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I really appreciate all of these responses so far. Although I can't help much with bus scheduling, its still helpful to know where the problems are because there could be a need for a tool that could help educate the planners on a better bus schedule.
Keep them coming! I commute in NYC and I know there's a ton of problems
Grand Central downtown platform and trains packed as early as before 7:30am. Don't see a solution to this though. Maybe some day Metro North can be extended to Fulton.
Well, the overcrowding on the trains will be eased when the SAS opens, so at least people from further uptown won't be crowding up the trains. Even the 63rd-96th phase will help out.
The platforms, I'm not sure what else can be done.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rv224
No consistency at the subway stations. For example some subway lines have a digital clock on the platform indicating when the next train will arrive. But some subway lines don't have this.
That has to do with different signaling systems between divisions, but yes, I do agree that they should expand that to the lettered lines.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rose488
I really appreciate all of these responses so far. Although I can't help much with bus scheduling, its still helpful to know where the problems are because there could be a need for a tool that could help educate the planners on a better bus schedule.
Keep them coming! I commute in NYC and I know there's a ton of problems
The thing isn't so much the scheduling itself, but rather how to address irregularities in buses following their schedules.
So for example, when there's traffic near the Queensboro Bridge, the M15 bus along 1st/2nd Avenue often suffers delays. What they should do is have some of the buses turn around before they hit the problem area, so that people who aren't near the bridge don't have to wait (since the delay impacts riders south of the bridge heading southbound, and north of the bridge heading northbound).
Of course, when there's no traffic in that area, then the buses should run as normal.
There's plenty of other examples across the city, of course. When two buses run together, and it's nearing the end of the line, what they should do is tell all the passengers to move to one bus, and have the other bus turn around early and start heading back in the other direction.
I was recently waiting for a Q23 bus at 71st Ave./108th St. in Forest Hills. During my 25-minute wait, 15 Q64s came along. They were literally lined up two abreast on 108th St. because there were just too many of them. That makes no sense to me, either having to wait 25 minutes for a bus at 7pm, or having 15 of another bus show up in that time frame. It just smacks of inefficiency.
And BTW, the stop after i got on was 71st Ave. between Queens Blvd. and Austin Street, and that ONE stop took over 5 minutes to get everyone on because the line was so long, and the bus was so packed when it finally left that it couldn't make any other stops all the way up Austin Street, until it turned off Yellowstone into Burns Street. HOW IS THAT THE BEST WAY TO RUN THINGS?
Well, the overcrowding on the trains will be eased when the SAS opens, so at least people from further uptown won't be crowding up the trains. Even the 63rd-96th phase will help out.
Not really. When the East Side access is complete, it will bring a flood of LI commuters funneling into Grand Central.
Not really. When the East Side access is complete, it will bring a flood of LI commuters funneling into Grand Central.
Well, ideally, if it's coupled with channeling some MNRR trains into Penn Station (meaning, some Hudson & Harlem Line trains), that might cancel out most of the impact. Though of course, neither project is officially funded right now.
The microphone sound systems for subway announcements are too muddled to understand the spoken words. Some of these live conductor announcements are very important, for example, that the Express train you're on will not stop at the next several local stops, so get off at the next stop and switch to a local, before it all becomes Express (unexpectedly).
I'm a native English speaker, but can rarely understand the words. I feel plenty sorry for anyone new to the city (either a tourist, or anybody with just a little bit of English so far...) trying to figure out these announcements and change their route unexpectedly. I assume they just go flying past the local stop they anticipated, get off "somewhere" after it and make their way backwards.
I'm not sure what an app could do to help that, though. I think it has more to do with clarity in the loudspeaker electronic systems.
The microphone sound systems for subway announcements are too muddled to understand the spoken words. Some of these live conductor announcements are very important, for example, that the Express train you're on will not stop at the next several local stops, so get off at the next stop and switch to a local, before it all becomes Express (unexpectedly).
I'm a native English speaker, but can rarely understand the words. I feel plenty sorry for anyone new to the city (either a tourist, or anybody with just a little bit of English so far...) trying to figure out these announcements and change their route unexpectedly. I assume they just go flying past the local stop they anticipated, get off "somewhere" after it and make their way backwards.
I'm not sure what an app could do to help that, though. I think it has more to do with clarity in the loudspeaker electronic systems.
Sometimes the announcements would be more audible if people simply had the courtesy to stop babbling at the top of their lungs for 5 seconds, at least while the announcements are being made. Then they could go back to whatever it is they're yammering about that is SO important that everyone within a square mile has to hear it.
The microphone sound systems for subway announcements are too muddled to understand the spoken words. Some of these live conductor announcements are very important, for example, that the Express train you're on will not stop at the next several local stops, so get off at the next stop and switch to a local, before it all becomes Express (unexpectedly).
I'm a native English speaker, but can rarely understand the words. I feel plenty sorry for anyone new to the city (either a tourist, or anybody with just a little bit of English so far...) trying to figure out these announcements and change their route unexpectedly. I assume they just go flying past the local stop they anticipated, get off "somewhere" after it and make their way backwards.
I'm not sure what an app could do to help that, though. I think it has more to do with clarity in the loudspeaker electronic systems.
What if they put the text of the announcements on a scrolling LED board in each train car? At least if you couldn't hear it, then you might be able to read it. I agree that most of the time, the announcements are so low and garbled that they cannot be understood by native English speakers.
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