MikeC

Does anyone have any idea what time the Proterra will be out? 

Saw an XD60 driving around Rockaway today NIS near B 110th St. Too far to see the #. Maybe testing out for the 53 sbs? 

Well the D60s that I saw on the BX1/2 today definitely tell me they need to go. Even their XD60s look beaten down.

Saw an XD40 on the q53 today signed up for SBS with a blue background. Looked good! 

Is it me or the og hybrids have had crappy ac this summer? Well the ones out of eny at least, I remember riding ice cold ogs during of summer of 2010 out of that same depot, I wonder what's up.

Agreed. Not to go off topic here but it's funny to me how the R32 trains I've ridden have better AC than the R160s.

Operation-wise...for subway shuttles, why doesn't the MTA maintain a yard full of "hot spares" retired from active service that can be pressed into service as shuttles at one central location and have drivers volunteering to work a shuttle report to that yard and pick up a bus (or relieve another driver from that pool of buses)? Approximately 200 or so buses could be maintained this way.

On weekends, there's plenty of buses to spare for planned shutdowns. But, I mean for things that are unplanned like the A derailment it isn't a bad idea. But, they seemed to fill in ok for that. They tend to throw the worst of the RTS they have on the M shuttle anyways lol. 200 I think is too much. Maybe about 25-30 in case of an emergency situation.

IIRC, it was supposed to be in September. They did release some type of schedule for the next few +SBS+ routes (I think the Q52/53 and B82 had set dates as well)

 

 

 

You may be biased because you live near MTA Bus express routes. On those, from what I've heard, the B/Os try to avoid carrying standees. But out here in SI, I've been on plenty of SRO express buses (mostly the X17A/C/J, though the X10 can have its moments too. I don't even have to get started on the X1 and its variants.

If I had to stand on the express bus I would be pissed. Queens buses are never that bad. Although, I did see a Midtown bd  QM15 that was near SRO the other day and this was late in the rush like 8:40 AM. 

I saw a couple RTS being stored at CS the other day anyone know what they're being stored for?

What depot are they from? Some depots don't need as many buses during the summer cause there's no school trippers.  I remember Jamaica sent some of it's RTS to Stengel either last summer or the one before that. Jamaica's a pretty small depot, making some room. 

Exit at the western-most exit of the Parsons/Archer subway (south side of street) and it's right up the stairs.  Look for the bus bay that says "N4" as there are many Queens buses too in other bays.  Alternatively, you can get off at Sutphin/Archer and walk about 5 minutes east along Archer until you see all the bus bays (but beware the construction closing lanes on Archer right now.)

I have to take the Q54 from where I am. It'd be the most direct way. I'll take it to 150th and walk down to Archer. Yea ok thats where I thought it was. I've taken the Q5 from there before. Didn't remember for sure. 

Is the first stop of the Freeport bound n4 158th street? 

Im not sure if this is new, 4063 GH to FP.

Yea saw it on the Q54, FP has had tons of different buses from all over coming there. Weird seeing  Gun Hill  and Yukon stickers in Queens.

4995 & 5002 to FP

I was on 4995 on the M shuttle the other day. Not the best of the RTS.

The express bus can't help me if I'm coming from Bushwick. The Q38 has issues at all times of the day, including on Sunday evenings. I've seen bunching on the Q38 during those times as well.

 

IDK why each of the buses were bunching like that, and the worse part of all, all three of them synchronized at the same interval to bunch with buses only going SB (the Q38 in both directions-nothing on the Penelope Leg). It's amazing how the Q54 somehow was the only one to actually show up. The Q38 has it's problems during evenings, but I've never seen anything like that, and at that time (10:30 PM-11 PM). There was no traffic, so the mall has nothing to do with it. 

 

I have bad luck with the Q47. Even in the rush, when I miss a Q47 in Jackson Heights, the next one is either approaching Astoria Boulevard, or still on layover at Marine Air Terminal. Yesterday, when I went to drop something off, I missed the Q47 because it was EARLY. That was a first, and since the next Q47 was over 20 minutes away, I was not pleased. Went down to the Q38 to take whatever bus in whatever direction came first, and they both took forever. 

 

The Q47 runs on 80 Street, which is a wide street, so it's not Middle Village that messes up the Q47. The Q29 and Q38 do pass through narrower roads, but usually those are non-issues. The Q38's issues are exacerbated by construction on the Fresh Pond Road Bridge (which is why the runs two shuttle buses to Myrtle Avenue during the daytime hours). The delays on the Q29 has to be due traffic throughout the portion north of Dry Harbor Road.

