AJ023

Flushing Main Street was put on the MTA website as being active on 4/25/2024. That station has the most Metrocard usage and the media covered the issues with the Metrocard machines. MTA finally got it done. There are a ton of machines for OMNY that still haven’t been activated which are in the stations and those will get done. They need to add the rest of the fare options and come out with a Digital OMNY Card as well.

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.

Last flipdot D4500 at CP. When are the next Prevost deliveries due in? I would assume it will get phased out after another Prevost passes testing and goes into service. I’ve seen this bus on Queens Blvd many times.

Express bus are known to get the highest subsidy in the MTA system. The NYC ferry isn’t part of the MTA system but is also heavily subsidized by NYC. Each transit option competes against each other but the express bus does integrate with the Metrocard system and one can get an unlimited 7 day express bus, bus and subway pass. Some areas inside city limits have access to bus, express bus, subway, and LIRR including multiple express bus stops clustered in a single area for different lines. The routes do go further away in the boroughs but to me it seems like one can merge some of the stops together especially if some express bus are going underutilized. I do admit the Prevost X3-45 are the nicest bus in the MTA system and I presume the most expensive as well by cost per bus. They compete against the finest luxury coach bus models.

In my area the LIRR is faster even after taking into consideration walking to the LIRR station which is nearby. LIRR is actually off peak now at 6.50 from ticket machines (Zone 1 to 1) so it actually is cheaper till they resume regular peak fares. Also City ticket is also available on weekends for 4.50. In other zones, I agree with you and Eastern Queens has a lot of transit deserts as well as higher fares as it would be zone 1 to 3 so express bus is definitely more worthwhile there. The reality is the MTA heavily subsidizes express bus routes. The Prevost’s are nice buses for long trips and a short hop from NYC to NYC seem like overkill as some of the express bus routes seem to be shorter runs. I realize the bus picks up passengers earlier than my stop but they don’t seem to go that far in terms of distance. Subway is also available by me directly which is even cheaper and could be faster than Express bus once CBTC signals are operational but its generally more crowded with less available seating and other issues.

I don’t get the appeal with the express bus. Long Island Railroad is a faster ride into Manhattan. The only convenience to me would be I would be able to get picked up right by where I live. On the way back, the drop off location is in a different location another block away. There are also other Express bus routes that have weekend and longer weekly hours which are also a block away for pickup and drop off. The Express bus makes sense for a one seat ride in Staten Island so you can bypass the Staten Island ferry and it also makes sense in transit deserts which are far from the Long Island Railroad. But it doesn’t seem to compete favorably in areas like mine. The new Prevost X3-45 arriving at the depot of College Point where the bus are dispatched from in my area are very nice buses. The seating looks to be the basic standard configuration from photos I have seen but I give MTA credit for using the screens for map and location information. Greyhound’s X3-45 came standard with the monitors but they were unused but they did change the seats. But considering there is no time savings for me compared to LIRR, they don’t seem to make sense. A better usage would be to use Prevost’s on transit desert routes and Staten Island and other high density usage routes and phase down the older equipment. In areas like mine, a better solution is to have commuter buses connect to the LIRR station rather than multiple express bus routes stopping in the area.

It will be nice to see new cars in the tri state metro region from the NYC Subway to the LIRR to Metro North. LIRR uses M3 + M7 now and will be getting M9 for extra service, then I assume more orders or another car to replace the M3s down the road. Mass transit has gotten a lot more attention as of late. When thinking about the entirety of the MTA as an organization, seems like the breakdown and problematic pieces are old signalling systems and old cars. Every day you see an MTA breakdown for signal issues in the subway although less car breakdowns now with the R32 + R42's finally getting removed from the system. LIRR signals are pretty modern and new now. Am I correct to assume the last old signals are still at Jamaica and that will be replaced in Early 2010? With the Valley Interlocking finally redone, seems like the system is much better. Commuter rail in the northeastern United States is pretty good overall and should be better in the future.

Duplicate, Unable to delete as I don't know how to.

Are the M8's going on the Harlem line or the New Haven lines? Im not familiar with the train types on the Metro North. I am used to the train types on the LIRR and Subway. LIRR has the M7's which are nice, and the subway has the modern R160's coming replacing those horrible R32 + R42's as we move into 2010. M8's on the Metro North will be nice as well.