East New York

We've talked about this multiple times actually. MTA wants ALL older buses off of SBS service. All SBS running older buses will be replaced by the buses in the new "Cuomo scheme" as everyone calls it. Thats why Yukon is now the only SI depot getting them.

I will go over all the updates, changes, and the fleet review later today. Please check the first page of this thread as it has been updated extensively. The new delivery schedule will be complete later this afternoon as well. Please note the XD40 assignments have been updated, and special notes have been added. The operational delivery will be complete in December. All depots accept Quill and West Farms (their assignments are now posted) have received all the buses they will be allotted until spring 2019, when Jamaica Depot resumes delivery. As Quill and WF are wrapping up preliminary delivery, we will now begin delivery of shuttle buses immediately. Please note that the assignments for the new LFS options have changed yet again, and with the acception of one depot, an entire borough has been removed from that roster. 🧐 I am awaiting details on the reasons for the changes now. Please hold your questions until I am able to gather more information. Because the XDE60 order plans were scrapped, and we will not have articulated electric buses (XE60) delivered in time for service, MTA has decided to divert 47 of Flatbush's 57 new XD60's to MQ Depot for the M14+ and Train Shuttle. Flatbush will however get 10 in the meanwhile which may or may not be used for expansion. The could displace 10 LFSA's or be implemented on the B46+. I am still waiting on the details of this as this develops. As far as the new LFSA's go, someone dropped the ball. We should have an addition 11 buses (which are already built) on property by the end of the week, but they are working overtime to change numbers in system and on the D60's. Gun Hill is supposed to wrap up delivery in December, and shuttle bus delivery will also commence simultaneously. The current Shuttle dedicated fleet of 171 buses is as follows: New Flyer XD40 7763-7850 (88) New Flyer XD60 47 buses out of the 6126-6233 batch (47) NovaBus LFSA 5567-5602 (36) They are still needed and will be through 2019. You guys have more than a few lol. Almost a quarter of the FB fleet is still RTS. No, they aren't getting the short end of the stick. Delivery is only about 2 months later than the original plans. No. This is included in addition to the LFSA's which will be here in time. The delivery schedule hasn't changed. The B46 wasn't going to get artics anytime soon anyway. The B44+ fleet has to be replaced first, or at least increased by 10 buses first. Lets not even discuss any of this yet, because the B44 isn't going artic anytime soon and most likely not as all. As far as the B41, let's just wait till we at least start the public study on it. That is still a long way off. Yes, the retirement of the D60's was pushed back, however this change has been in effect all year. We will be down to 74 by the end of next month. They will be used through 2019, and all will retire next year. Yep, you are missing definitely missing something lol. I think you and everyone are forgetting the fact that we have 48 XD60's due to start returning from Bus Company next year as well. These buses actually belong mostly to OH Depot, which has 14 D60's. The 1200's will start to displace them as well when Hale begins delivery of their first 32 XD60's starting next summer. No that wouldn't make sense at all to use left-over buses, and that would defeat the whole purpose of ehat the MTA is trying to do right now. We have been talking about this for quite sometime. The shuttle will last at least 18 months, and MTA has decided they want the majority of the buses to be new. They aren't needed elsewhere immediately. You all want new buses at Hale and Flatbush, but service is not going to suffer if this is delayed until the shuttle is over. No one is getting all that they are supposed to at the moment. The only fleets to be completely replaced with the needed buses are CS and FB. Everyone else has to wait for the rest of their buses.

Updates coming later today in Fleet & Depots. Please remember to go into detailed discussions, or ask questions about moves and transfers in that thread, and thank you all for being conscious of that. In the meanwhile, West Farms XD40 assignments are no longer temporary, and they will now be getting at least 8 the foreseeable future. They will likely another depot at some point. WF is likely going to operate on the Shuttle with any of its newer buses when needed. The last 88 buses remain unassigned at this time, and many of them will go to Depots that already operate them. The new XD60’s (47 of them) are being diverted from Flatbush to Quill for L train. Hale will be delayed and is not expected take delivery of a training bus until about June 2019, and delivery of its first buses in July. Flatbush will begin delivery one year from now in November 2019.

