Comments on Draft Schedules for January 13th (Part 1)

Since from my understanding, these new schedules only have about a week before they become official for the January pick (which I suppose is better than giving no advance notice), I'll make comments piecemeal.

First things first, I'm glad my comments were taken into consideration to coordinate the SIM25 & SIM26 in the evening (every 30 minutes individually, but every 15 minutes if you live in an area where you can use either one, such as Travis, Rossville, or Tottenville). It would be nice if they did the same thing at the beginning of rush hour (before say, 4pm) but whatever. I like how the SIM2 keeps its last bus at 8:15pm (It's basically the Downtown equivalent of the SIM25/26 in terms of offering direct evening service to the deep South Shore). Of course, I would prefer seeing it run until 1am (with the SIM4C divided up into the SIM2, SIM4 and possibly the SIM8) but I guess it's a step in the right direction that they kept it.

However, they eliminated the first 3 X19/SIM2 buses of the evening (the X19 started at 2pm, while the SIM2 will start at 3:10pm). And to make matters worse, they continue to run the SIM4C once an hour around that timeframe. They must really have something against that route. First they combine the X17 with the Gannon portion of the X10 and run it once an hour. Now they separate the Gannon portion and give it to the SIM33C and they cram all of the Arden Heights riders into one bus per hour. I mean seriously look at the options to Arden Heights before 3pm under the old schedule. You had the X19 leaving Worth Street at 2pm, 2:25pm, and 2:50pm, and the X17 leaving Worth Street at 2:11pm, 2:31pm. 2:45pm, and 3pm. Now all of that gets replaced with one bus leaving Chambers Street at 2:10pm coming from Midtown. Yeah, combining 6 buses worth of people into one bus.....somehow I don't see that working out too well......

And here's the other thing, with the SIM8 running essentially the same route as the SIM4C on Staten Island (the only difference being that the SIM8 runs straight down Woodrow Road instead of taking Arthur Kill Road to Arden Avenue), there's no need for the SIM4C to operate to Midtown when the SIM8 is running. At most it should be running up to 23rd Street (I personally think it shouldn't run past Chambers Street, but some may disagree). The 4:20am, 4:40am, 5:00am, 8:35am, and 8:50am inbound trips should all be cut back to 23rd Street. In the PM rush, the 2:30pm SIM4C trip and every single trip between 6:52pm and 8:55pm should be starting at 23rd Street (or "22nd Street" as they list the stop on the schedule). Fill up those SIM8 buses, get people out of Manhattan quickly and efficiently, and reinvest that service where it's needed. If the SIM8 is too crowded, then add a couple of more SIM8 trips that will complete their trips more quickly (and therefore cheaply) than the SIM4C. And while they're at it, why are the SIM4C buses making that pointless Annadale Road loop? That loop is only intended for the X17A/SIM4 to terminate and was never served by the X17C.

I see some gaps in Gannon Avenue service (which you can maneuver around using Staten Island local buses, but still, not acceptable when there's overlap in other portions of the schedule. Random gaps and overlap....seriously they need to get it together.....the SIM33 & SIM33C overlap heading outbound in the early PM (I can't see the times for 14th Street on the SIM33C but that there's buses leaving 23rd Street at 2:45pm and 3:05pm when the SIM33C is already running at 2:40pm from 14th Street. For that matter, the SIM33C overlaps with the SIM34 for those going to Mariners Harbor  I'm exhausted and will write a more detailed plan tomorrow but all I know is that the overlap must be eliminated because on the other end of rush hour there's a gap in Gannon Avenue service between the 6:45pm SIM32 from Chambers Street and the 7:37pm SIM33C from Chambers Street.

For the SIM3C it's the same story. For some reason there's 4 buses between 2pm and 3pm (even though there's a giant gap in Midtown service between the 2:40pm SIM33C and 3:40pm SIM31). It's like they took the October 7th schedule and just compressed the buses during that timeframe. The 2:25pm, 2:40pm, and 2:50pm buses from CPS/6th all overlap with the SIM34 once they get Downtown. Replace those trips with a single SIM3 trip at 2:40pm and use the remaining buses to add service to where it's needed (on the SIM4C & SIM33C, or even the SIM30 for that matter. That could use some earlier service). At the end of the PM rush, it's coordinated well with the SIM34 (at least in theory. In practice it will likely be jam-packed with riders who actually need the SIM33C)

So that brings me to 2 other issues: Why are all the off-peak routes out of CPS/6th? (The X10 & X17 were out of 57th & Lexington and so should the SIM33C & SIM4C). The other issue is why are the SIM3C & SIM33C not coordinated? They both serve the same stops in Graniteville and both serve the same general area in Castleton Corners (Victory Blvd vs. Gannon Avenue). I'm sure a lot of people would love the flexibility to switch off between them but are deterred by the fact that buses are basically every 30 minutes but scheduled back-to-back instead of coordinated like the SIM25 & SIM26 in the evening.

I will post more in my next post. I see a lot of changes for Hylan Blvd. They really (excessively IMO) cut into the SIM10 when they created the SIM11 for starters.....