RestrictOnTheHanger

Wonder how the QBL cbtc equipment held up during the flood yesterday. Guessing not too good considering QBL is one of the last lines with no service.... 

I feel for everyone working to clean up the mess and keep the trains moving

8 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

But that is not the case if you use a contactless card, which is insane.

Agreed. I thought this would have been fixed already.

 And sorry by it, i meant google pay records the tap

If you use google pay , it records the time and location of the tap regardless of if youre charged or not. So in theory that should help until the inspection issue is resolved. Even then TAB forms have an omny account space for verification if you get a citation

The plan is to follow what London does: machines will take cash, extensive 3rd party vendor network, online refill capability, no cash on buses (OMNY card or credit/debit only).

Also I think the article refers to the booth workers not accepting cash and the machines breaking down a lot.

On 8/2/2021 at 9:30 AM, RestrictOnTheHanger said:

An update for those of you who have Edenred as a commuter benefits provider. You can now add your commuter check debit card to Google Pay. I will test it with OMNY in the next day or two and report back, unless someone beats me to it. If it works, this will circumvent the lack of contactless card option. 

Used the card via google pay today, works like a charm

4 hours ago, azspeedbullet said:

how do you add the edenred card? when i try to add it i get stuck at verify screen. the text message number is not mine and the call bank does not work

I added it the same way as adding a normal card. My number was correct and I was able to verify the textmessage code. 

An update for those of you who have Edenred as a commuter benefits provider. You can now add your commuter check debit card to Google Pay. I will test it with OMNY in the next day or two and report back, unless someone beats me to it. If it works, this will circumvent the lack of contactless card option. 

Looking out the RFW today I got to see firsthand how much closer trains can get to each other on QBL with CBTC active. On the n/b express track approaching Roosevelt there is a lot more leeway to approach a train standing in the station at a higher (but still safe) speed than with the station timers. As we approached, the only signal that was red was the one at the beginning of the platform, all the other ones thru the switch just before were flashing green. 

Also, between Court Sq-Queens Plaza and Queens Plaza - 36th interlocking there were some solid green and solid yellow automatics, but the Queens Plaza homeball itself was flashing green. Why does that happen if CBTC is cut in?

9 hours ago, Abba said:

Regarding  the  change next month, it doesn’t say on the MTA site that it’s split. Where did you see that?

Its two separate entries for each of the F and G. One for fri night-sat am, then one for sat am-mon am

No updates yet, the affiliates are still scheduled for some time in the next year or two

17 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

It seems to vary depending on who is being used. You'll still be able to buy OMNY cards and fill them when they come out later this year, so that'll be an option as well. You should be able to refill the OMNY cards remotely, so it won't be that much of a big deal to not have a contactless card.

It's a prepaid commuter debit card, as it is loaded with your own money, so definitely not a credit card.

I understand the OMNY card and retail model is coming soon but it is still more convenient to do PAYGO with one card as opposed to two. 

Regarding the tap issue, I had that happen on Saturday on the Q53 with a free transfer. Tapped, confirmed, but it didnt show up on the site for a day or two. And once it did, it was listed as Other Route instead of Q53. No issue with tapping the following day, showed up right away (free transfer also).

On the TAB (transit court) site , there is a space for OMNY account numver on the appeal form to counter this issue. Though to be fair metrocard has the same provision on there. 

34 minutes ago, azspeedbullet said:

my job uses Edenred and they are not ready for contactless cards until next year

I called them and they flat out told me no plans for contactless. No timeline no explanation no nothing. Does your job use the "Commuter Check" card?

On 6/26/2021 at 11:59 AM, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I just posted in my advocacy group about WageWorks and TransitChek as well the other day. It appears that a rollout is or will happen soon depending on who your employer uses, so I would definitely inquire. The plan is to ramp up as we go along. The unlimited passes and all of that will come soon too.

Any word on Edenred (another big transit benefit provider) and when they will offer a contactless card or integration?

Regarding unlimited passes, explicit mention of them was scrubbed from the OMNY site faq in January. Those are definitely still coming later, right?

On 6/19/2021 at 6:55 PM, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

The last I heard about this when talking casually about it with the  was they were considering issuing the OMNY cards via third party methods, likely to reduce their own costs.

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"

I've had faster reader response times with GPay/Samsung phone than with credit cards. 

