aemoreira81

Curious: would there be a benefit to scheduled short-turns in the rush hour on some trunk lines?

Examples:

 in the rush hour. Instead of skip stop service...the  would be all stops to Broadway Junction, express to Marcy Avenue (stopping at Myrtle-Broadway) in the peak direction. The  would be Broadway Junction to Broad Street only, all stops. (There could also be two put-ins from 111 Street on the .

 (resurrecting the  and an old service pattern... local to 96th, express 96 to 157 (northbound) and 145 to 96 (southbound) (both peak direction), running the full distance, and the  running to and from Dyckman only.

1 hour ago, Q39 to Ridgewood said:

yeah they probally need to put up some scaffolding or support in order to remove the bus

The building, which was completed in 1919 (a lot of the apartment buildings there are from around the same time period, as most of the buildings there were completed between 1900 and 1925) is likely a wood-frame building, which complicates the matter since a good chunk of frame was knocked inward. The building, which is landmarked, is in danger of collapsing.

It would have been more efficient to convert 0010 and (for now 8798), two of the MetroCard buses, to mobile vaccination sites traveling throughout the city.

It would be until 168 Street. Jamaica Avenue through downtown Jamaica was briefly one-way westbound (while Archer Avenue was one-way eastbound). Then-beep Claire Shulman opposed it, but she died last year. I have to wonder if it could work again now...with the following revisions:

1. Jamaica Avenue is one-way westbound from 139 Street to 168, with the following lane configuration (right to left) between 168 and Parsons:
   1. Bus lane only
   2. Bus lane only
   3. Through traffic
   4. Through traffic
   5. Truck parking until 3 PM, paid shoppers' parking afterward and on Saturdays. No standing allowed overnight (
2. Between Parsons and 153, the following lane configuration is in effect:
   1. Bus stops and shoppers' parking
   2. Bus lane
   3. Through traffic
   4. Through traffic
   5. Restricted parking
   6. (The bus lane would end and merge with other traffic.
3. Between 153 Street and 139 Street, there would be two westbound lanes of mixed traffic, with a mandatory left turn lane at Sutphin Boulevard.
4. Archer Avenue is one-way eastbound its entire distance (until it becomes 93 Avenue at 168 Street).
   1. Having two lanes of traffic flowing one-way would eliminate bottlenecks between 160 Street and Guy R. Brewer Boulevard, where the road is considerably narrower.
5. 139 Street becomes one-way southbound between Jamaica Avenue and Archer Avenue.
   1. This would avoid a bottleneck on Archer Avenue with buses turning left onto Archer Avenue, so that only the Q20 and Q44 have to turn left instead of those buses plus the Q54 and Q56
   2. New signals would be added on 139 Street.
6. 150 Street's one-way traffic is extended an additional block (southbound) to Archer Avenue
   1. This facilitates buses terminating at Parsons Boulevard to reach their layover point by adding an additional lane).
7. Guy R. Brewer Boulevard becomes northbound only between Archer and Jamaica (southbound traffic could use Union Hall Street or 160 Street and loop around to reach Guy R. Brewer Boulevard).
   1. This would facilitate Q42, Q83, Q111, Q112, Q113, and Q114 bus traffic turning onto Jamaica Avenue, with no standing allowed on the left lanes of that segment.
   2. Dollar vans would instead stage on Union Hall Street.
8. 168 Street becomes northbound only between Archer and Jamaica
   1. This facilitates left turns onto Jamaica Avenue for Merrick Boulevard buses Q4, Q5, Q84, Q85, and NICE route 4, and provides layover room for the Q20 and Q44.
9. Signals at Sutphin Boulevard at Archer and Jamaica Avenues would be reconfigured to add a third phase for all walk and no vehicular traffic.
10. The following bus stop changes would be made:
    1. On Jamaica Avenue, Merrick Boulevard buses would make stops between Merrick Boulevard and 165 Street, and then one final stop being between 160 Street and Parsons Boulevard, only. Eastbound service is unchanged.
    2. On Jamaica Avenue, the Q42 and Q83 would have their westbound stops on the far side of 164 Street and (Q42 only) near side of Parsons/(Q83 only) far side of Parsons (shared with Baisley Park Depot buses). Eastbound service is unchanged.
    3. JFK and Far Rockaway Depot routes: on Jamaica Avenue, the stop between Parsons Boulevard and 160 Street would be relocated to between 160 and 161 Streets. The 162 Street stop would be eliminated. On Archer Avenue, JFK and Far Rockaway Depot routes would stop at Bay E at Jamaica Center, and then on the far side of Guy R. Brewer Boulevard.
    4. East New York and Fresh Pond buses: on Archer Avenue, existing Q24 stops will be used, and on Jamaica Avenue, existing service would be unchanged; however, the westbound Parsons Boulevard stop would be recessed approximately 120 feet farther west (in front of the Grace Episcopal Church), to make room for a relocated Brewer Boulevard buses stop...the idea being so that the existing stop can accommodate two tandem buses simultaneously.)
    5. Baisley Park Depot buses: on Archer, Q110 and Q112 would use the Q111 Farmers Boulevard stop on Archer, and then there would be stops at Brewer and then (Q110) on 165 (shared with Merrick Boulevard buses). Westbound Q110 service remains unchanged...with the Q111, Q112, and Q113 sharing a stop with the Q110 (and Q83) at Jamaica and Archer, designated as dropoff only...local bus customers would need to use the Q25, Q34, or Q65 instead,
    6. College Point Depot buses...on Archer Avenue, the Bay E stop would be relocated to the near side of 158 Street, north of the teardrop layover. A corresponding stop near the Family Court would also be added at 150 Street on Jamaica.
    7. Q30 and Q31 buses: revert to the route before all buses were rerouted onto Jamaica Avenue, with the previous service pattern.
    8. Q20 and Q44: service on Archer unchanged. Service on Jamaica revised as follows:
       1. Layover on 168 Street
       2. First stop on Jamaica between 168 and Merrick.
       3. Q20 stop at 163 Street (shared with Brooklyn Division buses)
       4. Far side of 153 Street
       5. Q20 stop far side of 150 Street

