are painfully slow! Here is an idea - let’s dedicate specific crosstown blocks as buses only.
Then you could have real rapid transit without having to build partitions.
So buses run across 17th and loop back on 18th - no traffic and no issues.
Let get some real rapid transit in NYC - not blocked by turning vehicles.
14
How about curbside bus lanes on major thoroughfares durning rush hour? Jamaica Ave, Hillside Ave, Union Turnpike, Horace Harding Expressway and Northern Blvd for example. Enforcement of bus lanes and bus stops. Have NYPD tow trucks at the ready. Pay before boarding using all doors to enter the bus, all things to speed up and improve Bus service.
6
No mention in this article about express buses that transport people from the outer boros into Manhattan and back. Why not?
These buses are a gem and should be greatly expanded. Instead, the MTA has raised the fare to unaffordable for most on a daily basis, severely cut back on schedules thus making it difficult to impossible to get where you need to by riding them, and run intercity sized buses at times when a minibus would suffice. Such poor management; so many changes that could make this form of transportation highly utilized but will probably never be implemented.
Instead of using decreased riderdhip to cut service, why doesn't the MTA look at the reasons behind the decrease and act to make revisions that'd increase ridership? With the subways such a mess, express buses could remove much of subway overcrowding, which is more uncomfortable on the long journeys into and out of Manhattan.
Mr. Byford, take a look at this neglected part of the bus system.
18
Not having a subway connection the MTA express buses is Staten Island's 'subway'. The MTA just released their latest plan after two year study of SI express routes. It's not the final plan but it's a little better than the first plan.
Rush hour express bus service between Worth Street and 14th Street is eliminated in the new plan. Many Staten Islanders work in that area now. The MTA says that they can transfer onto the already crowded subways to reach their destinations - after the longest bus commute in the city and paying the $6.50 fare. On SI the MTA seems to be encouraging the use of park-and-rides, but that would just put more cars on the road. The final routes will be announced after the public hearings.
The MTA will be conducting a similar study of Brooklyn express routes soon. Make sure your elected officials keep up the pressure on them.
MTA SI express bus plan 03/2018 and related items (pdf) -
https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/594259ef-8c3c-4f06-8e93-b54af4c3d8c9
3
I miss the old buses. The rounded ones. These new ones are eco friendly but they are smaller and cannot fit as many people as the old ones. And people are bigger.
6
Ever since I can remember, when buses finally do arrive, they do so in convoys. If that is the case, why not link them into one long bus and then run it on a system of rails?
11
I would genuinely like to know why New York is still investing in elevated subway lines in the twenty-first century instead of building out a citywide tram system on the streets below.
6
I hope the MTA is reading the comments on all these articles on technologies needed to improve bus and subway commuter efficiency. The MTA might learn greatly from the readers who are suggesting additional solutions to the delays.
6
Great that buses have also become part of our dysfunctional subway discussion in NYC. It seems our city will never find a solution for the mass rail transportation system's problem underground, then why not exercising the idea turning bus routes of NYC's five boroughs into a comprehensive light rail systems network on the surface?
7
I agree. I don't know why we haven't added light rail, and lots of it. It can be built much more quickly than subway lines (at least in other cities; I suppose in New York, where transit costs 5 times as much to build it might also take 5 times as long). Among other things, it would provide a much faster way to travel across town in manhattan,like on 42d street and other major crosstown streets. And in the outer boroughs it could ring the outer reaches of those places, providing a faster link to existing subway and rail lines.
6
"Andy Byford, who became the president of New York City Transit in January, rode a bus in Manhattan along Lexington Avenue. He has made improving bus service a priority."
Mr. Byford should ride the M101 downtown on a extremely cold winter night, any evening during rush hour, on rainy days, or just very late night hours and learn how many times a rider can embark on this route, but be off loaded along the way as MTA frequently, and without notification, changes the passengers' route.
15
Recently moved to the Bronx from Queens. Why don't people on the BX 9, 10, pay their fare? They enter in the back of the bus and the driver says nothing. I think that half of the problem is that the outer boroughs are like outliers and the MTA doesn't make any money. No cameras for fare beaters? Why not? Bus service will not improve until there is more revenue.
