QM1to6Ave

Damn, the Queensboro bridge reconstruction is really killing the express buses. Even at this time of night, it’s delaying them about 15 mins. Command really needs to tell them to go via the tunnel until construction is complete. 

Th 53rd and Lex E/M station has signs up that the escalators will be replaced in October, starting with the 3rd Ave entrance. Naturally that's the enteance i use when I take the E to avoid traffic on the bridge with the express bus, so I'm sure that will slow me down. Sigh. 

Awful traffic on the bridge tonight with the queens bound lane being closed for lane replacement. Still no sign of the buses being rerouted to the tunnel, like they should be...

I took an X63 today for the first time in a while, and what a lovely difference from the CP a-holes. No seats blocked, friendly BO who kneeled the bus, and evem told some loud lady to quiet down her loud phone call. What a pleasure. 

7 hours ago, IAlam said:

That reminds me of the X63,64,68 picking up at the taxi stand further up the road instead of bus stop at 1st Ave, it seems a lot of express lines have weird quirks that you don't know if you're not a regular, which isn't great for infrequent riders.

Don't even get me started on the random whims of B/Os who have told me "stand here during rush hour" only to have other B/Os tell me to stand in a completely different part of the stop. 

This nonsense makes me long for the future of autonomous buses, where lazy a** employees are taken out of the equation. 

1 hour ago, 7-express said:

Practically every QM2/20 MCI bus I end up on has the driver blocking the first row with their belongings.  Only on certain buses someone sits up there, usually people the driver likes to talk to.  It hasn't been an issue with the buses I've been on though because they're either carrying less than 25 people or a person is already occupying the seat.

It's so crazy, since none of this nonsense occurs on the QV EXP routes I take. I would take those routes more often if I could, but they are more inconvenient.

I have noticed that sometimes the people the B/O lets sit in the front seat is another B/O or MTA employee, as you said

Thank you as usual for this!!

1 hour ago, IAlam said:

I usually sit a row in front of the screen so I can avoid the light but yeah it desperately needs a night mode.

Honestly, it been pretty bad to the point I'll just pay peak fares on the LIRR now, also with school staring today who knows how bad it'll get. But I've also tried to use the QM21 some late evenings to avoid Queens Blvd and even that saves time over the QM4/5/6. 

Yeah, I'm totally fed up with this. I'll look into the QM21, thanks!

I also had another A**hole B/O today block the front row with his property, and then scream at me when I tried to sit there because it was the only open row, and told me I had to move to the back. Unbelievable. I filed a complaint as soon as I got off the bus. 

30 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I will reach out about this tomorrow and ask - I think a few people in the group have been complaining, but I had no idea as to why. As for late QM5 buses, yes, I have noticed quite a few lately when checking at random times and I mean REALLY late too. Maybe that's why. Was the Asian guy a middle aged guy? If so I have had him a few times. Last time I took the QM1 to Queens he drove it. We're talking pre-pandemic when I had a meeting out in Kew Gardens for work.

Thanks! Yeah, they are doing a deck replacement of all lanes on the upper roadway, one lane at a time. They started with the Manhattan bound side first, and are moving to the Queens bound side. Its bad enough as is, but it's gonna be even worse during the Queens bound side. I see no reason that they cant all get rerouted tov the QMT in the evenings while this is going on. It will save a lot of time sinxe the LIE calms down by then

There are a few middle aged Asian guys, most left over from Queens Surface days. This guy is the skinniest one and has been driving thr 8:10 pm bus for a few years now

6 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I haven't paid attention quite frankly. Next time I get one at night I'll check it out.

 

 

The QM5 is problematic on weekends because it has to do too much, so some trips end late.

@Via Garibaldi 8 I had an interesting experience on the QM5 last night (Tuesday night). I was going to catch the 8:10 PM QM5 to Queens, which I often do on Tuesday nights. There's a big line of passengers waiting at my stop, and I see two QM5's, one right behind the other, on Bustime. I first think it's a glitch, but then I see them both continuing up the route.

First bus comes, and I see it's the usual B/O (Asian guy), and bus is nearly SRO. A whole bunch of people get on and now the bus is nearly full. So, a few of us wait for the next bus, which comes along with only a few people on it. Thank god for this second bus, or I'd have been squeezed in or standing on the first QM5, which has happened before because a lot of people take the bus at that time.

Now, this second QM5 has a smart B/O who takes the QMT to avoid the horrible traffic due to construction on the bridge. When we get to Main Street, I check the tracker and we beat the first QM5 by 18 minutes!

So, I'm first trying to figure out why there were 2 QM5s at the same time (was the second bus really the 7:40 bus very delayed?

Second, can we request the MTA have buses after, say, 7 pm take the QMT instead of the bridge to avoid traffic? It made such a big difference last night. That construction is going to be going on for quite a while from what I can tell.

On 8/29/2022 at 4:06 PM, MHV9218 said:

Yeah, I'm fairly certain some of the 1996s overhauled in the "Program" in 2016 or 2016 made it to 700k or higher. 500k is standard for a bus of 12+ years.

What people might be confusing is the MINIMUM life, not MAXIMUM life. The FTA regulates that federally-funded buses need to run for 12 years OR 500k miles. If a transit agency retires a bus before that point, and it's federally-funded, the FTA can say the agency is delinquent and refuse to give them as much money in the future. So you'll never see the MTA retiring buses before 12 years or 500k miles, unless it's a demo/niche fleet purchased without federal money. After those thresholds are met, then the agency can start retiring the fleet. 

The MTA will run a bus for 700k, 800k miles if they think it's still valuable in terms of replacement cost. That's what happened with the RTS fleet. The OG hybrids or some of the D60s, not so much. 