Remember that 5 Avenue was two-way at one time (south of 135 Street), but making it one-way improved traffic flow. Also, as noted at the start, Claire Shulman is no longer alive to oppose the plan.

Also, if one wants to be really technical, if one were to continue down Jamaica Avenue past Jamaica, one would end up on the North Fork in Greenport, with 8 miles left to Orient Point (it's a continuous route consisting of East New York Avenue, Jamaica Avenue, Jericho Turnpike, Middle Country Road, Rural Route 25, Old Country Road, Main Road, and Front Street---the rural part and Main Road being largely wine country).

The idea is to get bigger buses into Great Neck to compensate, with increased service with rigids west of the Cross Island. (There would be 3 east destinations on the Q12: Springfield Boulevard (westbound service beginning at 223 Street), Nassau Boulevard (weekdays)/Glenwood Street (weekends), and Great Neck LIRR. (With rigids, there would be increased service at Bayside and points west, but the turnaround requires using a one-way 46 Avenue between Springfield and 223 (Cloverdale), which runs eastbound only. My plan accounts for that fact...you can start local service at 223. (As for less stops eastbound into Douglaston and Little Neck I concede that such should be reconsidered, perhaps with an elimination of Marathon Parkway both ways.)

Revised, the Limited stops would be: Parsons, 149, 156, 165 (on Sanford to this point), Utopia, Francis Lewis, Bell, Springfield, 223 (westbound only for transfer to local service), Douglaston, Little Neck, and all stops to Great Neck LIRR.

(Nassau Boulevard would be an extension down Little Neck Parkway, with a terminus opposite of the Q30 terminus.)

On the local side, what about a redesign of eastern Northern Boulevard local bus service? I would propose the following, which would also mean the end of NICE route 20G.

1.Alternating buses during the rush hour, and every third bus during the off peak and weekends, up to about 10 PM, would be extended to Great Neck LIRR via the current 20G.

2. Weekdays, these runs would be full limited runs. Eastbound stops would be at Parsons, 149, 156, 165, Utopia, Francis Lewis, Bell, and all stops to Great Neck. Westbound, it would be all stops to Little Neck, then: Marathon, Douglaston, 223, and the reverse of eastbound (easier to schedule more even westbound service) and the Q13 is available on Northern as well between Sanford and Bell.

3. Existing local service would make all stops between Flushing and the city line. Some local trips would be operated with rigids.

I see minimal cost increases but increased ridership since longer buses would be on the route and the point of deadhead is correct in Flushing.

11 hours ago, MTABusTransitFanner said:

3515 of JFK & 4369, 4372 Kingsbridge are now decommissioned.

