7-express

Out of curiosity, what changes are coming to the weekend schedules? Also, seems like the QM's are due for an update since they've been using the same ones for nearly 18 months now.

Looks like retail availability for OMNY isn't going to improve too much over the next few months. Sales have only been a few thousand cards and I bet half of them are probably railfans. The MTA needs to do a better job at outreach and educating commuters besides a few ads and press releases. https://gothamist.com/news/mta-struggles-get-omny-cards-stores

Text also here: https://new.mta.info/press-release/mta-fare-change-pilot-begin-end-of-month

A third fire apparently started today on the when someone lit a shopping cart on fire: https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/shopping-cart-set-ablaze-on-nyc-subway-3rd-fire-on-same-train-line-within-week-cops/3531055/

The retail store locator says only 7-11's have it for sale around me in Queens, which aren't too common to begin with. Not sure why they're failing so hard at getting the major drug stores to start selling them, since it has been 4 months since the original retail "launch".

I found it there when I checked it Saturday night so it's been up since around then.

I had to look for it too but it is on their site...just buried in the bottom of the page navigation instead of being put in the top bar navigation.

Article on the Prevost express bus order being put on pause to resolve leg room complaints: https://www.thecity.nyc/2021/12/19/22840484/new-mta-express-bus-rollout-stalled-by-leg-room-complaints The bad part is that the first 1/3 of the order already delivered is SOL.

The B-cars were previously converted while the A-cars were left alone. Not sure why they were left out back in the day but it might have been lack of funding.

The new and improved Queens draft plan will be coming out in early spring of 2022: https://www.amny.com/transit/mta-to-release-totally-redone-queens-bus-network-redesign-draft-in-early-2022/ Hopefully they realized that the old draft plan lacked sufficient subway connections and moved to fix some of that.

Fare capping is coming on 3/1, automatically capping rides in a 1 week period to $33. The pilot runs till the end of June. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/13/nyregion/omny-nyc-subway-fare-capping.html

Buried in the MTA Board meeting notes (starting page 176) for this month is the final plan for the Bronx local bus redesign, for implementation in summer 2022: https://new.mta.info/document/68221

It's also buried in this month's board meeting notes for NYCT.

I can't wait for the express bus redesign for Queens to come out where they try to cut out all midday/off-hour buses like they did in the draft plan. That will sure go over well with everyone's new commute patterns.

Another possibility is that the mechanical section at the back of the bus got a bit wider so it took up some space from the passenger compartment, leading to reduced leg room. I haven't had a chance to ride the new Prevosts yet.

The first on-record comments from the MTA on fare capping: https://www.amny.com/transit/mta-honchos-working-on-fare-capping-for-omny/

Yup...I tapped into the QM20 at 7:30 and then onto the QM2 at 10:00. Definitely over that 2 hours and 15 mins.

I've done it before for local buses for short trips. An example would be to take the Q44-SBS inbound and the Q20A outbound as long as you're within the free transfer window. The trick won't work for the same line though. Just interesting to know that it also works between express buses, since I thought the transfer only applied between local routes/subway and the express bus. It's probably such a small loophole that it's not commonly used, since it requires a short round trip within the free transfer window and two dissimilar routes. It works if you live in a good spot between two or more bus routes but less so elsewhere.

I used OMNY this morning with my contactless transit benefits card taking the QM20 inbound and the QM2 outbound. The taps were about 2.5 hours apart from each other but when reviewing my OMNY account, it listed the outbound QM2 trip as a free transfer. Is that just a OMNY quirk or something that will be reconciled off hours? I didn't think express bus to express bus transfers were permitted other than that one BxM route.

It will most certainly get worse over the next two months, as it seems like a lot more companies are ramping up return to work plans in the next few weeks after postponing from the original Labor Day date. I was in Midtown this morning and while it's definitely not as busy as normal, there's definitely a noticeable uptick in foot traffic from office workers.

I haven't been tracking the super express runs as closely but it seems like they're making it back to Queens in a more reasonable amount of time rather than the regular runs. The SX runs seem to be able to start making their first stops in 60-80 mins versus 80-120 for the buses traveling on Northern. So while Astoria Blvd isn't great, it still seems to be performing better than Northern. I remember when Astoria Blvd was great 8 years ago but it has been nerfed since the DOT re-timed the signals there around 2016. Northern Blvd will just keep getting worse with this new project to eliminate the third rush hour lane against the curb and to build out bus bulbs for the Q66, effectively creating a bunch of one lane bottlenecks everywhere. Unless a better route east can be found, I can't see how NE Queens express buses on the current schedule can be sustained at this rate. QM2/20 are better off cutting the Midtown stops and becoming all SX between 1600 and 1900 and the QM3 may just die a terrible death without any good viable options east.

Thanks for the update. It seems like the main source of the bottleneck these days is Northern Blvd. Today's 1600 QM20 left the city around on time at 1630 but then got stuck for about 45 minutes on Northern Blvd, mainly the Jackson Heights/Corona area. It only made it to Linden Place around 1730...just plain terrible. I know the city is trying to make driving a PIA for everyone to get them onto mass transit but it's killing buses.

The afternoon run times of the QM2/20 buses along Northern Blvd during the PM rush is absolutely abysmal now. I've been tracking them this week and it frequently takes 90-120 mins from its Manhattan terminal departure to when it makes its first stop at Linden Place. On the schedule, it should be getting to Bay Terrance 75 minutes or so after its first departure. It's going to be no surprise to see these lines hemorrhaging riders with horrible run times, which will lead to the bus redesign cutting these routes even further.

Looks like they're trying to save money by cutting the color ink out: https://www.curbed.com/2021/10/omny-card-launched-mta-nyc-reveal.html Edit: Though it doesn't say it needs a deposit anywhere like other NFC transit cards in other systems.

Looks pretty bad for NE Queens commuters today. BusTime is reporting that all E/B runs from 1500-1600 were cancelled on the QM2/20 (three trips). I don't even see the 1500 and 1600 QM20 trips running either so it might be five cancelled trips in a row. It's not showing any active E/B buses right now (1608) on the entire route for both lines. So unless there are buses running without GPS, it looks like a pretty large hole to start off the evening rush.