Interested Rider

In response to Q44SBS and the suggested route from Rockaway Park and the B/1 and the B/3 having limited stop service, I offer the following statement. The problem with both the B/1 and the B/3 is traffic pure and simple. The B/1 has the elevated structure on 86th Street and Brighton Beach Avenue and the B/3 has one lane for traffic in each direction until it reaches the Kings Plaza vicinity. The traffic is horrendous on both of these routes for most of the day and it is every day. It used to be certain portions of Avenue U were not that bad but then it became the entire street. As Via Garibaldi stated on the B/36 thread a couple of months ago, the residents are more likely to have and use cars as compared to years ago and (adding my words) thus the reason that a street like Avenue U has become a virtual parking lot. As far as a limited service is concerned, there is no need for it on either route at this time as better traffic enforcement will help these routes. If however, the rules are enforced, watch the communities involved raise a racket to go back to the other way and win that battle.

The Democrats would have been far better off with asking Hillary Clinton to withdraw and be replaced with Elizabeth Warren when the first of the scandals developed this past July. My feeling is that both the so called media and the Washington Democratic Establishment figured that Clinton had the election already won so that they did not see the forest through the trees. What I saw on Tuesday was a large percentage of the voters come out only for presidential elections, which is wrong as voting means participating in every election every year. I spent a lot of my time this past Tuesday trying to convince voters that next year's primary election (almost all the voters were democrats) is far more important and that their votes count more in local primaries and elections. For example the number of voters in the presidential primary was about 40% of the number that voted in the election just held. It is said that politics is primarily local and that is true which is the reason it is far more important to vote in the elections between the presidential elections where the vote can make a huge difference in the primaries and the election.Many of the state and local officials talk one way about making government more accountable to us but force on us another layer of useless bureaucracy that insists on the axiom "do as I tell you and not what you want" instead of doing what we elected them to do in the first place. The key issue was (and is) the economy and jobs and here is where immigration plays an important role and I am referring to the H1B visa program for information technology. We constantly hear about the need for Americans to become involved in STEM jobs but yet when our graduates try to get jobs, the Silicon Valley crowd will not hire them (with the blessing of the Washington Establishment) as it is cheaper to hire H1B visa people at the expense of American workers. Will the new administration have the guts to stand up on this issue or just give us more worthless training programs for jobs that Americans are not allowed to do. This is the time for the Republicans in Washington to propose and implement programs that will promote fiscal responsibility and regulatory reform. This means removing the shackles from small business and bringing back money that is parked abroad. It means facing the reality that for every one job created five jobs have been lost. It means providing a better solution and justifying it when telling the voters that a program has to be killed. No matter what party you are a member (or for that matter being an independent) or what race or group you are a member, I ask that the position be taken of let us see what is offered and implemented before judgment is passed on whether it will work.

Has anyone seen mother nature in all her glory on the Brighton Line? Yesterday I was on a southbound B from Kings Highway to Sheepshead Bay and the colors were truly fantastic. What people pay big money to see this far, far from our city fail to see that all they have to do is ride the subway for the same thing.

It is quite refreshing to read comments such as B/35 via Church has posted as it goes to the heart what masquerades as bus planning today. I read the various posts on the various threads and in other places and I wonder what is going on today. What is missing in this entire scenario is what does the riders (not the politicians who have helped to destroy bus service with everything under the sun that prevents the bus from providing service) want? If you ask the riders, it is not so much the routes but having the bus run on schedule which today is next to the impossible today. I do not want to read about fantasies as that what has gotten the system in trouble in the first place as it exists in proposals to interline which saves no time and has two routes delayed when problems occur. The idea of interlining routes or having operators work two different lines on their shifts is insane as before an operator who was running late could be put into place without any disruption The insulated bureaucracy culture at the MTA has to be changed where it will be responsible to the riders and its operators. It will never happen as thanks to the great American President Woodrow Wilson and his love of the German style of government (and others that followed him), we now have a fourth branch of government that is totally insulated from the people that it is supposed to serve and it will only get worse.

What I am concerned about is that sometimes when a route is being proposed, does anyone take into consideration that when is a route being proposed is too long? While the route may look good on the computer (used to be on paper), but will it be viable in terms of running time?. Taking the latter point first, the reference to the Belt always being loaded with traffic also applies to many of the east-west and north south arteries in Brooklyn as well. The streets where there is a large amount of businesses are also the streets with most of the delays. 86th Street, Church Avenue, Kings Highway and Avenue J have certain portions where there is virtual gridlock. Some of the proposals suggest routing the new route on these streets where trip times are subject to extensive delays or will the route run better if shifted to other streets,such as Avenue P, 65th Street, Linden Boulevard where there is traffic but not subject to the extensive delays that are found on other streets (An aside as Caton Avenue has become very heavy over the last couple of months according to MTA info (bus), does the route get rerouted to Parkside Avenue as there is less traffic? For a route to be viable, it cannot be too long and that is what comes into play here. As Via Garibaldi stated in discussing the Sheepshead Bay Community on the B/36 thread, the area has become car oriented in that people are using their cars as compared with riding the bus. What she said also applies to other communities where this route is being proposed. I live in Southern Brooklyn and when I had to fly anywhere, I used car service as the price was reasonable and it took less time. for me to get from the airport even with calling the car service.

