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More East End fun with Suffolk Transit (NOT!)

 
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Pineywoodsbus




Joined: 26 May 2007
Posts: 68

PostPosted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 7:41 pm    Post subject: More East End fun with Suffolk Transit (NOT!) Reply with quote

On Saturday I was going to Montauk Point and then Napeague.
I took the LIRR to Amagansett which arrived at 10:35am, the 10C to Montauk which was supposed to arrive at 10:45am. Now Suffolk Transit says on the schedule that the 10C was a connecting bus with the S94 Montauk Lighthouse shuttle. The S94 leaves Montauk at 11:05am. As you see it is MARKED to connect with the 10C bus. I was going to spend an hour in Montauk Point, get the 12:30pm S94 back to the 10C and spend some time walking the Napeague preserve. Well...things didn't go as planned. Look at the schedule below!


I guess HJ just had to screw me up once again, right? The 10C didn't show up until 11am and Amagansett and as soon as I got on I told the driver I needed the S94. He seemed clueless about it and looked at the schedule. By the time he got on the radio it was 11:05am and he was radioing for the S94. He said "S94 come in, I got a guy who is nervous about getting to Montauk Point" There was no response. He tried several times, and I thought maybe the radio on the other bus was broken.
We arrive in Montauk about 11:18am and lo and behold the S94 left without it's connection. I was fuming mad. The driver acted like he pretty much didn't care.
Now I only had about 15-20 minutes at the Point. I had to wait for the 12 noon S94. In the meantime I tried to hitch a ride, something I almost never do, but no one offerred, they kept driving by. One guy says "get a cab" to which I respond I don't have $20 to throw away. I tell ya the people in Montauk used to be nice, maybe it's because most of them were out of towners, all I know is they were a bunch of snobs.
Anyway when I asked the driver of the S94 why he didn't wait like it says it's supposed to connect on the schedule, he says "well that's what the schedule says, in reality I leave whether the 10c has arrived or not". He said he pulled out at 11:05am and once he gets east of the village the radio can't get a signal. Now if the 10c guy radioed right away I might have had a chance.
Anyway at least the S94 driver agrees to leave Montauk a little later if I don't arrive at the bus stop by before 12:30pm. We get there at 12:10pm and I literally run down to the beach, get some photos, and then go right back up to the bus. If I left on the next bus I'd be stuck waiting hours for the next 10c. And then I couldn't go to Napeague.
I transfer to the 10c at 1:05pm, yeah it's late again. Same bus. The guy drives slow too, not to mention the bus (I think it was #9711) was covered in dirt, the ceiling which is usually beige was gray! Shows how much HJ cares about the local buses.
Anyway the rest of the day goes fine, I get a little bit of justice when some snobs get their BMW stuck on a sand path. They asked for help, I walked right by and ignored them. It's too bad there's some nice places out there but the people are so SNOBBY.
I get the train that leaves at 3:56pm in Amagansett. I could take a later train but that would mean having to go get LIB at Freeport (yuck...what a Barrio) or backtracking to Jamaica. With this train I can get Suffolk Transit back north at Patchogue. Fortunately the loco made it through the pine barrens OK that we did have a few scary moments when the train stopped for no reason west of Speonk. Still made it to Patchogue on time, got the S54 and transferred to the S59 at Sunvet mall and then the LIRR back to Hicksville at Ronkonkoma.
As usual, no problems on those routes. When I was waiting in Montauk
a few folks waiting for the HJ Coach, I told them not to give this company your business because of the way they operate the local buses, and to take the LIRR instead. They still chose to wait for the Jitney.
Hopefully when RBA happens it will include a takeover of Suffolk Transit and Hampton Jitney (HJ's routes will be merged into a new LI express bus system, fares will be cut in half and the routes will be numbered XN for Nassau and XS for Suffolk). Screw what the snobs think, they'll do just fine without the free biscuits and coffee they get from HJ on their overpriced coaches.
Now I have nothing against coach buses, but compare HJ to Academy, Coach USA, Martz, and other private operators are they are the most expensive per mile. And unlike the routes the others operate, HJ makes it a point to bypass poorer neighborhoods and Nassau county. It's about time these coaches for the exclusives are taken over and made more available to the people.
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