Recent observations of service on the Bx12 Select shows me that there is quite a bit of mismanagement going on and it threatens to hurt ridership if not fixed. I was observing the service while running errands along Bartow Av and noticed 5807 running with only a few passengers on the bus westbound at around 6:10 as it was approaching Edson Av. After that I saw a bunch of Not In Service buses make it ways towards Gun Hill Depot most of them being SBS wrapped. The thing is there were a couple of buses that I'm not sure went into the depot given they turned left onto Edson Av and kept their turn signals on as if to suggest they're going on I-95. In that case those buses could be running dead to Pelham Bay and picking up from there. That move which I've seen a few times before makes very little sense given buses have to face the same lights and I-95 traffic that they would if they just pick up from Bay Plaza. I think operators who do this are working on their own discretion and dispatchers should be making sure these operators are doing what's right.
The next bus in service from Co-op didn't show up along Bartow until 6:25 which would mean a 15 minute gap in service during a period buses are scheduled every 6 minutes. I decided to check and see if this big gap affected the crowding and given the bus was so packed riders were standing in front of the white line I would suggest it did greatly. To add to the situation another bus came by 2 minutes later that was SRO with a good deal of standees. To sum up what happened a couple of operators skipped highly used stops to save a few minutes on their schedule resulting in the buses picking them up being unnecessarily crowded. Given crowding is a big issue for this route in general stuff that adds to the crowding and creates gaps in service shouldn't be happening. If it's being allowed to happen which I believe it is someone should be stopping it before riders start avoiding this route like the plague.
The next bus in service from Co-op didn't show up along Bartow until 6:25 which would mean a 15 minute gap in service during a period buses are scheduled every 6 minutes. I decided to check and see if this big gap affected the crowding and given the bus was so packed riders were standing in front of the white line I would suggest it did greatly. To add to the situation another bus came by 2 minutes later that was SRO with a good deal of standees. To sum up what happened a couple of operators skipped highly used stops to save a few minutes on their schedule resulting in the buses picking them up being unnecessarily crowded. Given crowding is a big issue for this route in general stuff that adds to the crowding and creates gaps in service shouldn't be happening. If it's being allowed to happen which I believe it is someone should be stopping it before riders start avoiding this route like the plague.