10
It speeds up crowded bus stops to ignore back door uses for entering the bus and they are mostly kids who ride for free on school passes . They need the extra ride to go to practices or the library. Adults xfering to subways will pay anyways. It's culture.
5
Use the already pervasive NYPD camera system in Manhattan to snap photos of cars stopped in bus and bike lanes and send them a ticket. The hardware and plate recognition algorithms already exist. If it’s not a bus, it gets a ticket.
12
They do that already.
1
Reduce Taxis
Reduce Truck deliveries
Limit where/when construction vehicles can be ....
Will this ever happen
Doubt it..
6
When I take the m60 the most common violater of parking in the bus lane are state police cars. The police should police themselves first.
23
unless its off hrs buses are useless. you can easily walk as fast as they ride
4
I take the bus every day to/from work. I take the M9 Bus. Extremely convenient to where I live and work. In the morning it runs well. Nice drivers all are on time but the evening is terrible! The worst drivers the MTA have are driving the M9 bus during the evening hours. It's not unusual for me to wait 40 minutes at least twice a week for the bus home. I am ready to send the MTA my taxi receipts for reimbursement.
Buses are the only option for some of us who live/work very far east and very far west of Manhattan so it would be nice if we could depend on them.
10
But wait! We're all meant to be embracing cycling, aren't we? The parents with strollers, the little kids heading to school, the workers with their tools, the shift workers, the elderly with their canes, everyone riding through the snow and hail and rain and scorching sun etc, etc. That's why millions have been spent on dedicated bike lanes at the expense of dedicated public transit lanes...? Right?
15
Actually, I’m unaware of any bike lanes that have taken over bus lanes.
Can you name one?
Bikes are great. So are buses. Both face the same problem- streets clogged with single passenger cars.
5
Bike lanes and bus lanes are not mutually exclusive. In fact, there are both protected bike lanes AND bus lanes on 2nd Avenue, for example. Further, bike lanes are--I believe--paid for by DOT, not the MTA.
3
In midtown Manhattan I have repeatedly observed along SBS routes how one individual illegally parked vehicle can strangle the efficient and expeditious functioning of these potentially important assets to moving people. And the culprit vehicle ? More often than not, the vehicle is displaying a NYC issued " Handicapped Permit", and such a vehicle is NEVER, EVER issued a parking ticket. The easy solution to this problem, if indeed they appear exempt to ever getting a ticket: give such permit holders the same treatment as any other vehicle owners - if you must travel into midtown by car, park in a parking garage, and for the valid permit holder, give them a waiver on all state and local taxes for such parking.
13
It would be really nice if the transit authority would have some people pick up the mountains of trash strewn alongside the tracks near Grand Central. It can't be that hard to tidy up once in a while.
6
MTA has buses, such as on 49th Street crosstown bus, wait at a bus station, (east 49th st and first ave) for 15 minutes--and the passengers have to sit and wait in the bus for that rest period to end. Sometimes they are left alone when the driver on rest break goes to the nearest store for his mojo or whatever. This never happened before until recently. Buses, such as M20 on 8th ave, change drivers while passengers are sitting and waiting to get to their destination. The system needs to be overhauled.
7
This timely article tackles an issue that is under the radar of the MTA as it tackles its subway issues. During a recent visit to NYC, the 'select bus' line that provided a 'cross-cut' service from the Upper East Side to the Upper West Side via 86th Street worked like a charm. How convenient is was to prepay for the trip and simply get on board via any door. But that type of service was present in the Bronx, where, after a visit to Wave Hill (Riverdale), the bus route from Riverdale to Broadway was chock full of nit-picking stops and had too many red lights. Ditto for the route from 207th Street to Pelham Parkway via Fordham Road. The 'green light' system, as described in this article, coupled with more 'select bus' services in areas where there is no satisfactory 'cross cut' subway lines (ie The Bronx and many parts of Queens) deserve more support from the MTA.
