Thursday, July 3, 2014

Council members fund bus stop countdown clocks

From Metro:

Bus riders in certain parts of the city might have an easier commute soon as more than 100 new countdown clocks are scheduled for installation citywide.

The clocks, which tick down how long riders have to wait for a bus to approach their stop, will be spread throughout 11 City Council districts where representatives allocated almost $2.8 million between them.

The Council members are expected to consult individually with the Department of Transportation — which is tasked to install and maintain them — as to when they can erect the clocks.

• Council District 23 | Mark Weprin, $35,000 (at least 1 stop)
• Council District 32 | Eric Ulrich, $180,000 (about 9 stops)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

For $2.8 million??
What a waste of our money.

The countdown clocks will not make the buses move any faster.
Perhaps assigning more cops for ticketing those who park in and block stops, double park inhibiting bus routes, making sure bus drivers actually pull into stops when picking up/discharging passengers would have been a better use for our tax dollars and add some cash to the boy mayor's budget.

But hey, ya gotta have high tech crap at the bus stops so vandals can do their job.

Anonymous said...

Cars blocking a bus stop doesn't slow down buses. It slows down traffic behind the buses.

Double parking is practically a new Yorkers right, the city will never go after it.

Making buses pull in all the way? Stops are often blocked partially, and even when not it lets the bus pull out faster, so if anything you would slow down buses.

Being able to look up and see if I have time to run into a store or if I should walk to a limited stop or a different route? That's a real amenity. Some neighborhoods I don't want to take my phone out in, or just don't want to bring it to. This is a cheap way to make a real improvement for bus riders.

Anonymous said...

These clocks are stupid - there should be an app that shows you each bus' location - that way you know when to walk to the bus stop.

If I can find my phone through a app, surely we could locate each and every bus 24/7!

Anonymous said...

Anon3

bustime.mta.info/

Clocks are still useful for many bus riders.

Go to a bus stop that has one and you'll find a decent number of people who like it. It's a minor expense. Not every line item in the city budget has to benefit you.

Anonymous said...

Another gimmick - remember the city is always good at spending capital money and terrible at maintenance.

I wonder which pol will feature this in their newsletter?

Anonymous said...

There is already the service where you text the bus stop's number to 511123 and it tells you how far the bus is away. I don't think we need to spend money on these countdown clocks.

0null said...

with a donation of 20K, I personally can set up 10 stop signs.