Gowanus Lounge points out the upside-down school bus roaming the streets of Brooklyn lately, and Brooklynians are abuzz about it. The White House Organic Farm Project explains--the group just purchased the Topsy Turvy bus from Ben & Jerry's own Ben Cohen, and tonight they invite one and all to "come support our version of Community Supported Agriculture." A little late notice, but if you can't make it you could still buy a share in TheWhoFarm......

We received an alert saying an MTA bus set off a radiation detector on lower Broadway, in the Financial District. The bus and its passengers were held outside 25 Broadway for further inspection. What could it be, besides potential for the worst commute ever? Well, the request for emergency services was canceled when it was discovered one of the passengers had an implanted pacemaker--some pacemakers do use radioactive material. Phew!......

The reviews are in! And the word on the street is that the Staten Island bus tour is, well, perhaps off to a slow start. When the NY Times visited, the bus had five passengers (Gray Line said "it often takes up to five years before a new tour catches on"). Most passengers aren't even leaving the bus during stops to explore; one said she only wanted to take the ferry over because she saw......

“Crushed by crowds? Have to wait for more than one bus to go by? It’s not your imagination. Transit officials have never caught up to the waves of new bus riders,” says Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign. His group is reporting that despite an increase in average weekday bus ridership of 22 percent over the past ten years (to 2.45 million), weekday service on city buses increased less than 15 percent. In Brooklyn, the......

The Hampton Jitney's management became upset when it realizes a book it was helping promote --The Hampton Dictionary--actually called the bus to the Hamptons a "cattle car" and "bus for cidiots" (idiots from the city). Publishers Weekly says the dictionary's publisher paid Hampton Jitney for the book to be passed out with other free products to bus passengers, but now Hampton Jitney refunded the money. The book's publisher pointed out, "We sent them content in......

A bus crashed into a building, possibly a bank, near Canal and Bowery in Chinatown. Apparently a dump truck first hit the bus, which caused the bus driver to lose control and swerve into the building. Three people on the private bus were injured, as one person from the dump truck, and WNBC says a pedestrian was hit. One victim was reportedly in traumatic arrest. A reader points out that the Fung Wah bus......

New York City bus riders could soon be commuting just like the tourists if the MTA follows through on their tall talk about bringing double-decker buses back into circulation. The Post reports that NYC Transit President Howard Roberts floated the idea before the MTA board yesterday; the double-deckers are appealing because they fit more passengers and, according to transit officials, actually cost less to maintain. And if the dream becomes reality, the city won’t have......

A Greyhound bus' roof was sheared off when the driver ignored signs about an overpass that was lower than the bus' height. Passenger William Tedeschi said, "All that we heard was a big rip coming from the front to the back. I thanked God I was alive -- I was so scared." The bus was stuck at the overpass on the Henry Hudson Parkway around West 252nd Street. Six passengers were injured by the debris;......

Jersey based pizza fanatic Scott Wiener (pictured) may have found a way to turn his appetite into a career with his just-launched Pizza Tours of New York City. Every Sunday, Wiener will escort up to 32 ravenous adults on a pizza tasting odyssey to half a dozen pizzerias stretching from Lombardi’s on Spring Street to Louie & Ernie’s in the Bronx. The licensed New York City tour guide is charging $55 a person for the......

Back in 1933 Popular Science reported on New York engineer Walter H. Judson's new railway which would have trains running from San Francisco to New York in 18 hours, and Chicago to New York in 5.5 hours. Now it's the buses battling it out to have the quickest times and cheapest fares to and from New York. Earlier this month BoltBus announced fares from NYC to DC and Boston starting at as low as $1.......

The NYC-DC bus fare wars have a new player: Greyhound division BoltBus will be launching service on March 27 and has started to sell tickets for as low as $1 (plus a 50 cent booking fee). DCist explains BoltBus "operates on the EasyJet principle, where tickets start out dirt cheap and get more expensive as the bus gets fuller. I just purchased a ticket for $7, and if I had been willing to leave on......

The MTA's various fare hikes for the NYC subways and buses, as well as its railroads, went into effect this weekend. Today, subway and bus base fares still cost $2, but higher-value pay-per-ride Metrocards have less of a bonus discount while weekly and monthly unlimited ride Metrocards are more expensive. You can read more about the fare hikes here, but two important notes: (1)Unlimited ride Metrocards purchased before March 2 are still valid as......

The MTA's various fare hikes are starting to go into effect next month (aka tomorrow). Tomorrow, Long Island Railroad and Metro-North fares are going up. Bridge and tunnel tolls are going up on March 16. And the doozy will be the NYC Transit subway and bus fare hikes which go into effect on Sunday, March 2. Expect tons of confused riders and weary MTA workers on Monday and for the next few weeks. The......

Early yesterday morning, a 1992 Thunderbird crashed into an MTA bus on Hillside Avenue in Queens, killing the car's two occupants. Christopher Boyd, the driver, and passenger Eric Richmond were pronounced dead at the scene. The bus driver and one of the passenger suffered minor injuries. Boyd had received the Thunderbird as a Christmas present, and police believe he was speeding when he lost control of the vehicle as he tried to make a turn.......

An argument between two men on a Manhattan bus this morning ended in a homicide, as one man stabbed the other to death. The incident occurred at 9:40 a.m. on the M101 bus that runs northbound on 3rd Avenue. A 52-year-old man was arguing with a 40-year-old man, when the bus stopped at 96th St. on the Upper East Side and the older man stabbed the younger in the leg. The victim was taken to......

