MTA Dude

12 hours ago, Chris89292 said:

 Nah I think the  should just run as a 10 car set to avoid these type of problems, especially since NTT’s aren’t capable to do this random number input like the R62A’s, doesn’t matter if the community disagrees, it’s a way to save money like I said in the past in another thread post, every other subway line has crowding issues as well, but the MTA doesn’t add extra cars for it, so why the ? 

...because the  is the most frequent yet one of the most crowded subway lines in the entire system. Unlike other IRT lines, the  has the platforms to accommodate 11 car trains, so there is no good reason not to give it 11 car trains.

On 12/5/2022 at 12:00 AM, Lawrence St said:

Are there any bus stops in NYC that have been removed but still remain or installed but no buses actually serve that stop?

The one I know of is the bus shelter for the Q74 at Kissena/Melbourne. It got repurposed for the Queens College shuttle a few years ago.

On 7/10/2022 at 11:48 PM, Cait Sith said:

That Q10, not only am I against the idea the line going to Fresh Meadows, but the southbound routing would be a disaster, as it would actually have to go to 78th AVenue and then loop around, which is counterintuitive for that kind of route along. It's not a straight shot as you've designed it.

Shortening the Q56 at the hospital, not a fan either. The Q55 maybe, but the Q56 should continue going to Jamaica. Ridership isn't low enough to warrant it to be removed from Jamaica(unless that part of the map is still being developed).

I just hope the Q110 isn't the sole line along Jamaica Avenue, because.....oof

I think the Q10 to Fresh Meadows is a better version of the Q10/Q64 merge, which was trying to combine two high density routes to run artics on and provide connections between Lefferts Blvd and points east of the Van Wyck without having to go through Jamaica. I'm aware of the southbound routing on 78th Ave, and while it is a bit annoying, I don't see a huge problem with it.

I'm assuming your comment on Jamaica Ave is about Downtown Jamaica. I get that all the stores are on Jamaica Ave and Archer Ave is much more barren, but Archer Ave is almost fully contained within Downtown Jamaica, making it a much better busway than Jamaica Ave IMO without being too far of a walk. I chose the Q56 as the sole Jamaica Ave line because a good chunk of the line serves as a  supplement, so it can afford to stay on the more congested Jamaica Ave and preserve the connection to 171st St. That's also why I have it making that loop to directly serve Jamaica Hospital in both directions. 

As for the map itself, the only major thing left to do is labelling the insets with bus routes, stops, and street names. Not sure when I'll get to it though.

2 hours ago, BrooklynBus said:

I am not saying that anyone who takes the bus can also use the subway. I see the need for a bus and train on the same street, but not when they do exactly the same thing. By their logic they should immediately add a bus to McDonald Ave. They won't. Because that is extra service, not a service cut.

Doesn't the B37 do almost exactly the same thing as the ? And the B25 for the  except for a short segment in Dumbo? 

I think the difference between McDonald Ave and Broadway is that the  has very low ridership south of Church Ave and makes all local stops at all times. Broadway has the running skip stop during rush hours and express west of Myrtle in the peak direction, so it's not very good at continuous Broadway service. I would assign the B39 that role instead of merging it with the B32 and B24.

Here's a map of what I would do for the Queens bus redesign. It's not finished yet (so no labels) but hopefully it's enough to understand the details of each route. I recommend downloading the PDF since Google Drive's PDF viewer isn't that good IMO.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O2S3c3NDRbgXfH_oRwAFfIbeSaDuKxXl/view?usp=sharing

A few notes:

• The B62 isn't shown on the map but I would keep it the same as it is now north of Williamsburg, I didn't just leave Jackson Ave with no bus service.
• I have the Q11 going to Forest Hills and the Q21 going to Elmhurst
• No, that is not the Q49 merged with the B57
• Q52 still exists with its current day service pattern
• Flushing, Jamaica, and Rego Park are left blank, and that's because I still need to make separate insets for them. I'll list the routes that go through these hubs; routes not listed terminate within the hub.
• In Jamaica I want Archer Ave to be a full busway between Merrick and Sutphin, instead of what we currently have with Jamaica Ave. All routes except the Q56 currently on Jamaica Ave should be moved to this new busway.

