The main issues appear to be with off-peak service. They screwed up royally.
* They screwed Arden Heights out of their present-day weekday evening service (the SIM2 ends at 8:15pm from Worth Street, and the SIM8 ends at 9:00pm from 57th Street, compared to the X17 which ends at 12:00am from 57th Street and 12:27am from Worth Street, with an "extra" bus that comes down 20 minutes after that if it wasn't assigned to cover some other service earlier in the day, so really the last bus is 12:20am from 57th Street and 12:47am from Worth Street).
* They appear to think the SIM3C (which runs along Watchogue Road) serves the same ridership base as the present-day X10, just because both routes end in Port Richmond. You notice the spans and frequencies are very similar to the present-day X10 (As far as I'm concerned, the SIM3/3C is basically an expanded version of the X12/42)
* They're under the false impression that trading the X17's Arden Heights riders for the X10's Gannon Avenue riders is a fair trade, ridership-wise for the SIM4C (Notice that the SIM4C runs a similar span to the present-day X17. While Arden Heights definitely has respectable ridership, it is definitely not as high as ridership along Gannon Avenue. I was expecting 15-20 minute weekday off-peak headways on that route, not 30 minute headways. In the evenings, those buses will be jam-packed. Service runs every 12-15 minutes until around 9pm leaving Midtown, and then every 20 minutes until around 11pm (and again, this is considering the X17 serves Arden Heights instead of Willowbrook/Castleton Corners/Meiers Corners). With this plan, service will run every 20 minutes until 8pm, and every 30 minutes afterwards (No idea if they're going to have that extra bus at 12:20am, but they're definitely going to need it). Apparently, they think running a few extra SIM8 buses (which do nothing for Downtown riders, let alone riders along Gannon Avenue) will solve all of the problems.
* Looks like early-morning CSI students from the other boroughs are out of luck, since the first SIM4C won't leave Midtown until 7:40am (which means it won't get to CSI until just before 9:00am). Those students will have to take the SIM3C over to Jewett Avenue for the S62 or S93 (since it's not practical to walk from Watchogue Road down to CSI, due to the SIE & MLK Expressway being in the way). The SIM3C will run more frequently than the SIM4C, so even when the SIM4C is running, it may be better for some of them to take the SIM3C to the S62/93 if they just missed it (or if it's too crowded) or the SIM1C.
* They seem to have copied-and-pasted the X14's Midtown times to Downtown (so if a person currently catches the X14 in Midtown at 6pm, they're out of luck, because they have to make their way to Battery Place by 6:16pm to catch it).
* There seems to be a glitch on the SIM4 & SIM4C as far as the times at the ETC, and Annadale Road are concerned. I'm not sure if buses will start at Annadale Road and then run to the ETC (which makes sense) or vice versa (which makes no sense, but is a possibility).
* The last bus from Worth Street on the SIM34 is at 7:00pm, and the first SIM3C afterwards is at 8:32pm.
* The last bus from Worth Street on the SIM32 is at 6:45pm, and the first SIM4C afterwards is at 7:41pm.
* It seems as if they want everybody during that time frame to make their way over to Vesey Street & West Street and catch the SIM33 (the last bus from there is at 7:24pm). So even though West Street is a high-ridership corridor for express buses (especially the WFC stop). they want to punish express riders for requesting West Street service by making the Broadway riders walk over there.
* Even aside from those examples, the transition between the peak and off-peak routes seems a little sloppy in general (for example, the last SIM1 leaves Worth Street at 8:20pm, but the next SIM1C doesn't get there until 8:36pm, during a time period where 8 minute headways are typically warranted. In other words, they skipped a bus).
EDIT 7/27/18
* Oh boy, so I wasn't going crazy. Early in the morning they left a gap in Downtown service between the 3:50am SIM1C from the ETC and the 4:55am SIM5 from the ETC (and Hylan north of Midland is screwed worse, they have to wait until the 5:05am SIM1 gets up there). Looks like you early morning Downtown riders on Hylan will have to either take the SIM10 to Midtown and backtrack, or take the S79 to Bay Ridge for the (R) train. Even the mighty X1 isn't immune from their screw-ups...
