aemoreira81

9 minutes ago, B35 via Church said:

IDK, but what's starting to anger me (the more I think about this) is that this reeks to me of a crime of opportunity... I really don't want to start hearing outcries from the general public of "shut the subway down" or any monday morning quarterbacking thought process surrounding "the subway system should've been closed anyway".....

Already had that elsewhere. What might need to be considered are automated fire extinguishers (why that wasn’t considered after 1391 was firebombed in the 1990s is beyond me) on all cars.

7 minutes ago, danielhg121 said:

I'm confused, was it the conductor or the T/O that died? There is conflicting information after rereading some of the first few pages and based on the video, the firefighters had trouble designating who was what. Anyone know what he was doing on the trackbed though? Seems peculiar to be down there.

On a side note, on the Youtube video sent above, anyone else notice that 6370 had the cab door smashed? That may have been the vandal or the firefighter or even some passengers trying to get off the train amidst the panic. 

The TWU says it was the T/O.

The dead man is an MTA employee on duty at the time...likely the conductor.

Doing backdoor only? That’s what she said!

9 hours ago, Calvin said:

6275 wrapped in the LGA Link scheme for Q70+

Not yet! That was on the Q53 today. That said, it seems odd that they're using the old LaGuardia Link livery over the blue and yellow scheme.

19 minutes ago, Jdog14 said:

 

Bruh thats a Prevost......

It even says Prevost on the dashboard! 

9 hours ago, EastFlatbushLarry said:

artics have shown up repeatedly on the sbs Q70 in various situations. btw, any bus operator worth his/her salary won't ever have a problem making that turn into (or out of) that terminal bay (i doubt they'd alter it for safety reasons). if you stick to your training, PAY ATTENTION and set up your spacing properly, that turn is a piece of cake (relatively speaking) if you DON'T rush 'em. that's when you invite problems upon yourself. 

Also, until COVID-19 hit, artics on the Q70 were actually a regular occurrence. As many as 3 would appear on the line in the PM.

2 hours ago, Cait Sith said:

Yes, artics have ran on the Q70.

The turning radius for the artics is much better than their 40ft counterparts, seeing as the bus is 35ft in the front and 25ft in the back.

For New Flyer artics. Nova LFS artics have the same turning radius as their rigid counterparts, as the forward wheelbase is 244 inches, same as the LFS rigid.

2 hours ago, Future ENY OP said:

Free rides have started already in Manhattan and Brooklyn. 

Depends on the route. I had to take a trip to the supermarket today, and the forward trip was still front-door boarding, but the return trip had the front sealed off.

6 hours ago, 161 New York said:

There needs to be something done with the s40/s90 for Amazon workers. I am hearing reports that ridership is still heavy due to the operations at Matrix Park.

I didn't argue for S40 service reductions, as the North Shore needs the service (although I would say there needs to be more even spacing, especially in the PM rush) with service to Matrix Park. I have to wonder if there might be justification for an S48 variation to Matrix Park as well (I'll call it the S49), operating along South Avenue and Edward Curry Avenue to Matrix Park. (I see the S46 as being too slow for a variation, plus it has a similar catchment area up to Castleton Depot.)

Resurrecting the S62 branch to The Teleport doesn't sound too bad either, except rerouting it to Matrix Park.

I have to wonder if on some lesser-used lines, at least on evenings and weekends, it may be useful to run only half-length trains to save money, similar to the 2-car SIRT trains at night (and for the SIR, 3-car trains as the new normal might not be so bad right now). Can trains be broken up at terminals with half a train taken back to the yard, or can this only be done in the yard? (This issue also suddenly justifies the retirement of the 55-year-old R32 fleet, which was supposed to be retired about 15 years ago.) The frequency needs to be maintained, but I would argue for a capacity reduction depending on the line.

Also, with the next mass shipment of N95 masks coming here, I would say that it should be mandated for all front-line personnel to wear them, either TA issued or their own if they have their own.

With NYC being the epicenter of COVID-19, might it be a good idea to run on local buses on a Saturday schedule or (for routes that don't run weekends, a supplemental?) (SBS would still run.)

How a spring pick will be done will be interesting since ridership has collapsed. 

