New Bus Fleet Disappoints
I am all for the MTA upgrading their equipment to help cut costs & improve the rides for their commuters. However sometimes, the wrong choices are made regardless of what benefits they provide. A great example of this is the new Nova Diesel Standards which started to hit the streets this month.
The buses have severe height & legroom issues which were highlighted by Heather Haddon for the New York Post:
This bus comes up short.
The MTA’s newest buses have New Yorkers scratching their heads at the numskull design, where riders 5-foot-2 or taller can easily hit their noggins on the low roofs.
The Nova Diesel Standards are 61.5 inches high at their lowest point along the rear windows, as compared to 69 inches in the Nova RTS buses dating from the late 1990s.
The older models don’t have interior steps leading to the back section in the rear.
“They made this bus wrong. It’s a waste of my money,” said Garvin Peters, 31, while riding a new bus on the B6 line in southern Brooklyn.
A group of eight seats in the back are also dramatically short on legroom, with 15 inches of space total. Passengers sit facing each other in these intimate quarters, leaving 7.5 inches of space per person. The old RTS buses gave 10 inches of space for riders.
The strange setup forces the long-legged to sprawl themselves into the aisle, The Post observed during a recent ride.
Click here for the complete report.
Normally I avoid buses as much as possible due to them being too slow & not really being of use to my commute. So with saying that, it should come as no surprise that I have not had the chance to ride the bus.
I have to seriously question the effectiveness of this bus. Let’s face it, most of NYC is overweight & needs all the room it can get when on public transportation. With the amount of people increasing in the city & in turn the transportation system, why waste money on buses that provide less room & carry fewer passengers to boot?
The price tag is cheap but the execution was poor. It will be interesting to see what rider reaction will be as the fleet continues to be rolled out.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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