Around the Horn

15 hours ago, MHV9218 said:

New Flyer makes some crazy good stuff if you let them...

SEPTA's D40LFs and DE40LFs being a case in point... I have never been on an MTA bus that accelerates as fast in Manhattan as those do in Center City Philly (and of course in the rest of the area)

25 minutes ago, Railfanner Mario said:

So Does anyone have Any clue Of that specific 2nd R211A #4256 that was in Japan at right now? Or is it unknown at the moment?

That was the full size mockup car. The actual 4256 will be a completely different car built in Nebraska.

8 hours ago, darkstar8983 said:

Today 9853-9857 / 9908-9912 ran on the  (real Brighton Local ) uptown at 7:50AM at Union Square bound for 96 St. Guess too many R46s are out of service and this spare from the  has to be used. I just hope it’s not permanent because would mean even less R160s on the

Reportedly only one R160 on the today

5 hours ago, XcelsiorBoii4888 said:

Just passed by the Costco area on the express bus and noticed what looked like a covered subway car. Is that another R211? 

yup, we got three cars this morning

6 hours ago, XcelsiorBoii4888 said:

They change drivers after every trip? 

Why do some M60 buses sit at Terminal B for some time? 

Also, the M60 has an LGA airport bound destination code and a West Side bond destination code. When do they change the signs?

It's like the Chicago L having the Loop as a "terminal" The sign changes after the last stop before it enters LGA

3 hours ago, XcelsiorBoii4888 said:

Do the drivers only terminate at the Grand Concourse? The map shows they also terminate on Sedgwick Ave so idk if that's accurate or outdated. 

I believe it does terminate there for now but it will become a circular as part of the Bronx redesign.

16 hours ago, XcelsiorBoii4888 said:

The train in this video has the same propulsion as the R211, so the R211 might sound like this when it starts moving under its own power. 

 

I'm hoping it is that one. It could also be any of these:

It's too bad GTO's have gone out of style... The sound the 1996 stock on the Jubliee line make would be awesome.

9 hours ago, R32 3838 said:

I think if the R211 successfully tests CBTC on Queens Blvd, The R211 Assignments could change with the last 150 cars going to Jamaica to replace those Siemens R160's. It all depends, I still think the whole base order would go to pitkin but things could change.

I think Siemens to the is a legitimate possibility purely because they are the exact number of trains it needs for peak service plus spares (26).

11 minutes ago, R179 8258 said:

Does anybody knows when the other 5-Cars are coming ? 

If it's like the R179s, they should be coming in a month or two.

But 6th Street has never been a bus stop going southbound, let alone a terminal. Only the uptown M103 stops there.

Astor Place has always been the farthest south you can ride on the M101 and M102.

East Village-Astor Place would be perfect

As I recall when the R179s were delivered, the cars remained on the same track that they were ramped off the trucks from until the entire 5 car set arrived and then they attached the link bars between the cars and moved them as one unit. I suspect that this is also the case here.

They somehow traveled cross country on multiple freight trains all the way to New Jersey without anyone spotting them?

I find that highly unlikely... That would be quite the feat to pull off.

57 minutes ago, R10 2952 said:

It's not permanent though, is it?

No it's just temporary for the elevator works. I suspect that they'll have to move staircases to fit them in, so the walkway allows them to close one side of a particular entrance at a time at a time.

2 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

In what world does starting the at Bway-Lafayette make sense? 

They already do this with certain late night trips. They operate normally southbound and arrive at Coney Island on the platform then deadhead to Broadway-Lafayette via Culver where they reenter service.

8 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

Proterra Disaster?

SEPTA's are completely out of service and the TTC also is starting to see hairline fractures where the body meets the windows, however to my knowledge they are still running.

2 hours ago, RestrictOnTheHanger said:

Third party as in the retail network? Having other agencies (PA NYNJ, NICE, Etc) handle their own distribution? Or the virtual card for Apple/Google/mobile wallet in place of physical cards? The latter was de-spec'ed a while back. Hence "reinstututing the requirement"

The retail network as in stores and bodegas, akin to what Oyster has. The idea is that participating stores could sell and top up cards in addition to the machines in stations. Suica in Japan also works the same way.

