MTA Addes Buses To M15 Select Bus Service
Unfortunately during the downtime, I missed writing about a number of stories. One of those stories was about the debut of the Select Bus Service (SBS) on 2nd Ave via the M15 route. I read the New York Daily News report shortly after the debut which shouted to the rooftops about how the service was a disaster.
I spoke to a couple of friends who rode the service on its debut day. While each one of them expected the trip to be faster, it came as no surprise to them that it was not. A couple of days later, we all had a laugh at the disaster proclamation report in the paper. The overall agreement was that it was way too early to label the service in any direction.
MTA New York City Transit is wasting no time in addressing some of the concerns as they have announced the addition of more buses to the service. Pete Donohue of the New York Daily News had more in this report from yesterday:
NYC Transit has put extra buses on its new East Side express bus route that got off to a bumpy – and slower-than-expected – start, the Daily News has learned.
Three additional buses are being deployed every day to fill gaps in service caused by traffic and other problems along the M15 Select route, officials said.
That brings the M15 Select fleet on First and Second Aves. to about 40 buses, NYC Transit spokesman Charles Seaton said.
In another tweak, riders who grow tired of waiting for the express bus can now jump on local buses that arrive first, officials said.
“It’s common sense,” Straphangers Campaign’s Gene Russianoff said of the move. “Riders should be able to take whatever bus comes first if they want to get on the move.”
Click here for the complete report.
It is good to see that the MTA has taking a proactive approach to the service. However adding more buses is not the sole solution to improving service on this route or any of the other ones for that matter. They need to come up with a superior fare payment system & most importantly have 100% enforcement of the bus lanes. If the enforcement does not take place in the way needed, all of the other improvements will mean little.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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It certainly is MUCH faster. Have you ever seen how long it takes to load a bus through one door before the SBS Bus was implemented? About 5-10 minutes. How about now? The bus is in/out of the stop within 30 seconds.
I ride this bus every weekday to/from work, starting on the UES and going all the way to the last stop. Aside from confused tourists, standard-issue punks and non-bus regulars, I’ve noticed how many senior citizens are always trying to skip paying the fare. They always get busted when the spot-checks are made, and then some other middle-aged woman on the bus always starts cursing at the cops.
That is just lame.
You learned very quickly how to get on the bus WITHOUT paying, but you need more time to learn how to get on a bus WITH paying? Ha ha!
Again, lameness.
Sure, issuing summons for fare-beaters is a form of how the MTA makes money, but guess what… fare beating is also a form of how the MTA LOSES money.