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

7 hours ago, paulrivera said:

Selfishly I would love it if the Q50 followed the Bx12 to Fordham after Pelham Bay. 😆

The Q44 I feel would make more of an impact with more riders tho. The Q50 to Fordham would just be a half-hearted Bx12 reliever without properly fixing the Bx12 itself, and they’d probably still take one of the Bx12 local intervals away to make it all cost neutral.

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  

7 minutes ago, EastFlatbushLarry said:

i can absolutely see all of this happening, as some veiled attempt by DOB to adequately accommodate all unions involved. ultimately, there will be cuts, but with the potential new contract/contract negotiations (with Bus Company demanding parity to NYCTA/MaBSTOA across the board) and the new farebox/destination sign code system on the way, your point is absolutely a valid one to point out.

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? 

56 minutes ago, 7-express said:

The QT86 north of Flushing is indeed rather useless, since that area of Linden Pl isn't heavily populated.  But it likely does make for easy access to CP depot and is probably a concession for the Police Academy instead of dealing with the garbage proposed headways on the QT84.  They're better off extending the QT86 to serve 14 Ave in College Point instead so they can actually serve residents on the northern part of the route.  The QT84 is basically a garbage amalgamation of the Q20A/76 with crap headways and doesn't actually bring residents of College Point to the shopping center.

This plan will only work if they allow an extra bus transfer for the same fare.  Otherwise, I foresee many people paying double just to get where they're going with these shorter lines.

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. 

16 hours ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

Here are the service changes that will go into effect on Sunday, except for SI routes. I was unable to review SI routes because of the MTA decided to go all apeshit on the amount of summer changes, and I pretty much got fed up after Manhattan and Queens. Not only did the amount of routes on summer schedules increase, but the amount of changes/messing around has also increase (just compare the amount of changes below to that of last year). Not only that, but the MTA decided to release these later than usual, without any warning that they were on the new website only. Anyways, here the changes the boroughs I reviewed:

Queens

Q114: Service Change in Rosedale (Schedule Not Out Yet)

• Service along 147th Avenue and Brookville Boulevard will be discontinued.
• Service will run along Rockaway Boulevard in both directions.
• Use Q111 service for 147th Avenue.

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? 

On 6/25/2019 at 10:51 PM, NewFlyer 230 said:

I just don’t get why they can’t do what they need to do from the start. Like for example today there was an almost 50 minute gap in Q54 service heading to Jamaica about 2 hours ago at around 8:30pm. The Q54 has had reliability issues for years and nothing has been done to fix it.  
Last week, I was waiting at Kissena Blvd & Jewel Ave for a bus to Jamaica. I had just missed 2 Q25’s and a Q34 that were bunched together. The next Q25 to Jamaica was to arrive 36 minutes later according to bus time and a Q34 was scheduled to arrive 16 minutes later. On Main Street and Jewel Ave the Q44 and Q20A/B towards Jamaica each had a 20+ minute wait. This all took place at about 2pm on a Friday and at that time those routes combined on their respective streets are suppose to run frequently. However once again, the MTA does nothing to correct the reliability issues. It makes no sense that one has to wait 20+ minutes for a bus on a corridor that has multiple routes running on it. So I can definitely see the attitudes that cause farebeating. People probably say screw the MTA, and resort to using Uber’s and or farebeat.

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. 

12 hours ago, Lil 57 said:

I guess EC would need more buses for this.

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. 

11 minutes ago, JeremiahC99 said:

Ideally they should also be sold at stores alongside subway stations as well, since there are people who do not live near subway stations that would need to buy OMNY cards for the bus.

For example, I live in Flatlands/Old Mill Basin In Brooklyn, 4 block away from the Utica Avenue corridor. The area does not have a single subway line running through it (a planned Utica Avenue Subway Line has gone nowhere), which means no place to buy or refill fare cards anywhere in the area (aside from the bi-monthly vans). However, there is a potential for added convenience with OMNY.

Up the street from where I live is a Walgreens location on the Northwest corner of Utica Avenue and Flatlands Avenue, by a newly built bus bulb for the SB B46 Local and SBS. That store, whose number of locations is expanding with the merger with Rite Aid, sees a lot of patronage from area residents who stop in to buy certain household goods and prescriptions, such as prescription drugs, candy, even drinks. I personally stop there to pick up some snacks there as well. I do predict that most of these shoppers are also commuters who can not afford unlimited ride card and rely on pay-per-ride cards. By having OMNY transactions take place at Walgreens or other connivence stores, such as Duane Reade, another drugstore nearest to me, these customers can not only continue to shop for their goods there, but they can also buy and refill their (future) OMNY cards at the same time, thus not worrying about not having enough money on their cards before getting on the bus. It’s a genius idea. Why haven’t they though of this with MetroCards long ago? This added benefit would most certainly increase bus ridership since lower income people now have a great place to conduct OMNY transactions. They should’ve done this long ago with MetroCard, thought i believe the new demand would overload the B46 Local and SBS without the artics.

