On Mon, 30 Jul 2007 22:33:15 -0400, David of Broadway
wrote:

Paul Corfield wrote:

Not exactly. (But impressively close for someone who doesn't ride the
buses in question!)

MTA New York City Transit has operated a large number of express routes
between Staten Island and Manhattan and several express routes between
Queens and Manhattan and between Brooklyn and Manhattan for decades.
(There's also an express route between Queens and the Bronx, but that's
an anomaly.)

OK - I was going from memory and failed to load up a MTA Bus Map ;-)

The various city-subsidized private bus operators operated many local
routes in Queens and Brooklyn, along with express routes between Queens
and Manhattan, Brooklyn and Manhattan, and the Bronx and Manhattan.
Those routes were recently taken over by the newly formed MTA Bus.

I knew I'd got a bit of it correct.

- What are New York's night buses like?

Not dissimilar to the concept used in London - i.e. 24 hour service on
key corridors. There is not the same need as in London for longer
distance routes as the Subway is 24 hours in NYC.

Generally, New York doesn't have any specific night buses. Some bus
routes run all night - that's all.

But many of London's routes are now on exactly this basis - the daytime
route but running all night.

London is now catching up with NYC with its never ending variants of
what line or station is open or closed at any point in time! I think
I'd struggle to cope with a Subway system that is subject to such
frequent change to its operating pattern.

Catching up? With three exceptions, every single subway station in New
York is open around the clock. (The three exceptions are the two
northernmost stations on the 3, which are replaced by bus service at
night, and Broad Street on the J/M/Z, which is closed on weekends, when
the J is cut back to Chambers Street.)

What I meant was that with the scale of work going on in London we have
almost as long lists of what is open, what is half open, closed and what
is replaced by a bus as NYC used to have for its subway system. I
wasn't alluding for a moment to our system being open 24 hours which it
demonstrably is not (for LU). There are a few exceptions on rail routes.

But our route patterns can certainly get confusing.

Err yes. While I know you've had to close large sections of the network
for rehabilitation works I do find it quite odd that the route and
service pattern changes as much as it does.

The statements about your lack of express services were probably
referring to the Underground, where they're largely accurate, except on
the western Piccadilly and Metropolitan.

I don't think they were. The website author mentioned rail rather than
Tube or Subway.

- We do have a couple of jewish neighbourhoods, which you probably never
ran into: Golders Green is the big one, and Stamford Hill is smaller,
poorer and much more orthodox, with furry hats and curly sideburns
everywhere you look.

Don't forget Gants Hill and Barkingside. Not as obviously orthodox as GG
or SH but plenty of Jewish businesses and synagogues.

Also Hendon and Edgware.

True but really just a continuation of the Golders Green area.

(I didn't realize Gants Hill and Barkingside were Jewish. The various
lists of kosher restaurants that I consulted didn't include any in those
neighbo(u)rhoods.)

Well there's certainly a synagogue and a range of kosher businesses that
follow Sabbath opening and closing rules. Can't think of a kosher
restaurant in the area but I'm just commenting from what I've seen from
the bus.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!