QM1to6Ave

Thanks for posting this! Any idea which 5 exp lines they are referencing (which seems separate from the X63/64 increase,)

My grandfather just got a new senior Metrocard a week ago in the mail, and the letter is very vague about when an OMNY card will be mailed. They are pushing hard to have people link a card/phone/watch to their senior account. As if my grandfather and his elderly pals want to do that LOL They also dont tell you which booths are still doing transactions to transfer over the old card onto the new one. I had to look it up for him online

Thanks! The way it was worded, it seemed like they were cutting off access entirely between GCT and GCM!

I got this email, which confused me, from the MTA. Does this mean you can still transfer from GCT to GCM outside of those listed hours, but there are fewer options? Im not sure which passageways they are referring to that will be closed? Starting April 29, the LIRR and Metro-North cross-passageways north of 45 St in Grand Central will be open on weekdays from 6:30AM to 9:30PM and closed on weekends and holidays. Note: The 47 St/Madison Av entrance will remain open for LIRR riders, but access to Metro-North tracks will not be available on evenings and weekends. To transfer between Metro-North and LIRR, use the Dining Concourse or Biltmore Room escalators. Please allow additional travel time. .

Looks like I might get some free tickets from a colleague to the hockey game at UBS Arena on Tuesday night. I’ll probably take LIRR there and back, but I’ve read there is a long walk to the game and that the trains are often packed. Any one have advice for the trip?

That is very interesting information! Yeah, I can think of only 1 or 2 old timers I still see driving regularly on my routes. Even the guys I used to see who got hired around 2009 have mostly disappeared. I see a few on occasion, but I see so many new faces regularly, which suggests lots and lots of turnover on these picks.

I'm sure they figure they will just pick a different line. Given the crazy high absenteeism level, there is more than enough work to go around to just barely fill service, even if they made cuts.

Right, that is my point. The CP B/Os don't have any consequences for their actions, so they do everything they can to avoid having to work. You may remember my posts from the height of covid, when I had to get VG8 to contact MTA higher-ups to get the dispatchers to meet me at my stop, to catch the B/Os who were turning off their signs and blowing past me, so they could have empty buses and not drive into the city. Ever since then, I've noticed that B/Os don't say "you're welcome" when folks say "thank you", they don't kneel the bus, they block seats, they sit at the terminal and leave a few minutes late consistently, and all sorts of other small things that just drive away riders over time. I actually did listen to a City Council hearing from a few days ago, with Richard Davey, who made a point of saying they are looking into expanding EXP service concurrent with congestion pricing, but then also noted that absenteeism on the DOB side is statistically significantly higher now than in years past, and they didn't really indicate any solutions to this. He did also note they are trying to improve bus tracking to include tracking on detours, which is nice.

I know it sounds crazy, but these guys will do anything to annoy passengers so they stop going on that bus. I've seen them be incredibly petty with passengers they don't like

I 100% believe the BOs do it to keep people off of their buses so they can have empty runs. I think since covid, they got spoiled woth empty buses and never wa t to go back to full runs

THank god I've been able to avoid having to take the bus too many times per week because of some job modifications. It's been a while since I encountered a real a-hole B/O, but today's guy on the QM1 takes the cake. He blocked off 4 sets of seats (i.e., both sides of the two front rows) with his personal belongings and tying all the seatbelts together like a spider web, plus he flipped up all of the wheelchair seats. The bus ended up getting fairly crowded, so a lady flips down one wheelchair seat. The B/O starts yelling at her "I put that seat up for a reason! You can't put down the seat" Meanwhile, she got on at the last pick-up stop so there is clearly no wheelchair passenger. The lady apologizes and moves to a different seat. If it was me, I would have yelled "what is the reason? Go ahead and call command and tell them your reason for blocking seats and causing an ADA violation. Let's see what they say, jacka**" I was too tired to take pictures and report the B/O like I used to do, because nothing ever happens anyway to get these guys in trouble.

Ha! Sounds like something new every day, cool!

Got it, that sounds cool. Is that more interesting or more boring than being on the (F)oxtrot?

What are you switching to?

I see the Eagle Team on the M15 much more frequently in the last few weeks (as in, I never saw them once for about 7 years on the line), but even they have no power to actually stop someone who just walks away from them. I've even see Transit cops working with the Eagle Team, and they let people slip right past them without getting tickets.