Schleppie Award

The Schleppie Award was started in 2007 by NYPIRG’s Straphangers’ Campaign and Transportation Alternatives. The award goes to New York City’s least reliable buses.
   
Since 2002, the same groups have given out a Pokey Award for the slowest bus service.
 
Schlep (or “shlep”) is a Yiddish word meaning to “drag” or “traipse” or “trudge” or “go or travel with effort.”
   
   
(Oxford English Dictionary)
schlep, v.
Also schlepp, shlep. 
a. trans. To haul, carry, drag. Also transf. and fig.
1922 JOYCE Ulysses 48 She trudges, schlepps, trains, drags..her load.
b. intr. To toil, to ‘slave’; to go or travel with effort, to traipse. Also with quasi-obj.
1963 ‘R. L. PIKE’ Mute Witness x. 172, I waste a whole evening schlepping around with him.
     
NYPIRG Straphangers’ Campaign
Embargoed for Release:
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
 
For More Information Contact:
Gene Russianoff at 212-349-6460
Paul Steely White (212) 629-8080
   
Annual “Pokey” Award for Slowest City Bus Goes to M23;
Route Clocked at Snail’s Pace of 4.0 MPH
 
New “Schleppie” Award Goes to M1;
City’s Least Reliable Bus, Plagued by Bunching and Gaps In Service
 
Groups See Hope for Faster, More Reliable Buses In Congestion Pricing
 
The NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign and Transportation Alternatives today presented two separate awards for poor bus service in New York City.

The first is the sixth-annual “Pokey” for the slowest local bus routes in New York City. The actual Pokey award is a golden snail on a pedestal. The second is a new award called the “Schleppie” for the city’s least reliable buses and is based on official transit statistics.  The Schleppie is comprised of lumbering elephants mounted on a pedestal.
 
The winner of the 2007 Pokey is … the M23 crosstown.  The M23 had the slowest bus speed at 4.0 miles per hour as clocked at 12 noon on a weekday.  This is not much faster than the 3.0 m.p.h. maintained by the average person walking.  Last year’s winner was the M14A crosstown.
 
The NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign and Transportation Alternatives today presented two separate awards for poor bus service in New York City.
 
The first is the sixth-annual “Pokey” for the slowest local bus routes in New York City. The actual Pokey award is a golden snail on a pedestal. The second is a new award called the “Schleppie” for the city’s least reliable buses and is based on official transit statistics.  The Schleppie is comprised of lumbering elephants mounted on a pedestal.
       
The winner of the 2007 Pokey is … the M23 crosstown.  The M23 had the slowest bus speed at 4.0 miles per hour as clocked at 12 noon on a weekday.  This is not much faster than the 3.0 mph maintained by the average person walking.  Last year’s winner was the M14A crosstown.
       
The winner of the 2007 Schleppie is … the M1 Fifth/Madison/Park Avenue.  Nearly one in three of its buses have big gaps in service or are off schedule, the worst record for the 42 key local routes for which MTA New York City Transit calculates reliability measures.