SoSpectacular

On 9/27/2023 at 9:09 PM, New Jack said:

Hello , just a question . How many points on your license can a new hire have ? Thank you. 

No more than 4 points I believe

9 hours ago, kingal11234 said:

 I don't understand why there would not be a demand for this. It would give Red Hook residents a one seat ride to Lower Manhattan. There riders could travel to lower Manhattan in 15 minutes or less Plus you could have a bus traveling from Park Slope to South Ferry that would run down 9th street to City Hall via the Brooklyn Battery tunnel. The service could begin at Prospect Park West, travel from 9th st  to Hamilton Avenue and there the bus would travel under the BBT and terminate at City Hall. Currently  Red Hook has to rely on the very slow B57 and B61 buses to travel to downtown Brooklyn before they cant transfer to a train.

The B61 isn't slow getting to downtown, if it wasn't for the backup of traffic on Colombia/Atlantic of everyone trying to squeeze onto the BQE it's a straight shot.

2 hours ago, MTA Dude said:

That's not an argument for more personal cars, that's an argument for fixing the damn management on these bus routes. It's ridiculous how badly the Q25 and Q65 run (I'm sure other CP routes run badly too but I haven't been paying attention). They get bunched up at some point during the day and there's next to no attempt to fix the bunching. I've seen days in the past few weekends where not a single bus on the Q25 wasn't bunched with another. This has been going on for years too, I remember as a kid when Orion Vs were still running that the Q25 was horribly unreliable and the Q17 was the much better alternative, so we'd walk the half a mile to the Q17 instead when we didn't want to gamble on the Q25. I think both routes should be split at Flushing since the 70min runtime of both routes certainly doesn't do them any favors, but with how bad CP management is I'm not sure if it would even help.

Blame the street redesigns that haven't fixed or made worse the traffic conditions on the roads. Can't even use certain "backdoor" streets to be put in place because everyone else is using the same streets to circumvent traffic. It's practically hopeless to keep close to schedule. Better take what you can get or adjust your schedule to allow yourself more time.

1 hour ago, MysteriousBtrain said:

This is why (although clearly dangerous) if the bus I'm trying to get on is coming to my stop and not close enough to the curb I go I to the street and wave it down and if it tries to speed up and not attempt to get into the curb I get as close to the passing bus as possible (without getting hit) so it would be forced to stop and If they still don't let me on i take my notes and report them to supervision. 

One incident I had while doing this was on the Bx22 where the Bx22 driver was so mad he actually assaulted me with his driver protection door and made a mark on my right hand. So best believe I took that to the MTA and they're lucky I didn't press charges bc I was so close to doing so but I never saw the driver again so I didn't bother.

Don't do that. You are just asking to get hurt. Your best course of action is to put in a customer complaint if a bus flags your stop. Plain and simple. Don't be stupid.

5 hours ago, B35 via Church said:

Are you putting it like that because it's that common, or for some other reason (if so, why aren't you surprised at that) ?

Let's just say there's a couple of guys on the road out there that like to take advantage of certain situations to cut their time and head back to the depot... It definitely happens

10 hours ago, B35 via Church said:

Rode the B8 last Sunday... Planned on riding the full route to Bay Ridge.... He notes that I'm the only person on the bus after a group of people got off at the last stop before it turns off Cropsey (short of 14th av).... When we arrived at VA Hospital, all of a sudden "LAST STOP, LAST STOP".... He then sped off afterwards (not sure if he DH'd to the depot or what).... At the time, I was thinking he had the wrong destination sign on the bus & it was an actual short turn... I then look on the schedule, and the trip (which left Rockaway av. at the exact corresponding posted time on the schedule) was supposed to be trip to Bay Ridge.... So IDK WTF was up last week with that....

The B8 in general though, yeah, it's been bunching like crazy lately (moreso than normal).... 18th av is almost becoming as unbearable as 8th av {B70} to ride along.... The eastern half of the route & the western half of the route used to be equally sluggish... These days, buses tend to move better on the eastern half of the route (say, east of CI av) - at least IME's....

