Orion VII 4 Life

How does someone pay their fare when getting on westbound in Queens? Why would the B/O just watch someone dip their metrocard or pay in change, then tell them to get off the bus?

The guy gets on, the driver starts yelling but he dips his card anyways. Driver refused to move even after he paid, held up a pretty crowded bus and confused the shit out of everyone, then said he's getting the cops, picked up his radio and said "17whatever to base" and the guy called him a piece of shit and ran off.

 

TBH that was kinda a dick move to hold up those pax when the point of closed door is faster service and he paid his fare. Then to call base about it, Veolia must be getting very strict about it for them to actually feel comfortable calling the company and say they're holding up a bus over that BS.

It happens quiet often on weekend on n20 trip.

I also remember when I was on N24 Jamaica during LIB, one passenger got on at drop off stop at Queens, and LIB B/O told him we only drop off in Queens, but that nasty man refused to exit bus.

 

That's what happened on the N20, except the driver held up the bus and called the depot for the cops.

 

LIB drivers were probably told to avoid confronting people in situations like that. That's standard MTA safety training, drivers aren't even supposed to hold up the buses over fare disputes, just remind the guy of the fare once and move on. NICE obviously doesn't have that kind of policy and seems to be fine with drivers holding up the bus even when someone gets on at a dropoff stop in Queens but pays their fare. I have a bad feeling there's gonna be more driver assaults if NICE keeps enforcing the closed door rule like they're doing now. When MTA drivers hold up a bus or keep yelling at someone who doesn't pay the fare it often ends up with the driver getting hurt, and remember NICE has no driver shields. Veolia needs to start thinking about their drivers' safety like the MTA does, again not saying the closed door policy isn't needed but they're going OD with the enforcement.

people are getting flagged then someone wants to get off in Queens. 

That's a little overkill especially during off peak hours when the next bus could be a half hour away. I understand they need to teach the Queens people a lesson but flagging people to do that is crazy. If no one is at their stop they wanna get off at, tough shit, obviously don't stop the bus to let him off when its closed door. If someone flags the bus and some dick wants to run off, what are you gonna do? Most people who know how to play the system right won't even tell the driver to stop, they'll wait for it to get flagged down and run out the front. Unless they're legit idiots that don't know the policy, those guys will hit the button and all that, like I said though the people who know the game are people going to the major stops the bus will stop at anyways and they'll run out without saying a word.

The Clever Devices on the 3rd Gens are being moved to next to the farebox and they have a new interface on the screen. Guess that's how they'll put them in on the other buses too.

1254 has hard seats like the 5xxx LFSAs. Kinda weird seeing them on a 1200

Of course... The 7/8 run through affluent areas and probably have the same people riding.

Rego and Forest Hills may not be as affluent as those other areas but if they're coming from down here chances are they have a pretty good job in finance. They got good money there just like they do in Bayside and Fresh Meadows. QM11s (and QM25s as well going to Middle Village) can be just as packed as a QM7 or 8.

You won't get any on the QM10/11.

 

Now on the QM5/6/7/8 on the other hand.....you're gonna get some looks!

Last ride I had plenty of looks from the 1PP crowd. Definitely agree about the 7/8, didn't get looks on the bus got got plenty from the 7/8 crowd waiting in line!

what do you mean?  as in them looking you as a someone who doesn't belong on the bus?

Yeah. Last ride you should've seen the looks from the people. Someone who obviously worked at 1 Police Plaza (was talking about cop stuff) stared at me the whole ride.

 

But according to our friend VG8 here it's just part of the "express bus culture".

No looks from anyone on tonight's QM11 ride... finally. Maybe the express bus elite crowd leaves early, gotta remember to take it a little later like I did today next time I need it.

They should have automated announcements that say buses don't drop eastbound customers in queens

Won't do anything. People damn well know the policy and still take advantage.

 

If NYCDOT is starting to have a problem with it they should have cops ride the buses through to the city line and stop giving Veolia sh*t for something that's very hard to control. Question is-what actual law (not NICE/NYCDOT policy) is a fare paying customer breaking by getting on and off in Queens?

 

And if Veolia tells the drivers to strictly enforce the policy we could start seeing assaults like MTA drivers get when they try to enforce the fare, and that's something no one wants. Obviously the closed door policy is needed to speed up peoples' trips to/from Nassau County but strictly enforcing it is gonna be a problem. NICE doesn't even have driver shields.

It's getting worse out there, isn't it? If NICE is ever forbidden from operating in Queens, GG ridership...

I'm wondering if someone complained to get the DOT to take action, perhaps the ATU union that covers the NYCT drivers in Queens. Or maybe now that LIB isn't MTA anymore they're starting to give a damn.

 

Ed Mangano would sure love if the DOT revoked their license so he could make even more cuts.

I think lots of Queens riders aren't aware of NICE Bus's closed door policy.

Most riders on n4, n20, n21, n22 buses happens quiet often.

 

I remember when I was on n4X to Freeport from Jamaica Center, somebody got off at 130th Rd-Farmers Blvd.

 

I remember when I was on n20 Hicksville, someone wanted to get off in little before Nassau County, and nasty man didn't care about closed door policy.

This guy gets it:

I think some Queens riders are aware of NICE Bus's closed door policy and take advantage of it because the Nassau buses get them to their destination faster than limited stop service in certain Queens routes.