Some service changes I would propose in the interim (citywide - local service only):

Brooklyn:

• B2: Service temporarily suspended; B100 service available 750 feet away on Fillmore Avenue
• B6, B35, B41 (Bergen Beach): No Limited service
• B8: No direct service into the VA Hospital (buses would stop on Poly Place)
• B8, B9, B11, B17, B46 (Local and SBS), B52, B63, B65, B82 (Local and SBS): One fewer bus per hour
• B15: Terminate alternate airport trips at Lefferts AirTrain
• B20: No short-turn trips (Broadway Junction to Louis Pink Houses)
• B41: Bergen Beach trips end at Empire Boulevard
• B44 SBS: No short turns
• B46 Local and SBS: alternate trips start and end at Fillmore Avenue (Avenue N for SBS)
• B49: alternate southbound buses bound for Manhattan Beach terminate at Sheepshead Bay  
• B60: some Canarsie bound trips terminate at Rockaway Parkway  

Bronx:

• Bx1: No Limited Service
• Bx5: Eastbound service terminates at Pelham Bay Park , alternate trips terminate at White Plains Road, using West Farms buses
• Bx6 (Local): westbound service terminates at Yankee Stadium.
• Bx9, Bx11, Bx21, Bx35, Bx36: One fewer bus per hour
• Bx12 (Local): Alternate westbound trips terminate at Grand Concourse.
• Bx12 (SBS): Eastbound service terminates at Pelham Bay Park.
• Bx15: Short turns eliminated.
• Bx20: Service temporarily suspended
• Bx22: All northbound service terminates at Fordham Road  
• Bx26: One fewer bus per hour.
• Bx27: Alternating trips on weekdays terminate at Morrison Avenue
• Bx28/38: Service combined, no service directly into Bay Plaza (buses stop on Bartow Avenue).
• Bx36: Alternating trips end at University Avenue and Washington Bridge.
• Bx41 (SBS): Temporarily suspended
• Bx46: Temporarily suspended

Manhattan:

• M60 SBS: Reduce to 12 minute headways from 7-10
• M98, M106: Temporarily suspended
• M102/M103: Temporarily combined. (M101 makes local stops north of 116 Street.)

Queens:

• Q3: Most southbound trips end at Rockaway Boulevard. Trips into JFK Airport operate only every 30-36 minutes.
• Q4: AM limited stop from Jamaica Center suspended...local trips start and end at Springfield Boulevard.
• Q5: service to Green Acres on alternating trips only. Other trips terminate at Hook Creek Boulevard and Sunrise Highway (Green Acres Commons has essential stores, but in the mall proper, only Target would be considered essential).
• Q6: Alternating southbound trips terminate at JFK Depot.
• Q10: Alternating local trips terminate at North Conduit Avenue. Alternating Limited trips terminate at Lefferts AirTrain.
• Q20B, Q42: Supplemental schedule operates.
• Q25/34: Limited service suspended. Q34 only operates from Whitestone to Flushing on a supplemental schedule.
• Q27: No AM limited stop from Main Street  , all service bypasses CUNY QCC; 8-minute headways all day instead of 5-7.
• Q30: No service to CUNY QCC; one fewer bus per hour.
• Q33: Service extended into LaGuardia Airport.
• Q35: Service every 15 minutes all day (instead of 10 during the rush hour).
• Q36: Supplemental Little Neck Parkway service
• Q37: All service bypasses Aqueduct Racetrack/Resorts World NYC; service every 8 minutes during the rush hour.
• Q44: Service every 6-10 minutes instead of every 4-8.
• Q47: Service runs to 80th and Myrtle (with The Shops at Atlas Park closed).
• Q58: Limited service suspended.
• Q64: AM trips starting at Parsons suspended, service every 8-12 minutes.
• Q65: Limited service suspended, alternate northbound service terminates at Main Street
• Q69: One fewer bus per hour.
• Q70: Temporarily suspended.
• Q83, Q84, Q85: Limited service suspended. Additionally, on the Q85, alternate Green Acres trips terminate at Hook Creek Boulevard.
• Q113: Temporarily suspended.