The N Line information was posted on MTA info on the internet which I looked at after hearing about problems on the N Line in a 6 PM traffic report on the radio. Two trees down on two different lines tonight. It must be the drought watch which is statewide and was declared last week by the governor as we have 9 months of below average rainfall. (Source Capitol Confidential.com (Albany Times-Union) today and last Friday.

Add the N Line at Kings Highway with a tree down and N Line via the D Line in both directions.

I just happened to be on one of those quite rare trips to Manhattan today just at the time the power outage happened. I was heading home from 23rd Street-6th Avenue at 1:20 PM and noticed that the platform was unusually crowded for that time of day. When the F train came, it was very crowded and when I got off the train at West 4th Street, I heard something about problems on the 1,2, & 3 Lines and advising riders to use the letter lines. While I was waiting for the B, an M followed the F train then it was followed by another F and an M all in the span of about 10 minutes. This indicated that the power problem may have impacted o.n those lines for a short time

I have to agree as to what can the train operator do especially if the person wants to commit suicide? What this person is doing is putting the burden on the train operator to help him do it. It is quite honestly a selfish act as it does not take into consideration the effect that it will have on the operator but when a person is determined to do it, they do not care about the person who becomes their helper in this matter. What I find totally wrong in the two articles was the use of the term "taken into custody" which has the connotation that the train operator committed a crime which is where the phrase is commonly used. There is no proof that a crime was committed in the first place but yet if you look at the headlines and read the article, it is this phrase that makes a mockery of the entire report. Taking it one step further, the train operator is presumed guilty which is totally outrageous as the train operator was in a state of panic after the incident happened. May I ask how many other people would have not reacted the same way? This is the reason that there is such dislike for many "reporters" as they are not journalists anymore but shills who do not do their homework and watch what they say in writing a story such as this one. It is terrible that this incident happened but to write a report where the choice of words is totally outrageous.

Has anyone seen the reports surrounding the unauthorized person on the tracks who was killed on the R Line at 77th Street this morning? It seems that the local rags are playing this one up involving the train operator. Look for another one of those come out of the woodwork groups that want to put all this stuff to stop people from jumping on the tracks. I would like to ask a question of these groups who obviously do not care about the health of the train operator who has to live with this for his/her entire life and who they do not care about at all. What are your doing to stop these individuals to prevent them from doing this in the first place except talk. What I fear is that the health of the train operator and all the other train operators as well will get lost here as one of these groups useless mouthpieces will gain control of the discussion and with the cooperation of the phony pretend journalists in the "media" place the blame in the wrong place as usual.

The R/38/40/42 combination was in the Coney Island Yard close to where the yard tracks lead up to the West End and Bay 50th Street about 11 AM this morning as I went past there on a northbound N train.

In response to Baron 34, I offer the following information: There is one Standard that has been rebuilt and it is inoperable. It is at the Shoreline Trolley Museum and was part of the 2774-2775-2899 combination. It is sad that only five of the 950 cars survive and 2 of them (Shoreline and the Transit Museum) are inoperable for different reasons. I do not know about the olive drab color on 2390-2 is the same but I remember the standards that were painted olive drab until they were scrapped in 1964/1965. I saw a picture of 2830-32 which I remember were the only remaining cars from the 2800 series that retained that color and the drop seats as well. It ran on the Myrtle Avenue Exp during rush hours for many years where I used to see it regularly. The other cars 2800-2898 were painted in blue and did not have the drop seats. The 2300's had many cars that retained their original olive drab and drop seats and were seen quite frequently on the Southern Division lines until the end.

The reason that I referred to the MTA statement about major work is does this include "the closure of the Brighton Line between Kings Highway and Prospect Park usually on the weekends"? Track work and skipping stations does not bother me at all, it is what I refer to as the line breaks which usually occur on the rare Saturdays that I like to go into Manhattan. The choices that I have can be considered slim and none when the line is out between Prospect Park and Kings Highway.

Sheespshead Bites.com in an article issued last Friday concerning the work on the Brighton Line Express tracks,quoted the MTA as stating that there will be major work being done on the line in the fall. The article discusses the NIMBY's complaining about the crane that is lifting the material and its placement at Avenue O this week and its impact on traffic with the Avenue M street fair going on today. Does anyone know what work is to be done and when will it start?

I just noticed that Q service has just resumed at Kings Highway. Anyone know what happened as the Parade of Trains were running today.

