Select Bus Service and other changes on Nostrand Jan 2013+

Has anyone been to Mike's on Nostrand lately? Went by today and it was closed! Hope its a fluke since it't the only goodish pizza in comfortable walking distance from my place.

A bit north, but a new bagel store is opening up on nostrand and atlantic.

there's also a new "fish and chips and salad" spot opening up on the eastern side of prospect and nostrand, across the street from the empty exquisite storefront.

do we know if it's going to have the same wrapped-in-packing-tape look that the one on washington has?

SBS will create a clusterfuck of epic proportions...

The previous SBS routes have been absolute success stories. I take the M15 regularly and the experience is so much better than a regular bus.

I think if I was a daily rider of the B44, I would be excited about this. Typycially one can almost walk as fast as the B44 moves through certain sections now. Th real problem is the illegal double-parking and the SBS's cameras will go a long way to solving that problem.

homeowner said:

SBS will create a clusterfuck of epic proportions...

Really? Based on what? Every where else it's been met with high praise indeed.

newguy88 said:

Really? Based on what? Every where else it's been met with high praise indeed.

Nostrand Avenue has historically had problems with double parking during daytime hours due to the large numbers of business and the limited amount of parking. Even during non-rush hour periods the street often blocks up with car traffic. (Just ask anyone who lives around the corner from any of the after-hours clubs what it's like on Sunday mornings when the parties let out)

When you add in the truck deliveries, and the bus traffic, traffic has never moved on this street from Fulton Street to the Junction. When you reduce the amount of parking further, reduce the number of moving traffic lanes, don't allow designated areas for truck deliveries, and don't have any increased enforcement the street is going to turn into a giant parking lot during rush hour.

Nostrand and Flatbush Avenues have historically had problems with double parking during all hours due to the large numbers of drivers that insist that even going a few spaces past where they are going is too far. And they would never even consider going around the block to find parking.

Sometimes things have to get worse for the car culture people to make changes for the better for everyone. Perhaps people will consider taking buses and subways when there are dedicated lanes for buses.

While the bakeries are part of the problem, there are also a significant number of supermarkets on Nostrand. The customers come almost exclusively by foot, but the food all comes in trucks with the smallest ones usually start at 32 footers. The Met on Nostrand gets deliveries at between 7:30 and 8:30 am. There is no parking (and now no standing) on that side of the street in front of the stores, and having 40 or 53 foot tractor trailers pull up on either St Johns (at the bus stop) or Sterling is absolutely unworkable.

Same problem with deliveries to the national chain stores like Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds, Subway, etc. The deliveries are all in trucks which can't (or won't) divert to side streets. If you figure there is one store every four blocks that fits into this category and they get deliveries 1-2 times a week, that's a ton of disruption that the planners of this mess didn't take into account. And no, those store won't just change their delivery times to late nights or off hours. The deliveries are dependent upon supplying warehouses operations, most of which are located outside of the city so they schedule deliveries to occur in the city during the day, allowing them to start and end their operations early.

It isn't fair to use 34th Street as a comparison. That was a street that traditionally had little to no parking on it during the day, with a well-defined business district, and little to no residential vehicular street parking. SBS may have displaced trucks, but there was plenty of overflow areas to absorb them. Nostrand is bounded the entire length by streets that are chock full of residential parked cars and which are not designated as truck routes. (In the entire neighborhood the only designated streets for trucks are Nostrand, Rogers, Utica, Atlantic and Empire)

From a supply chain perspective, Nostrand traffic actually benefits from the current mix of businesses. Hair supply and nail places get few bulk deliveries in large trucks and have customers that tend to be local and can walk to the stores. As you move to more national chains, food based business, and restaurants, goods and materials tend to come in larger bulk deliveries from suppliers or attract people from further away.

Were the local businesses consulted regarding their needs for loading times, or did the MTA just make unilateral decisions about this project being necessary/needed, with no room for local commercial comment? I am thrilled that Nostrand is being repaved, and I understand that SBS service could be awesome, but it would stink if the reduction of traffic lanes and lack of attention to commercial loading needs leads the project to fail.

Grwd, are we to assume that you never set foot inside a supermarket, and that you personally grow all of your own food and sew all of your own clothing, so that you are in no way dependent upon those "large, noisy, polluting trucks"?

You'd be just as happy to have all of those businesses which require large-truck deliveries disappear?

Booklaw, I really enjoy going to the supermarket all the time. I even get FreshDirect sometimes. So as it currently exists, I am totally dependent on businesses who use those trucks.

I'd like to see those businesses adapt.

Let's say for instance, there are two FreshDirects. Big Johnny's FreshDirect relies on trucks for deliveries and keeps getting tickets for double-parking and is paying a fortune for gas. Smart Ralphie's FreshDirect, sees which way the wind is blowing, and uses an innovative ordering system and figures out how to make it work with a fleet of trucks, vans, and cargo bicycles. They spend more on technology, but save money on gas and parking tickets, so the net cost is the same. In that case, I wouldn't mind seeing Big Johnny's go under, since I can just order the same things from Smart Ralphie's.

To answer your question, I'd be happy to see those businesses which "require" large-truck double-parking replaced by ones that can offer a similar end product without the large-truck double-parking.

I support innovative ways to improve the quality of life for middle-class New Yorkers who depend on transit. If that means getting deliveries during off-hours, ordering from suppliers with smaller trucks, using vans where possible, or even installing a driveway to get the trucks off the street, then so be it. Big trucks on the expressway are one thing, but big trucks in the bus lane are another.