aemoreira81

That and 6701 may be black backs for a few more years until that batch cycles around.

Training buses? Or has the order changed to a 45/45 split?

4241 has no stripe on the doors anymore though.

In the O7 CNG units, add these buses: 7575, 7617, 7643, 7735, 7758, and 7800. In the 2003-05 O7 hybrid batch, add these units: 6485, 6550, 6573, 6583, 6596, 6600, 6606, and 6614. In the D60HFs, add these units: 5595, 5625, 5626, 5630, 5636, 5644, 5692, and 5758. In the Next Gens, add these units (in addition to 3898): 3892, 3982, 4002, 4230-R/R, door stripe, 4241-R/R, no door stripe All are redone in the new way. 4230 and 4241 were partial jobs into the new scheme. R/R - retape/repaint: black space above stripe painted white and the stripe at the back of the bus made even with the rest of the stripe, but rest of bus not repainted. Stripe on doors indicated as noted.

5341 (the D60HF) is in storage at JFK. The remaining units in the way of the LFS artics are 5342 (if still around; 5340 is in service now), 5355, and 5358. (I doubt that it sees service.) Also, 5332 was on the B44 tonight.

The Bx22 operating via Unionport serves a major shopping area inside of Parkchester that includes a Macy's. Alternatively, what about running alternating weekday Bx6 trips up Broadway to Columbia-Presbyterian instead, so that Riverside Drive is not overserved?

For the Bx9, given that route's unreliability and frequency of bus bunching---might it be time to consider short-turning some trips? The heaviest ridership segment is in Fordham, Kingsbridge, and parts of Riverdale. As such, I would wonder why it is not proposed to short-turn some Bx9 trips at Fordham Road and Southern Boulevard during the day weekdays and Saturdays and introducing Limited-Stop service on the line on weekdays. Service frequencies along Southern Boulevard and East 180 Street would be 10-12 minutes during the AM rush, every 15 minutes during the midday, and 12-15 minutes during the PM rush and shortly thereafter. From about 6 AM to 9 PM, there would be Bx9 Limited-Stop service operating along the route...as follows from West Farms: All stops to Fordham Road and Crotona Avenue, then: Fordham Metro-North Station Kingsbridge Road and East 192 Street/Briggs Avenue, then: All stops to Kingsbridge Road/University Avenue, then: West 225 Street and Broadway Broadway and West 231 Street Broadway and West 238 Street Broadway and West 242 Street All stops to city line During this time, local service would operate between Fordham and Riverdale. On Saturdays, the short turns would occur during the late morning and early afternoon, without corresponding Limited-Stop service. BTW, I had considered Fordham Plaza as a termination point, but I do not believe that it could handle another route, given that the Fordham Plaza loop now handles the Bx15, Bx17, and Bee-Line 60 and 61 Savings generated from not running some buses all the way to West Farms could then be used to increase frequencies along the busiest section of the route.

Thanks for that information. So it did only one round trip apparently. (I shot it in Bed-Stuy at 4:11 PM - not yet uploaded to Photobucket.)

If it has not yet pulled in, it should be heading northbound on the B44 right now and have one more southbound trip as run 54..

I was thinking to send it down Jerome straight, but then decided against it in my post. I figured that the connection to the was not that important since that terminus is in a residential neighborhood and so is the entire line as it is today...and extending the Bx18 to Gateway would maintain a connection to the at 161 Street/Yankee Stadium. The thinking in my plan is that the Bx13's footprint is limited because of elevation differences. (B35 via Church's quote) "...and they can continue taking the to get to gateway if need be. You just can't ignore the connection to a subway line just to have it serve the mall.... Yeah the is utilized more because it's closer coming from the west... However, those waiting for 18's over there @ GC heading back west isn't exactly light either....." The connection to the is maintained at 167 Street directly under my plan, or one could walk over 2 blocks (1 northbound) from 170 Street to get the . Customers who wait at 170 Street on the for the Bx18 could use 161 Street instead.

