Xfer2Nowhere

Idk if the gear ratios would play into it but the Voiths do seem to have a longer gear ratio that makes it good on the highways but would probably use up more fuel on smaller streets. Just what I notice from the WMATA buses that are equipped with Voiths. The DC area does tend to have faster, wider streets that are more conducive to that. Also IIRC some of them only have 3 speeds. I do hear the Voith whine on lots of the tourist double-decker buses around here, though, particularly the Gray Line Enviro 500s.

8228

No surprise, I think it dropped about 1 MPH from the last time it was surveyed. The biggest choke point on the route from my experience is between Decker Avenue and Trantor Place heading westbound; there are poorly-timed lights there that cause about a 10-20 minute additional delay at worst, and on top of that, all the traffic weaving in and out of business driveways and people frequently boarding with shopping carts, it's no wonder it is where it is.

Right now this looks like just a single demo bus and not part of any bigger plan but you might have to ask someone on the inside. This bus just appeared and it doesn't even have a fleet number yet so I don't know what's coming.

Enviro 500 + XE40 #0012 and Catalyst #0019 on display outside 2 Broadway today. MTA employee on site says the Enviro will be deployed on the X17J first. Vehicle will not be deployed on routes via Brooklyn due to 12' 10" height vs Carey Tunnel. No fleet number. California plate. MTA livery is wrapped over Alexander Dennis demonstrator livery.

Looks like the Enviro 500 is coming. Any word on depot/route assignments? Advantages/disadvantages vs. the Van Hool pilot from years ago?

While that's true for the FC model, according to TTMG these are the E2 model which have a 251 mile range and charge in under 3.5 hours. Not that any of the routes they're being rolled out on right now would require that kind of range, but definitely they could use a little extra energy considering how much they'll need to use the HVACs here.

The irony is how hard this hits "Trump country" itself. For a lot of small, rural towns, Amtrak is the only affordable form of transportation. Some of these places depend on it and that's where a bulk of the ridership on these trains comes from, rather than vacationers. It's also total irony from a campaign that constantly touted infrastructure investment but par for the course considering, like most of the issues, they had no plan. You can't promise people the world while ignoring the realities of economics and social change. Granted that long-distance trains go into the red almost by design; the lower passenger volumes combined with the higher cost and longer hours of labor sink trains compared to flights, there aren't too many good alternatives. There's Essential Air Service but air comes with its own costs and it's not unusual to see very light loads. Then there's the possibility of subsidizing a bus service but I don't know if that's ever been seriously floated. Transportation as an issue never gets enough attention at any level of government, even here in NYC, and it's terrible how people never, ever seem to realize how important it is to their own communities until it's on the brink of falling apart or being cut.

It would make more sense, but I've heard that an AirTrain going down the GCP would run into height issues because of how close the Runway 4 approach comes to the highway as well as the bridges over it. If it were built, it would have to be at or below ground level, which means more disruption during construction. A little today for less tomorrow, at least. I've personally been more partial to scrapping the idea of it being a train and instead using the proposed ROW to turn the M60+ into a true BRT via separated bus lanes on the GCP with the only other stop in Queens being Astoria Blvd, with the Q19 or a variation of it picking up all the other stops.

This is ridiculous. I can't even call them accidents anymore because of the willful neglect. I was scheduled to be on a Regional when the first one happened and I was lucky I had to cancel, even though that train only got hit about 20-30 minutes. But repeat occurrences are absolutely unforgivable. Our domestic policy consists of fighting BS culture wars while people can't even feel confident about how they get into work every day. If Joe Biden was still in office, he'd pitch a fit over this. Someone on any level of government needs to. It's officially out of hand now.

This makes little sense for communities where buses are the only option. I notice not a single mention of Uber, Lyft, or dollar vans in here either. I hope the MTA gets the hint and fixes some of the routes.

Flat wheel trying to ruin those new rails. lol Nice videos.

10 AM round trip, before breakdown