9
If Buses are correlated with demand make sure you're surveys are accurate. The Queens corridor buses especially the Q 65 a very crowded bus peak and off peak almost never runs after 6pm from Jamaica LIRR to Flushing and College Point. People wait up to 45 minutes for this bus and consequently every ride is like a sardine can. Poor planning on the part of MTA Bus.
11
1. Curbside bus lanes on major thoroughfares like Hillside Ave, Northern Blvd and Union Turnpike durning rush hour.
2. Off board payments or a contactless system will allow riders to wave their credit card, phone & etc.
3. Northeast queens needs help every bus line to the Flushing subway station makes every stop to the subway have a bus do limited stops (Q12, Q13).
4. Maybe start a new sbs bus line from main st flushing to Columbus Circle via Northern Blvd.
13
"a relatively cutting edge technology that reduces travel time"
But Zürich has had these infrared sensors for its buses for over 25 years.
13
The inconveniences of the NYC subway have lead me to switch to the buses, and I have been very pleased with the experience. Gone are the unending steps, the noise, dirt, intense crowding, and confusion of the subways. The buses are modern, generally uncrowded, and get to their destinations reasonably fast. The system is comprehensive and well thought out, and frequency is more than a adequate. I think NYC can be satisfied with its buses.
12
Me too. I gave up on the subway 2 years ago. Now my commute is much nicer, less stressful and I always have a seat. Can the buses be improved? Absolutely. Bus lanes need to be for buses only (why on earth are there deliveries at rush hour???) and all buses should be Select. And please stop with the bunching - not sure which genius came up with that idea. Other than that, I enjoy my morning bus ride and only take the subway when I don't have a choice.
13
For starters, make all Manhattan crosstown buses fareless. This would drastically decrease dwell time. Also, the MTA would not lose money because most of those riders will or already have, switch to/from other lines, and may even encourage more people to take a bus. I've seen this in downtown Seattle where in that congested area people just got on the bus, which greatly improved service.
45
Re: Seattle
Unfortunately Seattle eliminated the free zone in downtown a few years ago
3
Here’s an idea to discourage stopping in bus lanes: equip buses with cameras that can be operated by the driver to take a photo of the license plate of any vehicle blocking the bus lane so the owner can be given a ticket.
68
Barry, if the buses are equipped with cameras that get all the bus lane scofflaws, suddenly a lot of cops are going to get tickets... which would be wonderful.
5
"New York City has the slowest buses of any major American city, with an average speed of 7 miles an hour." If one wants proof that New York City ranks with cities in much less developed countries in public transportation, just ride the buses. The M20 is a nightmare. The posted schedule is either a joke or an intentional lie. Why the bus has to stop at every second block as it shudders through the heavily tourist blocks in the West 40s, the theatre crowds of Time Square, and the stopped traffic at the Holland Tunnel is a major mystery. There is one answer though: the NYC buses are run by an incredibly backward management, old boy/old girl culture. People who come to work only to be able to count the days to retirement.
23
I'm fascinated by the Traffic Signal Priority system and thrilled it's actually in use, all be it on just a few routes. Two questions: which routes actually have it? Is there a list somewhere? And can buses somehow show they are using the system with some special lights of their own?
And what happens at a traffic junction if buses on perpendicular routes are approaching at the same time!? :)
Let's put this on more routes!
6
Enforcement, or the lack thereof, of traffic violations alone would improve the movement of buses and general traffic throughout the city. Not just relating to vehicles standing both on bus-dedicated lanes, as well as bus stops, but also for courier and delivery vehicles such as UPS, FedEx and even USPS who boldly do as they please. If there were more NYPD officers out there to maintain clearance along these vital streets and corridors, than there are officers out there "policing" communities of color, there may just be considerable improvement to the city's transportation system.
13
Worth noting:
Since 2010, the MTA has cut bus routes and bus frequency which translate into 1) less reliable or even no service and 2) longer waits. (Route cuts include: M5 split into M5 and M55, M104 route cut east/west on 42nd Street etc).
