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| Re: Queens/Steinway Transit acquisition question (345770) | |||
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Re: Queens/Steinway Transit acquisition question |
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Posted by BusMgr on Wed Jun 29 15:32:16 2022, in response to Re: Queens/Steinway Transit acquisition question, posted by Osmosis Jones on Fri Oct 1 17:45:39 2021. The Manhattan terminal of route Q101 (and also of route Q60) is a relic from an era when a substantial concern was the erosion of farebox revenue of one company from service area intrusion by another. Route Q32 extends further into midtown Manhattan because its original operator, Fifth Avenue Coach, overlapped the service onto its other routes on Fifth Avenue, and did not have the same degree of concern of revenue (although in leading up the inauguration of the route, Fifth Avenue made clear that there would be no free transfer between the news Queens route and uptown points along Fifth Avenue . . . an extra dime would be required for such travel). That interest of farebox erosion is largely gone because of the expansion of free transfers (though there does remain a legitimate interest of NYCTA not having its farebox revenue eroded by MTABC, and vice versa). Legitimately, route Q101 (and route Q60) should be extended further into midtown Manhattan if that would better serve good transportation purposes (there are also reasons not to do so, such as the reliability of midtown traffic, but those reasons would apply equally to route Q32, which if real would justify cutting route Q32 back to Second Avenue). Whether such midtown extension would also be along Fifth Avenue or elsewhere would properly be the subject of good transportation planning and analysis.Many other areas with bus service are also "walkable" to a subway, but bus service is kept there as part of an attempt to lay out a reasonable grid of bus routes throughout the city. Subways provide limited stop service, while bus routes provide local service, and rarely have surface routes been eliminated because of a subway service being available (perhaps the greatest exception to that being the elimination of the surface route along McDonald Avenue). The extent of the grid within Long Island City is old, well-established, and remarkably regular. Elimination of service along Steinway Street would not be sensible. I fail to see much connection between Steinway Street and the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Greenpoint and Williamsburg. The lack of connection is illustrated by neither the "G" train nor the B62 bus route being particularly well-patronized, and additional services connecting the two boroughs cannot be expected to do much better. Steinway Street has long been connected to Manhattan, and it seems unlikely that its redirection elsewhere (into Brooklyn) would improve its usage or performance. Whether there should be overnight bus service on Steinway Street is a good question, but part of the larger issue of overnight service generally throughout the borough. Overnight service should be reviewed in that larger context, and not in isolation as to route Q101 specifically. |
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