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RE Exiting via the back door: I am an adult about 5' tall and reasonably fit. I certainly have the strenght to push open the back door. But the optimum place to push is in the middle of the door which is slightly higher than where I can push comfortably. So often I can't get the back door open easily. Especially with grocery bags in tow which is how I often travel on the bus. And the back step is also much higher than the front -- I often need to hold on to exit safely. Which is also difficult when carying heavy bags. So when encumbered with my Fairway shopping, I do exit the front so I don't kill myself.

The idea reflects the Manhattan bias of the political class and the media. The Times ignores the boroughs; The Daily News pays better attention.

Instead, increase the number of pre-pay routes, like in the Bronx. Reduce the number of stops and that will speed up the route, they don't need a stop every avenue.

Replace buses with light rail vehicles; and put this in the middle of the street in a reserved section. Especially do this in Harlem and the Bronx, since the pollution rates are so high that they are affecting the pregnant mothers, and impacting on children's IQs. Plenty of other routes with median sections, warranting this: Queens Boulevard, Union Turnpike, Linden Boulevard.

I travel everyday from Hudson County NJ into NYC by NJT bus and then travel across 42nd street by MTA bus. What I see as an everyday occurrence is vehicles with only one person and many of those vehicles hold up the normal flow of bus traffic when they turn onto 9th avenue. What I feel needs to happen is the Bloomberg proposed "congestion pricing plan" needs to be revisited and passed, as well as a HOV policy needs to be put in place thereby banning vehicles with only one person and also turns on major thoroughfares (ex: 72nd, 57th, 50th, 42nd, 34th, etc) should be limited to the far ends of those streets (ex: 1st avenue, 12th avenue, etc) The other thing that should happen is gasoline prices need to have high surcharges attached to them, to promote and subsidize public transportation and to encourage people to leave their cars at home, as most people in this country are way too in love with their cars.

First, we know -- and Bloomberg has made clear -- that we do not have the capacity we need for NYC's future population. It's also pretty clear that we need to invest in capacity.

Therefore, second, we would need an overwhelming reasons to reduce revenue to the MTA, as that hurts the MTA's ability to improve its capacity. In this light, providing free x-town service -- free transit for some small minority of MTA users -- is indefensible. It certainly won't do anything to speed up the bus riding times, which is the claimed goal of the bus section.

Third, this list of proposals is curiously substance-free. It does not take into account the costs, the timelines, the tradeoffs or the practicalities. It's not a plan. It's not even a list of action items. It's a wishlist designed to gets voters' attention, not plan to improve NYC transit. And it certainly is not up to the competence standard that Bloomberg likes to cultivate.

we could also speed the trip if people stepped all the way into the bus while they swipe their metro cards instead of blocking the entrance ( the next person could be getting ready to swipe.

To speed service, could the bus system on Fordham in the Bronx be implemented on cross-town Manhattan lines?

this is equivalent to guerilla marketing like FREECREDITREPORT.COM where you get free service for a limited time and then indefinite charges. It sounds like a good idea at first, but someone has to pay for it eventually for the increase in more union workers, bigger bureaucracies...increases in costs. Who will eventually pay for all of these when tax collection is on the down??

I don't know how many people use unlimited as opposed to pay-per-ride MetroCards but for those who use the unlimited it WOULDN'T actually be a free ride - it would just be a ride without a swipe.

A lot of people have complained that this is Manhattan-centric but in the Mayor's proposal there is mention of the possibility of putting in a system like this in Jamaica if it works out in Midtown.

Of course, the best way to speed up service would be to give the buses dedicated, physically separated lanes. But, though I’m not old, I don’t think I’ll live so long as to see that.

Go to the Bronx, lots of people enter thru the backdoor!! So it levels out.

this is equivalent to guerilla marketing like FREECREDITREPORT.COM where you get free service for a limited time and then indefinite charges. It sounds like a good idea at first, but someone has to pay for it eventually for the increase in more union workers, bigger bureaucracies...increases in costs. Who will eventually pay for all of these when tax collection is on the down??

It won't work buses are crowded enough as it is to have free riders hop on the bus as well would be chaotic.

As far as bus/mta fares go, what about transfers? If you pay cash on a bus (say your card is expired), the transfer they give you is only good for another bus, not to the train. So if you forget to replenish your card on the way home, you are stuck paying twice in the morning on the way in. Can't we address that for 2 fare commuters?

I'd much rather they RAN MORE BUSES. I often take the M96 and it's torture. I hate the slow-moving double buses; they obviously run them to cut down on salaries.

Not only does the Mayor not have any authority, he also doesn't really have much of a reality check on how things work for commuters. In particular, his idea that F line express service is feasable. For the next 4 years, the express track will remain inoperable while the Culver viaduct is being fixed. It really is out of touch to talk about this as part of the plan. Forget free buses in Manhattan, Brooklynites should be the recipients of free bus options during the next 4 years during significant service disruption in Gowanus, Park Slope, and further down the line.

Numbers aside, it's a good idea. Maybe a move to free public transportation.

Oh come on we all know this is more of Bloomberg's pitch to get reelected. He's another sleazebag and should be dumped like garbage. The man is a megalomaniac whose ego needs a pinprick to burst it. Just stand back when it happens or you might get covered in stench ridden slime. Dump Bloomberg.

Didn't the MTA just raise fees? Clearly they need more money. This is just silly.

I take the Bx12 regularly where passengers ostensibly pay before boarding, and while it does move somewhat faster many people board without paying at all due to scams and lax enforcement. On normal bus lines in the Bronx, it angers me as a paying customer to see as much as half of the riders avoiding paying the fare by getting on through the back of the bus.

My radical contention is that efficiency would improve if all payment for transit were paid through taxes instead of at the point of sale. Not only would it relieve congestion on the buses but we would remove the need for turnstiles, costly ATM-style Metrocard machines, and, especially, enforcement. Free transit would also be tourist-friendly.

I have a novel idea for Mayor Bloomberg and his ilk. Try SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rather than allow the real-estate developers free reign, without regard to whether or not the infrastructure needed exists, developers should have to build within the existing infrastructure, or build it up.

Free bus service in Manhattan?

This Brooklynite is unimpressed.