Roosevelt kills the 47, there's always a massive line at 74th st too. Even on late night buses. The Q29 bunches i think just based on the fact that service is infrequent during certain times of the day and alot of people end up waiting for it. So one is stuck picking up.. Usually, if the first bus skips layover the problem is solved.

Could they pull a few artic out of Manhattan and put it in Queens? Routes like M23,14, 72 could all be converted to 40 ft

Quill and Tuskegee were contributing artics to the shuttle. I saw some Kingsbridge XD-60s as well. 

That / shuttle this weekend was really horrible. On Saturday the buses made congestion at Forest Hills worse than it normally is, as they were all u-turning at 70 Road. The next day, the routing was changed for the shuttle buses and the traffic was smoother. The buses isntead took 108 Street to 70 Road, and then turned onto Queens Boulevard. However, the issue was the long line at Forest Hills for people trying to catch a bus eastward. The line extended from thr stops at Queens Boulevard down to 71st Avenue & Queens Boulevard.

 

The supervisors were arguing over what do because the line was getting longer, and the fear that the police might have to be called over. Due to that, the supervisor overlooking the shuttle had to send 6+ buses on a load and go basis, because of the insane line.

 

There were also some heated arguments between passengers. Some guy legit brought one of them carts with groceries and a TV (inside a box) onto the bus, and some snapped at others for supposedly cutting the line. There needs to be a better way to handle these loads, because every bus left packed.

 

There needs to be an express and express shuttle. The express would make stops at 71 Avenue, Jamaica Van Wyck, Supthin Boulevard (Archer Avenue), and Jamaica Center. The express would make stops at 71 Avenue, Supthin Boulevard (Hillside Avenue), Parsons Boulevard (Hillside Avenue), 169 Street, and 179 Street. Not too many people were getting on/off at 75 Avenue or Briarwood, so halving the amount of buses stopping won't be an issue.

 

Another thing to spread the loads out is to have the and express pickup on 70 Road & Queens Boulevard. They take the Main road of Queens Boulevard instead of the South Service Road. Signs for the express shuttles should be clear at 71 Avenue.

Express is definitely needed and I used the shuttle to get to Briarwood on Saturday. Coming back  to FH there was about  10 people getting on there and when I got off only 2 or 3 others.

Did anyone see the LIRR buses today?

Yea on 34th St, all private carriers. Some didn't have names on them and were really beat down buses but otherwise Alot of Coach USA, and Academy. This was around 4:00. No crazy lines. Buses loaded up and went. OK ridership, max 15/bus. 

Saw 522 which had a Spring Creek decal on the Q23 today. But, I see it's on the roster under College Point. Recent move?

70 buses for SBS and 49 for m14 seems like alot. Given routes like the 23,34, and 79 dont always have alot of buses out at once. But, then again I'm sure some of those D60s aren't always in good shape to go out. 

Tuskegee is short as usual (happens every summer) and quite frankly they need to start making service. I mean really, it is no secret that it's hot in the summertime and I don't know why they insist on sending out those old filthy beat up buses with no damn AC. The should send them as many new buses as possible for this reason. Let whoever is in control of maintenance get the situation under a control and call it a day.

I'm pretty sure MJQ has more than enough artics, maybe they can give some of their LFSA's. 

QV probably doesn't need them for the Summer.It'd probably make more sense to send them into Brooklyn but I'm not sure of what the situation in terms of fleet availability is in Manhattan. 

Well that's nice, but they should be running the QM24 seven days a week while this is going on.  We both know that people in Middle Village and Glendale have crappy transportation options as it is, and they are not going to want to put up with those stupid shuttle buses, so they'll look to the express bus instead, and there's no change in the service.  Just typical.

Yea I'm going to see how the shuttle works, if not I'm going back to buying express bus plus, and just rocking with the 24.  

What's up with having three different routes anyway? It's confusing as hell.

Route 3 is for people coming directly off the M or J at Flushing Ave for a ride with less stops to metropolitan ave, and I guess 1 and 2 are separate shuttles for quicker travel btw Broadway, Wyckoff and Metro cause all of these areas can be a traffic nightmare. Plus, less crowds.

3981 back at FP from MHV, on the Q58 right now.

I think the bus will be able to resume service. Anybody know what the things on the side are, the yellow things that stick out on the side at the rear of the bus? They've been installing them at a lot of Brooklyn depots.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using NYC Transit Forums mobile app

I want to say there some kind of pedestrian alert system, but I can't say that with 100% assurance. 

NICE accepts both 7 and 30 day unlimited Metrocards along with the the base fare.

Thanks, much appreciated!