M11E to be exact. 😃 I liked them, but maintenance on Cummins equipped RTS' can be a headache, and ultimately the DD lasts longer, and costs less to maintain. I had a feeling that would be the first and last batch, and it definitely was.

RTO basing the assignments on the equipment that needs to be replaced, and the priority lines are the and . Nothing else really matters seeing as one day all 75 foot cars will be replaced by 60 foot cars. The and are the only ones you mentioned that have 60 foot cars already, and could see a slight decrease in dwell times with wider doors. However on the other hand, dwell times will slightly increase on all the other lines you mentioned because they are being replaced by smaller cars with roughly the same sized doors.

, and have been confirmed. and will be up next. They are only test cars and the options can be converted to OG if requested. MTA never has, and likely never will buy anything in bulk they haven't tested extensively. We won't know until the OG train undergoes testing.

It's the same train, just a different number of cars. They only have to burn in. This is the standard norm. Anyone in RTO would actually know this.

That is definitely NOT true. They ALL went back. You didn't even have your numbers correct of the actual loaners. Since I am East New York, (name given to me by MTA personnel) I've been all through that depot more than 200 times since they all went back. Since the MTA central roster only goes back 5 years I cant check a digital copy beyond that. I do however have hard copies dating back to 1981, and prove you to be wrong. Power trip? Not at all. You just think you know it all and you don't. This wouldn't be the first time you challenged me here without your facts. Can I see some receipts please? I surely have plenty. 🤔 You also may want to check the historic rosters here as well. I just looked through them, and my hard copies just to double check that I'm not pushing false information and realize they ALL paint a picture that matches my words 100%..... Brush up on your MTA history please before you come for me. -Next Bus Please

No they didn't. They were loaners, and that is all. UP was going through a fleet shortage, so for you to say that you rode them regularly may have been true but they were still ENY buses. EN also had several trippers and put-ins on FP and UP routes back then. They were NEVER permanently assigned to UP though. They had 23 loaners during the 2004 shortage, that lasted until rebuilds came back and things could rotate around. And it was 8671-8693 to be exact since you want to get all technical. So you may need to actually check your facts sir. You tried that...... 🤨 These don't count as I said and mentioned over the years. These were just bus company supplements as they were retired from Transit. You are almost spot on. Those were delivery loaners that were always meant for Quill (Westside at the time), very similar to how Bus got brand new loaner XD60's that are meant for Transit. 8600-8671 all went to 100 first. 8640-70 then later moved to AMS, then they all went home to Westside. And yes every RTS from 8600+ came in with DDs50's, with the exception of the Cummins batch. This is true as we have discussed this before, however the few only went to Bus because they were being retired out of TA. So technically this doesn't count. This is true, and this is the reason it was so easily implemented.

Lord knows I probably shouldn't be saying this, but let's finally put the truth out there once and for all. That was actually something Quill made up a long time ago. Quill and ENY have a love affair that dates back to first delivery. The Governor said he wanted all the RTS gone a couple years ago. The TA started the retirement, but when Quill and ENY were up there was a major problem. ENY lost all of theirs, then told TA they needed them back or they couldn't promise reliable service, and went from 0 to 60 in 3 days. Quill told TA they couldn't afford to lose them because they were the only buses that could safely operate on the M66 and M72, as no new bus had been approved yet. Yeah.... Ok... I never commented on any of this till today because I am a die-hard RTS fan myself, so I just went along with all the grand legendary stories as well. I have just been amazed that for all these years the "height restriction" really worked seeing as express buses travel crosstown 7 days a week. lmao And ENY not being able to make service if they don't have RTS'. That was even more funny that the M66/72! They basically said they need one on standby for every route in the depot. 😂 Or what about this one.... The best RTS fleet the city ever saw were arguably 8600-8703. They ended up being the ONLY non-specialized fleet (i.e CNG) in history to never be rotated through the city or even to 1 other depot. EN and Quill got together and said "well this is the smallest batch of RTS buses we have gotten, so they need special attention." As an RTS fan, I find it hilarious that no one ever challenged any of these facts, and personally I'm glad no-one did. They would have been retired years ago. ~Let that sink in.......

