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We love this time of year, when the Straphangers Campaign hands out the Pokey Awards for the city's slowest buses. Usurping last year's winner M34 from the slowest spot this year was the M14A, which goes between 11th Avenue and Avenue A, and then down to Grand Street, and travels at an average of 3.9 MPH, which is what a healthy New Yorker speedwalking can do easily (average pedestrian walking speed is 3 MPH). Ah, the combination of traffic and pedestrians around 14th Street, especially near Union Square . The M34's sped up from 3.4 MPH to a blazing 4.2 MPH - check out the the 2005 and 2006 speeds here (PDF). And the other borough's slow poke buses are:
Brooklyn: B35, 4.9 MPH
Bronx: Bx19, 5.1 MPH
Queens: Q56, 7.2 MPH
Staten Island: S42, 11.1 MPH
And this year, the Straphangers handed out the first Unreliable Award:
The groups also issued their first-ever list of “The Unreliables.” Buses made “The Unreliables” list if —according to MTA New York City Transit statistics — more than one out of five buses on the route arrived in bunches or with big gaps during the day or departed significantly off-schedule at night...Hee hee! And it's so true - it's never rains but it pours when it comes to buses. Let's keep our fingers crossed for the success of Bus Rapid Transit Corridors!The most unreliable bus in New York City is the M1, with more than a quarter of its buses — 27.6% — arriving irregularly, the groups found. The route was awarded a question mark on a golden pedestal. The M1 travels from Harlem to the East Village along Fifth and Madison Avenues.
“The movies have their “Incredibles,” television their “Untouchables,” and now New York City buses have their “Unreliables,” said Gene Russianoff, staff attorney for the Straphangers Campaign. “You never know when these buses are coming or if they will arrive in bunched herds or wildly off-schedule.”
The MTA's response was "Slow and unreliable bus service is very much a product of the city¹s vibrancy," which roughly translates to "Don't blame us for bad traffic, dumb pedestrians who walk against the light, and slow passengers getting on and off the bus and not using the rear exit to leave even though there are signs saying as much."
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does the M14A even come. I always end up getting on one of the 2 M14D's that arrive while i wait...those crawl too.
^lol! you prob just missed it as the 14th st busses usually come in threes. and dont think that is because of the jam up at union sq, oh no, they are traveling in packs before and after union sq.
the fact is we lost bus service across 14th st when the normal size busses were replaced by the mega articulated busses a few yrs ago. now there are fewer total busses and they come much less often. that's a much bigger problem.
M14A is my bus too, it BLOWS, I've sat there for 3 full light changes at union sq before the bus can even get through. If there weren't double parkers it would go much faster methinks.
Whatever, MTA. In the words of St. Tim Gunn, make it work!
I guess for the MTA, Automobile Traffic/congestion = Vibrancy.
Streetsblog begs to differ
http://www.streetsblog.org/2006/10/25/mta-response-to-pokey-traffic-congestion-vibrancy
The B35?! That is undeserved - I used to live in the n'hood that it passed through and I called it the "hardest-working bus in show business." I thought that was one of the best buses in the city.
Where can I send in the A74 as a nomination for next year's Unreliable?
...or, rather, the Q74. Pardon me, still recovering from midterms.
I would think it would be hard to nominate the non-existant A74 for an award. What borough would that be? Albany?
I have been taking buses more often than normal due to recovering from a sprained ankle and one of the things I notice is the "curb kneeling" feature of the bus slows things down.
Also there are some people who don't seem to understand how the rear exit doors work on buses. It is very simple, when the green light goes on push the door open or push the yellow strips on the door to open it. It isn't rocket science.
I'm really surprised the M15 didn't come up as "Unreliable." Those buses ALWAYS seem to come in bunches...
I used to take the bus to work, but switched to the subway even though it's a longer commute (distance-wise) because buses are so prone to human stupidity: people insisting on leaving by the front door, fumbling for their Metrocards, not moving towards the back of the bus to let people get in, etc.
there is no way the M1 beats the B61 for unreliability. the B61 is the single worst bus in new york: plenty of irregular arrivals, and often in bunches; rude, crap drivers; obnoxious passengers; and, for what seems to be an undetermined amount of time, the most painful reroute in town (at the red hook end of its journey).
as for those signs about using the rear exit, i've never seen one on the B61, although i once heard a driver chastise passengers - some of whom actually walked past the back door - for using the front exit when passengers were waiting to get on. i praised him for his common sense (i guess they're not all bad!) but does the MTA actually train these people in basics? (related pet peeve: people who linger at the front of a really busy bus when there's loads of space at the back and the drivers who don't say anything to get them to move.)
Amen to that. The B61 is ridiculously unreliable and very important to Greenpointers who depend on it to make subway connections to the 7 or L. The buses frequently come 3 at a time at 20+ minute intervals when they should be coming every 7 minutes. And the drivers are often reckless. I've had them nearly run people over and then scream obscenities at them.
Did anybody mention Q60 at all? Supposedly they became better when they changed over to the city from 1 dollah-a-ride state. Nothin changed really except it's 2 bucks like everywhere else, still arive frequently in packs of three.
FWIW, "average pedestrian walking speed" of 3 MPH sounds a bit high, IMO. Especially if you're talking about someone who's crossing the street, against the light, directly in front of your car.
FWIW, "average pedestrian walking speed" of 3 MPH sounds a bit high, IMO. Especially if you're talking about someone who's crossing the street, against the light, directly in front of your car.
First of all, The B61 has one of the longest routes in Brooklyn people . Secondly, All busses have to deal with other vehicle traffic, Stupid pedes. that walk out into the street yakking away on there cellphones not paying attention to the fact that there's a [4]ton bus barreling towards them ! As for the Q60, Same problem and tha fact they MTA is using the same busses that the private companies used . Yes they are run by the MTA but with the same busses . The slowest bus around my way is the following .> Q17,Q25,Q34,Q65,& Q83. i DON'T WANT TO JINX IT BUT THE FASTEST BUSSES ARE .>Q5,Q7,Q30,Q54,Q56,Q85 & Q102 . aT LEAST AROUND MY WAY THAT IS !!!! jAMAICA CENTER AREA !