Staten Island:

• All Limited service except for S89 and S93: Temporarily suspended.
• S44 and S59: the northern stop at Staten Island Mall (Macy's) will be skipped. The southern stop will be made as that services Lidl, a supermarket.
• S55 and S56: service into SI Mall starts and ends at Lidl.
• S61: service every 20 minutes. Trips operate into SI Mall at Lidl to connect with the S79 SBS.
• S62 and S93: Alternate trips to and from Travis, and all S93 service, will start and terminate at Jewett Avenue. (The CSI campus is currently sealed off.)
• S79 SBS: One fewer bus per hour. Additionally, all trips will start and end at the Lidl bus stop at Staten Island Mall. No Marsh Avenue service or Macy's stop.

8 hours ago, 161 New York said:

 

As of March 17 , 2020: "Effective immediately, all transportation picks that are being held, or are scheduled to be held, are postponed until further notice.No picking should be conducted until further notice."

I have to wonder if the MTA is considering wholesale service cuts, but not to the point where a hearing would have to be held, as ridership has fallen precipitously citywide because of COVID-19.

On 3/15/2020 at 10:34 PM, Snorunts said:

Lmaooo, don’t see why it couldn’t keep it numbered as 5299...

Probably because, as 5299, that bus was involved in a fatal accident. I have seen this done before in aviation, where a Southwest Airlines plane was involved in a fatal car crash (runway overrun) as N471WN. After repairs, it was re-registered as N286WN.

4 hours ago, Jova42R said:

I made a map of my proposed SI-NJ services:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1kUSyeCGaOyw4tIjFKhRuR8FKXBqk2DK8&usp=sharing

5 routes:

• S23
  • Perth Amboy  to Tottenville
  • Weekday-only
    • Weekends, take S24 to Prince's Bay, then (SIR)
  • Runs Nova LFS and Orion VII 3G
• S24
  • Perth Amboy  to Eltingville Transit Ctr
  • Runs all times except late nights
  • Runs Nova LFS and Orion VII 3G
• S25
  • EWR to Eltingville Transit Ctr
  • Runs all times (reduced service late nights)
  • Runs Nova LFS
• S26
  • Rebadged S89, exact same as S89
• S27
  • Exchange Pl  to St George
  • Runs all times except late nights
  • Runs Nova LFS (can a Nova be on a highway that long @Lil 57@Deucey@checkmatechamp13?)
  • via the North Shore ROW from Nicholas Av to St George Terminal. (could this section be converted to a busway or not @Lil 57@Deucey@checkmatechamp13?)

Thoughts?

I would only keep the S25 proposal, and have that as an express bus fare. Keep in mind that the LFS buses are capped at 40 mph as per MTA policy. That said, I can't see service being justified 24/7---maybe 4:30 AM to 11:30 AM (EWR departs 75 minutes later).

The S23 should be split in two...as I don't see a market from SI to just Perth Amboy. On the NJT end, the 813 and 817 don't run on Sundays, while the 48, 116, and 815 do). However, I do see a market to Metropark, which could be justified weekdays and Saturdays via the Amtrak and NJT rail connection, with a rush-hour extension into the business park, and to Raritan Center rush hours only. (This would be contracted with buses supplied by the MTA and leased to the contract winner, as I see it necessary to store buses in NJ.) Keep in mind that the SIM23 and SIM24 are currently dispatched out of Academy's Perth Amboy lot, shared with the NJ Transit Middlesex County local operation.

The S27, I would instead run St. George to downtown Elizabeth via Richmond Terrace, Port Richmond Avenue, Forest Avenue, Bayway Avenue, and Broad Street. This would be weekdays and Saturdays only.

On 3/9/2020 at 3:05 AM, SevenEleven said:

Exactly. Just because a bus is at a depot, does not mean that it's there for revenue service. A bunch of Staten Island buses go to Manhattan to get the OMNY systems worked on when the vendor is not on the Island or they're a pass through depot on a transfer move.

Also, what people do have to realize is that operators are qualified on multiple types of buses through cross training. I haven't driven a XN40 yet but being that I'm trained on the XD40s, I can hop in one and go. So yeah, no need to wait on a XD60 because a depot is getting XDs.

There are actually significant enough differences between the 5439-5602 batch of LFS buses and the 1200s/5253-5363/5770-5986 batch of LFSs that can't make one a substitute for the other for training. (The blue-and-yellow LFS buses do not have convex mirrors on the driver's side, while the older models do.) The mirror specs on Xcelsior artics, by contrast, have remained the same from 4710 up to the XE60s.

Also, I wonder if an XN60 will now be used on the morning B1 run that's out of Gleason.