Flushing:

• Q12 - Northern to Kissena Blvds
• Q17 - Sanford Ave to Linden Pl / College Point
• Q19 - straight across Roosevelt as proposed by the MTA
• Q20 - Main St to Mitchell Gardens
• Q25 - Kissena Blvd to Union St
• Q27 - 46 Av to College Point Blvd
• Q44 - Main St to Linden Pl / Whitestone Expy
• Q50 - GCP from LGA, makes a loop around Main, 39 Av, and Prince, then follows Q44 to the Bronx

Jamaica:

• Q6 - Hillside to Sutphin via Archer Ave, similar to what's proposed by the MTA
• Q9 - Utopia Pkwy to 130th St
• Q24 - merged with the Q42
• Q43 - merged with the Q40 running along Hillside Ave
• Q65 - extended past its current terminal to serve Tuskegee Airmen Way and the projects on 160th St
• Q110 - Jamaica Ave to Liberty Ave as proposed by the MTA

Rego Park:

• Q38 - Eliot Ave to 99th St / northern part of current Q23
• Q53 - same as current day
• Q57 - express "SBS" version of Q58, HHE to Eliot Ave
• Q59 - takes over the current Q38 to 108th St
• Q60 - across Queens Blvd

And here's the biggest changes to the Rockaways (taken from an older version of the map I made 2 years ago when the redesign was first released):

https://i.imgur.com/0OJpf2c.png

I'm probably the least confident with what I did with Maspeth. I thought I was doing something by moving the Q67 onto the LIE, but that only produces a significant time savings outside of rush hours when there isn't traffic. The Q18 was added at the last minute because I wanted to maintain access to industrial Maspeth from 69th St, but now I'm probably just overserving that area. And I just don't know what to do with the northern part of the Q103 or southern part of the Q38, since the Q67 is the only one in the area that match their frequencies and I don't like having them as standalone routes.

6 hours ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

That, and a connection from Lefferts Blvd to the Q44 (and those other north-south routes) without having to go into Jamaica)

You could do that with a Lefferts Blvd - Union Tpke route that crosses Queens Blvd like this and it would make much more sense than the Q10/64 combo they're proposing.

On 9/19/2020 at 4:26 PM, checkmatechamp13 said:

I think the idea was to divide the Q27's ridership base between Flushing & SE Queens into 2 routes (QT31 to Queens Village and QT73 to Cambria Heights).

There's not a lot of ridership between Cambria Heights and Flushing as it is, and the QT73 doesn't serve that portion effectively anyway. For the few that do need it though, it would be a two seat ride, whether from the QT71 or QT73.

On 9/19/2020 at 4:26 PM, checkmatechamp13 said:

Agreed, with the QT86, except I would have it run up 132nd Street which is a wider street and a little bit closer to the mall, which negates the need for a QT64 extension.

Actually yeah, I might be overserving northern College Point with my proposal.

On 9/19/2020 at 4:26 PM, checkmatechamp13 said:

Would the QT87 serve the southern part of Forest Hills coming from Jewel Avenue or from Kew Gardens under your proposal.

I have it running from Kew Gardens and going down 71st Ave, but are buses too tall for the LIRR bridge there? Is that why they have it running on Ascan? Also, what's the deal with the private neighborhood there?

On 9/19/2020 at 4:26 PM, checkmatechamp13 said:

I think that route would be too long and prone to delays/bunching. I would leave the Q53 ending at QCM (Whether the QT10 goes to Rego Park or Queens Center Mall isn't a big deal either way, as long as they don't forget to add at stop at QCM like the draft plan shows).

I think it would be better than the current Q53 running along Broadway and Roosevelt Ave. Unless you don't think the Q53 to Woodside should exist at all, but people were complaining about losing that connection.