A swing bus is just for depot use, operator transport, or swing location bus. 4934 and 5000 are now “Swing Buses” out of ENY. In additional I need everyone to read my last post in random thought.

I need everyone to go read my last post in random thoughts immediately.

As Cait said I’m general artics, should not be out in the snow. However there is a VERY little known fact that I will point out for the first time. New Flyer artics have 10 tires. Nova artics have 8 which provides for a much smoother ride and this will over all make the bus last longer. However, you couldn’t pay me to drive one in the snow. The center axel had 1 tire on each side that is wider than a standard tire. This automatically reduces traction to near 0. On turns, pulling in and out of stops is going to disable these twice as fast as a New Flyer which has a lot more rubber trying to contact the pavement. Boy If you don’t sit your ass down somewhere! Like really? I’ve had it. You are getting out of hand, and what you are doing is considered slander. You are speaking on something which you know nothing of. Prelim reports say the frame is fine. Excuse my language again everyone, but no one asked for your damn non-factor ass OPINION. I however am a mechanic, Transit Consultant, bus owner and business owner. Leave this shit to us professionals please. You don’t even need to comment other than an apology to Novabus and APTA. How dare you. And in the words of the MTA, “It is under investigation.” Carry on and again, excuse my language but I’m done being nice and politically correct. Final warning. Suspension is next. And you will NOT be notified. As far as 9505 I’m sick and tired of those rumors too. Stop with the assumptions people. You all are NOT reading either. I commented on 5477 and 9505 in more than one thread. Who TF started the rumor it was totaled???? I’ve have pics forever, as in from the moment it happened. Several angles, day and night. I just decided to watch, read, take notes, to look at you people make shit up. It stops NOW!

9500-9504 are all Allison pilot buses, and 9505-9509 are all BAE Systems pilot buses. Negative. The damage to 5477 is much more extensive than that of 9505. I don’t know where these widespread rumors about this bus have come about. The bus has minor damage. 5477 has major damage and is pending a frame inspection to determine its fate. As it appears the frame is not bent This is correct. 5249 is the last RTS Model designation T80-206 ever built. I’ve actually mentioned several times over the last decade that it would one day become a museum bus. I’ve been waiting about 20 years for this day as I knew it would happen before MTA did. The actually didn’t know it was the last -206 ever until I notified them of this some years back.

1 Road Call! Lol. Never seen An XD40 on Church Avenue. Wasn’t it 2 passengers on the bus, the Chinese bus operator, and a pedestrian that died? They still make parts and electronic systems for planes. They power the F-35 lightening as well. The BAE Systems hybrid is made based off turbine engine technology and design philosophy.

5477 is not completely destroyed for one. It's a Nova, built in modules exactly like the RTS. As of right now it appears that the frame is in tact, and it will return to service at some point. Even if the frame is not in tact, the entire front section of the bus can be replaced. There were no fatalities as well, so the bus should return to service after a bit of work. My prelim reports show about 14 artics that are damaged, many of them having the articulated joints ripped open. We had a few bus-on-bus accidents including a pair of brand new 2018 LFS'. One slid into the other on a turn and they hit each other at the artic joint. All I can say is thank God it's Saturday. The shops are full from ZA to EC to GA and EN with pending repairs. That wasn't a major accident. I have a couple pics. A 2015 XD40 ran into the back of it. It should be out of the shop in short order. However, it may take a bit of time for it to come back because New Flyer will have to either repair it themselves, or supervise the repair of the bus because it is still under warranty. BAE will probably want to take a look at it as well seeing as this is a pilot fleet. NOTE TO ALL: BAE is pronounced like B.A.E. I've heard quite a few people calling the company BAE (pronounced "Bay") like a term of endearment. It's British Aerospace Engineering to be exact.

By the way, there was no time to prep for the storm as the actual accumulation was more than predicted. That’s why you didn’t see chains out like normal and by the time the forecast changed it was too late to put them on. There are quite a few buses that were damaged. Mainly artics, and many of them actually Novas. Lots of articulated sections are ripped or damaged. Yesterday was a complete transit disaster.