Lots of people take advantage of NICE. Up until now I've never seen someone not get away with it, sure there's short arguments between the driver and pax trying to get off/on the wrong way in Queens but everyone ends up getting their way. Hell a lot of the drivers will pick people waiting in Queens when they drop off if it's a bad weather day. Most people getting off eastbound in Queens know their stop is a major stop the bus is gonna pick up at and will run out the front when it stops there, some will push the back door or just open it if the driver has the back door on before the county line. This is the first time I've ever seen a bus get held up over something like this. I think honestly the driver should have let him on, he paid and was holding up the bus for a good 2-3 minutes and this driver was actually gonna wait for the cops to come on and drag him off (this wasn't trying to intimidate the guy, he was serious). My guess is Veolia was told by NYCDOT to do more about it and the drivers were told to have zero tolerance for it. Remember the city DOT can revoke their right to run in city limits.

They ain't messing around with the closed door policy in Queens anymore. Someone tried to get on a N20 to Flushing in Bayside and the driver wouldn't move even after he swiped his Metro. Picked up the radio and asked the depot to call the cops, then he finally got off (this was right by the 111 Precinct). 

 

This driver definitely wasn't messing around, he held the bus for 2 lights at least while this guy gave him sh*t like "I swiped my card move the damn bus". Other people didn't know what was going on and started offering to pay his fare. I'm guessing NYCDOT or some other city agency is starting to catch on that people regularly try to beat the closed door policy and they want NICE to have it stop. I see it all the time and usually they get let on and the bus never gets held up more than the 5 seconds it takes to argue with the driver before he usually moves. Getting off in Queens from Flushing/Jamaica, I don't know how they'll stop that one. People getting off at a major stop run out when the door opens or push the back door open.

Apprearently theres MCI #3301 running on the Q33....

It's parked on 85th by the depot and just showing on the map. They do that sometimes.

They way them 3G's are looking, Staten Island can keep them. Personally i'm not a fan of the 3Gs, I prefer my Orion V. The aerodynamics on those 3G's though is ridiculous. You can have one top window open and it feels like a tornado is on the bus. 

They handle the crowds better than the LFS.

I prefer Castleton over Yukon though I could see these at Charleston. When them Novas and/or Xcelsiors show up, they might get the boot elsewhere on the island.

Bring em back to Ulmer and QV is what I say...let the island get the Nova crap

And spring creek too.

They are so uncomfortable to ride

They're not at SC, the local buses there are the C40LFs.

Who hates the 7000's ? I hate the 7000's

The only thing I hate is that they're all in f*cking Castleton.

The S89 and S93 are usually exempt from holiday-weekday schedules.

Theres an S96 in front of my S61 right now. I swear if a S91 runs and passes us...

 

An S98 just passed too.

Speaking of R142A trains, the really needs to light a fire under Westchester's ass. I get that the 142As are leaving Westchester soon, but the MTA shouldn't let Westchester just trash them. The 142As on the look 25 years old already, while some of the (4)'s R142As still look new.

They're overusing those 142As too. Most of the 62As that go out for the rush go OOS at Pelham Bay or Parkchester after the rush while the 142As stay out. They might as well get used to running a good number of them at night and the weekend...

 

The works the same way. The 188s go OOS, the 62As stay out.

So at Transdev's contract NJT operation the "operator" on the side has been taped over with "TRANSDEV SERVICES INC." replacing Veolia. Did they do that at NICE too? Haven't been to Jamaica or Flushing in a few weeks so I wouldn't know.

I wondered, if the MTA invested in a tracking system where it shows how full a bus is, based on the amount of seats and fares paid:

 

Key West Transit uses that method, as well as Los Angeles:

 

Key West Florida Bus Tracking System by BM5 via Woodhaven, on Flickr

 

http://www.syncromatics.com/products/automatedpassengercounting

 

It could cut expensive with the traffic checkers by a ton. Granted, there would still be some, but only on the higher used routes or something, while the rest would be handled by the tracking system.

Considering the MTA's system was a rather cheap in-house setup it's not likely, but who knows. That system obviously came from a vendor that has a complete "smart bus" system with automatic passenger counters and automatic announcements that work together with each other. MTA will be getting counters from Clever Devices along with announcements starting next year, I don't know if they could hook that up with the Bustime system since it's probably their proprietary system but maybe they will be able to. (possibly through a licensing fee?)

#1011 formerly at 126th Street, now on the M101.

I never saw that run the M15

Can't track any of the College Point Routes (Q38, Q53, express) at all.

Seeing the same thing on the Busbus app. Aint that something

I think Veiola is out of monmouth county area. i saw the Transdev on the side of the 833 routes. Also i am surprised how they reroute the bus from Freehold Center to Monmouth County Courthouse to Freehold raceway mall. I haven't gone to that mall in long time by bus.  Also this afternoon driver got little mix up when going into Brookdale College. He accidentally turn right way to early causing him to zigzag the parking lot. he was going over few bumps on the median(soft and easy). Also he tried to make a 360 degree right hand turn. he couldn't do it and had to back up a few inches. I bet he was sweating like crazy and saying to himself what the hell did i do. 

Veolia renamed itself to Transdev.