Spans & Frequencies (Effective October 7th, 2018)

SIM1:

Inbound: 5:05am - 9:07am, every 4-6 minutes at the height of rush hour, 10 minutes at shoulder periods

Outbound: 2:55pm - 8:30pm, every 4-8 minutes at the height of rush hour, 10-16 minutes at shoulder periods

SIM1C:

Weekday Inbound: 12:00am - 4:50am, 9:20am - 11:00pm, similar to today's X1.

Weekday Outbound: 1:30am - 2:00pm, 7:24pm - 1:15am 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: 3:10pm - 6:10pm, 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 - 3:00pm, 6:25pm - 1:15pm, every 20-60 minutes

Saturday Inbound: 5:30am - 9:00pm, every 20-30 minutes

Saturday Outbound: 7:15am - 12:00am, 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 - 8:25am, every 6 minutes at the height of rush hour, 10-15 minutes at shoulder periods

Outbound: 3:58pm - 6:45pm, every 7-10 minutes at the height of rush hour

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: 7:20am - 2:30pm (every 20-60 minutes), 6:52pm - 12:00am, every 12-30 minutes (with short-turns departing Chambers Street every 12 minutes between 3:24pm and 3:48pm and between 6:55pm and 7:27pm, every 12 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 6-8 minutes at the height of rush hour, 10-15 minutes at shoulder periods

Outbound: 3:00pm - 7:00pm, every 10 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15-20 minutes at shoulder periods

SIM6:

Inbound: 5:00am - 8:50am, every 4-6 minutes at the height of rush hour, 10-20 minutes at shoulder periods

Outbound: 2:35pm - 7:50pm, every 8-10 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15-20 minutes at shoulder periods

SIM7:

Inbound: 5:00am - 8:30am, every 8-10 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15 minutes at shoulder periods

Outbound: 2:30pm - 7:30pm, every 12 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15-30 minutes at shoulder periods

SIM8:

Inbound: 4:15am - 9:00am, every 5-8 minutes at the height of rush hour, 10-15 minutes at shoulder periods

Outbound: 1:55pm - 9:00pm, every 6-10 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

SIM9:

Inbound: 5:00am - 8:30am, every 8-10 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15 minutes at shoulder periods


Outbound: 2:45pm - 7:37pm, every 12 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15-30 minutes at shoulder periods

SIM10:

Inbound: 4:10am - 9:10am, every 4-6 minutes at the height of rush hour, 10-15 minutes at shoulder periods

Outbound: 2:00pm - 7:56pm, every 5-6 minutes at the height of rush hour, 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 12-15 minutes at the height of rush hour, 20-30 minutes at shoulder periods

Outbound: 3:00pm - 7:00pm, every 10-15 minutes at the height of rush hour, 20-30 minutes at shoulder periods

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 10-12 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 8-12 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: 6:05am - 8:35am, every 10 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15 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: 2:40pm - 7:00pm, every 15 minutes at the height of rush hour, 20 minutes at shoulder periods

SIM34:

Inbound: 4:40am - 9:00am, every 8-12 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 12 minutes at the height of rush hour, 15-20 minutes at shoulder periods

Outbound: 3:20pm - 7:05pm, every 15 minutes at the height of rush hour, 20-30 minutes at shoulder periods

ISSUES

Weekend/Off-Peak Service Spans

So right away, the main issue is that weekend service wasn't addressed, especially for the ridership bases that compose the present-day SIM4C. Here's the span of the routes for a comparison (I chose Battery Place and Slosson Avenue as reference points because those were the two timepoints the SIM4C & X10 schedules had in common. Travel time from Midtown to Battery Place or Richmond & Victory to Schmidts & Slosson is comparable with both the SIM4C & X10. I know the SIM4C is technically around the corner at Broadway & Morris Street, but you get the point: The last outbound stop and the absolute last chance for somebody to take a subway train, taxi, or local bus to catch it). 
X10 Saturdays inbound (from Slosson Avenue): 5:55am - 9:24pm
X10 Saturdays outbound (from Battery Place): 8:05am - 12:49am
X10 Sundays inbound (from Slosson Avenue): 6:52am - 9:29pm
X10 Sundays outbound (from Battery Place): 9:07am - 11:01pm

SIM4C Saturdays inbound (from Slosson Avenue): 5:01am - 7:32pm
SIM4C Saturdays outbound (from Battery Place): 7:00am - 9:28pm
SIM4C Sundays inbound (from Slosson Avenue): 5:31am - 7:32pm
SIM4C Sundays outbound (from Battery Place): 7:00am - 9:08pm

As you can see, they added some service in the early morning (only because, by chance, the X17 happened to start earlier than the X10 on the weekends), but the SIM4C ends about 2-3 hours earlier than the X10 did. 

