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| Re: S44 bus in Staten Island has highest fare-evasion rate of all routes surveyed by the MTA (263069) | |||
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Re: S44 bus in Staten Island has highest fare-evasion rate of all routes surveyed by the MTA |
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Posted by (SIR) North Shore line on Mon Jul 2 22:38:36 2012, in response to S44 bus in Staten Island has highest fare-evasion rate of all routes surveyed by the MTA, posted by Gold_12TH on Mon Jul 2 14:51:11 2012. Here's a few facts about the god-forsaken S44 route:-Well, it also happens that the S44 route is also highly unreliable and has been for most of the last decade since being moved to Yukon. That is no excuse to not pay, but it wasn't that long ago that the buses could not make an entire run without breaking down (remember the 9500s?) or runs being cut entirely with no notice to riders. The S44 has scheduling problems with the ferry in that they consistently arrive a minute or two after the ferry departs. The "44" in S44 once stood for how long one would be waiting at minimum for a bus to show. -The S44 used to have lower headways but service was very poor on the MTA's part and as such service levels have decreased to what it is now. I believe they now offer the bare minimum service on the S44 these days but led in part to all the fare-beating unfortunately. -There are not enough places to purchase at least $4.50 metrocards along the S44 route and no location at the Staten Island Mall to purchase metrocards or even break change for the bus. The S44 does not run to Eltingville Transit Center, the only location on SI besides St. George that houses Metrocard Vending Machines. -The S44 serves many, many schools public and private, along its route which contributes to it's unreliability as well as apparent fare-beating because students are lazily not swiping their student metrocards. -To improve conditions for riders and drivers on the S44 route, I suggest a few articulated buses for Yukon Depot to run on the S44 to reduce bus bunching at various times. The S44 to SI Mall would run every 20 minutes with articulated buses. Between Port Richmond and St. George, regular 40ft buses from Castleton Depot would cover short-turn S44s (freeing up more buses for the S79 SBS). Overnight hours, run the S44 between Eltingville Transit Center and St George replacing S59 service after 10pm or so and giving Richmond Avenue riders 24/7 bus service for the first time since the 1990s. -Although fare-beating is awful in any sense, in this case the MTA played a role by providing dismal service. Routes that have better service provided also have significantly lower fare-beating levels, such as the S46 and S48. The S44 and S74 have always been two unreliable routes for many years and I believe that fare-beating is mostly an effect of that and not a cause. "Attention passengers at St. George, the S44 and S74 broke down on route to St. George. The next bus will arrive at.....", Those days are not far behind us. Comments? |
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