That the NG hybrids are being retired is unexpected. That would mean that they got only the bare minimum 12 years out of them. I can understand 3515.

I thought the OP was making a cursing post. Then I saw the company name...! That said, there are other non-Chinese vendors who could have done the job better. Interlogix is out since they exited North America, but Bosch is still a possibility. (If federal money was involved, there is no way S.H.I.T. could have been allowed to bid.)

Also, regarding the ban on Chinese railcar purchases, is that still in effect, or did Biden pull it?

On 2/25/2021 at 5:08 PM, checkmatechamp13 said:

He said Atlantic Express had a long term contract back when they ran the X23/24, but that is not the case with Academy.

The SIM4X/8X in their current forms are useless (and I say that as a user of both) You could also save buses by swapping the terminals with the standard SIM4/8 during the hours of super-express operation. It doesn't make sense for the short-turn to run super-express and the full-length version to run local (well have a longer pickup portion and not skip any express bus stops).

I am surprised that this hasn't already been done.  Also, realign buses with actual ridership these days.

Curious: is 8755 trackable?

Coming out of darkness, 9622 is turning right to turn around to do another Bx3 trip.

9622 by Adam E. Moreira, on Flickr

Unlike 9510 and 9560, at least the Wi-Fi is working on this bus. Also, those rear doors are plug-style slide-open, as is the case with 9510 and 9560.

On 2/5/2021 at 11:47 AM, NBTA said:

JESUS, that's quick as hell, those ain't even the 02s either

College Point MCIs have to be high mileage though...and those buses being retired are 16 years old. I would hope that the Wi-Fi equipment is being saved for re-use though.

BTW, have 2204/9 been retired yet? They would be 20 years old now.

18 hours ago, R10 2952 said:

I'd rather have seen someone like Byford be the nominee; instead, they nominate one of deBlasio's dullest tools.. 

Shaking my damn head right now.

Who would be someone in his mold, who would be eligible to be nominated who has experience in the industry?

The new X3-45s have seatbelts at every passenger seat for passengers to use. I have to wonder how much it would cost to retrofit the entire Prevost fleet (and 2251-2304 among the MCI D4500CT fleet) with seatbelt-equipped seats. (I don't see a point in retrofitting the other MCIs with such seats as they are 13 years old or older, with the oldest bus being 20 if either 2204 or 2209 is still around).

Every bus should have at least the front readers. However, on my way to work on January 1 (evening of January 1), it was not working on bus 9560.

The next step now is (presuming time-based methods stay)...getting that on OMNY. One must still also do NICE Bus and The Bee-Line System.

Are there any first-generation O7 buses remaining at ENY...or Brooklyn Division? Also, this is a time when a decision must be made on whether or not to equip these buses with OMNY.

May not be a transfer per se, but I saw 5501 inside East New York Depot---might it have been there to find areas of tight clearance for the articulated fleet? (I expect that 7659-7684 will be bumped off of SBS duty, which in turn would cause a transfer of some of the newer XD40s to FP to knock out their O7 hybrids.

The next issue then would be to renew the Manhattan Division rigid fleet (aside from Quill). The recent 40' bus orders have all been for the outer boroughs, except for Quill. Manhattanville in particular has gone 14 years without receiving a new bus (remember: the 3800s began their lives in Staten Island Division.) If I'm not mistaken, 6789 was the last bus Manhattanville received brand new.

This sounds like a decision on which buses will get OMNY installed as well.

On 11/24/2020 at 11:35 PM, QM1to6Ave said:

The head of the SBA is notoriously awful guy...there was a whole article about him in New York Magazine recently. 

The mayor is looking at ways to fire him.

2852 was in service today/

0022 is still at KB.

On 11/12/2020 at 1:25 PM, paulrivera said:

I noticed today that some of the Bx99 stops now have route maps installed on the Guide-a-Ride boxes. Looks like the 99's are gonna be around for the long haul...

Andy Byford's former system before the MTA, the TTC, had a "Blue Night" network. I think that there could be a larger extension of the system. It may be a idea whose time has come.

I have to wonder why the MTA went for plug-style rear doors on 9510. Such was typical on the Rapid Transit Series, but the MTA eschewed that option. (NJ Transit went for it.) It would be the first time the MTA went for that on a full-scale production series order (the only other buses in the fleet with that are buses 16-20, the five Proterras).

Can Orange or Hilton handle MCI buses? Currently, Orange (plus Big Tree) doesn't even have any interstate routes.