ROCKAWAY BEACH — The fear of missing the bus while grabbing breakfast is no more at a beachside deli that has installed a specialty "bus cam."
Riders who pop into Surfside Bagels on Rockaway Beach Boulevard get a heads-up when their bus is about to stop with a flat-screen TV that shows the buses as they approach the Beach 95th Street stop.
Nicole Trudden, 24, a worker there, said the "bus cam" went up in January and has been a hit with customers.
"A lot of people who come in are commuters and we figured they could sit and watch, instead of popping in and out," she said. It was especially helpful in the winter when customers would let cold air in continually as they peered outside on to the street, she said.
In her six years of working at Surfside, Trudden saw plenty of customers get caught on line, she said.
Now they come in, order, and watch the large TV of the outside — protected from the cold, rain, or heat.
The camera is pointed west on Rockaway Beach Boulevard and gives riders about 20 seconds to get outside and catch the buses that stop there.
The Q53 runs between Woodside and Rockaway, the Q22 runs along the peninsula and the QM16 bus runs between Midtown and Rockaway via Woodhaven Boulevard.
Most of the riders who use the camera are either heading east in Rockaway or leaving the peninsula.
Mary Hoyley, 51, takes the QM16 express bus into Midtown for work and said she watched many other commuters get burned while waiting for breakfast.
"A lot of people would get stuck in the line," she said. "It's a good thing."