By now, one has heard about the CUNY and SUNY situation. The S93 is one of two bus routes that pull into a college campus (the other is the Q27). However, the S93 exists almost exclusively to serve the College of Staten Island. With in-person classes virtually over for the spring semester (because of COVID-19), S93 buses would be basically carrying air. Would it be possible to reduce service this late in the game for the Spring 2020 schedule, with a pick likely ongoing at Castleton Depot to basically just every 30 minutes between 6 AM and 7 PM only (CSI departure; Bay Ridge departs 45 minutes later), with the last two S93 trips from Bay Ridge terminating at Jewett Avenue?

On 3/6/2020 at 2:48 PM, EastFlatbushLarry said:

when you train operators or anyone who has never operated an artic, the bus model technically does not matter, seeing as that's not the main focus of the training. it's about getting acclimated to the length, width & weight of the bus, traffic spacing, etc. 

Similarly, I believe that bus 6110 at one time did a test run on the B35 before its articulated conversion. The only difference is the vertical clearance.

One thing I would want to ask...especially since it would save money: why not have the Q53 and Q70 as one route? This may require a contract renegotiation to allow this, but this is how it would work, rebranded as the Q53 all the way.

1. Pull-out from LGA to Jackson Heights with Driver A.
2. Driver A does a trip to LGA and returns, to Roosevelt and 74.
3. Driver A gets off, and Driver B takes over to the Rockaways
4. Driver B arrives back in Jackson Heights, gets off, and Driver C takes over to LGA.

(It could also work where the pullout is southbound.)

The Q44 SBS currently works in a similar matter, with driver changes at Main Street and 39 Avenue/

Operationally: these signs would exist as the main ones...northbound:

• Q53 Select Bus
• Q53 LaGuardia Link
• Q53 via X-Bay/Woodhaven
• Q53 via Broadway
• Q53 LGA Term B-D-C

or

• Q53 Select Bus
• Q53 via X-Bay/Woodhaven
• Q53 via Broadway
• Q53 74 St Jackson Hts LAST STOP

Southbound

• Q53 LaGuardia Link
• Q53 LAST STOP:
• Q53 Jackson Heights
• Q53  

or

• Q53 Select Bus
• Q53 via Broadway
• Q53 via X-Bay/Woodhaven
• Q53 Rockaway Park

As for customers at Woodside, they can take the  to 74th Street and then go downstairs for the Q53, or use a rerouted Q70 that only runs Woodside-Jackson Heights-Marine Air Terminal (this would be for LGA customers flying jetBlue, the exclusive tenant at the Marine Air Terminal).

During late nights, 12:30 AM to 4:30 AM, the Q70 would not run, and the Q53 would run to Woodside, with no Q53 service to LGA. The Q33 would instead run inside the airport.

I have to wonder if there will be enough buses to make the Q70 SBS articulated once the remaining XE60s are delivered. One could reduce frequency by as much as 35-40 percent as an artic in the MTA's configuration would maintain the same capacity. Then the remaining XD60s at MTA Bus in SBS livery could be changed to local livery, especially at JFK, which mostly pools the Q10 and Q52 SBS with one fleet.

Right outside Elmhurst Hospital.

Is the space under the el wide enough for buses in both directions to traverse? If only one direction can go there, I'd send eastbound buses that way. I would imagine that the trolleys that used to travel there weren't 102" wide. 

Two thoughts/questions:

1. What is preventing the XE60s now from being sent out into service?

2. Whose bright idea was it to put a LaGuardia Link bus on the Q53, which needs the capacity?

18 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

The homeowners association, hence why they are private streets. Same deal where I live. I live just below Fieldston, which has private streets as well. Any street repair is taken care of by the Fieldston Property Owner's Association, not the City, and thus, since they own the streets, they control what can and can’t go through the streets.

That's a different one in the Bronx. These streets are owned and maintained by the Forest Hills Gardens Corporation. The existing Q23 skirts the edges of the neighborhood. That is something the MTA will have to live with.

I would actually ask if another route is needed that runs straight down Yellowstone, which would serve a slightly different catchment area.

For what it's worth, Vancouver (TransLink, all bus routes) has been all-door boarding since 2007. They are the largest mass transit bus system in Canada outside of the Quebec City-Windsor corridor. I don't see why the MTA can't do so (express buses excluded).