Weekdays, the issue was supposed to be addressed in the outbound direction at least (with the extension of the SIM4C span to 2:15am, presumably departing Midtown at that time and reaching Battery Place around 30-35 minutes later). For reference, here's the spans of the X10 compared to the SIM4C (and yes, I know that peak service results in the X10 being broken up into the X10B/X11 and the SIM4C being broken up into the SIM4, SIM8, SIM31, SIM32, and SIM33 for a few hours). 
X10 Weekdays inbound (from Slosson Avenue): 5:28am - 10:25pm

X10 Weekdays outbound (from Battery Place): 7:58am - 1:49am

SIM4C Weekdays inbound (from Slosson Avenue): 4:37am - 7:39pm

SIM4C Weekdays outbound (from Battery Place): 7:55am - 12:35am

Those late inbound trips were used by overnight workers, people going to Manhattan for entertainment, and the weekday trips were used by CSI students who had late classes. Again, the earlier service along Gannon definitely helps but it shouldn't have been at the expense of the evening service. The late outbound service was mostly used by local residents coming home late (and again, some of them were college students, retail workers, etc)

It should also be noted the SIM2 span compared to the X17 span for Arden Heights riders (I chose Hylan & Luten for the SIM2 since it's about the same runtime from the Huguenot SIR station as the X17 terminal at Huguenot & Woodrow, so it gives you an idea of when buses are passing through that part of Huguenot. Arden & Arthur Kill isn't a timepoint on the old X17 schedule unfortunately)
X17 Weekdays inbound (from Huguenot & Woodrow): 4:05am - 4:16pm

X17 Weekdays outbound (from Battery Place): 11:20am - 12:36am
X17 Saturdays inbound (from Huguenot & Woodrow): 4:30am - 7:00pm


X17 Saturdays outbound (from Battery Place): 7:20am - 9:31pm
X17 Sundays inbound (from Huguenot & Woodrow): 5:00am - 6:50pm


X17 Sundays outbound (from Battery Place): 7:33am - 9:08pm

SIM2 Weekdays inbound (from Hylan & Luten): 4:43am - 7:10pm

SIM2 Weekdays outbound (from Battery Place): 8:35am - 8:24pm
SIM2 Saturdays inbound (from Hylan & Luten): 4:38am - 7:08pm


SIM2 Saturdays outbound (from Battery Place): 5:52am - 8:22pm
SIM2 Sundays inbound (from Hylan & Luten): 4:38am - 7:08pm


SIM2 Sundays outbound (from Battery Place): 5:52am - 8:22pm

So for Arden Heights riders, they gained a little bit of later inbound service on weekdays (but also keep in mind that the express bus is their only transit service whatsoever, since the S56 stops running around 7pm, so arguably, the SIM2 should still run until 9pm or 10pm until that issue is rectified). Weekdays, the SIM4C was extended to have the trips until midnight serve Arden Heights (though they sneakily didn't bring back that 12:20am "as assigned" trip from Midtown). Weekends, they had their outbound service cut by about an hour (69 minutes Saturdays and 46 minutes Sundays to be exact). Again, the S56 doesn't run weekends, so those riders are literally stranded.

As mentioned previously, service seems to start a bit earlier and that's definitely a good thing and should be kept if possible. On the SIM2 it's because it's such a quick route, that whether you're deadheading from Downtown back to Tottenville (for another inbound trip) at 5:45am or running with passengers, it's mostly on highways anyway (and that stretch of Hylan from Huguenot to Page is pretty much like a highway anyway) so you might as well run the bus in-service and help whoever may need it at that time (possibly some overnight workers coming off their shifts, or some early-morning reverse-commuters)

It should be noted that the SIM1C experiences overcrowding on weekend nights, and extending the span of the SIM4C would provide additional capacity for riders heading to the Eltingville Transit Center (as opposed to adding the service to the SIM1C directly). It should also be noted that a lot of riders take the SIM1C but actually live on the North/West Shore, and either call a relative for a lift or call a taxi/car service/Uber to take them home from the SIM1C/X1.

SIM4 Reductions

So I see they fixed the gap between SIM4/32 peak service and SIM4C off-peak service. Unfortunately, the way they did that was by adding the Gannon stops back to a few SIM4 trips.