On 9/19/2020 at 4:26 PM, checkmatechamp13 said:

I don't see the point in that. 20th Avenue doesn't warrant the equivalent of an SBS route.

Actually yeah I definitely agree with this.

On 9/19/2020 at 4:26 PM, checkmatechamp13 said:

If you're going to have the QT65 serve the area, it should take Merrick straight to Brinkerhoff instead of meandering around the neighborhood. (I personally think it should be a shuttle to the Jamaica LIRR station running across Brinkerhoff and up Sutphin).

I saw the MTA's proposal as butchering the Q42 and attaching it to the Q65. The latter I'm leaning towards in favor of, especially now that the QT65 has been relegated to a coverage route, but why completely butcher the Q42?

On 9/19/2020 at 4:26 PM, checkmatechamp13 said:

Agreed with the QT83. As for the eastern branch, there is pretty much zero demand between Cypress Hills and Old Howard/Hamilton Beach. (Aside from that, you can transfer to the  if necessary). I'd leave the QT62 running all the way across Rockaway Blvd to Atlantic Avenue to head towards Cypress Hills, and have Sutter/Pitkin covered by an extended B14.

On 9/20/2020 at 1:38 AM, B35 via Church said:

What he's suggesting the QT62 do would virtually carry air from end to end.... The eastern spur of the QT88 is slated to take Centerville, so you immediately lose out on anyone trying to get to points along Cross Bay.... Something running from Crescent to Rockaway Blvd via Liberty I see as being a non-starter..... People taking Q24's, Q56's, and 's to Woodhaven blvd. (from points well west) typically xfer to the Q52/Q53 for points well south of Rockaway/Cross Bay (of those that aren't heading NB towards QB/QCM that is).... The majority of the people that are disembarking SB Q11's/21's/52's/53's at Rockaway Blvd are those emanating from at least as far north as Jamaica av.....

Basically what I'm laying out (in what we apparently agree on) is that a route running from Crescent to Old Howard Beach via the proposed QT62 & via the proposed QT88 would be a massive fail from end to end.... As much as I hate the proposed QT88, I even see that performing better... Another way of putting that is, I see more Lindenwood patrons taking buses to/from the than I do those possibly taking the proposed QT62 b/w Crescent & Rockaway Blvd .... At best, I think it'd be a wash, but I even think that's giving it too much credit....

 

Tbh I have no idea how to best serve Old Howard and Hamilton Beach. Currently, each Q11 branch runs every hour, but most Q11s short turn on Cross Bay Blvd. Are most riders there trying to head up Woodhaven Blvd, or somewhere else?

As for service between Crescent and Rockaway Blvd , I thought the MTA had a good reason for proposing it (under-subway bus coverage?) but guess not.

Hey everyone, I've come back from my 5 year slumber to present my version of the redesign.

https://app.podaris.com/projects/Yuj4C4c57sLWPDBLc/engage

I renamed all the routes so they matched the current-day routes as much as possible. Unfortunately, the viewing interface isn't that great, you can't click on routes to see them in detail and I had to put all of the routes into 5 groups. The best way to view it is to make an account and clone the project. In the Planning mode, on the right side click on the layers tab (the two squares stacked on top of each other) and from there you can toggle the visibility of each individual route.

I wrote my detailed thoughts about each route on the map, but here are the major changes:

Flushing / Northeast Queens:

