Around the Horn

11 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

Regarding the XE40's, why didn't  just buy them outright from New Flyer? Makes no sense to lease a bus for 3 years and send them back just to buy them again.

They were demonstrators to collect data on and experiment with electric buses, same with the Proterras which will return too at some point.

4 hours ago, trainfan22 said:

Weekday ridership may not be back 100% but I'm pretty sure weekend ridership is completely back, or close to it, trains were packed today!

According to this page, weekend ridership is roughly 65-75% of the pre pandemic norm and weekday service is roughly 55-65% of the norm. We'll just have to wait for today's numbers to go up. It definitely feels like more especially during rush hour nowadays.

13 hours ago, T to Dyre Avenue said:

No, but they can start planning for the replacement of the R68/As now. It was 10 years from the time they started planning for the R211s to the time the first ten cars were delivered. They started planning for the R142/As and the R143s in the 90s. Surely, the MTA brain can start planning for the replacement of both the R62/As and the R68/As at the same time, no?

This is what I was trying to get at with my first response... I imagine it will be an R211 derivative the way R160s are a continuation of the R143 aesthetically.

3 hours ago, R10 2952 said:

Where exactly do you expect the MTA to get the money to replace the R68/As early? 

Where exactly did I say that? I said that the R262s would be the priority then an R68/A replacement would follow whenever that may be. I don't expect that to be anytime soon.

7 hours ago, MysteriousBtrain said:

I believe the situation was after the 2010 cuts they added stops on the B103 because Park Slope/Gowanus residents complained too much about the loss of the B37 so the B103 was somewhat modified. (Even though the added stops and restored B37 happened nearly around the same time just separated by a couple months)

IIRC it was a compromise for not extending the B37 all the way to Court Street. The idea was that they could just take the B103 instead.

On 11/23/2021 at 10:50 PM, GojiMet86 said:

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-second-ave-subway-tunnel-gov-hochul-20211124-xdwpezc4mjg5hjy23jxjzl5ezi-story.html

 

 

 

This line got me:

Acting MTA chairman Janno Lieber said the sky-high price tag was a “bargain.”

The delusion with these people, sheesh.

He's not necessarily wrong.

On a per-rider basis this is actually cheaper than a lot of other projects in the infrastructure bill. Transit projects in the United States are just that bad across the board.

2 hours ago, Calvin said:

Looking at the Metropolitan Av-Lorimer St side of the : the end of the platform to Church Av with the front to Court Sq, some sides with stairs are closed as they are making elevators for accessibility. It may be early to tell if other Crosstown stations will receive elevators. I probably think that in the future, there will be additional signs for passengers to know which stairs to use for the  to stop like Bedford-Nostrand Avs as example. 

IIRC its 7th, Hoyt, Classon and Metropolitan on the under the recent capital program

4 hours ago, darkstar8983 said:

They should just order enough cars to outright replace all non-NTT cars in one go.

They'll probably put out an order to do just that once the R262 bid gets back on track.

29 minutes ago, Cait Sith said:

SEPTA's issues are build quality issues. The issues with ours were not that.

Two different scenarios.

I do understand that but it is a cautionary tale for anyone buying electric buses because the build quality issues stem from Proterra attempting to increase battery range by installing larger batteries on the same chassis. I doubt that they're the only manufacturer doing this. There needs to be additional scrutiny of any electric bus with an "extended range" to ensure that this doesn't happen again. I just don't trust New Flyer, Proterra or the MTA to do that based on their track record.

4 hours ago, trainfan22 said:

Forgot to mention in my OP, I seen FOUR XE60s within like an 20 minute span this afternoon, one on the M23 and the other three on the M14. Nice to see them become more common. I know they don't dump all 15 in service at once due to spares, buses charging, buses out for maintenance, etc. I guess the most is 5 - 6 is in service at once on average?