EDIT 8/17/18
* The gap in Downtown service has apparently been rectified, however, it was at the expense of 23rd Street riders. They took the first four SIM10 trips and converted them to SIM1C trips. A good move overall, but at the same time, it still makes it harder for those who work near East 23rd Street (especially at those hospitals over by 1st Avenue, where I would imagine some of the shifts have early start times). Also, if you look closely, they didn't even change the runtime (so they scheduled the trip to take the same amount of time via 6th Avenue as they originally did via the FDR Drive. Granted, 6th Avenue is physically more direct, but it's still a little bit of a hustle to make it on time).
EDIT 8/8/18
* X5 riders along Father Capodanno Blvd got screwed with a shorter PM span of service. The old X5 ran from 2:15pm to 7:50pm, whereas the SIM6 uses the old X7 span of 2:35pm to 6:45pm.
* Port Richmond riders got screwed out of about 2.5 hours worth of Downtown service. The last SIM35 from Battery Place is at 6:16pm, whereas the next SIM3C from Battery Place is at 8:41pm. Granted, riders can take the SIM34 to the S44/59 (or S57/66 in some cases), but it's still stupid to have that gap, when Port Richmond is supposedly receiving full-time Downtown & Midtown service. There's a smaller gap at the beginning of the PM rush (2:36pm to 3:31pm)
* There's a 40 minute gap between the last SIM3C of the midday period and the first SIM34 of the afternoon rush hour.
* There's a gap in Greenwich Village service between the last SIM1 of the midday period at 2:10pm, and the first SIM7 at 3:30pm, and a similar gap at the end of rush hour (last SIM7 at 7:00pm, first SIM1C at 8:25pm).
* There's a gap in AM Greenwich Village service between the last SIM1C at 3:50am, and the first SIM7 at 5:00am. I don't expect too many people to be affected by that (unlike the Downtown gap), but there's another gap at the other end of rush hour, between the 8:30am SIM7 and the 9:20am SIM1C (the last SIM1 is at 9:05am and the last SIM10 is at 9:02am, so I expect that first off-peak SIM1C to be overcrowded).
* There's a gap in Church Street service from Gannon Avenue between the 5:18am SIM4C (at Victory & Richmond) and the first SIM32 at 6:29am (again, at Victory & Richmond). Likewise, afterwards, there's a gap between the 8:46am SIM32 and the 9:40am SIM4C. Heck, even the gap between the 9:15am SIM33 and the 9:40am SIM4C seems a bit too large.
* Same thing with the SIM34 & SIM3C. There's a gap between the 9:10am SIM34 from Jules Drive and the 9:46am SIM3C from Jules Drive (the X12 currently runs every 15 minutes during that timeframe).
* For peak service (I thought I mentioned it in this post, but it was in the other post), the SIM7 has similar issues to the SIM4C as far as having ridiculously inadequate service. They combined the X7/9 route and reduced the service in half compared to the present-day X7. I could see maybe every 5 minutes with alternating service terminating at the WFC (so 10 minute headways north of there), but 12-15 minute headways will probably have buses filled by the time they pick up the X1's Broadway riders, let alone by the time they get to West Street where there aren't even good local bus/subway alternatives to get back towards Broadway.
Some smaller issues (that may not drastically affect people's options but are still worth noting)
* The SIM25 runs a shorter span than the X22 for those in the eastern portions of Rossville (they have to make their way to the SIM26 which has the old X22 span). In the evening, Princes Bay riders get a quicker ride, but a shorter span (the first bus is 25 minutes later compared to the first X23, and the last bus is 30 minutes earlier). To be fair, the first bus gets back to Seguine Avenue only around 15 minutes later than the present-day X23 (because it avoids the detour east to Woodrow Road).
* The SIM22 covers the Arthur Kill Road/St. John Newman and Arthur Kill Road/Woodrow Road stops at a shorter span than the X23. Riders can still take the S74 along Arthur Kill Road (from either the West Shore Expressway service road, or the ETC, depending on which connecting bus they take). It is a pretty big span reduction for those 2 stops as far as direct Midtown service goes (and at the public hearings and meetings, residents in that area were very vocal)
So obviously, the first thing you guys should do is provide written complaints to whoever you can think of. Community boards, politicians, MTA officials, etc . Assuming that this plan actually takes effect (so if there's no hope of changing it until the next pick), my advice would be to avoid the SIM4C if possible (especially on weekdays). Try to use the SIM3C and either walk, take a local bus, or get a lift to/from your stop. If you're lucky, you might be able to use the SIM8, depending on your exact origin and destination.
