Lennyj17

Pittsburgh's PAT system just instituted a Pass based system on all fares paid with (ConnectCard), no fare capping though. I think this is more fair and equitable to everyone and its just so simple. 2.75$ 3-Hour Unlimited Pass. 7$ - Single Day Pass 25$ - 7 day 97$ - 31 day 1072$ - 365 day

If the Q50 was routed to Fordham, since its meant to be super-limited (or whatever the new dark blue lined routes mean).... its stops would probably be only PBP, WPR, and Fordham, Then from PBP, non-stop to Tremont, non-stop to Lafayette, Non-Stop to 20th, Non-Stop to R&M, Non-Stop to Northern, All Stops in LGA. It probably would be pretty popular and need more service, and moved to either CS or LGA for Artics

Yep, I can see QMT's replacing the old Union Tpke Express routes, going to QV instead of CP..... I could see GA getting the QM24, 25, 34 off of LGA for LGA to take on more Artics. QV would probably take all SE Qns Express routes (so BP could handle more Artics). CP would just focus on express's north of LIE. CP may take more ECH express runs, as YON routes shift to ECH for YON to shut down. Wasn't there talk of CP becoming an Express exclusive depot?

I think its just to keep terminating, in Flushing, buses from clogging Roosevelt and Main.... Too many buses terminating at R&M is problem the redesign looks to try and solve. Notice we have more through routing in Downtown Flushing now, and routes that would logically terminate at R&M are routed to the outskirts of Downtown Flushing to terminate... i.e QT85, QT86. Other Topics is: I guess with this Network redesign and the mixing of NYCT and MTAB routes.... Its safe to say MTAB is going away, everything is now NYCT? From a branding standpoint. No division (TA, OA, BC) will have "ownership" of routes... I can see a lot of route splits among the depots now, especially as the MTA discovers a lot of these high headways just WILL NOT work, and routes will need more equipment. I can see BP, JA, QV splitting work, JFK, GA, FP, ENY. CP, CS and LGA. Hell LGA may wind up splitting runs with BK depots too.

So what is the point of the Q114 over just reverting it back to the Q113? Because its Local in the Rockaways? Is this capitulating that the Q114 experiment was a failure?

OT: I agree the 5/Mad Av routes in the city are notoriously bad too. Just today this afternoon (2pm) .... just missed an M1 as I was crossing 5 Av from the east... 35 min gap... Not a single MTA Local bus down 5 Av... .Endless SIM, BxM and BMs.... 6 local buses (M1/2/3/4/5/55) run down 5 Av and not sight of one in 35 mins. After 35 mins M1/2/5 and 55 all right in a bunch. M3 passes my M1 around 14th Street so it wasn't too far behind at 42nd.

We need Eagle Team system wide at Fare Beating hotspots... Like at PBP just this past Saturday 5 people walked through the back doors of the Q50 at PBP headed for Co-Op... Usually drivers would discharge in the Bx5 Slot if nothing is parked there then pick up at the usual Bx23 Q50 stop, however 2 artics were parked in the Bx5 slot so we went right to the Bx23/Q50 1-2-3-4-5 stop and folks walked right through the back without a care, didn't even feel sneaky about it. Bus driver didn't even try to close the back doors, just left them open until he was ready to pull off. Its my belief once OMNY is fully conceptualized .... All Door Boarding will be made standard, SBS will probably die and revert back to Limited, or Limited branding will die for SBS branding. No need for both if everything is All-Door-Boarding. This will easier allow Eagle Team to check that fares have been paid, the same instrument used to pay you would tap on the Eagle Teams wand to verify. Most fare beaters are afraid of eagle team... Hell you wouldn't even need to do more than park a car or truck marked "Eagle Team" in sight of where most farebeating takes place, and I promise you that will be enough to scare most.

