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Considering it hasn't been announced which company will be the operator going forward, I'd assume Liberty is getting a real run for its money in the bid process.

If they end up keeping the BxM4C in some capacity, they could easily convert a few 500's to suburban seating.

17 hours ago, B35 via Church said:

 I'll make a quote-unquote safe bet of my own & say that all throwing (more of the) extra service GCT's way would've accomplished, is less utilized trains....

Bingo. Humans are creatures of habit and until you create enough value to change a specific habit (regardless of 'having more information'), most rationale goes right out the window. A guy I know stood to directly benefit from GCM. He avoided the new terminal for months after opening simply because he preferred Penn for inscrutable reasons. 

Any murmurs around the next Bee-Line operator? If memory serves, the deadline for the next operator or at least the final round is due in a few days.

4 hours ago, Cait Sith said:

its a small option order. 10 XDE35s are supposed to be included in this as well.

As for the BxM4C, if Liberty Lines doesn't get a contract this month(it expires this month), you can kiss that BxM4C goodbye, since Liberty Lines owns the route.

Just read through most of the requests for clarification, seems like the new (or incumbent) contractor won't be selected till Feb 2024.

On 9/9/2023 at 9:34 PM, Lawrence St said:

So I rode the 12 yesterday on 6 trips. Two “via all buisness parks” and then the regular route.

The 12 trips via buisness parks are a complete waste of time. Nobody got on or off at any of those stops. The trips to Armonk past 7 PM should end at County Airport.

From an Urban Design, the 'business parks' segment isn't enticing at all. The bus intervals only support typical working hours and there are so many easily accessible highways. The promise is there but it would require WDOT to try something different.

On 8/21/2023 at 12:40 PM, JAzumah said:

The Bee-Line bid to operate the system is now available.

PROFESSIONAL MANAGEMENT, OPERATION, AND MAINTENANCE SERVICES FOR THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER’S BEE-LINE BUS SERVICES & INFO CENTER OPERATIONS

Could you share the details about this? That link points to a portal requiring credentials. Thanks! Never mind, didn't realize I could create an account. Thanks for sharing

On 7/28/2023 at 10:30 AM, Fan Railer said:

Track speed plays into the capacity issue. As soon as you're on the stadium line, you're only good for 30 mph the entire way. Couple that with signal restrictions approaching the terminal if you don't have a line up, the slow-accelerating 10-car multilevel dual mode trains, and the long loading and unloading times due to the single leaf quarter point doors on the MLs, you have a hard hourly capacity limit.

If the signal blocks were closer, this could allow slower-running trains to operate closer to each other. 

I think a combination of well-orchestrated train movements and supplemental bus service could quickly meet demand. 

This is a different kind of nuts.

What is the bottleneck at Meadowlands that would restrict an expansion of the rail line?

On 7/3/2023 at 6:59 PM, Jamall Hayden said:

2.) Is it possible for Metro North to Access Grand Central Madison from the Hell Gate Line once Penn station access opens? I know it would kinda defeat the purpose of Penn station Access but it still gives East Bronx residents quick and direct service into Midtown. If Grand Central Madison continues to be as underutilized as people say it is then maybe the M.T.A (if it’s possible) could send some Metro North trains to G.C.M and reroute more Lirr trains to Penn Station that way G.C.M gets utilized more and L.I residents can get more service to Penn station.

On point two, I'm assuming your thought process is to route MNR trains to GCM purely for optics? So that GCM can have better utilization?

Are there any US agencies with a similar infrastructure as MNR/LIRR that have successfully supported European-styled cars?

On 1/1/2023 at 2:05 AM, checkmatechamp13 said:

For the shuttle itself, the question is will the operation of the shuttle interfere with whatever work is going on at the terminal? If the work is on the track and workers have to clear up every time a shuttle train comes in, and it'll take longer to get it fully functional, then don't run the shuttle. If it's work that is just behind some boarded-up area that customers will have to stay out of while it is going on, then I don't see an issue running the shuttle. (The only question is, how crowded will that shuttle be if it's only once per hour during rush hour, and what impact will that have on passenger perception of the new terminal?)

Spot on.

What happens if there is a sweeping shift in commute patterns and there are more people willing to take the shuttle than what the 1-hour headways can provide in terms of capacity? If the answer is add more service...you get where I'm going...

I get the idea of using the shuttles as a 'soft-launch' (I did a lot of those during my retail days--they are incredibly helpful) but, IMO, the soft-launch window should have been full service during the 2 weeks leading up to the holidays when passenger volume was lower but was still large enough for a shake test. Whatever results from this limited shuttle will not paint an accurate picture.