Bx18 reroute proposal...currently the route only exists because of steep elevation differences in University Heights inaccessible to other services. However, this route requires a transfer (and sometimes two) from it to reach any significant business district. What I would propose is as follows, creating a Bx18A and a Bx18B Bx18A - via Macombs Road, turn off onto Cromwell Avenue due south, right onto East 170 Street, left on Grant Highway, continue onto East 167 Street, right at River Avenue, and to the Bx13 terminus at the foot of River Avenue. Return via same route, except using Inwood instead of Cromwell. Bx18B - weekdays only - via Macombs Road, left on Mount Eden Avenue, to Morris Avenue and end (to serve Bronx Lebanon Hospital). Return via same route. I would think that significant new ridership would be garnered by expanding the footprint of services to Gateway Mall in the Bronx that the Bx13 cannot reach east of the Grant Highway (north of 169) and Ogden Avenue (south of 169) because of differences in elevation. There would be connections available from routes like the Bx3, Bx40, and Bx42 to Gateway Mall.

5252 is a 2001 or 2002 model year bus.

Weekdays, alternating buses with some trips during the rush hour beginning and ending at Ashford and Wortman. During the midday, that would be between every 20 and 30 minutes, but not more than every 12-15 minutes during the rush. (GMF service would be at least every 20 minutes.) Perhaps Saturday service could also run on the GMF branch. But all Sunday service would be to Gateway, as well as all service after 9 PM.

The location of Gateway Mall really precludes any route from running through that spot though. As for branching the B20, it's to prevent Gateway from being overserved on weekdays and maintain weekday service to the GMF for network coverage..I had initially thought about making a post for keeping it on Wortman to serve the industry, but thought against it in that post.

Related to the B84 idea---noting that ridership on the B20 east of the Linden and Boulevard Houses is pretty sparse (the B15 is the line that carries through that area into the Pink Houses), might it be better to restructure the B20 into the B84? This is what I would propose: At Ashford Street, branch the B20. You would have a branch that runs to the Brooklyn GMF as it does now, but then the other branch would run to Gateway Mall. Here, I would propose a change to have the B84 (renumbering it to B21, now a B20 branch, but actually the mainline as it would turn out) continue down Wortman to Elton Street, run south on Elton to Vandalia Avenue, then east on Vandalia, and then do the loop around the DDSO to Gateway Mall. The other branch would run as the B20 does now. That routing would be strategic to optimally serve the new Spring Creek housing tracts and the Spring Creek Educational Campus. The branch that runs to the GMF would then be proposed to have weekend service eliminated, as it serves mostly industry that is not open on weekends. On weekdays, buses would alternate on each branch. On weekends, all service would be to and from Gateway only (no GMF service). Customers from the Linden Houses needing access to the GMF could take the B6 to the B15 or the B84 to the B13. The B21 would be the mainline.

Bee-Line - it ran to Tarrytown.

It would not make sense to send the M15 to 100 Street, IMO; the garage doesn't really have the room. If MCH is the temporary replacement for 126 Street, this is what I would do: M15, M35, and M60 to Hale (with run-ons and run-offs being from St. Nicholas Avenue) M31 to 100 Street (M96/M106 goes back to Manhattanville) M116 to Manhattanville M1 and M7 to Hale

Well, 9551 is 15 years old. The MTA should have really looked long and hard about buying about 100 retired NJ Transit Nova RTSs for MTA Bus.

And as it is, there are way too many pre-2000 diesel rigids that need to be replaced. The 690-bus order would likely be only enough to replace the remaining O5s, the remaining 1996 Novas, and some of the 1997-98 Novas.

I have a feeling that the reason that the B51 will never come back is because one can use the train from Atlantic Avenue/Barclays Center to Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall.