• Francis Lewis Blvd south of the LIE is surrounded by the park, and north of the LIE there's the QT31, QT15, and QT17, which means that extending the QT73 to Flushing brings nothing new to the table. Instead, I have the QT64 running to Flushing via Sanford since the QT49 already covers the northern part of Utopia Pkwy, and giving it a strong northern anchor makes it easier to justify a much needed headway increase.
• Since the QT64 goes to Flushing, I would have the QT30 run via 164th St and 162nd St to Sanford before dashing to Flushing to cover the vast majority of Q65 riders heading to Flushing.
• I extended the QT86 up 130th St and 127th St up to 6th Ave to help out the QT15.
• QT48, QT49, and QT51 should run all day.
• Not sure if Willets Point Blvd ridership is high enough to justify a purple route. I turned it into a green route and extended it down with the QT16 to Holly Ave, helping out along the busiest section of that route.
• Instead of having the QT65 go to Beechhurst, it should run to industrial College Point along the proposed QT64 route so that those Q65 riders still have access while bypassing Flushing.
• Not sure how important it is to have a direct connection to College Point shopping center from Flushing is, but if it is, I'd have the QT64 run up there via Linden and Whitestone Expy.
• Split the QT81, obviously.
• QT50 should run straight to LGA from Flushing.

Forest Hills / Kew Gardens:

• Too many routes swinging across between Forest Hills and Kew Gardens.
• 108th St route should be separate.
• QT86 should terminate at Kew Gardens
• QT87 absolutely cannot replace any portion of Jewel Ave service with those headways. It should go through Kew Gardens, it's faster anyway.
• I think a combination between the Q10 and the Q46 might work, since for how major of a corridor Lefferts Blvd is, it's actually pretty isolated from points east of the Van Wyck Expressway.
• Not really sure about south Forest Hills. How many Q23 riders would be covered by the new Yellowstone route? What is left for the three stops along Continental? If the answer to that last question is "not much", then I would continue having the QT87 serving that portion, and run the Q64 Jewel Ave route down Yellowstone Blvd to Glendale. And even then the Q64 might have to be one of the few routes that need short turns.
• If the two branches have about equal ridership, I would have both branches run up Jewel Ave and truncate the QT87 to Kew Gardens.

Elmhurst / Jackson Heights:

• Probably gonna be my most controversial suggestion, but here goes. Q53 riders complained about losing access to Broadway, Jackson Heights, and Woodside. Someone from Woodside complained about how it would take three buses to get to Woodhaven Blvd. On the other hand, Broadway and Jackson Heights are incredibly congested and make the Q53 unreliable. My solution is to run the Q53 up via 90th/92nd St and Hampton St, which are kiiiiinda close to Broadway but much less congested. And at that point you might as well just take over the rest of the QT10 route. That would also give any point along Roosevelt Ave an easy 2-seat ride to Woodhaven Blvd and the Rockaways.
• For the QT82, Q29 riders complained that they now have to backtrack to get to the 7 train. I would have the northern portion run along Eliot Ave to Ridgewood. For the southern portion, the Q29 section feels a bit short, and they got rid of the Q47 along 80th St without any replacement. I would have the Q29 continue up 80th St, turn onto 57th Ave, and then run to Jackson Heights via Broadway.
• Everyone hates the QT74, just bring back the Q49.

LIC / Astoria / Maspeth:

• There's no need for two routes on Steinway St. Get rid of the QT2.
• The QT1 should continue up the Q100 route and end at the Q101 terminal.
• If the QT76 has to swing over to 21st like that, do it via Ditmars Blvd for the and connection.
• The QT75 sucks, bring back the Q39.
• The northern portion of the QT80 should be merged with the southern portion of the QT78. It'll be similar to the current Q18, but it runs on 65th Pl north of the LIE and 69th St south of it. The southern portion of the QT80 will be the Q39.
• I would have the QT77 run nonstop between Maurice Ave and Van Dam St via the LIE, run down 69th St, and then replace the southern branch of the Q38 via Juniper Valley Rd, Furmanville Ave, and 63rd Drive. Industrial Maspeth will be handled by the Q39 alone.
• My BQ24 is an awkward attempt at filling the gaps in service, covering Roosevelt Island, 36th Ave, 48th St, and the southern branch of the B24.

