7-express

23 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

How has service been in terms of the QMs running on-time?

My early AM buses have been fine and on-time...usually about 25-35 people on my bus depending on the day.  My early PM bus have been okay too save for a few times 59th Street and the bridge get backed up to hell (today was one, which caused a net 30 minute delay).  I have noticed some QM2s opting to continue taking 59th Street instead of 57th Street going east, which causes delays on some days adding 5-10 mins to the run.

Of course this is with summer level traffic so we'll see what happens after Labor Day when supposedly more people return to work and school is back in full force.

I'm just dreading UN week coming up in late September.  I'll probably bail on the express bus those days and find a better way east during the PM rush.  It's too bad they can't make more runs SX for that week to try and avoid some of the insanity.

2 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Was it an old express bus of a new one? Chains are only supposed to be on the new express buses (should be the first two rows) and that is because of the space between the first few rows and the bus operator. Chains should not be on any of the old express buses. Personal belongings should be put in the overhead bins. Since things have been developing with this, I confirmed recently with the  since a number of commuters were inquiring in my group about it.

It was a newer Prevost express bus.  First two rows behind the driver and 3 rows on the opposite side were chained off.  Is this because they don't have the shower curtain installed yet like on the MCIs?  Not that I see any driver use it on the MCIs outside of one time...

Got on a CP bus this morning and for the first time in a long while, the first 3 rows on each side were blocked off by chains/stuff the driver was carrying with him.  Just a tad annoying a bus with 35 people on it.  I have the bus number and run time/route if you need it for anything.

On 8/18/2022 at 2:54 AM, Prospect said:

What need is there to extend the Q34 a few blocks to Francis Lewis Boulevard? I've been on that bus plenty of times in the AM rush hour and was almost always the last person on the bus getting off at the last stop there... However, the idea of running the Q34 between Flushing and Whitestone on weekends might work though.

Because that's the off-peak direction during the AM rush unless you're going to the schools around Memorial Field.  The AM rush would be going towards Flushing for the subway.

The MTA released a video on how to use a pre-tax benefits cards with OMNY.  It's for those who don't have contactless cards but it also works for credit/debit customers who don't want a thousand individual charges on their statements:

I saw this note in the capital plan amendment.  Any idea what it means?

"The project to purchase 23 express buses was reduced at award to 19 buses with an associated budget reduction (-$4 million), as the remaining four buses were purchased via an alternate funding source outside the capital program."

13 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Yes, that's exactly what they are working on and what I requested. They have all of the information. Hopefully it'll be addressed soon. That and the cycling off of the screens like in this example. I got a bus the other day where the screens just went off even when the Stop Requested sign was hit and people had no idea what was going on, nor did the driver and it wasn't clear if the driver even knew that the stop was requested.  In this photo, that's what happened and why the lady is standing up because she's afraid that her stop will be skipped. I think the screens came on right as the bus was approaching the stop. Here we are one block from the stop and they are still off. Ridiculous.

Sadly, any software fix they make for this likely won't help with a screen off or system malfunction state.  Why they couldn't at least have an old school "Stop Requested" light in the front of the bus like the MCIs do in the front as a backup is beyond me.  Doesn't seem like it'd cost a whole lot more than the mess they have now.

Your last point does hit upon an annoyance I have with the new buses.  It's hard to see if a stop has been requested when there's a large gap between stops.  At least in the old bus, it was just the old school lighted sign in the front.  They really should update it so the top banner of the screen stays on "STOP REQUESTED" any time activated while the ads roll beneath it.

2 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I don't understand why people continue to speculate on such things? There is nothing that states when the final draft will be released.  Highly annoying.

It's just basic extrapolation based off how the Bronx plan was carried out.  The Bronx draft came out in June 2019 with the final being unveiled on October 2019 before COVID froze everything over.  It's not unreasonable that the Queens plan will follow a somewhat similar timeline, just slightly elongated due to the sheer complexity and amount of routes in Queens versus the Bronx.

On 7/4/2022 at 12:45 AM, QM1to6Ave said:

They won't need them if they push through all the proposed cuts in queens...

I wouldn't be surprised if they push back procurement to end of year to coincide with the Queens bus redesign final draft release.  Let's see if the MTA is really serious about making crazy cuts after blinking in the Bronx.

Looking through the MTA board books for this month, it looks like 161 out of 257 of the Prevosts for MTA Bus.  They also have an open procurement for 250 more additional express buses for MTA Bus.

Video of the Bronx redesign is up:

Looks like the city no longer wants their redbird in front of the Queens Borough Hall: https://m.publicsurplus.com/sms/nycdcas,ny/auction/view?auc=3055793

3 hours ago, danielhg121 said:

Will there be massive enforcement of said bus lane like they do with the M15? Implementation of onboard bus lane cameras to catch violators because if not, double parkers will not care.

