Burrstone

I bet that would be the case... How many is a bunch? (How many could NICE possibly need?) When was this? Possibly they contracted or leased trucks to take the scrap trucks to the water treatment plant?

I thought it looked like the old MTA truck but I wasn't sure if it was. Kind of interesting, I wonder if it's owned by Nassau County or if it's leased from the MTA?

Anyone see 1659 the last couple of days? 1659 was hooked to a NICE tow truck in Bellmore Wed evening.... On a side note I didn't NICE had their own tow truck, looked good....

Sorry for the double post but I just wanted to add a little to the difference between NICE and MTA LIB... I appled for MTA LIB probably a year or year and a half before NICE took over. When you applied for MTA LIB they called you in cattle call type to complete a job application, this involved the MTA putting you in a room with other applicants and you literally filled out an application together. "Where it says X put X.." I can't remember if it was the same day but they also had you sitting in the lobby of Mitchel Field taking a map test with other driver related questions. They then called you for an interview and assessed your skills most were put through to para but if it was determined that you had enough experience like a year or more driving a coach bus or full size school bus you were eligible to go through the MTA's training program. Oh it's also important to note that you would be hired as LABO, Limited assignment bus operator, thorugh talking to the HR guy and drivers LABO means you are part time and worked to fill in the gaps basically. I talked to one guy who was LABO and pretty much his week was 3 days working 6 hours a day EARLY morning on the N19 and spent 2 days filling in for the two days off of a driver on the N6 or N4 (can't remember which). With the two hour days relieving the driver on his days off he was lucky enough to get 34 hours. I quickly got the picture as a LABO driver your job was to pick up the work the full time guys didn't want.... It was explained to me that you could also get a swing work 3 hours on a shift for the AM rush and come back for 3 hours on the PM rush, fun. I thought cool LABO's get the N19, how bad could that be? Well one driver said it was because no one wanted the N19 in the early morning because there was no on it between Babylon and Massapequa in the morning, and the road is dark and boring making most of your shift boring. If you were hired for para or took the option to do para instead of fixed route they would train you at Mitchel Field. If you were hired for fixed route you would have to get yourself to the Bronx every morning for class for 8 weeks! You would think they hire around the time they have a class scheduled. Oh no, they would be constantly recruiting and give you very little notice. They called me a few times for class and it never really worked out, I was out of town when they called, etc. etc. etc. You would also go through the regular MTA bus operator training program, which is odd because I heard you could be training with people the city hired with only a CDL permit and everyone from LIB already had a CDL and at least years experience. You drove around the city and even learned city routes (a waste IMO) and they briefly covered long island bringing training buses put to Long Island showing students (including city drivers) some of teh LIB routes. With NICE they hire you and you do about 4 weeks of training at Mitchel Field...

I don't know what goes on these days but at the beginning of the year NICE was very anti-overtime... Route picks for MTA LIB used to include picks that were OVER 40 hours, some route picks that senior drivers picked were 50 hours and over. That was just their regular route that they picked PLUS regular overtime for LIRR work (transporting pax between LIRR stations when LIRR was doing work and the trains weren't running) this is why it was not uncommon for senior drivers to be making well over $100,000 a year! You can see driver pay for MTA LIB by googling seethroughny and selecting MTA Long Island Bus. One way NICE planned on reducing costs was reducing all run picks to 40 hours no over time... The new contract with the TWU has come out since then so it could include overtime, I dunno. What was released in the news is that drivers would be receiving a 3% raise every when NICE took over top pay was near $27, with the first raise it would be near $27.75, next raise would be just over $28.50.... I really don't know what starting pay is, it depends if you drive fixed route (big bus) or able ride (para transit).... I would imagine para starts out between $14 & $16 and fixed route is between $16 & $19... I know the OP on this subject would rather drive a big bus, everyone wants to drive a big bus. If everyone wants to drive the big bus where do you think the demand is at? In a news article I read about the new union contract, NICE drivers pay 20% and the company pays 80% of the cost of benefits! That's a damn good deal right there. I don't know why everyone is so anti Veolia/NICE but I would drive for NICE in a heartbeat if it fit my situation, I mean come on a union gig with benifits and a good starting rate, great top pay. (has anyone seen what other CBL B P/S pay in Nassau County? Peanuts.) I would make a career out of it. Brett, where did you hear drivers start at $20? Not saying it isn't true but $20 sounds high and NICE is always advertising for jobs, if starting pay was so high you wouldn't think there would be a demand for jobs...