Jamaica / SE Queens:

• QT33, QT38, and QT39 should not be considered dash routes for running between 188th St and 179th St.
• There's no reason the QT68 (Q3) should be switching with the QT39 (Q83) to go up Liberty Blvd instead continuing up Farmers Blvd, especially since it goes back up to Hillside Ave immediately afterward anyway. And correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Liberty Ave pretty heavily used? Not a good idea to connect it with a coverage route along Farmers Blvd.
• QT41 should be covering all of 120th Ave like the Q84 does now. What does sending the QT73 over there accomplish?
• QT65 should run via Liberty Ave, 173rd St, 174th St, and Sayres Ave to the current Q42 terminal to cover more of St. Albans.

QT88

• This abomination of a route deserves its own section.
• The QT83 should serve Lindenwood and Howard Beach.
• The eastern branch should replace the QT62 on Liberty Ave.
• The QT62 should run via Sutter and Pitkin Aves like the current Q7.

Anyway, my username sucks, can I change it or something lol

Please, just leave the alone.

Don't say negative things about a religion on a public thread because you might offend some people.

I'm not saying that Christians are stupid. I'm saying that these particular Christians are being annoying and not using thier brains.

It's rather interesting that buses were running on that road when this occurred. Was this parade known about ahead of time? I wonder, were there any police involved?

Police were involved. There was a Q65 that turned onto the bus stop when the parade suddenly appeared. The police was like, nope! You're not going till these people are out (which took like 10 minutes).

Okay, I get an for that one (I was thinking to taking people off the 4/5/6).  But if you are going to have a Queens line go to The Bronx, the would be the logical candidate to do that.

 

Trying this again with the extension to The Bronx, with three stops that are elevated after Ditmars Boulevard via two new bridges:

20th Avenue (Queens)

Hillside Avenue-Rikers Island

Food Service Drive

 

This then goes underground after Food Service Drive with stops as follows:

Spofford Avenue-Hunts Point Food Market

Westchester Avenue (Elder Avenue, Transfer to )

East 180th Street (Transfer to )

Neill Avenue-WilliamsBridge Road

Wilson Avenue-Pelham Parkway (Jacobi Medical Center), where it terminates.

 

This probably would be more useful, especially since it would serve Jacobi Medical Center, which doesn't have any subway service.

 

 

Where is the money and the demand?

For what it's worth, here's the programming from a few months ago:

 

Where is this?

BTW I saw an R188 with broken rollsigns. CORONA WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

Kissena Blvd was a COMPLETE MESS this afternoon. Some stupid Christans think they can just gather up to do a parade and clog up buses and important streets. 7 buses bunched up. Neither the dispatcher or the B/Os knew what to do.

Took me one hour to get home from Main St to Melbourne Av when it should've took 15-20 minutes.

Just imagine that the entire line was to exist today, then the Queens Blvd Line would have been the busiest corridor in the entire subway system.

I don't get it.

Meet some Hunter kids who live in Queens. My classmate is one of them. He got in and entering next year.

The FINDS have been starting to get glitches like crazy now. I swear I saw a FIND that said to Coney Island via Brighton.

 

And on a R142A today, I saw on the exterior sign: a astern Pkway Bxpress

EDIT: Sorry, stupid Autocorrect, this is what it said:

Bastern Pkway Bxpress

To Bown Heights Utica

LOL!

Wait, I am sniffing a hint of foam.

Last night, transferred to the at West 4th St about 9:20PM? Got to Jamaica at 10:45PM.         And that's AFTER they decided to send my  Express at Roosevelt Ave, and bypassing  's and  's conga'ed on the local track.

Lol, hope you had a nice trip (sarcasm).

Pretty sure it's just Conductor...

Oh... wow. How lame.

I'm still trying to figure out what C/R stands for.

 

Conductor... railer.

 

^Lol, epic fail.

So what does it stand for?

the week before the ran express.

Nope. Still wrong info.

Last week it said trains running local and trains only, both were running express.

I'm still trying to figure out what C/R stands for.

Conductor... railer.

^Lol, epic fail.

Actually, yesterday I saw what happened.

MORE GODDAMN WRONG INFORMATION!

The actually ran local with the .