They moved the first SIM32 up a few minutes to close that gap in Gannon Avenue-Church Street service (it's still almost an hour from the 5:23am SIM4C at Victory & Richmond to the 6:19am SIM32, but at least the SIM33 runs at that time so riders can at least walk from West Street if necessary). Or make their way to the SIM4 i they're close enough to Richmond Avenue. At the end of the rush hour, the transition (at Victory & Richmond) is smooth from the SIM32 at 8:51am to the SIM4C at 9:00am, but unfortunately that means that SIM4 service (which gets directly into the HOV lane instead of making the extra Gannon stops) ends even earlier, at 8:25am (the original schedule had it end at 9:05am as a compromise to riders who took the regular X17. The original X17A ended at 8:45am)

In the PM rush, they added the Gannon stops to some more SIM4 trips (making them SIM4C trips from Chambers). That at least fills the gap between the SIM4C & SIM32, but again, elongates the ride for SIM4 riders. So the span was shortened from 3:00pm-7:15pm to 3:58pm-6:45pm (and again, that 3:00pm-7:15pm was supposed to be a compromise for regular X17 riders)

They also reduced the headway at the height of the AM rush from every 6 minutes to every 8 minutes, while people were complaining about overcrowded buses. People are scrambling to get the quicker SIM4 to avoid the slower SIM4C, resulting in overcrowded buses at the height of rush hour and they cut the service. I know with the super-express buses, it's still technically about 10 buses per hour heading down Richmond Avenue, but rush hour is now that much more concentrated because people don't want to make all those extra stops on Gannon, so the 6 minute headway is necessary.

And to top it all off, the SIM4C still runs hourly outbound in the midday period, while the SIM3C runs every 30 minutes. They slightly closed the gap between the 2:20pm SIM4C and 4pm SIM31 from Midtown by pushing the SIM4C buses back to leave at :30 past the hour and adding an extra SIM31 trip. So now the gap only extends from 2:30pm to 3:40pm from their respective terminals (which is another thing: Why does the SIM4C terminate at Central Park South when both the X10 & X17 terminated at 57th & 3rd)? That's a backtrack since it heads east from 6th Avenue to reach Madison and then heads west back to 6th, and this system is supposed to be more direct).

Excess Watchogue Road Service

It's very clear that they're trying to make Watchogue Road the primary North Shore corridor for whatever reason, and they have no problem screwing over Gannon Avenue, Richmond Avenue, or even Mariners Harbor to do so.

They closed the gap between the SIM3C & SIM34. I'll give them credit on that. But now there's a ridiculous amount of overlap in the schedules. The first SIM34 of the afternoon leaves Chambers Street at 3pm. Meanwhile, the last midday SIM3C leaves Midtown at 3pm and gets to Worth Street at 3:42pm. So already, you're talking about 45 minutes of overlap between the SIM34 and SIM3C, and about 25 minutes of overlap between the SIM35 & SIM3C at Battery Place. For that matter, even the SIM33 starts running at 2:40pm from Union Square, so virtually all ridership bases are covered at that time. All trips after the 2pm trip should run as SIM3 buses via the FDR and if they don't think they can fill them up with just Midtown riders, they should cut the frequency back to every 30 minutes instead of every 20 minutes and use that spare bus to extend the span of the SIM35 to start at 2:50pm from Frankfort Street to cover the small 35 minute gap that would result in service to Concord & Port Richmond (as well as provide earlier service to the Clove Road & Forest Avenue corridor. It should be noted that the SIM30 doesn't start until 3:50pm from Midtown, so if a worker can take the SIM10 (or the subway) and catch that earlier SIM35 it would be quicker than waiting for the SIM30 to start running, though that should have a few earlier trips anyway)

At the end of rush hour, they coordinated the 7pm SIM34 from Chambers with the 6:25pm SIM3C from Midtown (which arrives at Worth Street at 7:11pm). Good for Watchogue riders....but they quietly removed the direct bus to Mariners Harbor. The last X12 used to leave Worth Street at 8:31pm, and now the SIM34 leaves Chambers Street at 7:00pm. Granted, the S48/98 is a decent route by Staten Island standards (for those transferring from the SIM3C) but still...why should those last trips be cut when this restructuring is about improving service and they promised longer spans even for the rush hour-only routes. At least the SIM30 runs a little bit later for Midtown riders, but still, if you depended on catching those last 3 X12 trips (leaving Worth Street at 7:41pm, 8:05pm, and 8:31pm....I'll even give them the benefit of the doubt and say that for the 7:16pm trip you could catch the SIM33 at Vesey Street or the last SIM30 depending on where you're coming from), they quietly took the service away, and all just to steer North Shore riders towards Watchogue Road.

