June 2009 Commuter Newsletter

East Brunswick Commuter Parking Advisory Committee

June 2009

The Commuter Suburban Transit New Contract Summary (Part II) ● Dispatcher Communications: Dispatcher communications: Regardless of where

posted, dispatchers will have working equipment that allows then to communicate with the company’s central dispatch office and with the bus drivers en route for the dispatcher’s specific run – i.e., Downtown dispatcher to downtown scheduled bus/bus driver, Crosstown for Crosstown drivers. This communication may either be direct or channeled through the central dispatch office. ● Dispatcher Identification: All dispatchers will wear identification prominently bearing the company’s name and logo so that they will be easily identifiable to commuters as bus company employees. ● PABT Dispatchers: The number of PABT dispatchers will be equal to the number of PABT gates being used and these dispatchers will be on duty at those gates 4 pm through 7 pm M-F, holidays included. At least two of the dispatchers must be in the customer waiting area to dispense information to customers. Further, one dispatcher must be on duty at the PABT from 7 pm through midnight. ● Crosstown Dispatchers: Dispatchers will be stationed at the Third Avenue and Fifth Avenue stops beginning 15 minutes prior to the departure of the first scheduled Crosstown bus through and including the departure of the last scheduled Crosstown bus. The dispatchers will be present M-F, excluding holidays. ● Downtown Dispatchers: A dispatcher will be present at each Downtown bus stop beginning 15 minutes prior to the first scheduled departure of the day from the first (southernmost) stop of the bus run, through the last scheduled departure of the buses. The dispatchers will be present M-F, excluding holidays. Odds and Ends CPAC Meetings: The next meeting of the CPAC will be at 8 pm on July 9, 2009 in the Municipal Building Conference Room. All commuters (you do not have to be an East Brunswick resident to participate) are invited to attend to participate, along with the management of the Parking Utility and Suburban Transit. Meetings for the remainder of 2009 are August 13; September 10; October 8; November 12; and December 10. We suggest that you check our online calendar at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EBCommuter/cal to see if there has been a schedule change before you attend a meeting so you will not be disappointed if it has been rescheduled. New Schedules: Effective June 22, 2009, Suburban started new schedules for the Crosstown, PABT and Downtown lines. The purpose of these changes were: (1) to make more seats available when they were most needed and (2) to even out load factors across the various runs. Under the new contract, Suburban is mandated to adjust its schedules whenever a specific run is averaging more than an 80% load factor. Consequently you should expect to see regular adjustments to their schedules in an effort to comply with this contractual requirement. Please conserve resources and return to the rack after reading. Thank you.

East Brunswick Commuter Parking Advisory Committee

June 2009

Hudson River Bus Crossing Video: StreetFilms.org has produced an interesting video with lots of interesting information regarding the number of buses, bus commuters and the importance of this service to the New York area. Did you know that over 315,000 bus commuters cross the Hudson River each weekday on 9,000 buses? This is equal to the population of the city of Cincinnati. This bus lane carries more people than any other roadway in the entire country. We encourage you to watch this video at: http://bit.ly/14LbHb. One purpose of this video is to encourage the regional authorities to improve our bus service through efforts such as: (1) a second XBRL during the a.m. rush hour, (2) a p.m. XBRL at Lincoln Tunnel, (3) an XBRL at the Holland Tunnel, and (4) improved parking and loading facilities at the PABT. As we have commented in the past, it is incumbent on all bus commuters to make sure that the bus commuters needs get the appropriate degree of attention when regional mass transit spending plans are being made. Commuter Reporting: While the Parking Utility does get regular service reports from Suburban Transit and employs a part-time service auditor to monitor service levels, regular reports from commuters are a vital part of our effort to maximize the quality of service received by East Brunswick commuters. If you see a service issue that you think should be addressed, please let us know at ebcommuter@ yahoo.com so we can report the issue to Suburban and the Parking Utility. While we can not promise the issue will be addressed and solved, we will certainly be a better position to see what can be done about the issue. HVAC: Our agreement with Suburban Transit is that the thermostat for every bus year round will be set at 72°. Obviously given parameters like the external weather conditions, the bus load factor, how much time the bus has been on the road in an effort to reach this target temperature, etc., not every bus will be at this 72° temperature all the time. Please do not ask the operator to deviate from this thermostat setting, even if you prefer a hotter or colder one. Also, if you believe a bus has HVAC mechanical issues that need to be addressed, or the operator did properly set the target temperature, please let us know so the issue can be further looked into. MTA Fare Increase: With the MTA fare increase that has taken effect, we expect that ridership on the Crosstown run might increase. If you have any comments about the Crosstown level of service please let us know. Commuters and the CPAC have regularly attempted to get Suburban to expand and improve its Crosstown service, especially in the p.m. To date we have had limited success in that endeavor, but we plan to continue pressing this issue. Additional support by as many Crosstown commuters as possible in this endeavor would be helpful. Receive Newsletter and Commuter Service Information by E-mail The CPAC delivers newsletters and other information by e-mail as it becomes available. To subscribe, send an email to ebcnews-subscribe@ topica.com. Then reply when you get the sign up confirmation message. You may cancel your subscription at any time The CPAC will not disseminate your email address or use it for any other purpose. Our normal e-mail address remains ebcommuter@ yahoo.com.

Please conserve resources and return to the rack after reading. Thank you.