Also the readers and back office are supposedly a next gen version of the Oyster system (backend similar to how contactless cards are processed on Oyster). The sensitivity issue has been there for a while and the speed at which the reader can accept a new card is apparent but there hasnt been any major public fiasco. The bugs will definitely need to be fixed before OMNY becomes dominant but it looks like its going ok, even with the pandemic delays. 

1 hour ago, mikecintel said:

No mention of PATH or NICE. 

They are indirectly mentioned in the next section as affiliates, where there is a risk if they dont adopt. 

No explicit mention of time based products, but 

"Rollout of all features supporting NYCT will commence by YE2021"

Also - they may reinstitute the requirement for a virtual OMNY card via the app and mobile wallets to lessen the need for physical cards (chip shortage and whatnot)

On 11/13/2020 at 5:08 PM, RestrictOnTheHanger said:

Some good and bad news according to the CPOC materials released today (excusethe mobile formatting) 

1. Reader installation will be complete by year end on subways and busses. SBS will have all door boarding. No word on ADB for other routes

2. Phase 3 and 4 pushed back by more than a year. More details below

3. Next six months will bring the following:

Closed loop pilot (aka OMNY card testing) 

Time or trip based testing using credit/ debit (bank) cards, with sales via site and app

Mobile app beta

4. Phase 3: Retail network for OMNY card begins rollout in July 2021

5. Phase 3: Reduced fare by September 2021

6. LIRR/MNR rollout by June 2022

7. New vending machines in 2023

 

Source https://new.mta.info/document/23941

 

Bumping my own post as a reminder that the plan was to test time based products, among other items, during first half of 2021. We will see if this is incorporated into tomorrow's update. 

7 hours ago, Jericho said:

Yes, I meant the punch box. We are required to punch at Roosevelt for Queensboro to know who we are and so we can fly past 36 St. It stopped working last week and as of Sunday, the punch box at 36 St/Queens Plaza still remained dark and we were told to give call letters to Queensboro to identify ourselves.

Interesting. Thanks for your insight @Jericho

11 hours ago, R10 2952 said:

Ever since Byford was forced out, I've had suspicions that many of his initiatives would ultimately get scrapped by the new people in charge.  Hopefully this new limit isn't the start of some regression to the bad old days of slow speeds and excessive timers.

 

As a whole I think SPEED is still going on in the background, probably the pandemic slowed the pace. There were still changes after Byford left, including the Church Ave interlocking modification to speed up service. 

If I recall, some other places had limits slightly dropped too. On the curve mentioned in my last post, from a passenger point of view 43 could get you tossed around a bit. 35 is an improvement from the older limit anyway and who knows what will happen once CBTC and ATO are fully live on QBL

19 hours ago, RTOMan said:

Lots of Signals was removed yes...

Its a glitch if there was a Fox going over the switch it takes a min or two for CBTC to ID the train then give the proper line up...

@RTOMan thanks, I always enjoy reading your posts and appreciate that you post on here, makes the forum a good place. 

3 hours ago, Jericho said:

So far it looks like they have been covered up and their stop arms removed.

Towers still control the interlockings manually. Even then, something happened to the route request function between Roosevelt and 36 St/Queens Plaza as they cannot identify trains. Train operators have been told to give call letters to Queensboro.

Thanks. It was dark and hard to see. When you say the route request function, I'm assuming it's a CBTC function and not the punch box at Roosevelt? 

Is there a slow order somewhere that is causing this?

Personal observation on today's ride, the curve west of 65th st on the Manhattan bound QBL express has a new 35 MPH sign, despite CBTC being active. This is lowered from when the limit was raised to 43 back in 2019 or so during one of the SPEED unit evaluations.  

Not sure when the speed limit was lowered, as it was my first RFW trip in over a year. 

Some question for those in the know. I rode the from Roosevelt to Manhattan, and saw fewer (former) automatic signals active west of Roosevelt and in the 53rd st tube while looking out the RFW.  Have some signals been removed, or do they just go dark in CBTC operation?

Also it looked like the 36th st homeball was slow to clear and delayed us a bit. Is that a regular occurrence until the bugs are worked out? To my knowledge there was no train ahead of us. 

QBL has had CBTC problems daily for the past 2 weeks, usually in the section west of Roosevelt. What the heck went wrong and how long will the fix take?

Day ?? Of ??

And again... this is an almost daily occurrence now on QBL