Wait, where am I?

Guest Blogger: Andrew “Pinz” Pinzler

While perhaps not as outrageous as some of the atrocities uncovered by the proprietor of this blog, here is my latest proof to theory that the MTA is, at best, functionally retarded.  I was returning to the Upper West Side following an evening in Astoria, Queens and my friend suggested that I take the M60 bus which basically travels on a straight path from LaGuardia Airport to the Upper West Side.   I will normally take a subway over a bus when the option presents itself but the idea of a bus that would go from Astoria to 106th and Broadway intrigued me.      

Just after midnight I arrived at the bus stop on 31st and Astoria Blvd and decided to take a look at the posted bus schedule, pictured above.  I know full well that the times listed on these schedules are pretty much a complete fantasy but I figured I could at least find out if the bus is running at this hour and, if so, roughly how many is it expected to show up in the next hour.  

Outside of the fact that the sign is almost a year old, if you look to the top right of the schedule you might see what got me irked.  The schedule is for the correct bus route (which should not be deserving of praise, but I guess is) but the bus stop listed is 125th and 2nd Ave.  I’m standing in Queens looking at a schedule that is meant for a bus stop on the other side of the Triborough Bridge.  

I figure one of two things happened, either:

1) The poor bastard tasked with making these signs is fully aware that the times listed are complete malarkey and figured that the schedule for one stop is probably just as good as the one for the next three stops afterward so why not just copy this one and save myself some time and work.  (Which might make sense on some routes but not in situations like this when the next stop is clearly 20 minutes away.)

2) They just f’ed up.

Is this a huge deal?  Probably not.  But it was also below 20 degrees outside at the time so a lack of even slightly reliable information really bothered me.