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Free Rides Come One, Come Many….

Posted by
on April 18th, 2011 at 11:34 pm

It never fails as every few months, an elected official genius or two will promote or share some asinine idea involving the MTA with zero merit behind it.

Cue up the latest individuals, some unnamed members of the State Legislature which have introduced bills that would mandate the MTA to provide free or discounted rides to over 1 million riders. Pete Donohue of the New York Daily News has more in this report:

What the hell – free or discounted trips on the subways, buses and commuter trains for everyone!

Members of our now slightly less dysfunctional state Legislature have introduced bills requiring the MTA to give free or reduced-price travel to more than 1 million additional New Yorkers – without providing an extra dime to make up for the lost revenue.

College students would get at least 25% off.

Senior citizens wouldn’t have to pay at all.

Off-duty fire marshals, off-duty police officers and retired cops would all get freebies.

Under one of the bills, the MTA would be legally prohibited from charging public school students – something it threatened to do during a recent fiscal crisis. The proposed bill, however, wouldn’t even require that state and city government continue paying part of the tab as they have for years.

Click here for the complete report.

As I stated, these geniuses always have some asinine idea to share. The kicker with these recent introduced bills is that none of them contain information on where the money is coming from to subsidize these rides. Since the city & state clearly want nothing to do with helping foot the bill.

While the chances of these bills becoming law are slim to none, it sure shows how our so called leaders waste time with such nonsense. I would love to hear their thoughts on where the money was magically coming from to pay for these rides. Maybe they thought the MTA could come up with monopoly money to pay for these rides.

So go ahead, make the MTA foot the bill for these rides. Don’t come crying later when fares have to be raised, services cut, & a system falling into further states of disrepair. You know what they say, “you get what you paid for”.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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1

QM24 Moving To 6th Avenue

Posted by
on April 18th, 2011 at 10:48 pm

Earlier today, the MTA Bus Company announced that its QM24 express bus route would now operate on 6th Avenue instead of 8th Avenue. The 3rd Avenue portion of service remains unchanged. Here are details courtesy of a press release:

MTA Bus Company announced that beginning today, Monday, April 18, the QM24 will operate along 6th Avenue instead of 8th Avenue in Midtown Manhattan between 34th Street and 57th Street. The current 3rd Avenue branch remains unchanged.

The QM24 provides weekday peak period service between Glendale, Queens and Midtown Manhattan, operating in two branches; one along 3rd Avenue and one that operated along 8th Avenue. The QM24 is one of the few express routes not serving 6th Avenue – the center of the Midtown business district. In addition, by operating along 8th Avenue, the bus had to travel a longer path through Manhattan.

In order to provide more efficient service on a centrally located street in the heart of the commercial and office center of Midtown, MTA Bus will now operate the QM24 along 6th Avenue reducing travel time through Manhattan by approximately 6 minutes per trip.

All QM24 bus stops west of 6th Avenue (on 34h Street, 8th Avenue and 57th Street) are discontinued. New stops have been added along 6th Avenue at 35th Street, 37th Street, 43rd Street, 50th Street and 56th Street. All QM24 bus stops in Queens remain the same.

By utilizing 6th Avenue, MTA Bus expects to improve travel time, reliability and marketability, thus attracting additional ridership and revenue.

Call me crazy but it seems weird that the MTA would issue this press release on the same day the service change begins.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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0

Service Diversions 04-18-11

Posted by
on April 18th, 2011 at 5:01 am

I have just updated the Service Diversions page by removing all of the weekend work that wrapped up by a minute ago. The planned work for this week & beyond in some cases has been moved to the forefront.

I suggest printing out a copy before heading to your destination. If you have an internet capable handheld device, you can use it to access the mobile version of this site. The next update will be sometime on Thursday or Friday after I received the planned weekend diversions from the MTA directly.

As always, stay safe & have a wonderful week.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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Service Diversions 04-14-11

Posted by
on April 14th, 2011 at 11:57 pm

I have just updated the Service Diversions page with the latest planned work for the upcoming weekend, next week, & beyond. As always, I suggest printing out a copy before heading to your destination. If you have an internet capable handheld device, use it to access Transit Blogger’s mobile site.

A reminder to riders of the BxM2, as of this Sunday, the northbound route in Manhattan will be revised. Click here for complete information.

The next update will be at 5:01 AM Monday when all weekend work will be removed. Have a safe & wonderful weekend.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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0

QM16 Extends Route In The Rockaways

Posted by
on April 14th, 2011 at 11:54 pm

The MTA Bus Company has announced that beginning this Monday, April 18th, the QM16 will have its route in the Rockaways extended to provide better service for residents of the Roxbury and Breezy Point communities. Here are the complete details courtesy of a press release I received:

MTA Bus Company announces that beginning Monday, April 18, the QM16 weekday peak period express bus to and from midtown Manhattan will extend its travel path in the Rockaways from its current location in Neponsit (Rockaway Beach Boulevard at Beach 147th Street) to Roxbury (Beach 169th Street at Rockaway Point Boulevard).

The residential communities of Roxbury and Breezy Point in the western portion of the Rockaway Peninsula have limited transit accessibility with only two local bus routes, the Q22 and Q35. By extending the terminus of the QM16, we can provide direct peak period express bus service to the area. Customers can now avoid having to transfer to and from a local bus.

Since the extension of the QM16 from Rockaway Park to Belle Harbor and Neponsit was implemented in 2007, QM16 ridership has grown by 70%. This new extension will bring the QM16 within walking distance of Roxbury residents and also bring it to a location that is more convenient for residents of Breezy Point.

We expect that over time, the availability of direct express bus service from Roxbury and more proximate service from Breezy Point will generate additional ridership and revenue.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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