Lex

This "M100 to Randall's Island" idea will, in all likelihood, lead to something more akin to the QBx1 (some buses run the full route, but most just do the loop). I, for one, would push against reinstating that in any form.

2 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

There's already airport express bus service in Midtown to JFK and LGA.  The fares are almost three times the price of the express bus though for obvious reasons.

https://www.nycairporter.com/

I was actually talking about attracting more ridership south/east of Forest Hills. Derp.

I actually want to shift gears and talk about some of the maintenance and dispatching issues (since I'm obviously not an express bus rider, I'd rather not go to the thread you started). Since both tenets seem to suffer especially badly at certain depots with both local and express routes (Yukon, College Point, Ulmer Park), do you think it would be worth looking into getting depots dedicated to express service (with substantial storage space and maintenance facilities, unlike present-day Meredith) built so those depots with local routes can focus on supporting just those routes?

10 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

The QM18 as it is gets most of its ridership up in Forest Hills. It was cut back a bit from South Ozone Park because at the end of the line there wasn't any real ridership to justify the delays with the traffic etc.  Additionally, the trips are already an hour and twenty minutes as it is, and a good 45 minutes of that is spent doing pick-ups.  You would have to bank on that line getting enough ridership south of Forest Hills to make it somewhat profitable.  

Perhaps more could be attracted with a fare closer to the local bus and subway fare. Of course, given the expense of operating the service (getting the buses moving will help, but that alone is insufficient) and the possibility of some feeling like they may stick out too much (they may perceive the express routes as being for elites, even though that's not actually the case)...

34 minutes ago, 2Line1291 said:

I read Lenox Yard was a maintenance yard previously so I dont know if it will be any costly trouble of converting it back to a maintenance facility almost similar to Jerome Yard on the  .

That was before the area was developed. When most of the land was sold, the yard shrank to its current size.

It's bad enough that Coney Island is prone to flooding. Lenox isn't even open-air anymore, and it's closer to the Harlem River than Jerome is to a reservoir. Moreover, I can't even be certain that there's enough space to even perform maintenance, to say nothing of being able to make service and provide spares. Bear in mind that there are only 22 tracks left for the yard itself, not to mention that a train going to the yard would have to end at 135th Street (northbound only) in order to avoid potential conflicts between northbound and southbound trains, as well as allowing people in the rear half of the train to disembark. That runs the risk of delaying 2 trains in both directions, as northbound 2 trains would need the train to move before entering the station, whereas southbound trains need to cross the northbound track.

Of course Dyre Avenue riders get shafted...

27 minutes ago, Cait Sith said:

It appears that some Novas have been sent back....8508 and a few others are back upstate at the plant.

I hope there's nothing wrong with them. The last thing we need at this point is to have more delayed deliveries.

48 minutes ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

When you say "rethink", what do you mean by that?

Basically, what I'm wondering is if the current policy of mutual closed-door service and bus platforms with little to nothing in common with the local fleet's platforms is actually sustainable. Based on the fact that people have been talking about the MTA trying to cut it, I can't help but suspect it actually isn't. (I really don't want to believe that, but even with better ridership numbers, it would still be rather expensive to operate.)

I'm no fan of the current setup of the Eastern Parkway Line between Franklin Avenue and Utica Avenue. I would honestly prefer reconfiguring that entire stretch into a more traditional setup. Aside from facilitating a better connection with the Nostrand Avenue Line, it would also come with a larger relay area that directly connects to both the express and local tracks. By doing this, we would be able to avoid trying to reinstate bad practices (awkward deadheads to yards that run the risk of significantly crippling operations of other routes) and make short-turning at Utica Avenue easier for local trains.

1 minute ago, ibroketheprinter said:

Crazy idea, eliminate A division and rework all stations to at least be up to B division and upgrade tech so that trains can go 60+ on express runs

 

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Even if we were to try to do that, the expense wouldn't be worth it.

I'm on the fence about this, but with the complications of running the service, cases of improper use (irrespective of documentation), and how the routes may be the only ones (or close to the only ones) available in certain areas, we may need to rethink our express buses.