Not sure if this amounts to being selfish per se, but I was never fond of the B8's (well, extension in general, but specifically) routing past Remsen... It's a waste of time.... Always thought buses should stay on Av. B all the way to the end, then go E. 98th > Linden > Rockaway Pkwy., to terminate alongside the laundromat... The current stop for Brookdale Hosp. at Linden/Rockaway Pkwy. would be a Brownsville bound stop instead of a Bay Ridge bound stop.... For the return trip, buses would make that right onto Church, then go [E. 98th || Hegeman]  > [Amboy || E. 98th] > Av B > en-route to regular routing.... So basically >>This<< instead of {{this}}..... Not that this is my reason for the sentiment, but while probably petty, having the B8 destination sign read BROWNSVILLE CHURCH AV might draw more people into taking the route - even though the route literally runs on Church av. 🙈💀

 

Traffic has gotten considerably worse since around the end of 2021. I picked on the B35 that fall and boy, oh boy was that one hell of a mess. I haven't picked on the B8 since the winter 2022 pick but I have not felt like going back there unless it's an earlier run. Not surprising that the operator put you off at the hospital, but I've only been turned short there if I was running late and getting dangerously close to the 6 hours driving time...

Quote

 

I've been walking in, around, over, and through that part of the heart of Jamaica all these years..... and didn't know that shit had a name for it.... 40+ years, and I have literally never heard any reference to a Jamaica Colosseum Mall up until this point....

Damn.

 

Growing up in Queens I'd always heard it referred to as the "Colosseum Block, or Coli Block"

10 hours ago, Manski said:

If you applied for both exams, will they give you the option to pick which division you want to work in?

It is whichever calls you first. If get called up for one exam the other could pull you up as well if it is for another division. Your time served in the earlier exam upon hiring would count toward your probationary period so it's all about getting your foot in the door.

On 8/8/2023 at 8:24 PM, trainfan22 said:

I wish the B8 had short turns that start at Nostrand Ave heading towards Brownsville in the PM Rush. Not seriously suggesting this, just wish this was the case for my selfish busfan reasons 

 

I once did a run where I did two trips that started from Nostrand on the B8. The first bus starts at 4:49, then 5:13, 6:04, 6:26, 6:49 and every 20-30 minutes roughly until around 9:10pm. After the line becomes a 25-minute headway after 8pm they are a little more frequent because of it.

15 hours ago, KDGallagher said:

Don’t think that’s true 

I have had buses taken out of service twice for the climate control malfunctioning. No heat in the winter and no cool air during the summer. The no heat bus was swapped with an op that was pulling in , no cool air was taken back to the depot and had to pull out a good bus 

edit: no heat was on the m14 and the hot bus was on the m72, very elderly ridership on a 90 degree day if it matters. 

See, you were lucky to get a pull-in that was deadheading. Over here, where we mainly have reliefs instead of pull-ins at the PM rush hours you get "Keep it in service" from console. Some might work something out but they don't want to blow/cancel trips if at all.

On 8/1/2023 at 10:35 PM, IAlam said:

That is a huge safety issue, maybe on local buses you can somewhat mitigate that with open windows but on express buses that's not even possible. I've heard of instances of people throwing up on some hot express buses. Working A/C is essential in this day and age especially with summer getting hotter every year. 

I don't think they're going to want an operator pulling a bus in out of service mid-route during the rush hours and getting back on the road in time.... Not feasible...

3 hours ago, IAlam said:

that's disappointing if I was a B/O I wouldn't wanna take a hot bus. 

Bus can't be pulled out from the depot if the A/C isnt working, but IF it does happen to break down/cease functioning mid-tour it's not considered a safety-sensitive defect...

1 hour ago, Mtatransit said:

MTA fare evasion for SBS is apparently 46.5%, compared to 37.7% for local. I thought someone said SBS fare evasion was only 4%

https://metrics.mta.info/

The Eagle team busts a lot of people abusing the SBS. Local... not so much. We can't hit that F5 button enough nor keep track of all the farebeats that get on a local bus. Especially the B35... LOL.