They actually do have split shifts. One of my friends actually has an express split out of BP, and another out of CP.

Other than what was mentioned by VG8, the main reason is limited service has become obsolete at this point and it no longer fits in the MTA business plan. Eventually, SBS will slow down as MTA introduces all-door-boarding for the entire fleet. In the meanwhile any new service or significant changes to a LTD route will result in SBS service. The main reasons are to reduce dwell times. In short, there would be no point in starting new limited routes in this day and age, as any and all new limited and high capacity routes will be SBS and in the future it won’t even make a difference because all-door boarding will be introduced. Huh??? Lack of an HVAC? (Heating Ventalation and Cooling) That’s illegal for one, and all transit buses as well as any on road vehicles for that matter come with an HVAC. Where on Earth would you get an idea like that? I will check the full C40 specs and mods for the entire production run and see if anything pops out. We are the only agency in the world with 3rd gen New Flyer low floors, and they did play with the specs a bit. The 570+ numbered buses were originally supposed to be Orion VII’s as well and it was an emergency production add in. Because these are 3rd Gen buses however, they are almost identical “operationally” to the XN40’s. What’s the big deal fellas? Nothing is new here and this is a regular order cycle. Why issue an emergency RFP when the express RFP already went out? The decision has already been made on the next express buses and it will be made public in less than 6 months. There are 32 really old MCI’s, and then there are the 3000 series buses which are up for retirement now anyway. It’s handled. 😉 Sounds like a hole or leak in the turbocharged, or the turbocharger could be going bad. What bus was this? And OMG is disgusting in the back!!! 🤢 Originally yes, however now there will probably still be some used when needed and probably during the winter. We will have at least 132 brand new buses that will be used solely for the shuttle. There are only supposed to be 25 RTS’ remaining by the end of next year.

I was never actually said to be permanent. It was still in the planning phase. MTA will evaluate as time progresses. 14th Street will also close to motor vehicle traffic as well to accommodate the M14A, M14D, and M14SBS routes. as far as the launch, it was originally April, and now it is set for January. That's why I told you all when I created this thread that things would not all be the way that they appeared, or what was written in black and white. They also said no new SBS, yet I was told that meant "no new SBS for Queens" anytime soon.

Yes but if the walker cannot be closed, then that is another issue. I’m am pretty sure they all close now though....

That’s a sticky situation. Drivers have been assaulted and even killed over demanding fare on multiple occasions. It’s not their jobs to demand anything actually. With strollers that’s a differ thing. It’s about common courtesy.

It’s actually be back up there for about a week now. Its time for the production models to undergo final design, and I am being told this one (0011) is being used for audit purposes and modification. This means it could essentially be sort of a “blueprint” or audit bus for the production XE40 order as we all as the XE60 order of this is in fact correct. Either way, it is also time to get into the next phase of this electric test and evaluation program. About halfway through, Quill and GA were supposed to swap fleets. However, due to the current issues, the fact that the halfway point passed, as well as the way this has all played out, I don’t see it happening. We have to see what this means for the program as a whole, because if MTA decides to continue with the current timeline and guidelines, they will be awarding by June. According to my data knowledge, that would be for New Flyer, as Proterra would still have to qualify or prove that they can qualify before we begin to take delivery of production models at the end of next year and early 2020. Because of this, I see options being attached to the end of this next 40 foot electric order. If MTA were to base this solely off logistics, best value and commonality, its going to be 100% New Flyer. Award for the XE60 is now pending and due within the next 90 days or so unless the schedule slips.

Not sure if it was mentioned either, but it is true. We are testing those signs out as well. As of right now the only approved default manufacturer is Hanover. They were approved as an official MTA spec after the successful install on the 4800’s and the ‘99 build RTS’ retrofit. Luminator is now testing again via the Proterra buses, as they were disqualified after the issues with the color signs on the LFSA’s and 7000 series XD40’s.

16 and 17 are still OOS, 18 and 19 are in service, and 20 is at Proterra. It was borrowed from Grand just to cover service. It went back promptly.