Saw 1836 (wrapped bus) in Bellmore this evening with the sign reprogrammed showing n19...

I saw an Orion V on the 19 the sign displayed n19, the next bus I passed was a 1700 or 1800 (not wrapped) prepared to take a video of the new sign, that bus still displayed N19. Thought that was odd that they programmed the bus that was going to fazed out before a bus that will remain in service. Why are they even wasting time reprogramming signs on buses that will be retired in a short time? Maybe NICE will keep some of the V's a round for spares? When do they reprogram the signs? When they're being wrapped?

So people go westbound SRO and never come back? The plan is working, they must be going to queens and leaving Nassau to the people who have cars. Well done Mangano, well done! [evil laugh] Muhhahaha Muhahaha Muhahaha [/evil laugh]

It has nothing to do with NICE and that's my point. I hear people complaining all the time that they wish the train schedule was better to to fit their schedule, boo hoo NICE sucks because they don't get me to work for the early morning shift that I picked up at Dunkin Donuts, the NXX runs hourly and gets me to work 30 minutes before. It's a transit system meant to fit the needs of the masses not a car service getting you to school or work at a time that best works for you and is not sitting there when you leave to take you straight home. No agency is going to lose money running an empty bus or train to get this lady to Dunkin Donuts or me to Newark to get a cheap flight. I'm sick of hearing people complain how horrible NICE id because it doesn't fit their schedule to a T. It's not NICE or any other agency, that is life when you use PUBLIC transportation, it's not about one persons needs.

I want there to be an earlier NJ Transit train out of Penn Station because there is a job I had my eye on, but it starts too early. I want Amtrak to run an earlier train out to EWR so I can take an earlier cheaper flight.... Some things aren't in the cards, that's life.

So I'm guessing grey is unwrapped and orange is wrapped, what's blue?

I've seen many students at NCC almost cause accidents in the campus. Roll through a stop sign while on the phone, etc. And in the morning why do so many people STOP to drop people off ion the right lane across from the parking lot? It's a lane of traffic not drop your child, freind, b/f g/f off zone. Do it in the the parking lot. If you do drop someone off their, why would you open your door in traffic without looking? I'm surprised a bus hasn't take off a door yet. AND if you are crossing the street from the lot across 4 lanes of traffic, LOOK before you dart into traffic? Look at a bus VS a car, what do you think ity will do to a person? Yes, traffic must yeild to pedestrains BUT the law says vehicles must yeild to pedestrains in the crosswalk. This means you wait at the begining of the crosswalk and traffic must yeild to you. You cannot just run into traffic out of nowhere, or walk into traffic with your earbuds in while you look at your phone. I've seen many follow buses into the "restricted area" with gate only for "offical vehicles"... BTW what is the system for getting the gate up? There must be a signal on the bus to have the gate raise? Or is it that security would be watching a monitor an raise the gate when a bus came in? Either way it never worked when I rode the bus during the LIB days the process was to beep until the gate raised.ol

It's posted online, I can't provide a link to the search results because it will just say the results aren't found.. 1) Follow https://banner.ncc.e...u?name=homepage 2) Click "Class Schedule" 3) In the drop down menu under Search By Term select Fall 2012 4)Don't touch any of the search fields just click the button at the bottom of the page that says Class Search 5) there ya go, all of the NCC Spring Courses with the days the class meets and class times... Srping 2013's schedule is also available online.

So you quote him anyway.. lmao j/k

I saw a couple of para transit buses that have been wrapped/painted the first one I saw I didn't recognize I thought it was for a local retirement home or town senior program, I noticed it was Able Ride as it passed (no time for a pic). The second I saw looked half finished....

When was the article published?

[sARCASM] Good thing you guys are catching those typos! You're really sticking it to Veolia, what an incompetent company they must be. We all know how this looks and is proof the ()' /> should come back, because we all know ()' /> does t make typos. It's not like they have enough typos and spelling errors in the WALL of train stations to keep Greg Mocker busy for months pointing them out on the news. Also Bravo pointing out how every detour doesn't end up on the website. What's the problem? Is NICE not notified of these detours? Is there no one there on off business hours to put these up last minute if NICE finds out about them last minute? You know what, it doesn't matter! This is just more proof that NICE is inferiorer because WE ALL KNOW would do a better job alerting LIB riders of detours and service disruptions. [/sARCASM]

How old were the 1400's and what year were they retired? Some people get hung up on "no money"... Veolia hired the same mechanics and have to pay them the same was paying them? So how exactly does "no money" come into play? Isn't the biggest part of maintenance costs labor? Unless people think these mechanics should be overhauling buses that will be retired in a matter of months... Now that's a waste of money!

