7-express
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Posts posted by 7-express
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Pretty bad start for the new pick today. My AM bus suddenly decided to stop at local bus stops and actually pick up people (strange sight) and my PM bus driver got lost and end up taking the 20th Avenue exit, requiring a backtrack all the way to Linden Place. Definitely some greenhorns running around today.
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This may have been discussed previously but why has CP depot been running a few NYCTB 4xxx Orion VII NG buses lately? They normally only have the New Flyer C40LFs.
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Not surprised that there will be no student OMNY cards till next year.
https://www.amny.com/news/ask-the-mta-u-s-open-service-ada-improvements-and-student-metrocards/
Q: Will the student MetroCard program be incorporated into the OMNY system? Shawnda W., Longwood
A: Students will be able to tap into the system next year. We are working with our partners at the NYC Department of Education to finish testing and planning. – Jessica Lazarus, Senior Director, Commercial Initiatives
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17 hours ago, QM1to6Ave said:
Ha, I posted the same question here a while ago but never got a response. I think this folded up wheelchair seat nonsense is another game the B/Os are playing because I've seen a grand total on 2 wheelchair riders since the Prevosts started running, and I never used to see this on the MCIs. Now I see it on both kinds of buses very frequently.
Even if the seats are properly spaced, sometimes the seat is flipped up and the B/O ties the seatbelt in such a way that it it is very difficult to release the seat down to sit on it. This nonsense drives me insane.
Yeah I'm thinking the seat belts are tied up in some crazy way that makes it difficult to move unless you got on your hands and knees. Something I'll have to try in the future just to spite them. CP bus drivers are really the worst. I'm not even sure why so many wheelchair seats are tied up unless they like sleeping on the floor in between runs or something.
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Does anyone know how to move folded up seats near the wheelchair area on the newer Prevost buses? I've encountered a number of CP buses with folded up seats around the wheelchair area even though there are no wheelchair users on board. A lot of folks don't seem to be able to slide them back out for regular and I haven't been able to either. I thought it was just the yellow foot levers on the floor but it doesn't seem like that's enough to slide the row of seats back.
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3 hours ago, mikecintel said:
Ahhh yes you are CORRECT. They replied me and they said below:
Hello Mike,
Thank you for contacting the office of Council Member Carlina Rivera regarding our info session. The MTA will be assisting constituents submit their reduced fare application as well as providing general information on how to navigate the OMNY system. No OMNY cards will be provided. The MTA will automatically mail OMNY cards later this year to people in the reduced fare program.
Best,
Bianny RodriguezThey should have specified that there be NO physical OMNY card given out at the event.
At this point, they'll probably just mail out the first physical cards before the December holidays to say they crossed the finish line and will just continue the roll out in 2024. They need to roll out physical reduced-fare and student cards in 2024 so they have enough time to work out bugs or else they'll never make the 2025 EOL deadline for the MetroCard.
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Saw this in the news and I can see how this would be affecting the other OMNY physical cards too. I thought this chip shortage thing was over.
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56 minutes ago, mikecintel said:
Hello,
UPDATE OMNY REDUCE FARE PHYSICAL CARD INFO
While I was searching for OMNY reduce fare cards for seniors there will be a Info Session at a public library regarding physical OMNY reduce fare cards for seniors. It will be at Kips Bay library 446 3rd Ave Monday August 7 from 4PM-5PM
Unfortunately I can't make it to the session because I get out of work at 4PM. My parents have difficulty walking so they can't make it so I though I was going to go until I realize the time that they are presenting the info. If they have that info coming out then the OMNY Reduce fare physical card will be mailing out very soon. Then I called OMNY call center and I asked them when my parents get the OMNY card can I put there card on my account and the rep said yes and you can have 10 (ten) OMNY card on your account. I also asked them about the OMNY vending machine installation and she said that they are installing them now but I don't see any of them in the subway stations.
I have a feeling it will be pretty short on information on the physical reduced-fare OMNY card and probably more on how to link your digital wallet/smart device to the reduced-fare OMNY that has been going on for about a year now. But that's just my cynical thinking here...
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16 hours ago, IAlam said:
Dealing with missing trips and long trip times stuck in traffic, and drivers that constantly avoid picking up passengers I can't see myself being able to rely on them. Now that the peak city ticket is coming, I'm at this point where I'm probably giving up on using the express bus unless I absolutely need it. I guess the MTA won, no more express buses for me.
If peak city ticket allowed a free transfer, I could see defections becoming a bigger thing. The express bus is certainly less reliable this summer because of the staffing shortages.
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It's still pretty bad this week with numerous cancelled runs as we're in the heart of summer and vacation season now. Pretty abysmal to have so many missing runs right as the fare is about to go up.
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14 minutes ago, Chris89292 said:
I feel like the MTA is just randomly choosing people to be the billionth tapper, I don’t believe there is an accurate count of taps, and where it’ll even happen, could’ve happened in Lexington Avenue, or herald square
That's exactly how this stuff happens. They probably just chose yesterday since the stat trends showed that they'll hit their billionth tap then. And then just picked a random rider at the station they were holding the press conference at to be the representative one.
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Some more recent OMNY news here: https://www.amny.com/transit/mta-billionth-tap-transit-omny/
Interestingly the number of OMNY users on buses seems stubbornly low versus the subway.
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On 7/24/2023 at 3:16 PM, MysteriousBtrain said:
Not sure if this is happening often again, but it seems like an apparent shortage of CP drivers yet again, as the 4:40pm and 5:40pm QM11 trips are cancelled for the day. Just saw this on my Twitter (sorry, "X") feed.
