BusTalk

[ripta42]

[HwyHaulier]

[quote="ripta42"]

[ripta42]

[HwyHaulier]

[ripta42]

Are Martz, et al., actively fighting this proposal? According to the Environmental Assessment, Martz has added buses and expanded service, but roadway capacity is still finite. Private bus carriers between D.C., Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York, Albany, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Boston haven't been done in by railroads; why, then, should Scranton and the Poconos be any different?

[HwyHaulier]

ripta42 -

Bloomberg ran a most impressive report on privately operated busses on the vaunted NEC. Might a reader guess they are operating a much more
attractive service vis-a-vis competition? It gets us back on the original Customer Service intent here...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601213&sid=akcsXdQlfgzQ

Your instant reply. So, what is said? Given a possibility of diversion of huge sums of public funds, the end result a mediocre operation not attuned
to compete in the marketplace? Bah! Rebuild the Bayonne Bridge!

In an attempt at droll, rather a shame AMTRAK finds some use for the venerable advertising slogan, "Route Of The Empire Builder". I can think of an
agency where that appears to better apply. No denying the Empire Builder part of it...

...............Vern..............

[Dieseljim]

What about the George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal? Or is that one at capacity, too?

[metrolinecoach111]

[Dieseljim]

If the Farley Post Office Building gets developed as a new Penn Station, why not modify the current Penn Station so you could berth a dozen or more buses at a time and adapt it as a satellite to the Port Authority Bus Terminal as well as continued use as a rail station. Remove whatever car parking area there is and there would be room to berth a bunch of buses. With PABT at capacity and GWBBT in a poor location, I cannot see any other choice for transit planners in New York City, save possibly banning automobiles from outside the city from entry.

[ripta42]

The Penn Station expansion is needed to create more capacity for trains, not to move the trains so the capacity can be freed up for other uses. I don't know if PABT is at capacity or not, but regardless, buses can "berth" curbside if more terminal capacity is needed. You can build a brand new 40-story bus terminal if you want; the capacity constraint is still the roads leading into and through the City.

[metrolinecoach111]

The Port Authority is at approximately 98% capacity right now on average - you really cannot accommodate any more departures during the PM peak hours - the schedules for most carriers on most routes is such that there is a departure from every gate every 5 minutes or less on average - you can't squeeze any more slots out of the gates, thus a primary reason why many of the private carriers have shifted many of their departures to 5th Avenue and 34th/42nd Street for streetside loading pick-ups - also proves to be a convenient option for many commuters.

Issue with loading streetside near the PABT is the limited space for pull-ins and pull-outs of buses - 41st Street and 8th Avenue (dubbed Area X) is the full-time stop for Coach USA's Newark Airport Express Buses, 42nd and 8th (terminal side) is the pick/drop location for numerous jitney operations and the New York Airport Service to JFK and LGA - 40th and 8th is an extremely busy corner that can't be really be spared for departures or arrivals of coaches, although a jitney operator drops passengers on the corner - 9th Avenue is out of the picture because of the congestion and inaccessibility to the rest of the terminal or its approaches...

Very few options left, and creating bus berths at Penn Station will not really solve the issue - it would actually create more of a mess, considering that the Herald Square/Penn Station area is the home to a dozen curbside carriers - add more motorcoach traffic and watch what happens...

[HwyHaulier]