Would the Bus Rapid Transit work on 1st and 2nd Avenue? (Pelham: co-op, construction)

[K 22]

Two reasons I'm asking this:

1) the test run is launching on the Bx12 route on Fordham Rd and Pelham Pkwy 3 weeks from now...

2) I'm about 80% convinced that the 2nd Avenue subway isn't gonna happen in any of our lifetimes.


I'm not sure how long the test run for the Bx12 is (I actually saw one of the "Select Buses" at the Co-op City Depot last week, btw) - but seeing as how 1st and 2nd Avenue are much wider than Fordham is - would the MTA just bin the 2nd Avenue Subway (b/c they'll say they don't have the $$ for it) and just set up the BRT as an alternative? No doubt 1st and 2nd Avs are wide enough (they're both like 6 lanes each) and the M15 gets grotesquely crowded so it could definitely use it.

Just wondering. The timing of the BRT plan starting is just a little suspect to me - that's all.

[apvbguy]

Originally Posted by K 22

Two reasons I'm asking this:

1) the test run is launching on the Bx12 route on Fordham Rd and Pelham Pkwy 3 weeks from now...

2) I'm about 80% convinced that the 2nd Avenue subway isn't gonna happen in any of our lifetimes.


I'm not sure how long the test run for the Bx12 is (I actually saw one of the "Select Buses" at the Co-op City Depot last week, btw) - but seeing as how 1st and 2nd Avenue are much wider than Fordham is - would the MTA just bin the 2nd Avenue Subway (b/c they'll say they don't have the $$ for it) and just set up the BRT as an alternative? No doubt 1st and 2nd Avs are wide enough (they're both like 6 lanes each) and the M15 gets grotesquely crowded so it could definitely use it.

Just wondering. The timing of the BRT plan starting is just a little suspect to me - that's all.

I don't know it they still have it but they used to have buses that made limited stops on the M15

[Wild Style]

Originally Posted by K 22

Two reasons I'm asking this:

1) the test run is launching on the Bx12 route on Fordham Rd and Pelham Pkwy 3 weeks from now...

2) I'm about 80% convinced that the 2nd Avenue subway isn't gonna happen in any of our lifetimes.


I'm not sure how long the test run for the Bx12 is (I actually saw one of the "Select Buses" at the Co-op City Depot last week, btw) - but seeing as how 1st and 2nd Avenue are much wider than Fordham is - would the MTA just bin the 2nd Avenue Subway (b/c they'll say they don't have the $$ for it) and just set up the BRT as an alternative? No doubt 1st and 2nd Avs are wide enough (they're both like 6 lanes each) and the M15 gets grotesquely crowded so it could definitely use it.

Just wondering. The timing of the BRT plan starting is just a little suspect to me - that's all.

BRT is great, it can definitely work IF done right

Check this out

link

[009]

http://mta.info/mta/planning/sbs/images/1st-2nd.pdf M15 BRT was thought up a long time ago and will be the pilot route for Manhattan buses. Also, the B44 for Brooklyn and the S79 for Staten Island.

Originally Posted by apvbguy

I don't know it they still have it but they used to have buses that made limited stops on the M15

They still do. It's going nowhere, even when BRT hits that route.

[mead]

Don't be so pessimistic. The 2nd avenue subway will be around in our lifetimes....just hopefully not at the end of our lifetime

[analyticalkeys]

Originally Posted by mead

Don't be so pessimistic. The 2nd avenue subway will be around in our lifetimes....just hopefully not at the end of our lifetime

Seeing how long it's taking to make two more stops on the 7 train.... I don't doubt it.

[ontheGtrain]

I got a buddy who works for the MTA. Asked him a couple days ago about it. He said 15 years if we are lucky..

[Carbro]

Originally Posted by analyticalkeys

Seeing how long it's taking to make two more stops on the 7 train.... I don't doubt it.

But the 2nd Ave line has been planned for much longer and is more desperately needed than the #7 extension, not to understate the need for the latter.

[Fred314X]

I work for MTA, too. The Second Avenue subway will happen...the question is, how long until it does? There was supposed to be a state-of-the-art tunnel boring machine on the way over from Europe--that might be the clue that actual construction is about to start. The original plan (it was going to run to Pelham Bay Park in The Bronx, taking over for the #6 line) has already been scaled back to an uptown terminal at 125 Street.

And I'm also a little puzzled about that extension of the #7 line. I think that plan might possibly have been shelved, except for the fact that the line will run to Javits Center. Actually, the L line could've been extended north from its present terminal at 8 Avenue/14 Street, and that would've accomplished the same thing.

Incidentally, the original builders of the subways were pretty foresighted. They made plans for several new lines that could still be built. One small example: if you're on the N or R trains leaving 57 Street uptown, take a look out of the windows on the right side just after the train leaves the station. See that ramp? It was put there for an extension to run west to Columbus Circle, then uptown along 8 Avenue (where the present IND subway runs). That would certainly make for some interesting service!