So after a bit more review, I have identified some additional issues. Part 1 is available here.
Early Morning Gannon/Watchogue Service
So one of the things pointed out to me (thank you Kristin!) is that when the SIM4C was moved back over to Richmond Avenue, it removed the option for Gannon Avenue residents to have an express bus that could get them to Midtown in time to start work by 6am (which they didn't have before August 19th, but that doesn't mean it's acceptable). Basically, what happens is that the first X10 left Port Richmond at 5am, so they had the first SIM3 leave Port Richmond at 5am and the first SIM33 leave Mariners Harbor at 5am. The first X17 left Arden Heights at 4:05am so they had the first SIM4C leave Annadale at 4am so that the existing X17 riders could still get to Manhattan at the same time as they did before (Annadale is closer to Manhattan than Arden Heights but the SIM4C made the stops on Gannon while the X17 didn't).
I know the North Shore is physically closer to Manhattan than the South Shore & Mid-Island (which is why you have lines like the SIM8 & SIM10 having their first trips leave the terminal at 4:15am and 4:10am respectively) but yeah I do agree service should start earlier. Actually, I made an earlier point that the structure of the SIM4C (combining the busiest portions of the X10 & X17) actually makes for a good overnight route. As I said, one of the main issues with this redesign as a whole is that it wasn't clear (and still hasn't been made clear by the MTA) what the different tradeoffs are. Some people might not be happy about having to transfer to reach their destination, but if they see that in exchange, they have a longer span of service (in this case, overnight service). If I were an early-morning commuter I'd rather have an express bus that gets me Downtown where I can take the train up from there, as opposed to no express bus whatsoever.
So that being said, I showed the new schedules to my dad (who catches a SIM8 around 5am or so) and he agrees that the extra service on the SIM8 at that time is overkill. He's had to stand maybe once or twice at that time since the redesign (and part of it might've been because they eliminated the 4:15am X17J trip from Arden Heights, since they figured that the SIM8 takes a quicker route down Woodrow instead of Arthur Kill so the 4:30am SIM8 would only leave Staten Island 8 minutes later. Also with the SIM4C making extra stops on Gannon, some riders may have taken the SIM8 to avoid that as well). So anyway, he agrees that having both the SIM4C & SIM8 both running to Midtown at the frequencies they do is overkill. The simple solution is to cut those early-morning SIM4C trips back to 23rd Street (and maybe restore the early-morning frequency to the way it was before August. The X17/SIM4C ran every 30 minutes and the X17J/SIM8 ran every 15 minutes around 5am. Doing so would free up one bus from each route that could possibly be used to provide early-morning service along Gannon Avenue & Watchogue Road (and who knows, some people may currently be walking, driving, or even taking the S62 to Richmond Avenue to catch the early-morning express bus when in reality they live further east).
SIM33C Overlap/Gaps
So another issue that needs to be addressed is the gap in service between Gannon Avenue and the Church Street/Broadway corridor. Previously, the X10 (via Church Street) had its first trip out of Port Richmond at 5am, and then the X10B (via West Street) replaced it starting at 6:10am (when the X11 became the Church Street bus). Then at the end of rush hour the reverse happened (the X11 stopped running and then the X10 picked up). Those X10 (via Church Street) trips still bypassed Narrows Road (which was covered by the X14/15 for all of the X10 stops, as well as the X1/2/3/9 for Hylan Blvd and Fingerboard Road). With Church Street being the primary Downtown corridor (compared to West Street), this makes sense. So the simple solution is to have the SIM33 run up Church Street instead of West Street at anytime when the SIM32 isn't operating (so that would be the 5am, 5:20am, 5:40am, and 8:55am trips from Mariners Harbor. You can label them as SIM33C short-turns to 14th Street, since the SIM31 covers Midtown during that timeframe. There's a slight gap between the 9:11am SIM31 out of Slosson and the 9:46am SIM33C out of Slosson but during that timeframe there's still the SIM3 to Midtown as well, and of course the subway from Downtown. Maybe push the 8:00am & 8:30am SIM31 trips out of the ETC to 8:05am and 8:35am respectively to close the gap a little smoother).