What I notice is that there is a pattern and a lot of members have picked it up. There are many days where there are a significant amount of delays on the buses and subways but the number of posts to this board are few. and far between Then we have the opposite occuring where there are a few delays and this thread suddenly has many more posts on the subject as compared with busier days. In my own reading of MTA info and the forum many times a day especially if I am riding the subway that day, this is what I have noticed and it has been going on for some time now. Everyone understands the importance of providing information to the public in a timely manner but providing information that is incorrect to the public is totally wrong. It is better to take the extra minute or two to read and re-read what is being disseminated to make sure it is correct then to issue something where there are significant errors. It is painfully obvious that either the one writing or the one sending out the information does not know the system as there seems to be a high number of posts on this thread when the one who is disseminating this information gives out information that is incorrect. All of us want MTA info to provide correct bus and subway information. What I am saying is that the number of errors being reported in the MTA reporting should not be as high as we read on this forum and that something should be done about it

Maybe I am a bit crazy but in reading the MTA posts for subway and bus route changes, I find myself asking who writes this stuff and then posts it for the public? Sometimes I wonder as the posts have wrong stations, wrong streets and are just totally wrong but yet it is fed to the general public, the media and those that do the traffic reports as gospel. If was is not for the posters here, no one would be asking questions about the correctness of the information being disseminated. Not the media with the exception of a couple of true journalists would not know whether it is correct, nor the traffic reporters as they just read it nor the MTA as they let this information with all its mistakes go out daily and does nothing about it as it has been going on for years. All I am asking is for some truthfulness in reporting subway and bus delays and re-routes and to make sure the information is correct before it is issued to the general public. Start remembering that not all New Yorkers are as familiar as many of us who post here and correct information is a necessity in this city for tourists and residents alike.

I have been trying to think if I can remember (we are talking about at least 50 years or more) if there were any of the old looks or new looks that that worked in more than 2 or 3 depots although some of the remanufactured 5000's that were formerly 8800 new looks may have been in as many as four garages.or more The Mack 6000's for the most part were in two garages (Ulmer Park and Castleton) although 6186 and 6286 did time at Ulmer Park. The old look 9000's, 9119 & 9120 did time at Flatbush along with Fifth Avenue and Castleton and possibly Crosstown. The Surface Transit 3211 - 3220 air conditioned new looks (not when they were on Staten Island) worked the Bronx before being sent to Castleton, Ulmer Park and finally Amsterdam. I have to find Bernie Linder's Staten Island Bus History as the 8800 new looks had a lot of buses that started off as local buses then became express buses, fell off the pier into the water at Edgewater and then were remanufactured and moved again. The one that I remember quite vividly was 8879 (5102) as it started at Castleton in the fall of 1968, then became an express bus (I do not remember where it was stationed at that time), storage at Edgewater and fell into the water then became 5102 at Queens Village and ended its career at Ulmer Park.

8756 may it rest in peace. How many garages did it work out during its career? I think that it may hold the record. I remember riding it out of Ulmer Park and Flatbush and it started in the Bronx and its final garage was LaGuardia.

When I posted the information on the Brighton Line this morning at about 11:30 AM , it was the information that was current at that time. I checked the website at about 12:15 PM, the word "extensive" was removed and it stated delays. When I boarded the Q train at Sheepshead Bay at 1:15 PM service was normal.

The MTA replaced the northbound switch at Prospect Park this weekend. This morning, the signal problems started at Prospect Park and it looks like it is not is not getting any better as the B trains are running local from Brighton Beach to Prospect Park and some Q trains have been diverted. The MTA is using the word "extensive" when referring to the delays so this seems to be a big delay.in terms of time.

Shoreline Trolley Museum has 2775 and that was one of the 396 cars done in the speckled green color. There was originally only 200 cars that were supposed to be done and the number was increased to 396 cars later on. 2390 - 2 are in original olive green color but I remember that 2830 - 2 remained in that color along with 2321 -3, 2342 - 4, 2345 - 7 with no modifications. The reason that I remember these cars was when the Culver Line was cut at 9th Avenue from Chambers Street in 1959, the standards came back to the Sea Beach Line for the first time since the Triplexes took over the line so I was able to ride the rebuilds and the non-rebuilds with the numbers of 2300 - 2899 as the standards and the triplexes would appear on the line as they did on the West End Line. For the record, rebuilds and non-rebuilds were mixed in the same train of six cars and the two additional cars on an eight car train at the south end were always rebuilds.

If my memory serves me correctly, the 60th Anniversary of the A train going to Lefferts Boulevard and the Rockaway extension is at the end of April (I think April 29). The 40th Anniversary of the opening of the New York City Transit Museum is July 4. I remember that the Electric Railroaders Association had a tour before it opened and I was on the tour which included a ride from Manhattan to Brooklyn on the Queen Mary Double Decker bus. Anything planned for either of these two anniversaries?

I do not know if this is the appropriate thread for this change on the N Train beginning tonight at 11:30 PM and continuing till Monday at 5 AM and my source is the Bay News and it is also on the MTA website. The N will be running via the West End Line all weekend in both directions with shuttle bus service being provided between Coney Island and 36th Street.

I just came across the following delay: MTA website 6:52 PM 03/21/16 Due to a train with unruly passengers at 50th Street southbound D trains are running express from 9th Avenue to 62nd Street.