MNR Beacon Line

Speaking of the destination signs why do they randomly flash the name of the garage after the route sometimes? Why would that possibly be useful or even an option?

I don't think it's fallen into the abyss. It's on their radar. They just don't have the money for it.

Is it really still the case that when a private operator has a route NJ Transit is not allowed to compete? That's ridiculous.

That's not really how it works now, on the exact fare lines. People don't tell the driver where they're going, they just put the money in the box and walk on, then the driver picks a ticket based on the amount. Imo, asking every passenger where they're going will just create problems for the driver. Riding a city bus people don't expect the need to say where they're going. Some people will have trouble even remembering the name of the street they get off at. It's trading the current problems for a brand new one. Look up the OPAL card in Sydney. This is how a multi-zone fare card is supposed to work.

How would the tap card work with the zone system on buses? Really you would need tap on and tap off, something which buses in other cities have done for years, but is probably above NJT's competency level... The fact that there are no readers by the back door of the bus tells me that they didn't think this system through.

It's 2023, forget exact fare. NJT should not be accepting cash on buses at all. Even on the exact fare lines, people get on trying to pay cash who don't know how much to pay, or don't organize their money before hand, or the machine won't take their bills. Just get rid of it.

Does anyone know if New Bus Newark is still moving forward or have they given up on it?

I disagree, the split between NY and bergenline makes sense since some people live/visit closer to NY Ave and some closer to Bergenline, it splits the difference. Bergenline is slow because Union City is obsessed with stop signs and speed bumps but that's not Transit's fault...

I think the Boulevard East buses need to be reconfigured. I don’t live there but those buses get so packed and cruiser buses are not the right choice for that environment. What if Boulevard East got a dedicated line using transit style buses and all the Bergen County buses got routed via Turnpike. Maybe some people use the buses to get between Hudson and Bergen, but you could put a transfer point at the end of the line near Ridgefield, plus if they ever build the HBLR extension it will become moot.

Typical entitled South Shore behavior. If you don't move "there will be a big problem"? My ass. All these suburbanites know how to do is bitch.

Oh yeah, all the Brooklyn kids I knew used to do that. "Lerr" is totally a city thing. I read it as "lerr" in my head but it's weird to say that out loud.

I usually just say "Long Island Rail Road." "L I Double R" sounds to newscastery and is the same number of syllables anyway.

I don't like this. The new announcer has a really weird inflection. The old guy was kind of a Long Island icon too, randomly loud station names and all.

Thing is the Cortlandt Street station actually still exists on Cortlandt St, unlike the . If anything having stops named the same thing when they are not complexed is going to be more confusing, especially for tourists. Considering the stop is going to be the closest subway stop to One WTC (which is what most people think of when they hear WTC), I'm happy with them naming it simply "World Trade Center" and leaving the names for all the other stations alone. But if it were really up to me, I'd give the whole Chambers St –Park Pl –WTC –Cortlandt St complex the single name "World Trade Center–Church St" and name the station "World Trade Center–Greenwich St." You do lose some geographic distinction by eliminating the cross streets from the station names but it separates the WTC stations into 3 neat groups (if you include Fulton St) and makes it clear which in-system transfers are available (and let's be honest, how many people in NYC really have a good grasp of the street names below Houston anyway?).

Seriously? That's insulting! I got a real tie when I worked at McDonald's for Christ's sake. If that demographic can manage a half-windsor I think bus operators can too...

If anyone has or is getting a paper MNR August monthly could you post a picture? There's a ticket stock shortage so they're being printed on weekly stock, I'm curious to see what that looks like.

This is not a choice that exists in reality. The ADA is a law, not a suggestion. The MTA at minimum needs to be spending 20% of their renovation budget on accessibility features, and they have not been doing that (thus why they're being sued). We waste billions a year on paratransit. Accessibility needs to come sooner than later but the MTA is penny wise and pound foolish and fails to see how deferring this work is screwing them over in the future.

Are they putting passengers on these cars? I'd be more than pissed to be put on a MARC coach after paying Amtrak ticket prices.

Speaking of announcements, I've taken to complaining to the MTA when the announcements are off. This seems especially prevalent in evening trains, which leads me to believe that the announcements being off is a choice by the conductor rather than some kind of technical difficulty. Last night the automated announcements were off on my GCT to Southeast M7, and when I got out at Golden's Bridge a guy asked me if how to get back down to Katonah since he missed his stop. Not to mention that it's a huge ADA violation. I see blind people on MNR trains fairly frequently actually.

No, it's not the "dink donk" that they play before announcements. I can't describe it, and it would be hard to record it since it comes on seemingly randomly. I always hear it several times per trip on the Harlem line. If you keep your ears open you'll probably hear it.

Maybe a somewhat obscure question: I've noticed that the M7As will play a certain little jingle (it sounds like a ringtone or something, maybe three seconds long?) ocassionally throughout a trip. Does anyone know what this is? I assume it's a message to the train crew.

If that's the case could someone submit a FOIL request?

If they keep one track, I'll be happy. Be careful not to fall for the "rail-banking" BS though. Once a railroad is turned into a rail trail, it's politically near impossible to convert it back to a road. The idea that rail trails can serve as effective interim solutions before the line is economically sustainable as a road again is basically a scam, and the truck lobby fought hard to pass the rails-to-trails act knowing that once railroads get turned into rail trails, the fate of that ROW is basically sealed against ever conveying freight again.

I just threw into the "counties that the MTA doesn't care about serving" pile. North fork service on LIRR is beyond pathetic.

As an upper Hudson Line rider, I really hope MNR will at least give them some extensive service if it plans on keeping them for decades from now. The trucks are in pretty bad shape. There isn't as widespread of a squeaking issue as with the M-7s (where it can be almost intolerable at the car ends); but a lot of the cars have an extreme sag to one side, even if only slightly asymmetrically-loaded, and the some cars will rock quite violently into turns. The seats absolutely need to be reupholstered. By my guess most of the M-7As have been, so they have no excuse. The Shoreliner seats are disgusting. The current toilet & HVAC systems are woefully inadequate and very problematic. A peak GCT-Poughkeepsie train with only one working toilet is unacceptable, but common. Unfortunately, Dutchess, Putnam, Orange, Rockland, and Suffolk Counties' tax dollars aren't as good as the others' in the MCTD, so I don't expect these fixes to come soon, or at all. What are we going to do, drive into the city? The MTA knows our bluff.