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Public transport FAIL; tricycle faster than city's worst bus

nbcnewyork.com — Yes, bus rider -- you were just passed by a little kid on a tricycle. The dishonor roll was led by the sluggish crosstown M42, which won the Straphanger Campaign's "Pokey" award for plodding along 42nd Street at a hair-pulling average speed of 3.7 mph.

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31 Comments

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  • LowROI, on 11/07/2009, -4/+34***** I hate the word "fail". Buried on principle.
  • madbadger, on 11/07/2009, -0/+18They referenced a *motorized* tricycle at 5 mph. I don't know if a toddler could sustain 3.7+ mph over distance.

    The best bet is subway.
  • gellfex, on 11/07/2009, -0/+11If I had to drive a NYC bus I think I'd go postal. You can't drive a block without encountering some ridiculous double parked or sometimes triple parked truck, or a cab that just stops anywhere, anytime. Half the time for either of these jokers there's a curb spot nearby that they couldn't bother with. Every avenue is 2 lanes narrower for practical purposes due to this nonsense, and 2 lane crosstowns like 42nd & 34th are brought to their knees.

    Basically, Manhattan buses are for little old ladies, not for anyone who has to get somewhere on time.
  • badqat, on 11/06/2009, -2/+12Sounds like one is better off hoofing it for short distances, subway or taxi for everything else.
  • MaxxusFlamus, on 11/08/2009, -1/+9it's cute but this is more an indictment on the city's ***** traffic than the bus drivers or the route...

    old people gotta get places. If they're not in a hurry then it works just fine.
  • borez, on 11/07/2009, -0/+8Don't now about NY, but London buses have this really annoying habit of running at snails pace and sometimes waiting at bus stands for minutes at a time, all so that they can keep the timetable consistent. But if they actually ran the timetable right in the first place you wouldn't have to put up with that kind of crap.

    And FTR: If you catch a bus and it's the drivers last shift of the day, then you watch how fast you can get home. It's like, OK so we can move when it suits you Mr driver, it's fine when you want to get home fast... ***** the passengers needs.
  • atm259, on 11/08/2009, -1/+7Ohhhh I get it, "fail" as in failure. clever.
  • inactive, on 11/08/2009, -0/+5yeah...because YOU can really plan a timetable around NY City or ondon traffic and be accurate to the second.
  • m0n0kr0m3, on 11/08/2009, -0/+4I think that's why express lines are needed, buses that stop only at the major stops to pick up and drop off passengers. Not everyone wants to stop at every single bus stop. It seems to me that a lot of bus companies should take note of this.
  • oda1, on 11/08/2009, -1/+4If there was a kid with a tricycle that passes the bus and someone in the bus was tripping out he'd totally start freaking.
  • rdoger6424, on 11/08/2009, -0/+3When I was with my grandfather in NYC, and we were walking back from the UN to Grand Central, he took the crosstown bus and said "It's the same time walking or taking the bus, but I don't feel like walking".
  • palmer, on 11/08/2009, -0/+3Yes, a motorized tricycle is obviously BS.

    Buried as inaccurate.
  • oboshoe, on 11/08/2009, -0/+2On a business trip to washington Dc I few years ago I took a city bus to a destination to take care of an errand.

    OMG. I had no idea that city buses were so inefficient.

    And there are actually people who wonder why we don't have mass transportation everywhere.

    I called a cab to get back to my hotel on the return trip. I'll NEVER try a city bus again.
  • Jaime2000, on 11/08/2009, -0/+2The running at a snail's pace doesn't happen here in Gainesville, but the waiting around sure does. What a ***** waste of time and salary. NOBODY pays attention to those ***** time tables, because they know that they are only good for knowing when the bus starts and ends running; anything else is a crapshot, and the bus comes when it comes. They seriously should do away with time tables entirely and just keep the buses moving along their routes as fast as they can. Its more efficient that way.
  • dumptaker, on 11/08/2009, -0/+1Didn't they already do this during the opening scene of Office Space?
  • Nevasleep88, on 11/08/2009, -0/+1Yeah(eek didn't mean to reply to you) but its impossible to run buses to a timetable if its a long route. Better to keep to frequent intervals.
  • Thorpe, on 11/08/2009, -0/+1... or in many cases I have encountered, they change their shift at a certain stop (where another driver is waiting) and then changeover. This whole changeover takes like ten minutes (swapping the money trays, chatting a bit etc). Really annoying - especially when you keep thinking to yourself that you should get off and walk the rest (considering you stop is the one after) but then as soon as you get off, the driver is ready and then departs. :(
  • lohphat, on 11/08/2009, -0/+1It takes me 45 minutes to go 3 miles on San Francisco's Muni on a tram line that's mostly underground.

    It then takes me 37 minutes to go 24 miles on Caltrain.

    FAIL.
  • m0n0kr0m3, on 11/13/2009, -0/+1I'm not a New Yorker and have never been there, but in a certain smaller urban center that has a transit system that is raved about internationally, this is a problem.
  • palmer, on 11/08/2009, -0/+1What buses?
  • DownIsTheNewUp, on 11/08/2009, -0/+1Still better than the buses in LA.
  • rocknog, on 11/08/2009, -1/+2So the fact that the bus drivers are in a union is what's responsible for NYC's ***** traffic? How does that work, exactly?
  • kagyakusha, on 11/08/2009, -0/+1uh...that's weird because I was riding the M42 bus on Monday night and it was pretty darned fast. o.0
  • carlosos, on 11/08/2009, -0/+1Sounds like they have to do something to fix their traffic issue. Maybe add more subways since it doesn't seem like New York can add more lanes to their streets.
  • palmer, on 11/08/2009, -1/+2if there WERE a kid with a tricycle...
  • cuervoman914, on 11/08/2009, -1/+1who in their right mind takes the bus, in manhattan? you know you're going nowhere fast like that.
  • ramilehti, on 11/08/2009, -1/+1Yes they are actually.

    We have loads of them here in Finland and they are wonderful.
  • mishabear, on 11/09/2009, -1/+1Seems to me it's the non-union city engineers that are to blame for their traffic woes.
  • inactive, on 11/08/2009, -1/+0This has nothing to do with stopping at stops. It is about NY City's slow traffic.
  • inactive, on 11/08/2009, -5/+1Aren't those UNION bus drivers & mechanics wonderful??
  • Atario, on 11/08/2009, -6/+2That's a pretty weak principle to allow to run your life.

    Therefore, your comment buried, this article dugg. Just to piss you off. Have a nice day.

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