In the PM rush, the span of the X10B was 4:06pm - 6:32pm from Park Avenue & 22nd Street and those trips arrived at Vesey Street & West Street between 4:37pm - 7:01pm (I know it started from Midtown, but the SIM3 & SIM31 cover most of those passengers at that time). The 3:20pm trip out of 57th Street (3:46pm from Park Avenue & 22nd Street) actually had a bit of overlap with the X11 (so it should've really been an X10B trip, especially since it bypassed Narrows Road, but still had the "via Narrows/via Gannon" sign, since the "via Gannon" sign was reserved for the X10B). Anyway, the SIM32 & SIM33 spans should be coordinated in both the AM and PM. (I personally favor doing so by expanding the span of the SIM32, rather than cutting back the span of the SIM33 especially SIM3/31 cover Midtown riders. Of course there is the option of running some SIM33C buses starting from 14th Street, but my general stance is that if a certain amount of capacity is required, it should be done by extending the span of the peak variants because they are more efficient and cover more areas on the Staten Island end compared to the off-peak variants)
Anyway, what I propose (for now) is as follows: Add a 3pm SIM33C out of Midtown (ugh, still don't understand why it runs out of CPS & 6th instead of 57th & Lexington), and have the 3:40pm SIM31 out of 57th & Lexington start at 3:30pm) So that fills the gaps in Midtown-Gannon Avenue service. Eliminate the 2:40pm, 3:00pm, and 3:20pm trips out of 14th Street and have the first bus depart 14th Street at 3:40pm. The 3:00pm trip out of Midtown would get to Chambers Street at 3:40pm, and then the SIM32 picks up at 3:55pm. So the span of the SIM33 would still be a little bit longer than that of the X10B (3:40pm - 6:45pm from 14th Street compared to 4:06pm-6:32pm from 23rd Street)
At the end of the PM rush, convert the 7pm SIM33 trip out of 14th Street to a SIM33C trip (so that the gap between the 6:45pm SIM32 and the 7:37pm SIM33C at Chambers Street is filled). Then cut the 6:50pm and 7:10pm SIM33C trips out of Midtown to 14th Street (since the SIM31 is still operating).
SIM3C Overlap/Gaps
The SIM3C & SIM34 don't really have any gaps between them, but during the PM rush they have a lot of overlap that should be eliminated and reinvested elsewhere. For the AM trips on the SIM34, I would move the 9:00am trip out of Mariners Harbor to depart at 9:10am, and then move the 9:35am SIM3C out of Port Richmond to depart at 9:30am (so that closes the gap between the last SIM34 and first SIM3C). Then from 9:30am - 6:30pm I would operate it every 30 minutes, and then run the last 3 buses at 7:30pm, 8:30pm, and 9:30pm (so yes, it would be a 30 minute span reduction since the last SIM3C is currently at 10pm from Port Richmond). I would have the SIM33C run every 30 minutes from Mariners Harbor from 9:15am - 6:15pm, and then 7pm, 8pm, 9pm, and 10pm from Mariners Harbor. (I do believe that reverse-peak service should operate more frequently, in this case every 30 minutes, considering the marginal cost of doing so is much cheaper compared to adding additional peak trips. But if they're insisting on running reverse-peak service once per hour for now then I guess that's what we're stuck with).
I would have similar coordination between the SIM3C & SIM33C in the outbound direction and on weekends in the inbound direction (on weekends in the outbound direction I see some degree of coordination)
In the PM, I would take the 2:25pm, 2:40pm, and 2:50pm SIM3C buses from Midtown and consolidate them into a 2:40pm SIM3, to eliminate overlap with the SIM34 Downtown and provide a quicker option for Midtown riders. The remaining two trips would be reinvested elsewhere (the SIM30 could definitely use an earlier trip, maybe leaving the Midtown terminal at 3:20pm). The remaining trip can be used on either the SIM3 or SIM34 if either of them needs additional service around that time.