Looking at the maps, it looks like Q50 will loop PBP instead of terminating, this has me thinking the Q50 will go back to CP with Flushing being its sole terminal. This will free up buses at EC for Bx23.... Or they may just move Bx23 to GH, and pile more express runs into EC. The whole MTAB vs NYCT thing is going to have to fall by the waste side sooner or later especially with Qns Bus Network overhaul coming up next, to make any sense. If MTAB vs NYCT stays intact as far as where routes are based, OH BOY! Qns is going to be a real doozy. Let me say as someone who uses Q50 from Flushing to Co-Op, there is a base that rides the overlapping bases (Flushing to PBP - PBP Co-Op) and they will be shitting bricks. Q50, IMO doesn't need to go beyond Carver Loop really... Most its base (from South of PBP anyway) is off the bus by Carver. I would have it run Co-Op City Blvd to Bay Plaza using the Bx29, 38 layover.. People using Q50 in section 5 mostly use it to get to Bay Plaza because it came before a 23, 26, 28, or 29, No other reason. I agree others that a direct link between Northern Co-Op to the needs to be maintained.. It's an easier Xfer for the West Side than taking the to a Crosstown bus in the city. I would rather have had all Bx23's run PBP - 5-4-3-2-1- Gun Hill and vice-versa. If not that then detour the Bx30 to serve Baychester directly.

Unlike Metrocards ... OMNY you will be able to refill from the App on your phone. No SmartPhone; you can call a automated number to Refill. You can have your OMNY Auto Refill. Also as long as you have a Debit Card (Don't need a bank account to have a debit card) you can pay your fare by "Tapping", Don't need a physical card you can use OMNY through ApplePay, SamsungPay, or AndroidPay on your phone ... With OMNY bringing loads more convenience than MetroCard, MTA will see it as a opportunity to do away with Cash Fares on board all buses. Instead of those Big Honking 90's style fareboxes, when you board the bus, you will be presented with the singular OMNY Tap Pad as the only form to pay.. All Xfers will be issued through OMNY. OMNY is connected in real-time through the bus's WIFI/LTE connections, so no hardwiring is needed.

I believe and its just my hunch ... MTA is trying to do away with cash/coin fares on board at all ... Just like the Express Buses now.. Tap payments (OMNY/Credit/Debit) will be the ONLY way to ride MTA, and board (LOCAL LIMITED SBS) at any door. I do see a big policial fight brewing behind loss of Coins payments system wide, but the MTA I think would have the upper hand, they can then claim it would reduce Fare Beating because the Eagle team could be dispersed across the system, and threat of Eagle Teams dissuade Fare Beating, something like that.

Wow, I would have expected a much more celebratory fanfare for retirement of such an iconic symbol of NYC. I wonder if they're not fully retired however, if we'll still see them during GO's for a while, until more XD's come in. This also leads me to ask, how many more Green Flip Dots signs are left in the system? is it just the MV and QV 63, 6400 OG's, and a handful of MCI's.

I also noticed that when units are moved from NYCT to BC ... BC just leaves the New York City Bus labeling. None of the 6500's or SI MCIs had their New York City Bus labeling changed to Bus. But Also I noticed RTSs moved back to NYCT from ECH LGA kept their "Bus" labeling... I'm glad they stopped strewing with the labeling, some of changes of the labeling (especially NYC to Bus) looked real ghetto. __________ Bus... Or [New York City] Bus. could still see the inprint where they peeled off NYC.

Pittsburgh's PAT (Port Authority Transit) is probably the biggest Gillig buyer, except for the Artics everything is a standard Gillig Low-Floor. Pittsburgh streets are NYC condition, but with serious hills as well, and Pittsburgh East Side bus routes carries some serious Crushloads of people all day long. Pittsburgh is probably the best case-study for NYC as far as Gilligs. Early on 2002-2004 (52, 53 and 54 -series) Gilligs were the WORST manufactured seriously could not handle Pittsburgh streets and crushloads well, and they aged horribly. But as time went on starting with the 2005-2006 series (I guess PAT forced) you could start to see a better standard low floor product. PAT just received 100 (I think) 2017 series Standard Low Floors, compare them to the 2002-2004 batch, a serious comeuppance. They now fully handle Pittsburgh streets and crushloads, much more reliable a bus, and they feel much heavier now than back in 2002-2004. Gillig will probably never handle cities much bigger than Pittsburgh, Seattle, Minneapolis who orders 100-150 buses at a time... MTA with its 600-700 bus orders would overwhelm Gillig. I don't think Gillig would even bother with SEPTA, CTA, or DC METRO

So are NYCT and MTAB radios and fareboxes now a single entity to allow for easier rotation of the fleet? i.e. CP, JG, SC and WF can all swap CNG equipment as needed?