Branch of the Q60 line. I would propose a Q61 service that would almost be like the Q60 except for how it travels through Kew Gardens. The aim is to serve the area of Kew Gardens not served by the Q10 and separated by the LIRR tracks and Maple Grove Cemetery, providing a through connection north of Kew Gardens. To Jamaica, the Q61 would run as follows: via Queens Boulevard, instead of turning left to remain on Queens Boulevard...stay straight onto Kew Gardens Road, right onto the Van Wyck Expressway service road (stop established by the station to serve Jamaica Hospita before the turn onto the Van Wyck service roadl), left on Jamaica Avenue, past Queens Boulevard, and rejoin the Q60. Westbound, via Jamaica Avenue---no right turn onto Queens Boulevard...instead, continue past Jamaica Avenue to Metropolitan Avenue...right on Metropolitan, right on 130 Street, slight left onto Kew Gardens Road, right on 80 Road, left on Queens Boulevard, and rejoin the Q60.

That is a relic of the discontinuance of the Bx7 Boston Road service when the Bronx bus map was redrawn in 1984. (That route ran hourly on weekdays and Saturdays only.) As for the Bx12 - given that all of the stops on the local are near SBS stops except for the last stp---should it be considered as to whether or not the Bx12 local should be truncated to the Grand Concourse on its western end when SBS is running? (As for SBS, BTW, to save money, I personally believe that the 1200s should be de-wrapped.) The savings could then be put into extending the Bx15 to the same spot. To prevent increased deadhead costs, except for some early AM service beginning directly from Fordham Plaza, Bx15 buses would begin or end their day at Tremont and Third. (This takes advantage of the discontinuance of the Bx55 that comes this fall.)

I wonder if it would have been worth it to convert the C40LFs into D40LFs using engines from retired buses...and then send them to MTA Bus. Before you laugh, the Toronto Transit Commission did just that with 50 O5s (formerly CNG).

1718 and 1791 have been repainted. 1791 previously had a partially uncovered stripe (see Pictures and Videos in this section for a before and after in a few minutes).

This is an offshoot of an idea mentioned on BusChat to speed up the B15, which some may consider too long as it is: what about swapping the B15 and B47 routes north of Saint John's Place, with the B15 continuing up Ralph Avenue and Broadway and the B47 meandering through Bed-Stuy instead? Since St. Mary's closed in 2005, there is no longer a need for the B15 to use Buffalo Avenue. The B47 could serve Interfaith Hospital while the B15 takes a more direct route to Woodhull. In addition, sending the B15 down Ralph could make it easier to launch a B15 Limited Service...as alternating Limited buses on the northern end (and all local buses when Limited buses operate) could be truncated to end at Ralph Avenue and Gates Avenue. The B15 Limited would make the following stops on the realigned service (eastbound, reverse for westbound): All stops to Gates Avenue and Ralph Avenue, then: 1. Ralph Avenue and Halsey Street - B26 2. Sumpter Street (Fulton Street) - B25 and Brevoort Houses 3. Pacific Street - Kingsborough Houses 4. St. John's Place - B45, B47, B67 5. East New York Avenue - B12 6. Sutter Avenue - 7. East 98 Street and Lenox Road/Riverdale Avenue - B7 8. Brookdale Hospital - B8, B35, B35 Limited 9. Hegeman Avenue and Rockaway Avenue/Chester Street - B8, B35, B35 Limited, B60 10. New Lots Avenue and Mother Gaston Boulevard - B35, B35 Limited 11. Van Sinderen Avenue - 12. Pennsylvania Avenue - B20, B83 13. Miller Avenue - B83 14. Ashford Street - B6, 15. Dumont Avenue and Fountain Avenue - Cypress Hills Houses 16. Fountain Avenue and Linden Boulevard - B20, Q8 17. Linden Boulevard and Euclid Avenue - B13, B20, Q8 18. Eldert Lane - B13, B14, B15 local, B20 All stops to JFK