Prior to today, I only seen one XE60 a day on average, so seeing four of them in one day was quite nice lol

Most I've seen at once was 9 during the PM rush last week

IIRC it was 5 on M14D, one on M14A, one on M23 and one on M34A

9273-9277 and 9343-9347 were on the today

Can Castleton even fit artics inside it?

On 10/25/2021 at 11:58 AM, trainfan22 said:

Even though the is 100% R160, there's still at least one set of R160s on the today.

On 10/25/2021 at 11:45 PM, Calvin said:

Almost 100%, it's 99% today for now. There was an R68A on the  : 5181-5184. 

The has all 13 R160s it needs for peak service, however (what will become) its spares are still in use on the so whenever an R160 needs servicing, an R46 or R68 will replace it.

[DISREGARD]

5 hours ago, +Young+ said:

Yes...how can I help?

OMG! One of my favorite stories! I miss this show so much!!

Oh man, that driver would get fired for this today... What a throwback!

2 hours ago, BreeddekalbL said:

oh no, i heard the 211 derailed at ENY saw a picture on a facebook group

Nah, the switch failed as it passed over it but it did not derail.

55 minutes ago, Future ENY OP said:

Does this have to do with kingsbridge bringing in their whole 96xx buses for inspection at this time.. My guess is 3998, 4043 are just loans to Manhattanville. Correct?

The rumor is that buses with the plug doors are grounded because of an incident where they opened in motion.

1 hour ago, Missabassie said:

There was a '68A on the today, so nope. 

Two in fact!

4 hours ago, JeremiahC99 said:

I was wondering the same thing when the service was planned in early 2018. Clearly they have the potential to run the B82 SBS on a 10-minute headway during the weekends to build ridership. Unless I’m missing something here.

I think the idea was the B82 SBS would go artic at some point and then they would introduce weekend service, but I'm sure the pandemic has messed that up.

24 minutes ago, Mtatransit said:

They did? I sore that the  still stopped in the same location when I took it yesterday (granted it was an R68).

Wonder why they did that? The ridership at the  train part of the platform is much higher than the exits on the other side of the platform

They are going to be installing elevators at the end of the platform, so they moved the boarding location further up to where the platform will remain full width during construction.

The changeover took place at midnight on Tuesday which is why your train still stopped at the old location.

6 hours ago, darkstar8983 said:

But again you’re missing the point. Broadway also needs its cars CBTC compatible because of potential reroutes to the 6 Av Line, which car classes  are going to be restricted to NTT cars. The R211 order needs to be increased to outright replace EVERY non NTT car for this to work

Axle counters can still work for non-CBTC equipped trains in these kinds of edge cases and if its a weekend G.O. you can use the fleet for ~48 hours. It's not ideal but it can be managed until a new fleet goes out for bid.

2 hours ago, darkstar8983 said:

The problem with piecewise CBTC implementation is that you make the subway less flexible to reroutes (especially unplanned ones) because specific subway cars are therefore banned from operating on specific routes bc theyre not CBTC compatible 

Which is why said cars are being consolidated onto the one trunk line not yet due for CBTC: Broadway (the notwithstanding)

Retirement at a later date can then coincide with CBTC install, as is currently being done with 8th Avenue

2 hours ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

I can’t see the crosstown line getting CBTC before the 6th & 8th Ave lines. 

It was in Fast Forward. We've reached the point with CBTC technology where it's going to be the de-facto system for any kind of re-signalling project (rather than simply installing new block signals as was done earlier) and IINM Crosstown is due for one in the next decade.

10 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

I didn't understand a single word in this sentence. The now has announcements from the (7)?

It supposedly uses Annie Bergen's "Grand Central-42nd St" I've yet to hear it in person

3 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

You mean southbound.

You're both correct. A train sitting in the middle track at Whitehall Street means that a train coming through the tunnel from Brooklyn gets a more restrictive signal aspect (I don't remember the exact specifics but it was mentioned somewhere on here previously)