FREE BUSES * USA - Bloomberg Calls for Free Crosstown Buses

New York,NY,USA -The New York Times, by Sewell Chan & Michael Barbaro -August 3, 2009: -- Manhattan’s notoriously slow crosstown buses — like the M34, M42 and M50 — move at such a snail’s pace that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority should stop collecting fares on them so that the buses can load riders and take off more quickly, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg proposed on Monday afternoon as part of what his re-election campaign called a bold plan for reforming mass transit... In a 33-point proposal spanning subways, buses, roads, ferries and the operations of the authority, the mayor appeared to be trying to assert a greater role for the city in mass transit as he seeks a third term in the November election... Other elements of the Bloomberg campaign’s plan include:
* Using smaller, more fuel-efficient buses to provide service on existing bus routes during less popular periods, like nights.
* Using technology deployed for military vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan to track bus movements, with help from the city’s Department of Transportation.
* Creating a high-occupancy-vehicle express lane on the westbound Gowanus Expressway, whch would reduce commute times for motorists coming from Staten Island or southern Brooklyn.
* Giving the Police Department, which already controls policing in the subways, supervision over M.T.A. communications and surveillance — a proposal likely to raise hackles within the authority.
* Creating a TransitStAT program — similar to the CompStat program deployed since the early 1990s to monitor police responses to crime patterns — to regularly provide online updates to the public about transit performance... (Photo by Paul Burnett/The New York Times - Crosstown bus routes, like the M23, have traditionally been among the slowest in the city)


* One of MTA's 'slowest' buses still beats Daily News reporter on foot

(Photo by Antonelli/NYDNews - Daily News reporter Joe Jackson was left in the dust in a race against the M50 bus)

New York,NY,USA
NY Daily News, by Joe Jackson & Chloe Rosenberg -August 5 2009: -- ... It's lucky there were no spectators because this race was over almost as soon as it began... The Daily News pitted a reporter against one of the city's slowest crosstown buses Tuesday - and the scribe placed a distant second...

(Photo by Antonelli/NYDNews - Meanwhile, News reporter Chloe Rosenberg didn't break a sweat as she rode to victory aboard the notoriously slow M50)

... The M50 - the seventh slowest route in the city, according to the Straphangers Campaign - left our walker in a cloud of exhaust fumes as it clinched victory by eight minutes... The not-so-epic battle began at 2:47 p.m at 12th Ave. and 50th St. under the blazing afternoon sun... One News reporter, clearly sensing a close call, waited poised with her MetroCard in hand ready to shave vital seconds off the final time with a quick start as she boarded the bus... Meanwhile, a former marathon-running reporter, set off briskly from the bus stop as soon as the M50 pulled away... The 1.7 mile race was neck and neck for a block, as the competitors crossed 11th Ave. with just the sidewalk curb between them... But that was the last time our walker saw the bus, whose route is among those Mayor Bloomberg wants to offer for free to speed the journey... The Straphangers Campaign estimates the M50 crawls along 50th St. at an average of 4.9 mph... On this occasion it merely managed 4.8 mph, but that still proved too much for the fearless foot foe... Despite hitting congestion around Madison Ave., the sparse summer traffic and some favorable lights saw the MTA machine make Second Ave. in 21 minutes... Meanwhile our reporter on foot took 29 minutes to navigate the crowded sidewalk...