SoSpectacular

As requested, here are the pre-trip inspection videos in full. Study them if you have a CDL permit!

5 hours ago, HeadhunterCali said:

Wow that was such D move. Looks like the right decision was made to give him the boot. Whatever was going on with him and the other Mods had nothing to do with the THOUSANDS of us other drivers waiting to start our 10 day training, who now won't have that "extra help" that the YT video's provided 😒 

Those videos can still be accessed... There's other ways to get them, I'll look into it for you guys.

17 minutes ago, mrtrini868 said:

Do we get to pick which depot we want to go to or is it base on where they assign us? 

You may get a choice, sometimes you may not.

It all depends on what depots have availabilities and your standing amongst your classmates. Those who have lower list numbers/scored higher on the exams will get first dibs, in classes with mixed exams the previous exams will trump later ones. 

1 hour ago, NBTA said:

Honestly don’t know, but I can tell you one thing, that B61 on that map would be extremely useful now.

The only reason the B61 was cut short and split was because of the heavy delays going through Downtown Brooklyn, funny to think that this happened roughly 11 years ago...

On 12/21/2021 at 11:27 PM, Probie92 said:

If I resign while still on probation, will I be eligible for rehire in the future? Or will I be blacklisted? I don't think this job is for me. Probationary bus operator...

You can always come back within 1 year, as someone said, you'll just pick back up where you left off and whatever time you have remaining in your probationary period will continue.

This job requires a great deal of mental fortitude. The moment you are able to not let the stresses of the field get to your core you will succeed. I would say give it a few more weeks before making a decision. It gets better after the holidays.

Trust me, I am way past well done after being on one of Brooklyn's heaviest routes for the last 4 months and I am finally happy I don't have to go through that again after today. IT gets better with time. Hang in there.

19 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

You can blame the folks who want to blame/taunt our cops for doing their jobs.

Not like they enforced the fare on the buses before that... That was more common in the subways when they'd actually dress in plainclothes and ticket turnstile hoppers

10 minutes ago, Mtatransit said:

RANT BEGINS

I was on the S74 today, out of the 15 passengers on the bus I was the only one who paid the fare. And mind you this wasn't just in poorer neighborhoods, this was a trip starting from Bricktown, and not ONE paid the fare. Boy do I feel like an idiot

Absolutely maddening.

I am honestly surprised when the MTA mentioned that only 20% of SI local riders don't pay their fare, that number should be at least 50%.

 

And when you complain to the MTA you get this generic response

Please be advised that if a customer boards an MTA New York City Transit bus or an MTA Bus Company bus without paying a fare with a MetroCard or coins, bus operators are required to inform the customer that the fare is $2.75 (or $6.75 for express buses). If the customer refuses to pay or ignores the bus operator and takes a seat, the bus operator is not required to take any further action to attempt to collect the fare.

While this may seem unfair to honest, fare-paying customers already on board, we must emphasize that bus operators are not law-enforcement officers and are not expected to take personal risks to collect fares. If a customer does not pay a fare, the bus operator presses a button on the farebox to register that fact. This creates a statistical record which is shared with the New York City Police Department to track and combat fare-evasion trends.

As such, we have forwarded your report to the NYPD Transit Bureau for their review and appropriate action.

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

 

Geez that certainly assure riders that they will take appropriate action... no wonder why more and more people don't pay. 

NYPD can board any bus in SI in any direction, at anytime of the day and I guarantee they could give out half a bus load of tickets.

Not only that, many fare evaders are traveling only a couple of stops down the line, completely wasting my time. You mean to tell me you couldn't walk 4 blocks?

 

 

We can not continue to allow this causal fare beating to continue. I can guarantee I am not the only one to think, if no one else pays why should I? This will just lead to a sloe decline in the fare paying passengers.

I am hoping all door boarding comes quicker. SI and the Bronx should be the first to have it. 

 

 

It's all bark and no bite.

The bite was lost a long time ago. 

7 hours ago, Phoenix said:

Just came from 180 Livingston, just found out  they allow up to 6 points for bus operators. I felt bad because someone got turned away for having more than that. As soon as you reach a window they take your IDs and run your license. I went today for another exam I just wanted to give you guys the information.

Under the 19A laws you cannot have 9 or more points on your license or you cannot drive a passenger vehicle in service unless the points are reduced below that threshold

1 hour ago, Jdog14 said:

It would be nice if transit didn't govern the damn buses to 40. These buses move too slow being capped so low. 

