KDGallagher

15 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

Looking at some of these performance metrics for the year, it seems that farebeating has increased drastically across the subway, bus and railroads. I take an SBS route quite often during the week (the Bx12 SBS) and have never seen any eagle team enforcement. Are they short staffed or is it a "which line has the worst farebeating that we have to deal with" scenario? 

Eagle team really can't do anything. 

MTA really don't care. I drive in the bronx, might as well make these routes sbs, believe it or not more people would pay for the bus. 

7 hours ago, Q43LTD said:

Truncating a route for school reasons?

yeah, the congestion over there is very bad with the school buses and the parents picking kids up at the new school that opened by the depot. 

During these hours they stop pull outs from during right (into the congestion). they have the operators making the left. 

congestion is very bad during these times. 

19 hours ago, happy283 said:

Are the M66 trips officially on the board at MJQ?

yes

33 minutes ago, DEE123 said:

How did you learn the routes in 2 days

You ride them and take notes on the turns. The route intructions are also available online https://myaccessns.nymta.info/ or you can just ask your union at the depot they'll usually have printouts of turn by turn instructions however it's recommended to ride the lines and see the turns in person. 

Operators who change depots during the general pick are responsible for learning the lines on their own, no line training once you're on the job 

3 hours ago, 7-express said:

How typical is it for buses to randomly start their route mid-run just because they are late?  Reason I ask is because I was waiting for the Q34 in Whitestone with no signs of it showing up.  Only to see on BusTime that a bus started its run several stops away closer to CP depot heading south to Jamaica.  So it seems like the bus ran on time and made service while it missed a bunch of stops from the northern terminus to where it ended up starting it's run.

Happens all the time 

On 10/6/2023 at 1:09 PM, Lawrence St said:

I wouldn't say Tuskegee is bad with maintenance, but the fact that most of their routes are 24/7 lines spanning the entirety of Manhattan with little to no breaks, stuff is bound to keep breaking down. Coupled with the fact that every bus I see has some sort of damage, the accidents don't help.

I'd also add that the building is so tight. Takes a lot to find a bus and get it out of a parking spot. Easily buried. 

On 9/9/2023 at 5:23 AM, LeonKennedy said:

There isnt much need for bodies on the TA side just yet.  Staten Island isnt taking any transfers, and Queens took its last transfer almost 2 months ago.  All inside (depot) work is still covered.  BCC work is covered.  Outside work still only has 2 open tricks.  So by those numbers, And seeing how few TA operators just got promoted… that answers why the class is so small.  I only know of 1 dispatcher who is retiring, and one who is getting terminated for being out on comp more than 2 years. So, 2 outside open tricks, 1 inside, and 1 pending seperation.. 4 TA in this class seems about right

Is Queens similar to being a B/o , where once you're out there you can't pick back into brooklyn? 

21 hours ago, Ryan B said:

If some one keep getting into accidents & have to go PPE class would that disqualify them for promotion?

I think 3 accidents in a yr is a 1 day suspension (according to my GS) and the GSS said that suspension would disqualify you for 3 years 

On 8/1/2023 at 9:41 PM, SoSpectacular said:

Bus can't be pulled out from the depot if the A/C isnt working, but IF it does happen to break down/cease functioning mid-tour it's not considered a safety-sensitive defect...

Don’t think that’s true 

I have had buses taken out of service twice for the climate control malfunctioning. No heat in the winter and no cool air during the summer. The no heat bus was swapped with an op that was pulling in , no cool air was taken back to the depot and had to pull out a good bus 

edit: no heat was on the m14 and the hot bus was on the m72, very elderly ridership on a 90 degree day if it matters. 

1 hour ago, IAlam said:

My biggest issue with A/C on MTA buses is when ops aren't turning them on or on high enough. I've been on a couple of buses where they max out the A/C and it's really nice even when the bus gets crowded. 

 

Shouldnt blame operators if you're not 100% sure how it works. Theres a climate control switch, we either flip it on or flip it off. We can't control any temp or make it "max out". Either the switch is on or off. We are supposed to always keep it on. Chances are if you guys want the "AC" on, we do as well and wont have it off. 

1 hour ago, Cait Sith said:

Quill often has those. I'm not sure if Manhattanville has any of those. I know they have Columbia University shuttles.

Quill, Manhattanville and sometimes Mother Clara has them. MTV has as many as Quill . 

Also, one of the recent TA exams leaked too. Before using any study material, take the test grade yourself and see how u fare. Read every bulletin and directive and retake it and see what u need to improve on 

On 3/18/2023 at 3:18 AM, train1290 said:

Could you also send me some of the study guides too? I am also taking the dispatchers exam in April.

Join a fb group called TA and Mabstoa United. They have a huge study guide I been using. It’s like 1000 pages and have all the bulletins and directives and a few practice tests. 

Need help finding it just shot me a message

11 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

And expand the eagle team.

I know several operators who don’t play with the fare, you don’t have it you not getting on, simple. One even told me his passengers told him to let someone on without a fare, and not even 3 minutes later he broke a window, ran off the bus and the bus went OOS. One of the best phrases to use is “Sorry, I don’t give out free rides.” It works.