That being said, here are the spans and (approximate) frequencies of the new SIM routes, obtained from RideSchedules.com (there may be some additional short-turns in the schedule that I missed). Spans are from the first stop unless otherwise noted (UPDATED 8/17/18)
SIM1:
Inbound: 5:05am - 9:05am, every 4-6 minutes at the height of rush hour, 10-20 minutes at shoulder periods
Outbound: 2:40pm - 8:20pm, every 4-6 minutes at the height of rush hour, 10-20 minutes at shoulder periods
SIM1C:
Weekday Inbound: Does not operate when SIM10 is running. Otherwise, similar to today's X1.
Weekday Outbound: Does not operate when SIM10 is running. Otherwise, similar to today's X1.
Saturday Inbound: Similar to today's X1
Saturday Outbound: Similar to today's X1
Sunday Inbound: Similar to today's X1
Sunday Outbound: Similar to today's X1
SIM2:
Weekday Inbound: 4:35am - 7:00pm, every 10-15 minutes rush hour, 30 minutes off-peak
Weekday Outbound: 8:20am - 8:15pm, every 10-15 minutes rush hour, 30 minutes off-peak
Saturday Inbound: 4:30am - 7:00pm, every 30 minutes
Saturday Outbound: 5:45am - 8:15pm, every 30 minutes
Sunday Inbound: 4:30am - 7:00pm, every 30 minutes
Sunday Outbound: 5:45am - 8:15pm, every 30 minutes
SIM3:
Inbound: 5:00am - 9:15am, every 10 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15-20 minutes at shoulder periods
Outbound: 2:00pm - 7:45pm, every 10-12 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15-20 minutes at shoulder periods
SIM3C (Off-Peak)
Weekday Inbound: 9:35am - 10:00pm, every 20-60 minutes
Weekday Outbound: 7:10am - 1:40pm, 8:00pm - 1:15pm, every 20-60 minutes
Saturday Inbound: 5:30am - 9:00pm, every 20-30 minutes
Saturday Outbound: 7:15am - 12:00pm, every 20-30 minutes
Sunday Inbound: 6:30am - 9:00pm, every 30 minutes until 4:00pm, then every hour until 9:00pm
Sunday Outbound: 7:55am - 10:20pm, every 30-60 minutes
SIM4:
Inbound: 5:15am - 9:05am, every 6 minutes at the height of rush hour, 10-15 minutes at shoulder periods
Outbound: 3:00pm - 7:20pm, every 7-10 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15-20 minutes at shoulder periods
SIM4X:
Inbound: 6:10am - 8:10am, every 20 minutes
Outbound: 4:10pm - 6:30pm, every 20 minutes
SIM4C (Off-Peak)
Weekday Inbound: 4:00am - 5:00am, and 9:20am - 7:00pm, every 20-30 minutes
Weekday Outbound: 7:40am - 2:20pm (every 60 minutes), 7:00pm - 12:00am, every 20-30 minutes
Saturday Inbound: 4:30am - 7:00pm, every 20-30 minutes
Saturday Outbound: 6:30am - 8:50pm, every 20-30 minutes
Sunday Inbound: 5:00am - 6:50pm, every 30-60 minutes
Sunday Outbound: 6:30am - 8:30pm, every 30-60 minutes
SIM5:
Inbound: 4:55am - 9:00am, every 5-8 minutes at the height of rush hour, 10-15 minutes at shoulder periods
Outbound: 3:00pm - 7:00pm, every 5-10 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15-20 minutes at shoulder periods
SIM5X:
Inbound: 6:10am - 8:30am, every 20 minutes
SIM6:
Inbound: 5:00am - 8:50am, every 3-5 minutes at the height of rush hour, 10-15 minutes at shoulder periods
Outbound: 2:35pm - 6:45pm, every 4-6 minutes at the height of rush hour, 10-15 minutes at shoulder periods
SIM6X:
Inbound: 6:00am - 8:00am, every 20 minutes
SIM7:
Inbound: 5:00am - 8:30am, every 10 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15-20 minutes at shoulder periods
Outbound: 3:30pm - 7:00pm, every 12 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15 minutes at shoulder periods
SIM8:
Inbound: 4:30am - 9:00am, every 4-7 minutes at the height of rush hour, 10-15 minutes at shoulder periods
Outbound: 1:55pm - 9:00pm, every 5-10 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15-30 minutes at shoulder periods
SIM8X:
Inbound: 6:00am - 8:00am, every 20 minutes
Outbound: 4:00pm - 7:00pm, every 20 minutes