Doubt it.  In an earlier presentation, they acknowledged they had a trouble enforcing the rush hour only no standing regulation in the third/right-most lane of Northern Blvd.

They do say that camera enforcement will begin in 2023.  But until then, it'll likely continue being a shit show.  The area already has reduced capacity since 34th Avenue was converted to pedestrians only.  It'll likely be a horror show on many other E-W routes in the immediate area.  This could also slow down SX buses even more with more folks taking the GCP/Astoria Blvd than now.

The DOT released a presentation showing the installation of a bus lane on Northern Blvd from Broadway to 114 Street over the next few months.  The two traffic lanes will be reduced to one, with the right lane being for buses only.  They're pitching this as the way to speed up the Q66/QM2/QM20/QM32.  It has the chance to cause massive congestion but I'm holding my breath that express bus speeds will increase a bit through here after being bogged down for years.

https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/northern-blvd-broadway-114-st-transit-jun2022.pdf

49 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Well what they did with one of the latest the Zoom ones was they had folks break out in to smaller groups where they covered just the lines in the area, but it still took a while, but they allowed for feedback and during the presentation, people were free to use the Chat feature to comment. All of those comments were reviewed and any questions answered, including during the presentation. There was enough time for people to speak at the end.

At the meeting that I co-hosted that was not run by the , we spoke only briefly to allow as many people to speak about their routes as possible, so that meant almost two hours for people to do nothing but comment and provide feedback. I have been asked to speak in Whitestone next week where we will just cover the immediate express buses in that area (the QM2, QM20 & QM32 - the changes to the routes, changes to frequency, etc.). I will basically speak for about five minutes, then open the floor to any questions and allow people to comment. 

The plan is to do more Town Hall meetings run by commuters where myself and maybe a few other people will present, speak and then open the floor up like we did last week in College Point, and hopefully have the in-person option and the Zoom option for people who can't attend in person. The Town Hall style meeting in Whitestone I believe is in-person only, but there will be electeds there and so on.

My beef with the breakout rooms was that it wasn't apparent you should be commenting as they were going through the routes.  So during my session, it went on for a while before someone started commenting and we realized they were going to answer our questions in the chat about the routes.  Almost as if they were trying to lower the amount of questions they got.

Having an online option at some of these meetings would be nice for folks who can't make it in person.  I'd try to make it to some more on Zoom for NE Queens if the option was available.

53 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

My concern with Queens is that #1, many people are unaware that this is going on and #2, the people that are complaining are not providing ANY feedback to the , nor are they attending the meetings. They are acting as if this is a done deal, and it is not. The Zoom attendance has been abysmal, with the majority of the 64 people at one event I attended virtually being  employees. If there is such concern about peoples' routes being cut, changed or having less frequency, then they should fill out the online form, attend the meetings OR something, but doing nothing and "hoping" for the best is not going to cut it.

The event that I co-hosted in College Point last Monday luckily had a decent turnout between those who spoke in-person and those that attended via Zoom, but I am attending and providing feedback because the cuts could very well impact my commute, as I do travel to Queens for work meetings, and while I am doing such things now virtually, we are starting to shift to in-person meetings again and no one knows what the future holds in terms of having to be in the office full-time, part-time or what. Not only that, but even if I said fine, whatever and was fine driving into Manhattan to my office and then driving to Queens for such events, the amount of congestion would be unbearable, so this is why it's important that people provide feedback. I'm not sure if it's complacency, laziness or what, but it's no good.

Of late, there have been days when I have worked in the office and then had to sit in a sea of traffic because so many people are driving in. 

Yeah I noticed the attendance was crappy when I went to the NE Queens one.  It doesn't help that the format doesn't really encourage feedback/comments until the last 15 minutes where it's impossible to cram all of your thoughts in.  I was going to virtually attend the one earlier this week but got tied up with something else.  But I dumped all of my feedback into the Remix map and hopefully someone will actually read them, since it seems like they want folks to go that route instead of speaking about it.

3 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

IF they revisit the Bronx express bus network, it would likely be after the other redesigns, but it has been shelved indefinitely for now.

Which is hopefully the outcome of the Queens express bus network redesign aside from any minor, non-controversial modifications.  Especially since they're using pre-pandemic data in a post-pandemic commuting world.  But I digress here.

1 hour ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Before anyone goes crazy, the Bronx express bus schedules shown are pretty much the same as they are today.  They are just switching to the new layout and changing the maps to show the new connections.