Hylan Blvd

So Hylan Blvd definitely saw an improvement compared to the horrendous schedules that they originally had. The SIM7 had a boost in service, and the SIM9 was created to provide service between the Father Capodanno corridor and the West Street/Greenwich Village corridor/neighborhood. But again, there is overlap, and with all the service issues that still remain, that overlap shouldn't exist.

Basically, that 2pm SIM1C out of Central Park South overlaps in Midtown with the SIM10 (which starts at 2pm), the SIM7 (which starts at 2:30pm), and really only helps SIM1 riders (basically, they took that 2:40pm SIM1 and extended it all the way to Central Park South for no reason). In the evening, the SIM7 & SIM9 work to provide later evening service along West Street (the last X7/9 was 7:42pm from Vesey Street. Now the last SIM7 is at 8:01pm from Vesey Street with the last SIM9 being at 8:08pm from Vesey Street). The 7:24pm and 7:44pm SIM1C trips overlap with the SIM10 and should be truncated to Union Square. 

South Shore-Midtown Service

The X22 had the longest span out of all of the South Shore-Midtown buses, and if you need to get to/from Arthur Kill Road at the beginning or end of the AM or PM rush, you're stuck, so this is a crucial issue that could easily be rectified.

At the minimum, the first 2 AM SIM26 trips (4:35am and 4:50am from Tottenville) and the last AM trip (9:05am from Tottenville) should make the Arthur Kill Road stop. Additionally, on the return trip, the first PM trip (2:10pm from 57th & Lexington) and the last 2 PM trips (7:45pm and 8:15pm from 57th & Lexington) should make the Arthur Kill Road stop. The SIM22/23/24/25 do not operate at those times. There is no other alternative except taking the SIM26 to Bloomingdale Road and waiting for an infrequent (and often unreliable) S74 to loop back to the "Checkpoint" stop (especially since the SIM2 ends early at 8:15pm Downtown)

Additionally, the SIM25 should at least match the span of the old X23 for Foster Road/Seguine Avenue riders (especially since the S56 doesn't run in the evening). I know the intention is to serve Rossville Avenue passengers through Bloomingdale Road (which I'm not too crazy about), but Foster Road needs its service back. The X23 ran from 2:45pm to 7:30pm and the SIM25 still runs from 3:10pm to 7pm. One solution to this would be to have the SIM25 & SIM26 alternate at the beginning of rush hour, adding one bus per hour during that 2-3pm timeframe. So for example, have the SIM26 depart 57th & Lexington at 2:10pm and 2:40pm, and the SIM25 at 2:25pm and 2:55pm. Maybe push the 3:10pm SIM25 back to 3:15pm and the 3:30pm SIM25 back to 3:35pm so that buses are a bit spaced out from the SIM26 so that riders who can use either one (in Rossville or Tottenville) don't have 2 buses back to back and then a whole 20 minute wait for the next pair.

At the end of the PM rush, you can push the 7pm SIM25 (from 57th & Lexington) back to 7:10pm (again, offset slightly from the SIM26 which also leaves at 7:00pm). Then you can add a 7:40pm SIM25 from 57th & Lexington, and push back the 7:45pm SIM26 to 7:50pm. 

General Span/Frequency Issues

The SIM1 definitely saw a boost, but it's still not as much as it should've seen. Service between 5pm & 5:30pm from Chambers Street was boosted to every 4 minutes, but after 5:30pm it is still every 8-10 minutes whereas there were 15 buses per hour going down Broadway between the X1, X3, and X4 combined. Some of the riders may shift to the SIM7/9 (which seem to have enough frequency/capacity to handle the riders) but it's still a net reduction in Downtown-Hylan Blvd service. 

I don't see any real boost in SIM2 AM service despite the complaints of overcrowding. 

Also a quick tip, if you used the earlier or later (2-3pm or 6:30-7:45pm) SIM3 buses as a quick route out of Midtown, you can still take the SIM10 to Fingerboard Road and transfer to the SIM3C there (you don't get to ride the HOV lane out to Slosson, but at least you get to bypass Downtown). 

SIM3C service technically ends 10 minutes earlier on Saturday & Sunday (outbound) compared to the X10 (while I can't stand it when people refer to it as "the old X10", it did still serve Port Richmond and provide a connection to the S48 for Mariners Harbor residents, which the SIM4C doesn't provide). 

SIM8 service saw a slight reduction, but I think it can handle it, since the SIM22/23/24 and the SIM8X take a lot o riders from the regular SIM8. Same thing for the SIM5/6 (which had service reduced to boost service on the SIM1/7/10 and add the SIM9)

SIM22 service (in both rush hours) is adjusted to run more frequently at the beginning & middle of rush hour and less frequently towards the end.