SIM10:
Inbound: 4:10am - 9:02am, every 5-8 minutes at the height of rush hour, 12-15 minutes at shoulder periods
Outbound: 2:00pm - 7:56pm, every 4-6 minutes at the height of rush hour, 8-10 minutes at shoulder periods
SIM15:
Inbound: 4:59am - 9:20am, every 8-12 minutes at the height of rush hour, 20-30 minutes at shoulder periods
Outbound: 3:00pm - 7:20pm, every 10-15 minutes at the height of rush hour, 20-30 minutes at shoulder periods
SIM22:
Inbound: 5:00am - 9:00am, every 15 minutes at the height of rush hour, 20 minutes at shoulder periods
Outbound: 3:00pm - 7:00pm, every 20 minutes at the height of rush hour, 30 minutes at shoulder periods
EDIT: 7/24/18
SIM23 & SIM24 schedules (operated by Academy Bus) are now uploaded to the RideSchedules.com website. Spans & frequencies are as follows (from the terminals):
SIM23 Inbound: 5:10am - 8:35am, every 10 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15 minutes during shoulder periods.
SIM23 Outbound: 2:30pm - 7:30pm, every 10 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15-30 minutes during shoulder periods.
SIM24 Inbound: 5:00am - 8:30am, every 7-10 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15-20 minutes during shoulder periods.
SIM24 Outbound: 2:45pm - 7:30pm, every 10-15 minutes at the height of rush hour, 20-30 minutes during shoulder periods
SIM25:
Inbound: 5:00am - 8:40am, every 10 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15-20 minutes at shoulder periods
Outbound: 3:10pm - 7:00pm, every 10 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15-20 minutes at shoulder periods
SIM26:
Inbound: 4:35am - 9:05am, every 8-10 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15-20 minutes at shoulder periods
Outbound: 2:10pm - 8:15pm, every 10 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15-30 minutes at shoulder periods
SIM30:
Inbound: 5:23am - 8:05am, every 7-10 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15-20 minutes at shoulder periods (at height of rush hour, buses alternate between Sunnyside & Rosebank, resulting in 20-30 minute headways for each branch. During shoulder periods, all service runs to Sunnyside)
Outbound: 3:50pm - 7:00pm, every 10 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15 minutes at shoulder periods (at height of rush hour, buses alternate between Sunnyside & Rosebank, resulting in 20 minute headways for each branch. During shoulder periods, all service runs to Sunnyside)
SIM31:
Inbound: 5:15am - 8:30am, every 10-12 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15-20 minutes at shoulder periods
Outbound: 4:00pm - 7:15pm, every 10-15 minutes at the height of rush hour, 20-30 minutes at shoulder periods
SIM32:
Inbound: 6:15am - 8:30am, every 15 minutes at the height of rush hour, 20 minutes at shoulder periods
Outbound: 3:55pm - 6:45pm, every 10 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15-20 minutes at shoulder periods
SIM33:
Inbound: 5:00am - 9:00am, every 10-15 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15-20 minutes at shoulder periods
Outbound: 3:00pm - 7:00pm, every 15 minutes at the height of rush hour, 20 minutes at shoulder periods
SIM34:
Inbound: 4:40am - 9:00am, every 12 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15-20 minutes at shoulder periods
Outbound: 3:00pm - 7:00pm, every 12 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15 minutes at shoulder periods
SIM35:
Inbound: 5:15am - 9:00am, every 10-12 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15-20 minutes at shoulder periods
Outbound: 3:20pm - 6:05pm, every 10 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15-20 minutes at shoulder periods
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