At this point, and aside from 'ceremonial reasons', there's no need to open if it's not 100%. They should scrap the whole shuttle plan and just wait to open in its entirety vs a piecemeal that doesn't serve the target audience.

3 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

But why does Elmont need to be an important events station when there’s already a large station built specifically for events…Belmont.

I'd like to know this as well.

1 hour ago, Lawrence St said:

First, they need to fix the fare on the 4C. There is no reason an express bus, which is a franchise of the BxM4, should be charging a HIGHER fare then regular express buses, and with no transfers at that. 
 

Second, they need to focus the 4C on where the ridership is the most, which is between McClean Ave & Fort Hill Road. All that wasted mileage between Fort Hill Road & Route 119 is unnecessary.

Absolutely agree. Isn't the current fare model: Free transfer when transferring to a local route and then full fare required on both segements when transferring from local to the 4C? This alone would keep me away.

I'm curious of the general opinion regarding the BxM4C. In recent years, I've always though there is immense opportunity with this route if sufficient changes were made to sync with ridership patterns.

Is the frequency of the route the main deterrent? If the route had branches along other popular corridors, thus providing a 1 seat ride, could that in theory make the route more appealing?

On 9/9/2022 at 10:10 AM, Transit Enthusiast said:

Regardless, they're coming in fast, and soon, those Orion Vs are all gonna be going, going, gone.

Out of curiosity, will the Orion's go for auction, similar to how the Neoplans went?

1 hour ago, 4 via Mosholu said:

Someone actually proposed the W20 to run all night as well and I just remarked: you wish.

It's a far fetched idea that will probably never happen, but there are enough parameters around this that could support such a change. On weekdays, the first 20 probably leaves the Yonkers depot at 4:30a and the last run probably gets back to the depot at 2:15/2:30a. 

I'm anticipating how 24/7 LIRR service will be impacted. Wondering overnight service will be afforded to GCM and how people will access that concourse during the late hours.

Some of these routes would literally take hours to complete one run.

1 hour ago, Mtatransit said:

I suspect Bee Line have a "pulse" or timed transfer for all of its routes (that are still running) at the Trans Center at 10:10PM/10:11PM

If you look at the weekday time table for 6, 13, 20, 40, 60. All of these routes converge at the TransCenter at around 10:10/10:11PM. Seems to be the only interval that does this

Way back when I used to work in White Plains, all of the 10:10 departures were synced to leave the transcenter simultaneously. Usually a 'supervisor' would flag out all the routes to ensure all connections have been made. Was always amazing to watch & ride.

20 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

@B35 via Church Listen to this craziness:

So the last northbound 6 out of Yonkers RR ends at White Plains at around 9:54 PM. However, there's ANOTHER northbound 6 that starts at White Plains and goes all the way to Pleasantville that starts at 10:10 PM.

Now I can not for the life of me figure out why there are trips like this that exist. Would it not make more sense to have just one bus run the whole route as opposed to 2?

Can't confirm but wouldn't be surprised if this is intentionally broken up so that it can be handled by two different drivers. 40 & 7 used to share drivers on Sundays as the 7 short-turns in Mt Vernon.

11 hours ago, trainfan22 said:

You mean the NY tri state area? If so NJT will still have high floor transit buses for the foreseeable future.

 

 

Those 40FT Bee Line O-Vs were cool, whenever I rode one on a warm weather day I always got a bus with crappy A/C, otherwise I liked them. Their Cummins engines made them unique compared to NYC Orion Vs which were powered by Series 50.

Oh yeah. I forgot about NJT.

15 hours ago, 4 via Mosholu said:

399 is officially in service with two other XDE 40ft coaches delivered so far; I got on it via the W4 to Getty Square and it came back as the W25 to 238 St Subway and back to Manor House Square.

And so begins the slow removal of high-floor local buses . I believe the Orion V's are the last of the high-floor buses in the area.

19 hours ago, NBTA said:

I know 100% that some NH Line trains skip 125th as well as Fordham, as for the Harlem Line, I don’t know.

You are correct--there a some peak-hour trains that express service pass Harlem & Fordham (which usually are short-turn trains--eg Grand Central to New Rochelle or from GC expressing to New Rochelle terminating at Rye).

On 12/12/2021 at 6:01 PM, Jsunflyguy said:

Didn't MN spend generations bypassing city stops, Harlem 125 in particular to avoid servicing 'city people'?

I think you mean Fordham.