Who cares about what is going on in city garages? How many of those buses city buses were maintained at MF or RVC? I love how people say LIB's maintenance was better and NICE's is crap... It's the same mechanics. lol Did the require the mechanics to turn in their great maintenance skills along with their uniforms?

I'm sure advertising in this area is very expensive... How much could they have made off the route, and how much could be spent on advertising? I doubt an ad that was barely run would be thye demise of the route. Look at BoltBus, was tv advertising the reason they were successful? IMHO, instead od advertising SCT should have went grassroots with the clipper.

As long as there are those people who live in million dollar houses, who drive everywhere, drive to the LIRR, and snub their nose at bus riders nothing will change. Mangano isn't the only one in Nassau County who is against funding a bus system!

Or put a penny in the jar every time Pine Power has to post that Mangano doesn't provide enough money. That'll fund the system in no time.

I really stand neutral myself but I really do feel the need to step in and play devils advocate or at least be the one that stands up in support of Veolia. Some members love to paint a picture like Veolia is run by a bunch idiots who can't find their way out of a paper bag. It's pretty amusing that a handful of members sit here and nit pick every situation and how it was done wrong because it was Veolia. It's amusing because they have no industry experience and know more than the two gentlemen running the company who have more years of industry experience than these members have years alive. Is Veolia running on little money? Yes! We know this we don't need pine power saying it in every thread. The COUNTRY is BROKE and Nassau County is not the only transit system that faced major cuts. It sucks and we can complain about it all day long but it's not going to change, not any time soon. What should Veolia do? I think Veoliak is doing a great job of running the system on a tight budget. Can I prove the buses are being maintained? Of course not, just like others here can't prove Veolia isn't maintaining the equipment. However, when I step back and look at it I have two theories. 1) Of course they're maintaining buses! Didn't they only cut one shift (an overnight shift) in the shop? If so that's a good amount of mechanics in the shop 16 hours a day. What is Veolia doing? Telling them "play cards, take a nap, do anything but maintain the buses."? Veolua HAS TO PAY a good amount of mechanics, wouldn't it be logical to assume these mechanics are maintaining buses? 2) (in terms of the 1500/1600 buses) I could see a decision being made to leave these buses as they are, the end of their life is coming in a few months, if it happens before then, oh well paying for a tow back to MF is the cheapest option. Given the little money NICE has does anyone feel that looking at one of these buses and rebuilding the engine, the trans, or any other major overhaul make sense knowing these buses will soon be sent out to pasture? Send them out 'til they die, NICE is just getting squeezing every drop of shampoo out of the bottle before they throw it out. My opinion on the matter is it seems more logical that the problems with the buses are because of the past maintenance over a long period of time rather than who's been maintaining them for 7.5 months. Keep in mind itt was not uncommon to see these same breakdowns when the was around. I have an open mind, but I need proof, not assumptions. ...and Joel Up Front, this was directed at you, just replying to your post.

That's not the point I was making. I was saying maybe the problem with the buses isn't the 8 months of maintenance, maybe it has to do with the maintenance from the past decade. I can't prove that, I don't think anybody can prove that the mechanical problems are from Veolia over the past 7 3/4 months... BUT people on this forum are so quick to point the finger at Veolia's maintenance, it's pretty amusing actually.

IMHO we should be investing in public transit for environmental and economic reasons. Federal funds should be used to lower the cost of the LIRR or they should look into why the LIRR costs so much, people should not have to pay crazy prices to continue to fund ridiculous salaries and pensions. Federal and state funding should go to creating better bus service and building light rail. NY should also look into a state run public transit system. While NJ transit isn't perfect I think NY could learn a lot from them. They do a great job a running commuter bus service through the entire state. Maybe it's time for a the STATE to look into taking over the public transportation system in the lower counties of upstate, NYC, NICE, and SCT. I also think the people would be supportive of a small increase in sales tax if it was used to support a new reliable transit system. I read an article showing that younger generations want to be green and take public transportation to school and work but the transportation systems suck so bad out side of metropolitan area's they can't do it. The problem is convincing middle aged (and up) tax payers that public transportation is the way to go.