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. 

On 5/26/2019 at 5:15 PM, Around the Horn said:

Again, they will be getting rid of paying before you board... Everything (local and select) will have all door boarding with OMNY readers on the buses.

In this case, Select Buses are no longer "special" and are more like a limited bus than something special that needs its own branding, so buses would no longer need the teal wrap but the Select Bus destination signs would still have the blue background. 

EDIT:

You're confusing two different concepts: Select Bus branding (the livery and the concept of paying before you board) and the physical characteristics of an SBS route (ie. less stops, bus lanes, etc). 

The separate SBS branding is what is rumored to be phased out since every bus route would have the same payment method (onboard with OMNY, no more fare machines at stops), however the physical characteristics of the SBS routes (bus lanes and limited stops) would remain. 

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. 

9 hours ago, East New York said:

It's no longer a regional bus system now that they no longer have LI Bus. 

Public's branding across the board is New York City Bus now. The only difference is the titles on the buses.  However for official purposed allnaperations are classified NYC Bus. Not Regional Bus. Therefore I think all buses should wear NYC Bus titles. If our buses traveled outside of the city or we still had LIB, then I would say just leave it plain MTA. But all MTA buses are NYC only now.

I don't really think that matters. To the public, current branding, and when you call 511 it's all NYC Bus which is the new branding anyway. No matter if it's TA, OA, or BC, it's all NYC Bus. May as well put NYC bus on all the buses. That's how it's always been and I think that small insignificant part of our history should remain.  Of nearly 6000 buses, less than 5% have pealing titles and that doesn't really matter seeing as buses are repainted every few years anyway. 

I think all agency vehicles should remain as MTA NYC Subway, NYC Bus, LIRR, MTNR, B&T. I think just plain old MTA is boring, and apparently so do my colleagues at ENY. 🤷🏾‍♂️

Just my opinion, but I did advocate for it to remain and eventually replace MTA Bus titles as well. By then when the new fareboxes and radios arrive any bus can be loaned to any Depot because they will all have the same system with the same programming for the first time. All destination sign codes are said to be merged together as well.

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. 

 NYCT and MTAB are now combined, 

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? 

I wonder where LGA's displaced OG's and/or NG's would go?

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. 

are there plans to put artics on the q70.

Can Artics even make the turns through the Roosevelt Terminal without Jackknifing? 

^^^ Just to point out that just because Nova and New flyer and now "more competitive" than ever, this does not mean LFS to ECH. It just means that the chances of seeing an MTA LFS is a bit higher now.

 

Personally I see the Xcelsiors in Brooklyn, OH, Stengel, and MTA bus, while the LFS are in the Bronx, Staten Island, the Village, Jamaica, Quill, and OF.

 

Again my opinion, I know others have thoughts, but I'm not really going to to quote/respond to anyone because that's their thoughts and I respect that they are different from mine. Otherwise, I stand by what I said and will not change my thoughts until the orders are official.

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. 

26 XD40's for MTA bus. Could EC finally be getting their own (and first) batch of new buses?

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 the proposal to extend the Bx41-SBS south to LGA was quite interesting... (in fact, I'd like to know what happened with that idea).

 

But I think that a route from the Hub to LGS would be okay... that way, it would serve a popular transport area and still serve Queens.

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 

It's also because the MTA wants those RTSs out of Eastchester, MTA brass were pissed when two RTSs went up in flames while in Eastchester's control(but were repaired). They were supposed to come back to Transit as well, but are being sent to LaGuardia for the NGs(logically, that makes sense). They're trying to keep those RTSs as long as possible, as they are holding up just as well, if not better than the oldest low floor fleet we currently have.

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.

That and the fact that the folks in Co-Op probably don't care for riding those old buses on the Q50 and Bx23.  Can't blame them either.  If I had nothing but old buses running through my neighborhood, I would be writing my elected officials inquiring as to why other neighborhoods are getting new buses but we aren't.  The newer buses are also quieter and more environmentally friendly.  I absolutely hated seeing those Orion V buses roll through my neighborhood and was very pleased when they were completely removed from Kingsbridge Depot.  While I don't use the local buses, they are a big improvement for my community and I welcome them.  It's one thing to have some old buses, but another to have to put with nothing but old buses.   

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?  

I don't buy this whole ECH maintenance conspiracy, hell buses burn up, it was a freak accident ... we have NYCT depots burning up brand new LFSAs ... OGs have burned up under NYCT and MTAB....

ECH keeps those MCIs running in pristine condition, better than any SI depot keeps there's. ECH never had any problems with any of the older equipment its been handed down, look how long they kept those Bee's running, some of them needed heavy nursing from their days at LGA or BP.  

Frankly I want the 99's to go back to NYCT ... I'm tired of ECH (although I understand why) getting old tired ass Hand-me Downs ... Give them 25-30 XDs they can call their own. I would be satisfied with sending 25 OGs or NGs to ECH.