On 7/6/2023 at 8:35 PM, mattyzzz said:

Hi all, looking into getting my CDL permit and taking one of the upcoming bus operator exams this year. One question I have is how are depots you operate out of determined when you are first hired? Is it as needed? Does proximity to your home matter at all? Would hate to get appointed somewhere that’s gonna take me 2+ hours to commute to. Thanks!

This all depends on the current needs of each region/depot. Some depots may see large numbers of retirees/transfers to other depots but sometimes a depot may be so short on operators they can force an entire class there. I've heard of entire classes getting sent to Staten Island or Michael J. Quill, but luckily if you do get forced to SI or Queens you are able to get a one-way transfer out when an opening is available in your destination depot. You don't have to worry about this until you are actually in training and pass the initial 7-10 days, though. Just hope your timing is right! Luckily I had a choice when I started but I was ready for whatever came my way.

On 6/25/2023 at 2:24 PM, Lawrence St said:

I hate those dam speed cameras. I got a ticket in the mail for speeding because it read the car that was next to me was going 36, I’m going 30. 
 

And it’s literally impossible to fight speed cameras to.

If you have a dash cam that also posts your current speed you can use that as proof...

Not a fan of it, you are still limited to one angle. There is no "rocking and rolling" that Zerega themselves emphasized on in our 7-day training. I don't see this going far...

14 hours ago, DEE123 said:

Does anybody know which depots has operators that make the most money and overtime? I’m into the overtime more than anything. 
 

They're usually the depots that are large and handle a decent amount of heavily used routes, like West Farms and Gleason which are pretty up there with work that exceeds 9-10 hours but they tend to be high seniority for that reason

On 6/18/2023 at 12:34 AM, xD4nn said:

I've noticed that they've started installing the new clever radios on the Bronx buses. Are they doing it borough by borough? 

They've ramped up the installation of the new radio system in recent months. Gleason almost has all their buses outfitted...

6 hours ago, B35 via Church said:

I'm not sure if this phenomenon still goes on, but Q7's at Euclid subway were notorious for going in service/pulling out AFTER a Q8 (the short turns, obviously) would - even if a Q7 was scheduled to leave before a Q8 during a certain time period....

 

That kind of thing always happens where multiple buses share any specific corridor. Then again, that kind of thing also happens when buses bunch and they're both on layover (except one of them is most likely late and delaying to leave until their follower(s) picks up the slack). Don't wanna get crush loaded with passengers then sit there making every stop because "DING! PLEASE EXIT THROUGH THE REAR DOOR"

3 hours ago, someblackkid said:

does the MTA consider a permit also as a drivers license? On the NOE it says i need atleast 3 years with a drivers license and Ive had my class D for 2 and a half years and my permit for 6 months.

You need 3 years+ with your license. Permits don't count towards this requirement

1 hour ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

As someone who has lived off of the Q25/Q34 route for the past 22 years and has also used all of CP’s routes, the depot was never good with having decent on time performance for its local routes even back during the Queens Surface days. The Q25 in particular always had a reputation for its unreliability. Even with the addition of bus lanes in Flushing and Jamaica that poor route still can manage to bunch in 3’s on a Sunday at around 7:30am and I’ve seen it happen multiple times. Mind you that route has 20 min headways during that time.

Bus lanes are absolutely no help other than where they are, and that's only if they are free of obstruction. When I used to live in Flushing I rode the 25/65 a whole lot and never really had any issue, but then again this was in the ballpark of 10-15 years ago when things were vastly different. These days I don't know how it is but there's been load of changes along Kissena/Parsons that definitely could have crippled the line in the name of "safety improvements". It's not uncommon for operators to be late and miss layovers. It's even advised to take a personal when we're starting to feel overwhelmed/stressed out and step back. Also, it's not uncommon for runs/trips to be open or cancelled. There aren't enough bodies to cover all the open runs and that's also going to back things up. It's crazy...