Hylan Blvd
Oh boy, Hylan Blvd, everybody's favorite corridor....the star of the show and the main area where the routes and schedules are an issue....so for starters the main thing I notice right off the bat is that they took an hour off the SIM10 span in the morning (last bus is now 8:10am out of the ETC instead of 9:10am) and 78 minutes off the span in the evening (last bus is now 6:38pm out of CPS/6th instead of 7:56pm). Also, a major issue is that the last few PM buses depart CPS/6th as follows: 6:06pm, 6:16pm, 6:20pm, 6:38pm. I don't know if it was a typo and the 6:20pm trip should maybe depart at 6:26pm or if maybe there's some scheduling nuance where they expect that trip to be late anyway, but all I know is I would not want to depend on that 6:38pm trip, because with an 18 minute gap and everybody scrambling to get on the last bus, I guarantee that bus will be packed and likely bypass people (forcing them to scramble to get the SIM1C, SIM6, or SIM11 and make extra, unnecessary transfers)
I expected a reduction in the frequency of SIM10 service with the introduction of the SIM11, but I definitely didn't expect a span reduction. The last SIM10 is even earlier than the last X7/9 (which both left CPS/6th at 6:45pm). Definitely a huge step backwards.
So in any case, the inbound SIM1C trips departing the ETC between 4:10am and 4:49am should definitely not extend past 14th Street, because from 23rd Street up, that's what the SIM10 is for. Also, I see 2 trips added during that timeframe (compared to the October 7th schedules). Not sure if it's actually an increase in ridership (e.g. construction workers) or if people really don't trust the new system and are leaving super-early before 5am to compensate. In the PM rush, the 2pm SIM1C out of CPS/6th should start at 14th Street to eliminate overlap with the 2pm SIM10.
In any case, the SIM10 needs to keep the original long span (and possibly receive off-peak service. Splitting the SIM1C into a SIM1C starting at 14th Street or 23rd Street, and the SIM10 would definitely work. The question is, would using the SIM6 instead of the SIM10 work better if a North Shore off-peak route covered Narrows Road? But that's for a different post). That pattern is more efficient, covers more areas, and provides quicker, more reliable service overall. Also, as another poster mentioned, with the X24/SIM23 being routed to Barclay Avenue (which it really should be extended to Pollion or Arburtus, but that's a different story) instead of New Dorp, that removes the option of a quick route directly to Midtown (the X24 was faster than the SIM10, but at least the SIM10 is faster than the SIM1C/X1.....now you're pretty much forced to get off Downtown for the subway if you want a quick route to work if you can't get to the last SIM11 in time, and then you have to transfer again to reach West Midtown, which requires another fare because the policy of "if the second route is a SIM route you get another free transfer" was not implemented and only applies to certain bus routes and Downtown subway stations). With the SIM7/9 running until 7:30pm and 7:37pm respectively they keep that aspect of the October 7th schedules (have some SIM1 trips from Downtown, and a couple of SIM1C trips covering the gap between the SIM7/9 and SIM1C off-peak service, except those SIM1C trips should start from 14th Street instead of CPS/6th)
I see they brought back the 3 minute headway in the AM rush on SIM6. Wonder what that's all about. The SIM11 serves East Midtown so if anything I would think there would be slightly less service on the SIM6. On the SIM5, it seems (at a glance, I have to double-check) like they converted a couple of those trips into SIM1 trips. Really both of those routes need increased service, especially with all the complaints of overcrowding on the SIM5.
It seems they moved a few trips from the SIM9 to the SIM7 (which makes sense because the SIM7 takes the busier, more centralized route along Hylan Blvd and goes all the way to the ETC whereas the SIM9 serves the more isolated Father Capodanno corridor and ends at Hylan & Richmond). These routes need to operate the "Eltingville via Father Capodanno" and "New Dorp via Hylan" patterns which should lead to more balanced loads (and will also be cheaper to operate since buses would start from New Dorp instead of Hylan & Richmond and it balances the frequency so that the longer route isn't running more frequently (and thus more expensively).
I see they put a couple of more trips on the SIM22 at the height of the AM rush, and that the SIM4X/8X will have an extra stop at Lamberts Lane. (That makes sense to fill up the buses, but again, I think it would be more cost-efficient to have them extended to the South Shore and have the regular SIM4/8 start from the SI Mall during those hours, because the riders traveling further get the super-express and also the frequency is a little more balanced between the 2 variants because the route with the longer runtime isn't super-frequent while the route with the shorter runtime is at a minimum 20 minute headway).
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