Express buses have the lowest fare beating ratio through the city.

See thats where it's slippery. Because in the right neighborhood, everybody is gon get mad at the operator because they're gonna be late 

And even management is gonna look at us funny like what the hell. it was brought up one day I was in a Zerega training class, the supt literally said its just 2.75, you're gonna halt the bus and avoid picking up other paying passengers because someone didn't pay 2.75? "You're paid to drive safely"

On 3/24/2023 at 10:09 PM, Mtatransit said:

People should do the Staten Island way, just walk on and pretend the fare doesn’t exist

If the policy is to require payment they need police in the bus, because it’s getting ridiculous 

If the policy is to make it free, then make it free so all taxpayers suffer instead of double dipping the people paying the fare

I’m seeing more fare eating in Northern Queens as well, it’s spreading throughout the city

At some point if you can’t beat ‘em, join em, and pass the bill to taxpayers

This city obviously doesn’t care about the law anymore. Feels like a sucker putting stuff in the donation box everyday (aka farebox). Especially when you and one other person out of the 25 person on the bus pay and there is no punishment for those not paying

This is the same agency that wants to congestion pricing and a bailout to prevent their financial catastrophe when they can’t even stop people stealing from them

 

I think farebeating need to stop but how do you expect the mta to stop people? 

As an operator am I suppose to flag the nearest cop car and point out who didn't pay? 

Is the agency suppose to put MTA Police on every bus at all doors? 

The city as a whole is lawless and I don't think the fare for the bus is the biggest issue. Crime is rampant thru the city. Literally have a bunch of people smoking crack on the steps of the 125th st station and cops are literally 1 floor down not doing shit about it (can't even blame them at this point tho)

2 hours ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

I took the Q5 around 10:40pm from Green Arces to Jamaica Center and out of the 15-16 people who boarded that bus I was the only one that paid the fare. Most just walked on, a few asked and then you had two guys who kept on dipping their card as if something was on it even though I believe they knew there wasn’t anything on it. A lot of people seem to do that nowadays where they will dip an empty card and pretend to be shocked to make it seem as if there was something on it to I guess as a way for the driver to feel sorry and let them on. 

 

And I hate that. Just walk on so we can keep it going. 

The people who walk on, sit down to "find their card", come back and dip a card with 0.75 on it ... wasting time and risking an incident 

28 minutes ago, FLX9304 said:

Um you’re wrong. From 1998 to 2003, when OH was closed for renovations, the M101 & M103 went to MV, while M102 went to WS (renamed Quill)

Think he’s referring to simply the proximity to the depot. M102 would make a lot of sense coming out of mch as well as the m86 out of tuskegee 

2 hours ago, Express Bus Operator said:

Yes everything is in motion 

m66 going to manhattanville 

1 hour ago, RSMG106 said:

I think they are covering for the M31. They are not loans, but rather help for Tuskegee Airmen.

Wouldn't it have made more sense for MJQ to help instead? 

How come manhattanville buses are running on the m31?

How come this TA list is so short (only 209 names) compared to the 4700 list (1165 names)? 

Bus driver here 

When the trains go down and we have shuttle buses, how does that affect train operators? 
 

On 1/21/2023 at 8:54 PM, Statty said:

Hi fellow brothers and sisters!! A little off topic.. but im studying for the upcoming OA SLD. The study material I currently have seems to be out of date.. or just lacking. If anyone is willing to help a fellow coworker out, that would be much appreciated  Can PM some stuff, or let me know how else I can receive them - TIA!!

Also, best of luck to you all and congrats to all who made it.

PM me with your email and I'll send you over a study guide I have. Has all the bulletins as well as a few different practice tests

18 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Even if they can though, most of the supervisors are being pulled so many ways these days that they certainly can't spend all of their time writing tickets.  Just not enough staff as it is.  Furthermore they are responsible for a number of things, which includes going to the scenes of accidents and sometimes they need to write up reports and such in the office, so they wear many many hats.

Hire more. Not that they really need to, they already have a good amount of dispatchers with no work to do

But I don't think it would hurt to hire more that can not only generate revenue for NYCT but also make bus service more efficient and improve the customer commute. 

The MTA should certainly be able to police their bus stops

1 hour ago, biGC323232 said:

Last Wed i decided to visit a few ppl in Manhatten and the Bronx....Got off Metro north From Stamford at 125-Harlem and Decided to use the bus rather than the 6 train to Hunts point ave...Caught the M101 to the Bx6...On the 101 and a i kid u not i saw at least 8-9 ppl simply get on the back and have a seat like its free.......i only rode the bus from just 125st-5av-155st-amsterdam...What i also notice is that the B/O Opens the back door even when there no one getting off....Me personally B/O Shouldnt open the back doors unless someone is getting off...Cause like 7 out of the 9 i saw got on the back without anybody getting off cause the B/O Opens both the front and back...

If someone wants to walk on they'll walk on

People who walk on and take a seat >> people who walk on, dip a knowingly empty metro card and then walk on.