o the Editor:

Re "A New York Question: Shall We Walk, or Do We Have Time to Take a Bus?" (news article, June 10):

My commuter bus leaves me at the Port Authority Bus Terminal. I can either hop on the M-42 crosstown bus to my office on Third Avenue, or walk. While my walking pace is about four miles an hour, the bus usually passes me at Fifth Avenue.

Mere speed is not my reason for walking. Health is. I've lost weight (40 pounds since January) simply by skipping the bus and hoofing it.

Plus, I save $60 a month walking both ways. For distances under one mile, walking wins every time!

JAMES LYONS
East Stroudsburg, Pa., June 10, 2002

To the Editor:

Re "A New York Question: Shall We Walk, or Do We Have Time to Take a Bus?" (news article, June 10):

There is an easy, no-cost method of increasing the speed of buses by a factor that I, as a frequent passenger on New York City buses for more than 65 years, estimate at 50 to 100 percent.

On every route that I take in Manhattan, those waiting to board must wait while passengers exit at the front. Strictly enforcing an exit-at-the-rear rule would cut boarding time in half.

Merely having the driver announce this rule would encourage passengers to observe this procedure.

STEPHEN R. LANGENTHAL
New York, June 10, 2002

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To the Editor:

As a regular rider of the Q-46 bus along Union Turnpike, I can say with certainty that dedicated bus lanes or fewer bus stops would do nothing to increase the speed of transit (news article, June 10).

The main culprit? Obtuse bus drivers taking their sweet time.

I've been on the bus countless times fuming as a driver pokes down the avenue, stopping repeatedly at green lights. Green lights. If any riders have the temerity to protest that they might need to actually get to their destinations, they are often shouted down by the driver. The excuse given is that the drivers need to maintain the "schedule," though their arrival time at the stops rarely corresponds to the times listed on that schedule.

Call me crazy, but I was always under the impression that the name of the game was "catching" the bus or the train, not waiting for it to sigh slowly into its destination.

DANIEL KLEINER
Hollis Hills, Queens, June 10, 2002