AJ023

What percentage of riders will use OMNY machines? Those who want to pay cash can buy OMNY cards already at vendors throughout the city and those vendors can give actual change. I don’t see a need for machines for OMNY except for entry and exit readers. I realize the MTA is putting these machines in to replace all the metrocard machines but it seems unnecessary. Metrocard required prepaid rides and physical cards. Remember, any prepaid contactless card will also work with OMNY (Amex, visa, mastercard, discover, etc) that you can pay cash for. I don’t know what the fee structure is but you would compare them to OMNY’s $5 card fee good for 5 years. I do see a need for OMNY to allow prepaid rides and unlimited metrocards that one can purchase on their smartphones and other devices. My guess is some riders may think you need to buy a physical OMNY card when you don’t and they will generate sales of OMNY cards just by placing the machines.

New beta app looks cleaner but lacks usability and has issues. I submitted my feedback on the app. Google Maps, Apple Maps, Transit and Citymapper are all superior and are all free to use. If your device is in Nassau county and you install Transit you get upgraded features on the Transit app. The MTA app seems pointless and has no beneficial uses except that it has a link for Paratransit in the app but users can just use the regular website. It does have a list of nearby transit in a clean looking format but other apps have same and additional features in a more usable and superior format. Just use existing apps and you have the apps with the features you want and need right now and those get updates over time as well and they are much further ahead in development. MTA should discontinue app development on this and instead focus on an online payment system to prepay for OMNY rides for unlimited, weekly or single rides and the like. If they don’t discontinue app development, the final release will definitely still be way behind other apps and users will only choose this app who don’t know better and want an official MTA app. I can still see this app benefitting the MTA if they are able to monetize the app somehow but users can evaluate all apps and choose the best one.

The OMNY fare payment system is not even ready yet for LIRR.

Will stops on City Terminal Zone stations such as Woodside, Forest Hills and Kew Gardens get both Penn Station and Grand Central Station trains once the project is completed? Im curious as to how they will schedule trains.

The brick on the seat and broken glass is not for spare parts. Definitely vandalism and perhaps part theft as well which seems likely. The 2002 Orions last time sold for just over 1k a piece so I presume some parts had some value for someone. The Nice bus Orions need to be disposed of.

I heard about this on local routes and now it has spread to the express routes as well. I believe that employers need to ditch the MTA and create their own shuttles for their employees as obviously they will lose a lot of productivity and lose a lot of funds in terms of taxes they pay to the MTA which is not helpful. The MTA has a budget shortfall even after the federal bailout. They don’t have enough funds to pay drivers competitive wages and to hire more drivers. It will only get progressively worse. Drivers have to face lower non competitive wages and more workplace issues including crime. Also there is a disincentive to work based on unemployment and stimulus and the like. If the MTA was a business it would have filed for bankruptcy a long time ago.

I can’t believe someone bought the NICE Bus Orions in an auction awhile ago. I didn’t realize those had any value at all as they were complete junk. I guess those were bought when MTA was in charge. Personally the only type of bus I like which are also built to last are the luxury coach bus models of which there are several manufacturers who make really nice ones. I wouldn’t mind doing an RV conversion on one. Even MTA’s first generation Prevost’s are really nice. MTA never ordered the D4505 or J4500 from MCI which I also like. I came across other transit agencies selling off their own MCI D4500’s either same age or newer than the MTA’s.

Do the New Flyer bus and soon to be Giilig’s have cameras inside? Saw images of graffiti inside the Orion bus and broken seating and the like. Using mass transit in Nassau county is definitely not an appealing experience but most people tend to drive or use other methods of transportation in the county. When I was or am in Nassau County I never have used a NICE bus and never will. But there will always be those who use the system.

I didn’t even know overnight express bus existed. Most lines by me I believe are M to F and limited hours. Doesn’t seem to be anything new regarding Express bus services. Even the schedules have not been changed in awhile.

A lot of the bus are likely older high mileage and they seem to keep bus longer than other transit agencies. Interesting how MTA scraps while others resell. MTA’s latest generation of bus purchases are really decent equipment but there seems to be a lot of better equipment than some of the older models.

Just wondering how MTA disposes of their older bus fleet. I see other transit agencies selling them outright but I haven’t seen a lot of MTA Bus fleet for sale if at all.

Wrong. MTA has gotten to be an abusive predator controlling Mass Transit. Governor Cuomo and the state legislature have too much power as does the MTA plus there has been lots of corruption at the MTA. Transit should be privatized and NICE is now being run by Transdev which is a private sector firm. Many Nassau county residents were paying taxes for services they weren’t using as well. I wish MTA was privatized.

Disagree on Mangano. He did a good job by reducing taxes and keeping bus service available for Nassau county. NICE was fully funded with enough resources. The issue was they were just taken over and the Orions needed to be replaced with contracts and it takes time to phase out the older bus with New Flyer and Giilig which ultimately got the contracts.

I don’t ride on commuter bus but I do see a lot of Nice bus in Nassau county and the new Gillig combined with the New Flyers will make the Nice bus fleet actually look really good. Apparently they neglect the Orions even though they were I guess taken over from MTA Bus and never maintained well as MTA’s Orions perform better. As the New Flyers and soon Gillig”s will be purchased by Nice bus,I would hope that they would maintain these new bus better.

Express bus should have been located in the area you needed it and less on the redundant routes. Also the bus should be run more efficiently so each bus capacity is utilized as much as possible. New express bus cost roughly 600-700k each per bus even before bus driver, diesel fuel and servicing costs long term, and a ride costs 6.75. For comparison sake, a new 2021 Mercedes S580 is approx 120k each. Even though a bus costs more to buy outright, people still see express bus as inferior to a more expensive private ride on ridesharing or other options.