It was pretty bad on Monday with random missing runs and no notice in NE Queens. Guess everyone is on vacation and not enough fill-ins.
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On 6/12/2023 at 10:10 AM, Chris89292 said:
Does anyone know if student omny cards are still on track for 2023-24 school year??
0 mention of it in any recent documents so I'd lean towards no it won't be ready, especially if they can't even get reduced-fare OMNY cards out the door yet.
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On 5/28/2023 at 12:19 PM, IAlam said:
So yesterday I got on a QM5 to Midtown and the B/O took the GCP to the LIE. I always wondered if that was possible and I got my answer. The bridges are high enough for an express bus.
Makes me wonder why for the Queens redesign there not exploring more route possibilities. Honestly there are so many minor route differences and infrastructure changes that have have a huge impact. Aside from opening up the use of the GCP and Van Wyck for more routes, they should focus on more bus priority. They might not be able to add an HOV lane to the LIE going to Queens but they can add bus lanes and bus signals on surround streets leading up to the LIE ie. VanDam St. and/or the service road leading up to the LIE.
When I was in Seattle earlier this month I was impressed to see how much dedicated bus infrastructure they for commuter buses entering the city. They have dedicated roadways and on/off ramps just for buses, queue jumps, bus lanes, a little bit of everything. They’re by no means perfect, but they’re pulling out every trick they can to speed up buses. I feel like the MTA could learn quite a bit from them.
I've had a number of QM2/20 drivers taken Northern Blvd to the GCP in Woodside to cut around the crazy traffic in Jackson Heights/Corona. They can fit just fine but who knows why MTA buses are banned from there.
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Looks like I got my answer...implementation of the Northern Blvd bus lanes will resume around now: https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/northern-blvd-broadway-114-st-may2023.pdf
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My parents received a new Reduced-Fare EasyPay MetroCard in the mail today. The first part of the enclosed letter was heavy on switching to OMNY using a digital wallet or contactless credit card and the instructions how to do it. The bottom of the letter indicated reduced-fare OMNYs would likely go out in late 2023. It did say that this is likely the last EasyPay MetroCard they'll send out as the switch to OMNY continues with aspirations for everyone to be on it by 2024 (we'll see about that...)
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Is it just me or has work on the Northern Blvd bus lane stalled? I haven't seen much progress beyond the work that was done late last year and traffic on Northern Blvd has been insufferable as of late due to a lot of double parking and restricted lanes due to bike lane hardening.
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8 minutes ago, NewFlyer 230 said:
Still waiting for NICE bus to adopt OMNY so I can get rid of these metrocard.
This OMNY process is very slow.
They mentioned legal and contractual issues with PANYNJ and Roosevelt Island as a barrier to overcome. Probably not too different with NICE and Bee Line. Hopefully they get ironed out soon.
Not holding my breath on physical student or reduced-fare OMNY cards till the very end of the year.
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The OMNY vending machines were showed off today: https://nypost.com/2023/04/24/subway-vending-machines-for-omny-system-arrive-this-summer/
Edit: Also OMNY is coming to the AirTrain and Roosevelt Island Tram in November. They also seem to be still having issues with reduced/free fare physical media but maybe that will be resolved soon.
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On 4/16/2023 at 7:02 PM, QM1to6Ave said:
(I missed this post somehow until now)
Oh boy, that's ridiculous. I recognize those B/Os, good guys. I've only seen one wheelchair passenger get onto/off of a Prevost, and the B/O didn't really know what he was doing. I think they use the lifts so infrequently that they A- break down and B- the B/Os forget how to use them without regular practice/use
I talked about the incident to one of my usual B/Os and she mentioned that there's someone at CP depot who's main job is to test the lifts every day on every bus so they're supposed to be working when they go out. So it's pretty surprising to see it fail on that many buses in a row as in this particular incident.
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There was definitely a lot less news in this update than I was hoping for. Curious how they made no mention of launches for physical reduced-fare OMNY cards and student OMNY cards, which seem pretty important if they ever want to get rid of the MetroCard for good. Also not sure what they plan to do for special access cards like employee passes or first responder cards.
They did note that quality issues are continuing to consume resources. Anecdotally, I've had the OMNY card mess up every day this week on the express bus, resulting in a free ride for me. I really do how much money they're losing from all of these issues.
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One thing I've noticed on the newer Prevosts is the poor placement of the Stop Requested buttons in the wheelchair area seats. They're generally located where people rest their heads or next to the arm rest leading to inadvertent button presses. I was even on one bus where a new driver got confused and got up at a stop to investigate why he was getting an indication of a stop requested for a wheelchair user, even though there wasn't one on board.
Also, I've noticed a bunch of people get confused with the wheelchair reading light switch in the wall, which overrides the switch on the overhead panel. A lot of people don't realize the switch is on the wall and just end up moving the light away from them when they can't shut it off.
Just seems like some bad design choices that should really be addressed at some point in time.
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On 4/18/2023 at 12:09 PM, QM1to6Ave said:
For anyone who takes CP routes regularly, I just heard back from one of my elected officials, to whom I complained about the blocked seat issue. This is what they told me:
"I heard back from my contact at the MTA - she spoke with the Depot and they have made announcements and spoken with operators. Please let me know if you continue to see these issues."
So, please post on here if you continue to see blocked seats and send in complaints with specific times, routes, etc.
I have personally started to see some improvements in this area...
Anecdotally, I have seen fewer front seats blocked off this month but it could very well because of different drivers with this pick.
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Queens Bus Redesign Discussion Thread
in New York City Bus
Posted
It also acts as a school bus at the northern end bringing kids to and from the schools by Memorial Field. If you look at the trackers during around 8am and 2:30pm, the buses are packed with students.