On 6/5/2023 at 8:15 AM, EastFlatbushLarry said:

for whatever reason, this is very common on Saturday evenings/nights. idk why they don't do a better job of adjusting operators on the 47 during the day (which causes spillover into the evening hours) I'm almost certain that the SLD's at woodhull & kings plaza STILL don't/won't do anything for 47 operators which causes this... aside from the interlining grand avenue utilizes. but then again, the 47 suffered from lateness/bunching at flatbush depot years ago, so... 🤷🏾‍♂️

Very rare to be put in place these days when people are running late or are severely delayed- but with everything going on with the roads these days there's not much that can be done. Road capacity got kneecapped in places, extra traffic lights that are too close together and are timed improperly, construction is gonna tie everything up. Just seen a new set of lights go up along the route I'm doing now, but luckily they're timed to go green with the next block.

8 hours ago, 40 to 241st said:

Why not do you see how crowded there articulated routes themself get

They do not make much sense in a city with narrowed and tighter streets. It's hard enough to make some of the turns now with the way DOT redesigned things

On 4/19/2023 at 9:37 AM, QM1to6Ave said:

Any word on when all-door boarding will begin on all routes? It's ridiculous that the MTA paid to have the cubic readers on the back door of every single bus, but they are only used on SBS routes.

Not happening until cash fares/Metrocards are fully phased out

9 hours ago, Kamen Rider said:

 

When your partner commits a cardinal sin and you're BIE and you're trying to get RCC on the radio and they can't hear you and you've got a dozen angry passengers at your window demanding to know why you're not moving... You will really question your decision. 

When you see a person standing on the edge of the platform with a cane in his hands like he's up to bat, ready to attack you as you pass... You Will really question your decision.

When you have to clear out a train so it can be sent back to the yard and you're left wondering if the person you're currently trying to wake up is even still alive... you will really question your decision.

When you're assigned to clear out trains at a last stop due to construction and the other conductor who is assigned with you disappears for hours, leaving you alone with all the "wonderful" people... you will really question your decision.

When people refuse to take "I don't know what other trains are doing, I only know what I was explicitly told I will be doing" as an answer... you will really question your decision.

 

That last one was only this morning. there were several rail replacement projects the cropped up unannounced and my F train was rerouted, first express on sixth, then over the A via Cranberry to Jay. I had been given explicit instructions by a TSS on the platform 57th/6th, not by the tower nor RCC.

There was no GO, no papers, no preplanned announcements. I was conductoring by the seat of my pants, and when people asked me questions about what other trains will be doing, they would not accept "I don't know" as an answer.

This is one thing you really need to understand about passengers. If I have to explain how they view us in as simple a term as possible... They think we're The Borg. They think we have a hive mind that always knows what everyone else is doing.

 

There was also at least one person who was confused when we pulled in at Fulton Street and asked if there were no A's... because he didn't consider the A was fine and we were the ones who had the problem,

It's very similar up in surface. Not uncommon to be asked when the next bus is/will arrive or what the current headways are. It's not like I can whip my phone out and pull up an APP that can help estimate a bus' given location on a map, but too many can't be bothered with tapping on a screen to do anything else but send messages and make phone calls...

All I'm going to say is, it used to be a LOT easier to get around 10 years ago compared to now. Too many extra light signals, blantant double parking, being limited to one lane of roadway screws with bus traffic heavy. Even if you have bus lanes, not all of them have cameras or any enforcement at all. Some roads/lanes are too narrow that we have to take up two of them just to give us the space cushion we need. Remember how we had to maintain 4-feet spacing between the bus and parked cars on our right? That's pretty much out the window these days.

37 minutes ago, HeadhunterCali said:

How did the first 4 days go? On my end it went well, couple unsatisfactory days but my instructor said "Don't worry about that" must be a method to his madness i guess.

Remember that days 1-5 are basically your learning days. 6 and 7 are the ones you cannot screw up on in order to qualify. So definitely don't stress things!