 

Driving at 55 feels slow imagine 40  

That's a Vision Zero thing

I smacked my right side mirror into some scaffolding and the convex popped out like two weeks into going out on my own. It was deemed a preventable and I was sent to Zerega for a day. They'll just counsel you. I had about two separate incidents and a non-preventable happen my probie year. Sometimes trouble just finds you.

7 hours ago, KDGallagher said:

Everyone who requested queens or Staten Island go their transfer yesterday when we did the GI day. This was day 10 for me. 
 

everyone who didn’t request a transfer was forced to Michael J Quill. This would have been my 3rd choice if given a choice so I can’t really complain. I know the area well and have family who live along a few of these routes. 
 

anyone here have experience working any of these MJQ routes? Apparently this depot is high seniority, I wonder why they had so many openings

You basically answered your own question. High retirement rates due to the more senior guys finding their way out. Same deal at Gleason with it being such a large depot. 

15 hours ago, GojiMet86 said:

 

 

 

 

 

Some kid has been playing around with the depot stickers, placing the old Hudson Pier sticker on top of the Quill sticker on buses.

I've seen a certain post online somewhere where they basically outed themselves...

3 hours ago, XcelsiorBoii4888 said:

Man I rode a College Point C40LF today, 619. When I tell you those buses are SOLID....they are SOLID!! Yoo those buses are by FAR the best built and highest quality fleet of buses in the MTA fleet. 10 years old?? Feel like they're just hitting their 1 year mark

I haven't been on one in a few years, but after just riding the Q44 right before it was like night and day. I really wish the Xcelsiors were built like that...it's actually insane the difference. Idk if frame has to be built different to support the CNG tank but my goodness. I was really really impressed. I wonder if the JG buses are holding up the same. 

They are overall solid buses to drive. You don't feel their weight much in their steering. Very light. I always make it a point to pull one out when given the choice but I'll take an XN40 here or there...

On 12/4/2021 at 9:51 AM, Q43LTD said:

How about, you didn't say anything, you drove the bus? 

There were many a time when I would warn people about getting in a bus so close to its terminal, but after a while with all the "I know, just riding to so and so" replies you pretty much stop caring. 

Then you get the opportunists who like to sneak in through the rear doors when people leave. I really can't help those kinds of people, they're on their own. 

5 hours ago, B35 via Church said:

 

Regardless of whatever's put up on a destination sign and/or a paper sign, the attitude is that pax. expect you to be the bus (in this case, service tyoe) they need at that particular time, no questions asked.

Also related to this, it always amazes me how people jump on a line at a bus stop that multiple routes serve & blindly board the first bus that arrives - expecting it to be the bus (or service type; local/LTD) they need... It's a combination of entitlement , laziness, & quite frankly, the notion that *since there's a line for something, it must be for something good* - in this case, the bus they need....

*If you're not the bus I need, then TURN into the bus I need... Why? Because I'm MEEEeeeeee*

 

It is especially funny when heading towards Brownsville and stopping at Mother Gaston when I get the

"You not going any further?"

"Oh shit, I thought this was the B15"

LOL

1 hour ago, trainfan22 said:

All those "official" tags surrounding this thread reminds me of when B/Os in Brooklyn would put a whole bunch of limited signs in front of the bus lol. Most had one or two but I remember B6s with a excess amount of them. Sometimes they had limited AND green express signs in front of the bus!

 

Because people are still gonna ask the same question despite the destination sign saying otherwise...

"Is this a local?"

"Oh man, I didn't know this was a limited!"

4 hours ago, KDGallagher said:

I don’t know what list number they’re up to. I do know there’s quite a few people from the previous test who are going thru the process now though. A lot of 7612 people 

 

I saw a girl with a list number in the 2000s from this list though. 
 

tomorrow is day 7! Very excited. We all did well today. There was a tricky light that almost caught us up around union square, the countdown for the pedestrians wasn’t on the right hand side, only on the left, we all almost ran the yellow but didn’t. 
 

the tricky part about Manhattan isn’t the car traffic but the bikes and the people. A lot of people in Manhattan view their bike ride as more important than being safe around a bus. They’ll squeeze thru the smallest spaces 

You got this in the bag. Day 6 was tougher than day 7 for me. I actually bombed on day 6 when I was tripped up by one of the turn signal lights. Your instructor will pretty much test you on what you learned later so stay on your toes!

