7-express

They'll probably at the very least try to push through with the service frequency cuts they were swinging for. Though arguably things may change when congestion pricing takes effect and more commuters pivot to other options, including express buses.

I guess the reduced fare Xpress Pay will remain until they figure out how to get those special OMNY cards out the door?

It doesn't make sense to me though. Folding up a row or two of wheelchair seats won't significantly reduce demand or occupancy. Other than annoy the couple people who can't sit there anymore.

I am noticing on the newer buses I get on, at least one wheelchair seat is flipped up or pulled forward for no real reason. I don't get why a B/O would do this...other than decrease overall capacity of the bus? The front seat being blocked offer never ended on CP buses but they'll generally let a regular move it and sit up there, at least on the ones I've been on. Don't get me started about service reliability/service delivery. It's been atrocious over the last couple of months with missing runs and proven by the MTA's own stats.

Agreed it should be 10 minute headways for the Q61/62 between 7-9AM and 4-7PM if they want people to actually use the route. Otherwise, it's a service decrease to current Q15/Q34 riders.

Some tidbits I found in the data for NE Queens folks: QM20 PM peak service only begins at 1530...seems odd for them not to start peak service at at 1500 QM2/20 AM peak service reduced to a max frequency of 10 mins instead of the 6-8min frequency from 7-8AM QM2 weekend service still says via Mitchell Gardens in the route destination sign but is not shown on the Remix map Q61 service is only 15-20 minute service during the rush but 30 mins most of the time. Q62 has equally crappy 15-20 minute peak headways during the rush instead of 10 now.

They also released the metadata for the trip planner so you can see what scheduled bus runs have been cut.

It appears the MTA updated their Flushing Line Improvements page earlier this month but it doesn't seem to give any more details into the timeline of what to expect. Looks like pretty crappy project management to me...par for the course with Transit. https://new.mta.info/project/flushing-line

Hochul is on it: https://abc7ny.com/congestion-pricing-mta-new-subway-train/14377371/

Articles pointed to after the holidays at the end of the year for implementation.

It is unfortunate. It's going to be like the 10th Ave station on the 7 train where they cut out even the provision for it so now any attempt to create it will score poorly on capital investment score sheets since it'll require a tremendous amount of work and interruption.

FWIW, I contacted OMNY about a tapping issue but also asked them when it would be possible to view my trip history again. The rep didn't know and it seemed like it might be a while until that functionality comes back.

So is it true that service will remain in its curtailed state till 2025 or 2026? I saw that posted on Reddit recently and that would be a tremendous change if it were true compared to what they sold the public last year.

https://new.mta.info/document/131306 Not present in slide 5 diagram, called out in slide 19.

Notably, the bellmouth provision for a future expansion to the Bronx has been eliminated with this revision.

I totally forgot about the Roosevelt Ave accident. I read about it years back but didn't remember it until now. Reading the details, it sounds extremely familiar. Looks like they were using flashlight signaling back then between the forward flagger and the operator in the middle of the set, which was not effective on curve. Portable radios probably weren't very common back then. I imagine radio signalling was the upgrade to flashlights but now that has proven to be defeatable by dead zones so pulling a rescue train in front seems like the likely next move to prevent this issue in the future. Of course that'll be a challenge for operations since they have to take another train out of service and wrong rail it to pull the dead train back home.

It certainly did seem that way if you take that line only. But reading in between the lines with what he also said during the interview, it's appears the needle is pointing on a radio communication failure. Like they hit a dead spot at the worst possible time.

ABC7 has posted an interview with the train operator in front of the disabled 1 train who was acting as a flagger. Seemed to point the finger at a radio communication technical error: https://abc7ny.com/subway-collision-derailment-train-operator-new-york-city/14310375/

It was for an extended time from the Main Street portal to Hunters Point Ave.

Thanks for that. I do recall seeing an old pic a while back of the Lights On sign. I definitely haven't seen the practice in the last decade, especially since newer trains showed up. I do notice lights going off on the express bus but that's usually on the express segments at night when folks want to sleep.

In the 90s and 00s when the Redbirds were on the 7, I remember them occasionally turning off the ceiling lights on the above ground segments. Was there any particular reason this was done or was it more of a relic of the energy savings measures from the 70s/80s?

I can't find any information about this but does it mean anything when a control ID on a bus is two digits followed by an X? This was observed on an express bus from College Point Depot.

The same thing was posted by PIX11. Seems like a regurgitated post that some bot/AI is churning out that's not based on anything new. It was already previously documented that MetroCard would stick around till 2025.

1010WINS has a brief story about it: https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/youth-took-subway-trains-on-joyrides-in-queens-nypd

The last time they tried dropping the names in the late 90s, local Sunnyside folks opposed and restored the old names. Demographics of the area have changed a bit in the last 20ish years so an attempt now may not see as much opposition. Especially since there wasn't a peep when the Astoria stations dropped the alternate old names.