So people give up - and "ridership declines." It is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Does MTA data reflect that on most weekends April-October, buses are diverted due to Manhattan street closures for "charity" marathons/walks, bike "events", parades and street fairs?
(one example: the March of Dimes completely shuts down crosstown M66 service). Although the buses are theoretically re-routed, in fact there is no way to even find the bus - and then there is the issue of slow traffic due to street closure spillover. Riders can't use buses that are not running.
(BTW not clear why these events get to trump New Yorkers' access to bus transportation?)
The MTA could not possibly count riders who don't pay - ie young children. So a bus may be full with adults and young children, but only adults are counted as riders.
Traffic congestion has many causes: more development, construction vehicles, more commercial-service vehicles, increased ecommerce delivery vehicles, Uber and bike lanes which slow traffic - all this impacts on buses.
14
This note is to reinforce the lament regarding splitting the M5 and M104 routes.
The idea is that people can just hop off the bus when its route ends in the middle of the journey and then hop on to another bus, either at the same stop (M5) or down the block and around the corner and up the block (M104).
However, with the point that many people who no longer take the subway due to aging off of steps are now on the bus, "hopping" off, walking, waiting and "hopping on" is not a realistic description of the newly introduced inconvenience.
8
This is one of the reasons I go to Lincoln Center less than I used to. The old 104 that ran east/west in addition to north/south was a great way to get home in late evening without having to change. Just got on at Lincoln Center and rode it all the way to 42d and 2d, then walked a couple of blocks. Many other women did too. Some got off at GCT to catch the train, others got off at 3d, 2d, 1st, sometimes to walk like me, other times to switch to another bus or a cab. Lincoln Center and other major institutions (arts orgs, plus hospitals, corporations, etc.) seem disinclined to lobby in favor of decent public trans. Don't know why.
Now I am stuck taking the stinking shuttle/#1 subway both ways.
3
How about more bus routes in northeastern Queens. The closest LIRR station is in Bayside, but there is no local bus taking you from Whitestone to that station. The nearest "hub" is Flushing, where traffic is horrible.
12
And, of course, when you get to the LIRR station, you find that the Port Washington branch has better service on the WEEKENDS, which is pretty much the opposite of every normal transit system anywhere.
4
Let's face it, the buses in Manhattan are a mess and no one is doing much about it. On 5th Ave, recently (which in the 70's has FOUR bus routes), I waited 20 minutes before one arrived that was accepting passengers. The group that formed at the bus stop all had a nice chat about the lack of service. We agreed the most popular buses these days are "Next Bus Please" and "Not In Service". Of course , when the bus finally arrived, it was packed to the roof. I wonder if anyone at the MTA really cares at all about service. I often think I am living in a developing nation when it comes to mass transit.
22
I depend on the M14 and the M21 in the Lower East Side. The M14D is unbelievably overcrowded most hours of the day, yet still trots out lumbering old (and yes, bunched) buses that are dirty, moldy and leak badly in rain and snow. Yet it's still faster than the M14A, also overcrowded, but which for some reason runs about a 1/3 less frequently. The M21 is the opposite --though it's the only bus to connect the LES with Soho and Greenwich Village, it's been trembling on the verge of cancellation for years due to underuse, and I suspect it's given as a lower-rank route to bus drivers, as they don't seem to pay any attention *at all* to the schedule, which, for a bus that runs only twice an hour, is not a good thing. I'm sure if the M21 were more dependable, its ridership would go up. As it is, most people give up and walk after waiting a half hour or more for it. Anyway, some days I really wonder that I'm living in one of the richest cities in the world--you'd never know it while on a bus.
14
Meanwhile, Germany is experimenting with free mass transit to reduce air pollution: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/02/14/germany-to-...
The mass transit crisis in New York, New Jersey, Boston, etc. significantly impacts the environment. Without a great transit system, more and more people will use cars.
Thank you to the NY Times for continuing to report on this.
9
Ah, it seems the perfect time to bring back the trolleys.
They moved much faster and more safely.