It was noted on the Bronx schedule site that "Service on the Bx5, Bx6, Bx6-SBS, and express buses will not change at this time".  Wonder when that will eventually change...

New schedules for the Bronx are out: https://www.amny.com/transit/bronx-bus-redesign-schedule-release-mta/

Just now, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Crazy. Before they were delayed, but I keep this "oops" message and to refresh the page. The ticket that was created was from Tuesday, so it should be fixed by now.

The oops thing might indeed be a cache thing on your side.  I just checked now and all of my trips show up fine.

1 minute ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

When did your trips start to re-appear again? I still cannot see them. I may try clearing the cache on ALL of my devices to see if that helps. For a while I could not see the charges either, but that has come back. The trips are important because I am sure that I was overcharged, as there were charges on days I was not traveling. 

I checked on Tuesday and all my trips from last week showed up (after no updates at all all of last week).  I checked again today and all my trips from this week were there.  This was me checking on two different computers.

1 hour ago, mikecintel said:

I guess this would be a "soft launch" for the reduce fares?  If your parents has a credit/debit card they can switch to OMNY but you would have to go to the digital assistant to switch it.  I did ask the rep yesterday and I said my parents did sign up for the OMNY card that the MTA will send them out FREE to the reduce fares customers and if they use their credit card for OMNY now, will the MTA still send him the OMNY card for senior reduce fare and the rep says yes they WILL STILL SEND OUT the OMNY card because they already sign up for it (I spoke to 2 reps and they said the same thing).  So your parents can technically use their credit or debit card until the MTA OMNY card arrives and they don't have to use their Metro Card.  They started the OMNY reduce fares on June 1, 2022 so it is fairy new for the reduce fares customers.  They said at the end of the year but I asked them what month and they don't know yet.  Most likely 'I think" it will be like in October of this year because the original OMNY cards were out in October of last year.  Also forgot to mention that the after 12 rides and it will be FREE for the same week will apply to reduce fares customers.  I am looking forward to see what the MTA says about the monthly OMNY this month because they said at the of June which this they will make a determination to see what happens going forward.  I am pretty sure they will have the OMNY monthly coming soon like by next month or by the fall or the end of the year. Well in Sept there will be another OMNY update for the MTA board meeting.  I guess we will find out soon.

Probably still not worth it yet since they're on a transit benefits account without a contactless option for now.  The official reduced-fare OMNY would be the best way to go so waiting to fall is likely the best solution.

8 hours ago, mikecintel said:

HI Everyone,

Now it is June and I was wondering why aren't the reduce fare OMNY card arrived.  I called the OMNY customer service and they said it will be LATER at the END OF THE YEAR that you will get it. The rep told me it will be email and you have a choice of Going to the MTA customer service at Bowling Green to pick up the Reduce Fare OMNY card OR it can be mailed to your house.

The rep said customer that are seniors have reduce Metro Card can use OMNY now and the rep said when you go to the OMNY.info click on the digital assistance and and then click on "Switch from Reduce-Fare Metro Card to OMNY".  Then it will ask you to put in OMNY account email address and password.  After you put in all of that it say "Thanks xxx (your name) I'm happy to help you switch from Reduce-Fare MetroCard to OMNY"  Then it says Now, let's activate your Reduce-Fare membership with OMNY.  Can you provide your Reduce-Fare ID number?  It's found on the back of your MetroCard, below your name.  Then you enter your ID number and then the date of birth.  After everything is filled out it will says "Thank you, xxx. Currently, Reduced-Fare can be applied to a contactless debit/credit card or smart device (e.g. phone, watch) of your choice. For more information, please visit our Reduced-Fare page (opens in a new tab). Note that once you select a card or device, you must use this payment method to receive your Reduced-Fare benefit.

Then it will say below:

To which payment type would you like to apply your Reduced-Fare membership?
Digital Wallet on my smart devices (phone, watch, etc)
Contact less personal credit/debit card
I'd rather wait for an OMNY card (available later this year)

After you put in the credit/debit card it will be add to your OMNY account so the card that is link to the debit or credit card can be use for reduce fare.

Thanks for the update.  This sounds like the soft rollout portion of the reduced-fare OMNY for seekers.  Unfortunately, it likely won't be of much use for my parents to switch to OMNY until the actual card becomes available, which I'm guessing won't be available until around the holidays.

8 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

With the software issues they are STILL encountering, they'll be lucky to have this completed this year. My OMNY card was working great until recently. I can not view any of the trips I took, nor activity on the card in terms of what I was charged. Put in a ticket, but I don't have much hope of them fixing this problem.

Yup I noticed that too last week.  My balance was being tracked down correctly but trips weren't showing up in the history until this week.