These diaries I come up with are probably less about actually improving the public transportation in Rockland and more about just venting. I would love to have an effect on the situation but I know it is a pipe dream. If I’m going to have a pipe dream I might as well dream bigger. Nothing like a deep freeze to talk about accommodating passengers waiting for the bus.
I’m pretty sure that I’ve mentioned that I thought about going to the commuter lot to wait for the bus which has a heated bus shelter. Getting to it seems easy enough. Crossing the road isn’t a problem at 6 in the morning but at 4 in the afternoon it turns into live action frogger. The 2 reasons why I would consider waiting there is the line of sight and the warmth. Another reason is that the 97 is the only local bus going through the commuter lot which means I don’t have to decipher whether it’s the 91, 59, or 97 pulling in.
The Palisades Center is by no means the Port Authority but it does have a fair amount of public transportation. The new location of the bus stop is much better than where it was for the first 10 years. It used to be near the parking garage so good luck trying to see your bus pull up. You now have a better view of what bus is coming into the parking lot but dealing with TOR there are so many buses and sometimes their displays are busted. With so many people waiting for a bus blocking the mall entrance there needs to be a true bus station at the mall. Instead of a dozen people huddled by glass doors they could look at a board to see what bus is arriving, even though they don’t do that for buses at the Port Authority. Coffee kiosks could be set up along with a dozen vending machines. Other long distance buses could be brought in as well.