One of the first buses to replace the reliable trolleys killed a Native American
crossing to take part in a performance at MS 54 in Brooklyn.
As Faulkner explained, "The past is not dead. It's not even past."
6
I like taking the bus (only done it in Manhattan), though I generally only use it when I'm not in a big hurry. I like that they can be tracked online (unlike subways) and that they're generally cleaner with far fewer mentally disturbed people or panhandlers.
The bus lanes are good when they're clear, but in my experience, this is hardly ever the case. There are always people parked/stopped in those lanes, forcing the bus to weave in and out of the regular lanes. I wish buses had dash cams so cars blocking bus stops could be reported and ticketed.
15
When I'm staying in Queens, we'll take the Q32 bus to Penn Station when there is a problem with the 7 train . The problem is once we're in midtown everything comes to a crawl, especially crossing to the west side.
I believe congestion pricing will greatly improve this situation and all bus times in Manhattan.
9
Since moving to Riverdale, I've been giving friends rides to my place when they visit. I tell them to take the A train to Inwood, where I pick them up. It would take them two buses, or 30-40 min., to travel from there to my place in Spuyten Duyvil, normally 10 min. by car. This is just crazy. While traffic is definitely a problem, it's the bus routes as well that need to be re-thought.
11
Problem #1 is that operators of "official" vehicles, especially buses, are immune to traffic law enforcement.
When a bus pulls into an empty bus stop and stops 3' from the curb, the driver blocks 2 lanes but NEVER gets a summons.
When a bus pulls into an intersection and completely blocks it when the light changes, the driver NEVER gets a summons.
When a route requires an unlawful turn (eastbound M79 at York Avenue for example), the driver NEVER gets a summons.
When the MTA starts to obey the law it will be time to consider enforcement against others.
And, in terms of SBS, take a look at the PowerPoint presentation by Allan Rosen, former bus planner at the MTA. http://qptc.org/cb14powerpoint.html . The presentation explains that EVEN WHEN the SBS bus is faster, the commuter's trip may often be slower.
7
All lines need to all for pre-paid boarding, as much of Europe has already had for a long time.
For non-SBS lines of MTA buses, the boarding process alone is sheer torture, especially at the more heavily-used lines, and during rush hour etc. At every stop, the front door ONLY will open. Dozens of passengers must each board, one by one by one, insert their metrocard and wait for it to pop back out. This is repeated at every single bus stop. For riders, it is agony and....totally NEEDLESS. Can we please get with the 21st century here??
Then you have the back doors, which, if you want to EXIT the bus, must be manually pushed open. Some of these doors are so heavy....purposefully so....because the MTA is so worried about loosing a fare or two by someone trying to 'rush' the back door. As a result, anyone who weighs less than 100 or so pounds has to exert quite a bit of strength to HOLD the doors open when they exit. If you have shopping bags, or a baby carriage or a suitcase, you can FORGET IT. Seriously MTA??? Do you have to make it THIS difficult for us?
The MTA is an absolute disgrace, and an embarrassment of a subway system. Yes, it's a comprehensive network of buses and trains, and yes, it runs 24/7. But the overall manner in which they run the system is very unprofessional and could be SO much better, in the right hands.
29
Amen. I wish I could recommend this comment 100 times.
3
Also need to reinstitute policy where front seats on bus were RESERVED for the disabled and elderly, not nannies and spoiled little rich kids. Now they are allowed to hog those seats and you have to beg them and prove you are deserving to get them to move. I once had a boy, maybe 11 or so, refuse to just move aside so I could get to the back of the bus where there was at least more space for my 70 year old carcass to stand and breathe.
5
I frequently take the M101 north to Harlem, and it always stops for 5-10 minutes at 99th St. to wait for a new driver to show up. Surely, that is an unnecessary delay!
7
Simple solutions..
1. Make the bus lane the 2nd lane in to free the right hand lane for cars making turns
2. Enforce the lanes for buses by ticketing cars that are in the bus lane. Aren't there enough security cameras to enforce this? Or have cameras on the buses where the driver can take a photo of the offender's plate. Other large cities do this and it works. 6th Avenue is a parking lot most of the time because no one observes the bus lane.