RTS's would leave out first, 99s would probably head back to NYCT. OGs would probably be moved to JFK to kill off their 96's. NGs maybe move more to ECH to knock those 99s back to NYCT. If ECH isn't slated to get new buses itself. Can Artics even make the turns through the Roosevelt Terminal without Jackknifing?

ECH is a BX depot .... I can see ECH getting Novas over XD's since MTA wants the Boroughs uniformed in fleets. But I still think ECH will continue to be a "Hand Me Down" depot as far as Local Fleet.

Doubt it .... BX is going to be a Nova haven .... Even though ECH is MTAB it still seems to follow BX fleet consistency. Notice how the 99s were swapped for NGs instead of OGs. These 40 XDs will probably go to LGA and JFK to finish off the '96 RTSs, maybe send more NGs to ECH to send the remaining 99s to Queens. I would love ECH to get new equipment, but because of only having 2 local routes they will probably remain a "Hand-Me Down" depot for local fleet.

Wonder why ECH's RTS to NG conversion is moving so slow. Is ECH done trading with LGA now, waiting to start swapping with JFK NG's?

I think if they extend the Bx41 to LGA. It should run non stop in Qns except for 1 stop at the / ... After that it's straight to the the 3 terminal stops I feel like the M60 should have its stop count reduced as well in Qns especially around LGA. Both routes should be rebranded as LGA Links

They want them out of ECH only to send them to LGA? where RTSs go to die anyway? That was smart. ECH maintainace over LGAs any day of week.

Speaking of the O5s ... Why the hell does ECH still have those 2 remaining Vs on the road. I would have thought they'd be the first to go when the NGs rolled in? Are NG ONLY replacing RTS on a 1 for 1, or is ECH supposed to receive a full 25 NGs from LGA to replace to replace all High Floors equipment? Those Vs need to GO, like yesterday.

I'm thinking the reason ECH and LGA maybe swapping NG's and 99's may have something to do with the high elderly population in Co-Op. I know for a fact the Elderly absolutely HATE buses with steps and have become spoiled with Low Floors. I've actually seen many in the development let Q50 and Bx23 pass while waiting for a GH route they know will have a low floor of some type. I wonder if this complaint made it back to the MTA brass, which is why ECH is being forced to give up the 99's which they loved. I know I just love being able to see the Destination Sign without the buses being right up on me. But when your bus is the only thing using RTS's and O5's in the BX, do you really need a destination sign. I knew a Q50 or BX23 was coming just by seeing it was an RTS in the distance. LOL.

Someone correct me ... is the Q111/113/114 supposed to become 100% Artic lines, or BX36 style mixing of Artics and OGs?

So does this mean TA/OA and BC buses will still be kept exclusive within each Division or with new Radios and Farebox equipment Buses can now be traded and lent system wide? i.e JG/SC/WF/CP can all share/trade/loan CNGs amongst each other at any given time. Rather than needing to get OG/NG for loans from JFK or LGA. Vice verse - LGA can borrow from GA, CS instead of getting CNGs from CP? Also does this allow BC to run Subway Shuttles?

I was just thinking .... With JFK, BP and LGA (later) taking delivery of the XD60's where is this going to push all the left over OG/NG to... Since (Per ENY) ECH doesn't want, nor can accept Hybrids. The Artics alone will rid MTAB of all RTSs except ECH, so will the OG/NGs there become Storage at ECH or will MTA push the overflow to NYCT to get rid of more RTSs?