Select Bus Service and other changes on Nostrand Jan 2013+

Part of the problem is cars double parking on the other side of Nostrand Ave from the bus lane. In several areas, those lanes are reserved for car through traffic during peak hours and people are not obliging. This is causing back ups and car traffic is narrowed down to one lane to get around the offenders.

The problem is that the buses will not capture these offenders. I wonder if there are street mounted cameras for this?

My favorite "screwing up SBS" story thus far:

A couple of days ago, I was coming home from work around 7pm. I had just crossed Eastern Parkway and was just passing the bank when from behind me I hear tires screeching and lots of horn honking. I turn around and a car has made a LEFT off EP onto Nostrand headed the wrong way. It drove through the intersection of the service lane without stopping and headed down towards Lincoln. Fortunately, that block of Nostrand was completely empty as all the traffic was stopped at the light at Lincoln. The driver drove almost to the next intersection where he made a leisurely U-turn then pulled over to the curb into one of the two driving lanes. He stopped there while he and the girl in the car consulted both their phones and GPS for directions. Fortunately, drivers that had seen this madness opted to simply drive around them rather that drive up behind them and honk. Somehow, I don't think the camera on the bus that was stopped at the light picked this up either as the driver avoided the SBS lane!

I'm of the belief that a good deal of the slowness of that particular line was the horrible condition of Nostrand from Lee to Fulton. DOT hadn't repaved that stretch in over twenty years and it was rutted, pockmarked, and full of all kinds of bumps, twists, and obstacles to maneuver around. I think simply repaving that will take 10-12 minutes off of any trip.

Our neighbors at the other end of the line have weighed in with their view of SBS B44 service and the impact of the changes,

http://www.sheepsheadbites.com/2013/11/b44-sbs-update-initial-reviews-are-in-part-1-of-3/

At the end of the three article arc, the author comes up with his conclusion about the SBS B44

Conclusion

You are probably thinking, “Why has Allan chosen to print only the bad reviews and none of the good ones?” The reason is that there weren’t any good ones to find, other than from the bus driver who believes all the problems will be worked out in the end. Yes, some problems will be worked out, but not all. Some will like SBS and others will hate it. The MTA will declare it a huge success with some initial growing pains. The MTA will never do a fair analysis. They will continue to brag how much quicker the SBS is, ignoring extra walk times and riders who are forced to use SBS against their will, because of poor, unreliable and overcrowded locals with 25- to 40-minute waits becoming the norm.

I think is yet another example of the MTA not having any relationship with the community or ridership. Many of the people using the bus are local inter-borough users such as school children who don't need to get on trains. So its far more important that intersections near schools or major bus routes are included on SBS instead of train connections. Folks at the MTA need to ride the bus before they start making changes. Allen quotes one person who hypothesized that the service was poorly thought out but the MTA opted to move forward anyway to get the associated federal funding for the project.

It's been a while since I was on a bus and some people in uniform came on board asking to see everybody's papers :-)

I don't think much has been collected from drivers. When I walk home at night I often see cars parked or stopped in the curbside lane between 6 & 7pm, especially in front of the supermarkets. I never see cops coming through to move people along, and drivers have already figured out that so long as there isn't a bus in sight, the bus lane is open game since the cameras are on the buses and not mounted street side.

But I fully expect to see a story in a couple of weeks about ten people pulling some guy off of an empty SBS for not having paid his $2.50.

Another good summary from our friends at Sheepshead Bites:

You can read the Daily News for MTA propaganda, which calls the SBS “magic buses” and only shows the benefits of SBS, or you can learn the real story on Sheepshead Bites. Mr. Orosz’s comment “that bus riders can spend as much as 25 percent of their ride time waiting for passengers to get on and off the bus” is really disingenuous, since it implies a much greater time savings than actually will occur. (They are predicting a 20 percent travel time-savings.) Buses will still have to stop for passengers to get on and off, and will still have to deal with traffic and traffic signals. The wait for a bus will not disappear, and in some cases will increase, as will the walking distance to and from the bus. The maximum projected time-savings would be 15 minutes if SBS buses traveled the entire length of the route, which we now learn they will not do. Williamsburg SBS buses will terminate at Avenue U and Flushing Avenue buses will go to Knapp Street. The average savings for the typical passenger is only six minutes, which may or may not include the extra walking distance to SBS stops.

You cannot trust an agency, which reveals only benefits, does not reply to community concerns, and delays publishing schedules until the very last minute. This prevents riders from seeing the true effects of the changes beforehand.

Nostrand Ave Laundromat (Nostrand between Park and Sterling) has had some wood up covering the storefront. Looks like they're going through some renovations. Island Bubbles (on Rogers) did this over the summer and made the place look really nice. Since they've renovated I've been going to Island Bubbles over Nostrand Ave Laundromat...