And.. please have the bus stops put back on 55th St and 5th Avenue. They were removed when security was super-tight for Trump but he is no longer in NY so there is no reason for them not to be put back. .
9
Why can't riders add value to their Metrocards at the bus kiosks? I frequently ride the buses, but I have to go down into the nearest subway station every time I need to refill my Metrocard. There has to be a better way.
31
Also - gentrification impacts on ridership and stratifies transportation….
As much of Manhattan has become a playground for the rich, new wealthy residents do not use buses. Similarly, the young educated transplants to NYC tend to use subways, Uber or bikes – not buses.
So in some areas it may seem that there is less demand for buses. But the regular people who still live here do use buses – and really need frequent and reliable bus service.
9
Bus transit is important and provides possible evacuation if needed. Integrating bus and subway is important and possibly having regional patrols to maintain open bus-ways. LA has dedicated bus-ways for larger bus-train things that are effective.
1
The ridership of the Bx10 actually increased but the service has not. We suffer from a really bad supply/demand ratio. When the supply/demand ratio is beyond a certain threshold, all these cute ways of trying to increase efficiency can't work. The select bus service, for example, on the M79 cannot overcome that bad ratio. The buses get as crowded and off schedule as ordinary buses and leave people waiting a long time at the stops. Efficiency-improving measures are good on systems where there is "fat" to cut. Where the system has been cut to the bone already, it needs muscle.
7
" I'd put pretty stewardess' on the bus, and electric outlets so people could plug in their shavers, and you know how you always miss the Bus by a minute. I'd fix that too....I'd start all the buses a minute later in the morning."
Ralph Kramden 1955
"I'd have odd and even buses, the odd buses would stop on the odd number streets, the even on the even number streets, it breaks up the flow of traffic and keeps things moving"
Ed Norton 1955
20
Queens, where I live, has legions of bloodthirsty meter maids along commercial thoroughfares who descend on vehicles of hapless drivers, understandably heedless of the bewildering parking signs, upon jumping out of their cars to grab a donut. The city would do well to deploy these hardy troops along bus lanes in Manhattan to summarily pounce on way more arrogant and affluent drivers who crassly block the progress of rush hour buses.
28
as a manhattanite, I wholeheartedly endorse this comment.
We need real enforcement, particularly in midtown, against drivers and delivery trucks who treat bus lanes (and crosswalks!) as their own personal parking lots.
16
Frequent bus rider. I live about 2 miles from the last stop on the F train in queens and am a Bronx transplant so I take the bus from Queens to the Bronx to avoid taking the subway into Manhattan and then back uptown.
I have found their tracking service helpful. On each MTA bus schedule pole there is a number for that specific stop that you can text to 511123. This will give you an approximate ETA for the bus. If you keep the ones you take frequently into your phone, you can check it from home before you leave.
MTA tripplanner is also pretty accurate overall. As is Google maps. Never bother with what the written schedule says. Traffic, and any number of things can push that number off by several minutes.
Suggestions: There are some lines that need to be extended. Service should be run according to ridership. Certain lines with a long distance between the beginning and the end should add limited stops as are already on certain bus lines. When you see the majority of the people getting on and off at certain stops, that is when you need a limited service. Especially in areas where the bus is really the only option for public transportation. Out here everything beyond the reaches of the train lines are bus, cab, or drive.
1
Calling 511 for transit information is the loudest and rankest sign that the MTA is a mess. What on earth does it do? I have tried it several times before giving up in disbelief. I have two Master's degrees and cannot figure out how 511 works and if it ever reaches a human voice. What success do others have? I cannot believe that 511 is of use to anyone, period. It is the worst example of electronic stupidity.
4
I see a bus lane on my block clogged by cars and trucks stopping at a No Stopping, Bus Only lane every day of the week along 2nd Avenue and 69th Street. A food truck is right at that spot where all sorts of vehicles stop for tacos and just stand there and eat while buses have to navigate around them in a Bus Only lane! Simple changes like removing food trucks from these locations are never looked at. Often it is a mix of many small changes that can help the system work more efficiently.
