BusTalk

[Q65A]

Check out the following link:
http://www.mta.info/mta/planning/sbs/faqs.htm

Question: Does SBS = BRT???

[Mr. Linsky]

Bob,

Very interesting indeed, and almost a page from the LACMTA playbook!

I really don't think that New York City in general and specifically Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx are quite ready for the busway concept.

L.A. has had moderate success (less all the traffic accidents) with busways in the more sparsely populated San Franando Valley where there was adequate land for the purpose.

One of the promises made by the LACMTA when they first inaugurated 'Rapid' service was that the buses (which, at the time, were new NABI 45C's) would be equipped with the Traffic Signal Priority devices that would automatically change traffic lights in their favor as they ran the routes.

I thought that this was the greatest idea since sliced bread not for the buses but for me following them without having to stop!

The system turned out to be almost useless and pretty much abandoned after a pilot program created havoc at main cross town routes where the lights were turning red both unexpectedly and far too often to move traffic smoothly.

Additionally, they found that the costs of equipment and alterations to intersection computers were far beyond original estimates.

It will be interesting to see how NYC handles it.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY

[Mr RT]

The Bronx BRT is just a "Limited" Cross-Town route with pay before you board added to speed up service.

[Mr. Linsky]

Looks like Mayor Bloomberg gets shot down on another plan to ease traffic according to the following article in today's New York Times.

Back a Bill, Then Throw It Under a Bus? It Happens

By DANNY HAKIM
Published: June 19, 2008
ALBANY — Once again, Michael R. Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City, has been frustrated by the mysterious ways of the capital.

The latest indignity came on Tuesday, when Assembly Democrats refused to advance a city proposal to prevent cars from using special lanes that will be reserved for a new class of city buses. If that was not frustrating enough, six Democratic co-sponsors of the bill were among those who voted not to move it out of the Assembly’s Transportation Committee because the panel’s chairman, Assemblyman David F. Gantt, also a Democrat, opposed the measure.

It might seem unusual for lawmakers to vote against a bill they support, but it happens with some frequency in Albany, where political expediency often trumps ideology.

The Bloomberg administration was not pleased.

“Gridlock will not simply disappear on its own,” said Farrell Sklerov, a spokesman for the mayor. “By blocking a bill that the majority of committee members support, Chairman Gantt undermines the Democratic process.”

The legislative session is winding down next Monday. The last weeks of the session are usually busy, but have been unusually free of activity as Gov. David A. Paterson struggles to pull together his administration in the wake of Eliot Spitzer’s political demise.

The rejection of the city’s bus bill was also disappointing for environmental advocates. This month, the city will introduce new rapid transit buses, which will operate on 50 miles of lanes throughout the city by 2011. The city had hoped to use cameras mounted on the buses to catch cars that encroach in the special lanes.

“It has the potential to revolutionize the way people move around town,” said Gene Russianoff, an advocate for mass transit and a lawyer for the New York Public Interest Research Group. He added that it would be “impossible to enforce lanes now with the police — you’d need a battalion.”

Mr. Gantt, who is from Rochester, has long opposed the use of cameras for law enforcement, but recently he reversed course by introducing a bill that would allow for red light cameras in Buffalo. The bill was drafted to favor a type of traffic-monitoring technology made by a company run by his former counsel.

He brushed off a question about whether he had sought to influence the votes of other committee members on the bus bill.

“What do you think, I go around breaking people’s arms?” he said.

The Assembly co-sponsors of the bill who voted to hold it, all Democrats, were Michelle Schimel and Harvey Weisenberg of Long Island, Sam Hoyt of Buffalo, Janele Hyer-Spencer and Matthew Titone of Staten Island and George Latimer of Westchester County.

Jonathan L. Bing, a Manhattan Democrat who was the bill’s chief sponsor, said, “This is such a specific New York City issue, it’s one of the many things where you wonder why the State Legislature has any role at all!

Jeremy W. Peters contributed reporting.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY

[BrooklynBus]

Does anyone know why BRT is now called Select Bus Service? Do they no longer think the service will be "rapid"?

[Mr. Linsky]

BrooklynBus,

I don't know as the MTA selected BRT themselves or that it's just a generic usage such as Kleenex when you talk about facial tissue.

The only other reference that I know of would be NABI's 60 footers which are known as BRT's.

In Los Angeles it's called 'Rapid' and it seems as though the New York MTA has opted for Select Bus Service (SBS) to describe a new kind of faster transit.

However, and according to the NY Times article above, the whole question may become mute because of state objections.

This would be the second time in as many months that Albany has turned a deaf ear on efforts by the city to first ease traffic problems (congestion pricing) and now in the nixing of the SBS concept.

It would seem to me that a municipality as large as New York City (which, population wise, is larger than many states) should have some autonomy in such local matters along with more access to state funds for worthy projects without having to beg!

Maybe it's time for charter revision!

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY

[Mr RT]

Mayor Mike gave up most of his ability to implement stuff in NYC when he gave up supervision of the private bus companies.
He's left witth begging with empty pockets.

[ripta42]