Don't forget the R211s that will 99% be the same dimensions as the R160s that will replace the R46s in a few years.

LOL! That R212 Discussion is literally dead. I have no idea somebody made it that early anyway.

Now how they are calling it all different names but almost identical, I have no idea.

Let’s assess the situation and have a look at what’s available in this scenario…

 

The entire complex made up of Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue and 74 Street–Broadway is unavailable. The nearest stations with switches to turn trains are:

• Northern Boulevard for trains coming from Manhattan with just 1 track for turning trains.
• Queens Plaza for trains coming from Manhattan with 2 tracks for turning express trains to the east at 36 Street and 2 tracks for turning local trains coming from Broadway (in Manhattan) to the west for a total of 4 tracks.
• 21 Street–Queensbridge for trains coming from 6 Avenue in Manhattan with 2 tracks.
• Queensboro Plaza for trains coming from 42 Street in Manhattan with 3 tracks for turning trains to the east.
• Forest Hills–71 Avenue for trains coming from eastern Queens with 1 track for turning trains to the east. Switches west of the station between the Manhattan-bound local and express tracks may also be utilized to store 3 trains, but only the Manhattan-bound express track has track connections to the Queens-bound express and local tracks.
• Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike for express trains coming from eastern Queens with 1 track for turning express trains to the east.

The is an easy one to deal with: turn them all at Queensboro Plaza. There are no switches north of 74 Street–Broadway that will allow for meaningful service beyond, so there is only 1 segment. The LIRR can be accessed from Hunterspoint Avenue which can take passengers to Woodside, Flushing–Main Street, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, and Jamaica.

 

With 4 tracks for turning trains at Queens Plaza, the can turn using the local tracks and the switches west of the station en route to Manhattan, and the can empty out at Queens Plaza, turning using the express tracks at 36 Street.

 

With a high frequency of service required, it’s obvious that the 1 track at Northern Boulevard shouldn’t be used to turn trains, which means they will turn back to Manhattan at 21 Street–Queensbridge using the 2 available tracks. The will be truncated (as usual) to Chambers Street to get out of the way of the which has to empty out at Queens Plaza. can be extended to Northern Boulevard instead to provide local service. It doesn’t run that frequently anyway.

 

To the east of Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue, the 2 stations that are able to turn Manhattan-bound trains can only turn trains on 1 track each. That means one of the trains will turn at Forest Hills–71 Avenue and the other one will have to turn at Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike. Forest Hills–71 Avenue is also the only station that can turn local trains. The is the train that usually runs local there, so it will terminate at Forest Hills–71 Avenue. The gets Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike. Trains pulling into Forest Hills–71 Avenue on the local track will have to be emptied out first before relaying.

 

Bus service can take over for the stations not served by subway.

 

In summary:

Times Square–42 Street to Queensboro Plaza

World Trade Center to Queens Plaza and Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike to Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer

Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue to 21 Street–Queensbridge and Forest Hills–71 Avenue to Jamaica–179 Street

Middle Village–Metropolitan Avenue to Chambers Street

Bay Ridge–95 Street to Northern Boulevard

Local and express shuttle buses 21 Street–Queensbridge and Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike.

Local and express shuttle buses Queensboro Plaza and Flushing–Main Street.

Local and express shuttle buses Queens Plaza and Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike.

 

It’s a simple plan with much of the service changes confined to only the routes that must be affected. Affected routes are minimally altered by this service change, except the which needs to be removed from Queens entirely to not exacerbate congestion due to the crowds getting off at Queens Plaza for the shuttle buses. Everything else is simple truncation. No trains serve stations not normally served, and service is not altered for other routes like the .

Very nice explanation! I can never do this well!

Oh... lol... Dark skinned middle aged black lady.  She always says "...And please... Make sure you are taking ALL of your personal belongings..." Then she goes on to list everything you should take with you.  LMAO... 

LOL! I think I had her on the Q64.

"Kissena Blvd next. Please make sure you take your handbags, bookbags, and shopping bags. Have a wonderful day."