47
On Steinway in Astoria, it's not uncommon to see cars PARKED in the bus stop, with the car's driving sitting behind the wheel, waiting to pick someone up. Sadly, the MTA bus drivers seem to 'accept' this for the most part, and then must stop in the one lane of traffic so that passengers can board/disembark, al while the self-centered car and driver remain there in the bus stop.
Where the DOT is during all of this is beyond me. The DOT seems more concerned about simply handing out parking tickets, than actually CONTROLLING the traffic, or working to ensure that traffic flows better. Steinway Street is well-known for double-parkers, about which the DOT apparently does nothing. For if the DOT DID do something about it, then the double-parkers would not do what they do, with such reckless abandon.
35
"the MTA bus drivers seem to 'accept' this for the most part, and then must stop in the one lane of traffic" MTA bus drivers rarely force
interlopers out of the designated bus stop area. They have a schedule to meet and so do whatever is quickest. One can understand that along the length of an entire bus route if the driver stopped to compete for space time is lost. However, where are those who should enforce traffic regulations? Out for coffee, apparently.
3
Improving bus efficiency at some point has to involve passengers. I have yet to ride a bus where at at least some of the exiting passengers (and usually a majority) do so from the front, despite signs and announcements that instruct passengers to exit form the rear. This of course results in more time at the stop while those boarding wait for everyone to exit. And the drivers? They remain absolutely silent. I have never heard one driver instruct anyone to go to the rear to leave the bus. May I add that NYC is the only city in the US or anywhere else I have ridden a bus where this occurs. There seems to be no appetite on the part of the MTA or NYPD to enforce any of the simple regulations that would make for smoother service for all.
5
Instead of spending tens of millions of dollars, and many years slowly rolling out SBS on a route by route basis, all of those efforts and money should have been put toward the replacement of the Metrocard payment system, which could allow all door boarding system wide, just like SFMUNI, or many other cities both domestically, and internationally.
The largest benefit to SBS is the reduction of dwell time at each stop, due to the off-board fare payment. Other improvements are mostly NYC DOT related (transit signal priority, dedicated bus lanes, etc.) Allowing system wide, all door boarding brings the largest benefit of SBS to every route, without the costly SBS infrastructure and maintenance.
Couple that with proper enforcement spot checks by the MTA Eagle Team, and you've sped up buses dramatically. You also remove bus operator discretion and improve their safety, as they don't have to confront fare beaters, or wave them on. If you're on the bus, and the Eagle Team spot checks it, you're expected to have paid, and if not, you get fined. This of course brings up the issue of Fare Fairs, and transit subsidies, but that's an entirely different discussion.
13
"Couple that with proper enforcement spot checks by the MTA Eagle Team" I assume that by the "MTA Eagle Team" you mean the poorly trained, ruffian-like lowlifes that the MTA has hired to check tickets on the expedited bus lines. They are an excellent example of the limited customer communication skills that are the hallmark of the MTA. I was put off a bus once by these riffraff "Eagles" in a strange neighborhood far from my destination when I did not fully understand the new system. I am an older adult with experience in human resources training. These MTA Eagles are a disgrace to any self-respecting organization.
2
is ridership calculated by fare collections? if so, there are less people paying, due to the increase in Select Bus Service. however, ridership is not necessarily down by a large a percentage , as it may aooear.
7
You can view the five year ridership trends by each individual route here:
http://web.mta.info/nyct/facts/ridership/ridership_bus.htm
The B63 route in Brooklyn needs help. It is so slow and unreliable. As a wheelchair user, I'll regularly wheel 1 to 2 miles each way instead of waiting interminably for a very slow bus.
The express buses, which are used in every borough to get from borough to borough, have poorly designed lifts that many (most?) drivers do not know how to use. I have to tell drivers how to use the lifts on the X27, X37, X27, and X37 routes. How can that be? How are the buses going to improve without more money and less complacency from the MTA and the Transit Authority?
17
So true. Amen.
2