1 minute ago, R32 3838 said:

IMO they need to redo that whole plan, Astoria to 57/7th is dumb, they mind as well do the whole broadway line From Astoria to as far as canal st or whitehall st. 

It's not the worst idea ever but I agree it really should have been Broadway and Astoria concurrently (and there's a decent chance that's what we'll actually end up with)

3 hours ago, darkstar8983 said:

Well actually, the revised CBTC plan called for Astoria to get CBTC before 6th Ave, so your R68/A plan for the Broadway Line is a nonstarter.

Astoria CBTC is rumored to have been pushed back if not outright cancelled due to the MTA's financial situation. 6th Avenue is almost certainly first again.

7 hours ago, darkstar8983 said:

Just a couple of points I would like to make:

1. The  line should NOT get 10-car R179s, because it runs 8-car R179s, which could cause operator and conductor confusion when in daily operation. Rookie or supplemental crews might not immediately know the difference between an 8-car and 10-car R179, since the main difference would be in car numbers (3050-3237 for 8-car units and 3010-3049 / 3238-3327 for 10-car units), and staring at a tiny computer screen that indicates how many cars are in the consist. Seems like a recipe for disaster in my opinion- might as well just use R211A cars to fill in the gaps and keep the 10-car R179s on the .

2. The base order of R211As is exactly enough cars to replace the Pitkin/207 St R46s with no spare factor increases (unless you count the gangway test cars.

3. As for final R211 assignments, it’s still up in the air, so please do not take what I am saying about the R211 assignments at face value and interpret it as possible fact. The option orders should go to Jamaica for the  / , and R160s moved elsewhere. Again because there are so many moving parts and projects, the final assignment is unknown (such as 8th Av CBTC, Crosstown  line possibly getting longer trainsets, possible need to make 6th Ave cars fully CBTC compatible so they can run on 8 Av territory during GOs, dealing with poor/inefficient terminal and junction operations (Ditmars Blvd, 71 Av, Rogers Av, hint-hint) to improve service reliability

1. Wont be an issue since the is slated to become full length with the 8 car R179s cascaded elsewhere (, possibly the )

3. Assignments are still unknown at this time, however if I were to make a prediction right now, I'd say base: SIR, option 1: , option 2:

Since Broadway is slated to be the last trunk line without CBTC, the is likely to get all of the R68/As with cascaded R160s from the rounding out the service.

4 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

So are all the production cars coming from Lincoln or from Yonkers?

Should be Lincoln

12 hours ago, MHV184 said:

According to Cait Sith 9702 is at Quill. However now there’s a sort of problem going on with the Nova LFS HEV and I’m getting told that the Nova HEVs are leaving Manhattanville and instead are going to replace the OGs with Casey’s 4000 NGs. As for KB it looks like they are done with the Nova LFS HEVs and want nothing to do with them. 

9702 is in fact at Quill. It was on the roof. However unless something changes next week, the allotments are still the same.

https://new.mta.info/document/42401

Delivery of the R211A in July, 30 day test in August 2022, production cars in September 2022.

R211S pilot delivery in August 2022, 30 day test in September 2023, production cars in October 2023.

R211T delivery in June 2022

14 hours ago, Gotham Bus Co. said:

 

And it makes no sense that TWU hasn't filed a grievance citing loss of pay (the way they had their lawyer sue to stop the 14th Street busway). 

That lawsuit was in a personal capacity because he lived around the corner and had nothing to do with TWU (who actually supported the busway)

12 hours ago, Gotham Bus Co. said:

 

Faster trains means less running time, which means less pay for each crew. TWU would never go along with that.

It's really bold to keep repeating this nonsense after three years of speed increases throughout the system ever since Byford first arrived.

The SPEED unit and Save Safe Seconds very much result in faster trains and CBTC is no different.

11 hours ago, XcelsiorBoii4888 said:

He said the Williamsburg charger will be replaced...which is the Proterra charger. That means it'll be all New Flyer. 

Nova Bus does make a “long range” electric LFS though... That’s the wild card here.

XE40s for ENY and Grand seem like a given. It’s what Charleston and Kingsbridge are in line for that has the potential to get interesting since they are both depots without any Xcelsiors currently.