Exactly. Some of the CP MCIs had well over a million miles and were still being used daily, as of a few months ago. Now they are replacing them with the Prevosts, but some of the 1 million+ buses drove better than the other buses!

On 8/28/2022 at 11:16 PM, trainfan22 said:

Just seen on the local news that an wheelchair rider got robbed ON an Staten Island local bus (S40) . The bum took 250 dollars from the man's shirt pocket, IDK why he was carrying 250 dollars in his shirt pocket. That's what wallets are for if you must carry physical cash for whatever reason.

He might have issues using pants pockets if he is in a wheelchair and has disabilities, but yeah, that is asking for trouble. 

On 9/1/2022 at 12:25 AM, IAlam said:

A couple weeks ago I had a friend take the QM5 to the city on a Saturday (Around 4PM). The bus arrived to the terminal in Queens a little late but still had enough time to make an on time departure. However the bus left over 30 min late to the point I had to tell my friend to go to Union Tpk and take the next QM6, which ultimately beat that QM5. So basically a 90+ min gap in service. Looking back now I probably should have said something then but I was more focused on getting my friend into the city since they we're already 30 min late. 

 

That’s ridiculous. Those weekend buses should run like clockwork, even with 59th street bridge construction. I’d send in a complaint if you remember the date and time. 

18 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I did reach out today to my folks about this because I've been boarding a number of the old express buses where seats are blocked with personal belongings, which should not be happening. Will continue to monitor.

How has service been in terms of the QMs running on-time?

I haven't had any significant issues recently, but traffic and usage has been at summer levels so we shall see what happens after labor day

3 hours ago, GojiMet86 said:

The MTA got them straight from Nova and not as demoes, I just wonder why they chose to have the CTA scheme. Maybe it was easier for Nova to just apply the same scheme instead of making a new one for the MTA?

DId MTA B&T even have a scheme back then? I feel like their vehicles have been a mush of various colors until the Cuomo scheme a few years ago

6 hours ago, IAlam said:

This is what I do, I hate having to wait around for the conductor and just stick it in my seat, and occasionally they don't even collect the ticket.

Yup, that's what my co-workers say as well...if they activate an e-ticket, they can't re-use it, but a paper ticket might not get collected LOL. I can see why the MTA likes e-tickets...good way to get $$$ even with lazy conductors

On 8/12/2022 at 7:31 PM, trainfan22 said:

MTA plans to merge the ETIX app, LIRR & MNR traintime apps into one app sometime this month. So much better than having three separate apps.

Took long enough! I agree, having the different apps is a real pain

Interestingly, Ive recently spoken to monthly riders who still prefer paper tickets so they can sleep and leave the tickets out so the conductor doesn't bother them

10 hours ago, trainfan22 said:

Mayor Adams attended a rally to speed up B41 service today! Nice to see my favorite bus route in NYC get love from the Mayor

 

 

That prospect park - church ave stretch is brutal in the afternoons. 

Knowing Adams, it's all for show and will have zero follow-up to make any changes. But it's okay because he has swagger...

I think I want to join the Eagle Team...I see these guys sitting in their fan every evening on Main Street and Union Tpke, but they only actually get out of the van and check tickets when the weather is nice in Spring and Summer. I swear, there must be no oversight on these teams because 8 months of the year they just sit in their van and literally run out their shift. What an embarrassment. I think I've posted before about the time I saw some lady beating the cr*p out of her kid and screaming in the parking lot right there, and I went over the the Eagle Team guys figuring they are supposed to be former cops and would help in this emergency, but they told me to call NYPD and didn't want to get involved. 

Same on the M34, where the Eagle Team came on for the first time in months. And of course the supervisor had to waste time chit chatting with the B/O

3 hours ago, MTABusTransitFanner said:

The n31 and n32 usually operates every 10-15 minutes on the weekdays, as he mentioned above, ur better off with the n6 or n6X

Thank you! I'd most likely be able to take the LIRR instead of the N6, but I'm glad to know its a reasonable backup

19 minutes ago, B35 via Church said:

Put it to you this way.... The n6 is more reliable than the n31/32.

Ha! Got it! I had a feeling that was the case...

11 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

That’s extremely idiotic. What if another transit agency wanted to buy these?

Perhaps there are stipulations in the funding agreement that these buses would only be sold as scrap? I have no idea, just hypothesizing

3 hours ago, B35 via Church said:

Rode them plenty of times from end to end since during the LIB days; usually do so from HTC (where I tend to have better luck with either route).... Don't know where you need to get to/from, but in general, the n32 is overall busier, but the n31 is the faster ride on the more southern end... Can't really go wrong with either; I don't find them to be too unreliable.... YMMV...

Thabks! Really appreciate it! I think I need to meet a client in the Woodmere area, and I'd normally get a zipcar but using NICE might actually make sense

One more question, is the N6 (not the N6X ) reliable? I'll likely be coming in on LIRR, but I see the N6 mighr be an option if needed as well

Curious if anyone on here has experience with the N31 or N32 lines. I might have to take one of them, was curious how reliable they are.  

5 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

Is someone purposely smashing in all the windows on the retired NG’s that are going for auction? What the hell!

I believe they do that becauee the buses are not supposed to be driven if purchased (ie just for parts), as someone posted a while back (can't remember who)

Someone may have posted about this a while back, but it seems more definite now

https://www.amny.com/news/mtacell-service-subway-tunnels-wifi-stations/?fbclid=IwAR3DqMnvzC54KlA3TK6G9G3Kw3x_RMGb_GC5JTtAXKb7WdjvSDVZyyk5oYY