11 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

And going back to those CNG buses on the Spring Creek lines, I'm sure you saw the notices that the  would put up on those buses apologizing about how uncomfortable they were and how they were moving to the more comfortable MCI coach buses. Let me tell you... Those were some of the worst buses I have ever ridden. The "cushioned" seats were like bricks and God help you if you wanted to sit in the forward facing two seaters. Your legs would be crushed in them. I used to actually wait for another bus when I saw those. In my mind, paying for such a service for what is a long-ride and getting those buses were an insult, with no level of comfort whatsoever. Hell, you would get more comfort paying $2.75 and taking those local buses.

Speaking of the local buses, remember when they had the cloth "cushioned" seats on those? I certainly do. I think it was Bloomberg that toured the buses, but the  eventually went back to the hard seats, as those cloth seats required much more maintenance and when the seats wore out, forget it. They were disgusting to sit on. Hard seats belong on the local buses and they are quite comfortable today compared to the old local buses. Less maintenance too. 

As much as I enjoyed the cushioned seats on the Ulmer Park lines, those seats were literally destroyed. You have the coils sticking out in some seats and with the narrow aisles, standing snd getting off of the bus was a mess when they were crowded.

As for fare beating, I agree. They have spent years talking about it, and have done nothing to address it, or perhaps they have backed off because of some incidents with the NYPD. 
 

The only problem I ever really noticed with the suburban seated buses was their lack of capacity. Everything else seemed fine. It was problematic to get off the buses if they were SRO and you weren't near any of the exit doors. They were still a decent ride after all that when I used to ride the Q27 and/or the Q12 back then.

1 hour ago, paulrivera said:

Sorry for the double post, but Jesus what a mess.

Wow. They're definitely going to have to put a lot of these guys in place after that

4 hours ago, KDGallagher said:

is this list ta or oa?

7612 is a TA exam

6 hours ago, MarkieMark said:

I'm just wondering what is going on with this particular list. It's been awhile and nothing. I'm aware of the pandemic setting lots of things back not to mention the issues with the MTA and NYC as a whole but any info on who to contact or what to do if anything would be greatly appreciated 

This list should have been close to exhausted by now if they're calling names off of 9604, what is your list number if so? There were only like 2800+ who made it on this list.

6 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

All door boarding is going to be really problematic because fare evaders will sky rocket, and unless they're going to hire more eagle teams, they're going to run a deficit.

It won't work unless there is a way to confirm that everyone on board has paid. That's where OMNY comes in once the MetroCard is phased out along with cash fare payments going the way of the dodo.

At least I would assume that is what the final plan will be...

On 11/24/2021 at 10:56 PM, danielhg121 said:

I know unofficially, employees just flash their pass and walk on the bus. But I think I read somewhere in a pdf document that MaBSTOA employees can only ride MaBSTOA buses, BC employees can only ride BC buses. Why is that the case? And if a MaBSTOA employee were to swipe onto an MTA Bus Company express bus, would the swipe go through fine? It just seems so backwards and the fact that one might have to pay get to work at the same agency is ludicrous. 

Our employee passes work on all buses now as per the recent contract

5 hours ago, KDGallagher said:

Drove a lil day 1, biggest issue was keeping 4 feet of space from the car to my left. I forget this is a big ass bus lol 

Takes a little getting used to but you will get the hang of it. Make sure you are not just looking ahead, watch those mirrors and especially your rear wheels in the right side mirror! 

You will most likely do your initial 7-day qualification process in South Jamaica or the surrounding areas. Depends on your superintendent.

25 minutes ago, EastFlatbushLarry said:

yes, but over those years they repeatedly hinted at closure and gave that half assed reasoning. it was well-known that the depot was built on an African cemetery and to the unions credit (for what it's worth these days) they vigorously opposed. they gradually took away sat/sun rdo's and robust run pay out of 126 (on the 66/72) which sent alot of people running to (or back to) Brooklyn to tie up big money in Grand Avenue, Flatbush (B2/31/49) or ENY (B12/25 Q24/56) or they took the hit by working in OA

by the time they were done making two six unappealing, they had a skeleton crew up there. btw, guess where everyone who had S/S rdo's or a money run on the 15 went? right to 100 street to work a pm or late run or Hale. i was somewhat surprised to find quite a few hale ppl went back (even though they lost the 2, the 19 and the 33)

Damn, that's cold