Last week we learned that all New York taxis will soon be held to higher fuel efficiency standards; starting next October new cabs must get at least 25 miles per gallon. But the cab changes don’t stop there – in addition to upcoming GPS and touch-screen video technology, the Taxi and Limousine Commission is considering selling an unlimited card for cab riders, which may feature “fare integration” with buses and subways. Over half the city’s......

It’s that time of year again when New Yorkers debate how much to tip the – deep breath – doorman, super, handyman, locker room attendant, trainer, baby sitter, dog walker, beauty salon, cleaning person, day care center, garbage collector, mail carrier, paperboy and parking attendant(s). Sewell Chan, the Times’s Man on the Web, has tied himself to the tipping post with a 1,780 word monograph on the subject, largely sourced from Doorman, a book by......

Ahead of tomorrow's vote on a proposed fare hike, the MTA finance committee committee has approved an increase in fares for subways, buses and commuter trains as well as bridge and tunnel tolls. The committee voted 5-1 in favor of the MTA's proposed 2008 budget, which includes the increased rates. The increase comes despite the authority's projected $521 million surplus at the end of the year and the possibility of another large surplus next year......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: three pedestrians struck on 65th St. and 7th Ave. in Brooklyn, a tourist bus vs. building incident on 51st St. and Broadway in Manhattan, and a train derailment on East 239th St. in the Bronx. 47 years ago, two planes bound for Laguardia and JFK collided over Miller Field on Staten Island in mid-air. As body parts, Christmas presents, and debris rained from the sky over Staten Island, 132......

A nine-year-old girl remains in critical condition following surgery yesterday at Long Island Jewish Hospital after an unregistered van carrying school children was struck by a city bus. The accident occurred Friday morning allegedly after the passenger van cut off a Q46 bus in Fresh Meadows, Queens. The bus clipped the van, sending it into a spin, shattering its windows, and ejecting a bench seat into the street. The van was carrying seven children, six......

With Christmas less than two weeks away, the annual holiday light display is raging through the nights in Dyker Heights, home of TV’s Scott Baio. Every year tens of thousands of people from around the world flock to the outer-borough Brooklyn neighborhood to gawk at the private homes decked out with millions of dazzling lights. It’s an epic spectacle that has to be seen to be believed, and it doesn’t stop at the lights......

SHOP: Still looking for that perfect gift? The Brooklyn Historical Society is holding the 4th Annual NY Creates Craft Fair, and they may have just what you're looking for. Check it out today and tomorrow, and it will be back the 22nd and 23rd for the real last-minute shoppers. Friday and Saturday // Noon to 6pm // BHS [128 Pierrepont St, Brooklyn] ART: Too much is going on the First Friday of every month, so......

Earlier this morning, an MTA bus collided with a school van transporting children in Fresh Meadows, Queens. Details of the accident are thin, but initial reports say that up to 9 people are injured, most of which are children. The collision occurred just after 8 a.m. when the Q46 bus struck the van. The FDNY says that two critically injured children were sent to Long Island Jewish Hospital with one other child. Three other children......

A state office responsible for oversight of the MTA recently conducted a test of the NYC subway system's lost and found department and the results were not encouraging. Investigators turned over 26 items to the New York City Transit employees--both bus and subway workers, including keys, a purse, a Walkman, a watch, a jacket, and an electric shaver. Only three of the items eventually made their way to the Lost & Found office, which is......

In 1988, the Jackie Gleason Bus Depot was renamed in memory of the Brooklyn native whose most famous role was acerbic bus driver Ralph Kramden on the classic television show The Honeymooners. In fact the logo for the depot is based on the title sequence for the show. The depot takes up several blocks on 5th Avenue in Sunset Park, across 36th Street from Green-Wood Cemetery. It is one of five that serves Brooklyn......

So much for halting the hike! Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Spitzer have both given their approval of the MTA's proposed 4-7% fare hikes for subway and bus riders. The base fare will remain $2, but the unlimited Metrocard prices will increase. The Mayor (from China apparently) said, "Based on the information that my staff and I have received and reviewed over the past few weeks, I am now satisfied that the MTA budget is a......

After drivers of Access-a-Ride vehicles went on strike yesterday, a federal mediator will step in and attempt to help negotiations along. The drivers have been unhappy with a tentative contract that put more of the burden of health care on them, which then makes a pay raise less substantial. The strike affects about 40% of the Access-a-Ride drivers; there are about 20,500 people who use the service. MTA, which uses Access-A-Ride but is not part......

Our MTA Webinar lunch plans are frozen at the moment. We sort of wish the "technical difficulties" prompt was accompanied by a "signal problem" or "police activity" reference to complete the atmosphere. The MTA just released the new fare hikes for unlimited and pay-per-ride Metrocards. The base fare will remain at $2, though only 15% of the riding population buys the base fare. Update: We didn't see any questions or answers during the time......

The MTA has released details for its subway and bus fare hike. While the base fare will still stay at $2, there will be increases for unlimited cards - plus a new two-week unlimited: 1-Day Fun Pass: Increases from $7 to $7.50 7-Day Pass: Increases from $24 to $25* New 14-Day Pass: $47* (*Current 7-Day Pass users who switch to the new 14-Day Pass will actually enjoy a fare reduction.) 30-Day Pass: Increases from......

Drivers from four different companies that operate vehicles for disabled and ill passengers have gone on strike. The 1,500 drivers want a new contract with the bus companies. The union has rejected a settlement with some wage increase and a slight increase in medical benefits twice. And not all drivers wanted to walk off the job - one driver told WCBS 2, "To have use go out on strike right now during the Christmas holiday......