QM1to6Ave

Bus 3022 signed up as a QM5 appears to be broken down on the LIE to Queens. Sitting in the middle of the LIE with his flashers on.

Excellent! I also hope people actually fill out the surveys they had on the bus and mail them back. I was the only one to hand it back to the MTA worker who was travelling with us (though, to be fair, I did not get off at the last stop, but overall it looked like people were ignoring them).

Wow, that is great! Hopefully this is a sign of some service increases/restorations across express service

My QM6 this morning has the paper MTA Bus Express service customer travel surveys on every seat. At first I thought it was old newspapers no one had cleaned up lol. I'm writing some not positive reviews, to put it mildly.

But how will the technology know how many people exit the bus? The express bus is much easier since no one gets off before the closed door travel segment.

I get how they are useful for express buses, since they all have 57 or so seats, but on locals, how useful is that data? What's the upper limit on capacity on those local buses?

SO theoretically the app where you can see how many open seats are on the bus could be on the horizon soon-ish?

Yes, but what is it? I'm picturing some CSI computer lol. What is the B/O supposed to do, swab his face after getting spat on?

I've been seeing buses with signs that say "this bus is equipped with a DNA kit." What the hell is that?

It also doesn't help that the bus lanes on 57 street in front of Trump tower are useless because of the security barriers which make the lane too small for buses

Will these new LFS buses have better seating layout than the original ones? I hate the layout on QV's LFS buses

One of my friends in high school used his student metrocard for part of the QM2 fare (it used to cover 50% of the fare or something). I remember him telling me how the B/O used to give him a hard time, and my friend had to print out the Metrocard rules and show it to the B/O, and then pay the rest of the fare in quarters.

I happened to see the 16:00 QM5 pass by Union Tpke and 164th street at 17:15. I don't know what games were being played, but it should not take that long to get to that stop

Hahaha city-owned vehicles are the worst offenders. My favorite are the NYPD Traffic vehicles that sit parked in the bus lanes

Here is my specific list: 4:00 pm QM1 from 36th and 6th to Fresh Meadows: Run is missing approximately 4/5 weekdays each week 4:30 pm QM1 from 36th and 6th to Fresh Meadows: Run is missing approximately 3/5 weekdays each week 6:30 pm QM1 from 36th and 6th to Fresh Meadows: Run is missing approximately 3/5 weekdays each week 7:00 pm QM1 from 36th and 6th to Fresh Meadows: Run is missing approximately 3/5 weekdays each week 6:15 pm QM31 from 38th and 3rd to Fresh Meadows: Run is missing approximately 2/5 weekdays each week 7:00 pm QM6 to NST and 7:03 PM QM5 to Glen Oaks are often late...many times, they are both late on the same days, suggesting they are both caught in traffic and can't make it back to the Manhattan terminal in time for the runs. 8:25 and 8:55 QM35 from Glen Oaks to Midtown: Runs are missing approximately 1/5 weekdays, and are often 30-40 minutes late on other days. I have seen it come 1 hour+ late on occasions General issues: In general, the morning runs to Manhattan have been slow due to delays on Union Turnpike. This seems to be an effect of the recent Q46 cuts. The lines for Q46 are dangerously long (e.g., at Union Turnpike and 150th Street), which leads to very long dwell times for the Q46 buses. In turn, this slows the EXP runs because they have to switch out of the parking lane that is open to traffic during rush hours. I know your meetings focus on express issues, but if you can bring up the Q46 as well, I would greatly appreciate it. It seems to have a direct effect on the express lines. I think people are switching to the QM1/5/6 from the Q46 because of these cuts. The QM5/35 runs often have been SRO morning and evening, even outside of peak hours (e.g., the 7:05, 7:13, and 7:20 am QM5 runs from Glen Oaks, and the 7:26, 7:35, 7:45 am QM35 runs from Glen Oaks. If any Union Tpke line gets increased services, it should be the QM5/35. If any Union Tpke EXP service gets increased, it should be the QM5. The QM1 seems to be the redheaded stepchild of the corridor, as it is the most likely to not show up. None of the 30XX buses at CP have WiFi installed, presumably because the buses will be replaced “soon,” even thought 30XX buses at other depots have WiFi. The new buses, as far as I know, will not be delivered for at least a year (correct me if I am wrong), and this is ridiculous. And the 2XXX buses are the biggest POS buses, with broken handrails and broken seats. They need to be retired ASAP, or at least retrofit the older buses with WiFi. Of course, I care more about having runs filled than WiFi, but WiFi does make my life easier so I can work on my laptop without tethering issues, and if they are spending the money to install the service and advertise it, at least get it to work right! DOT Issue: There is a utility repair project on 2nd ave between 36th and 35th street. I can’t understand why they need to do this work during peak travel times—it causes backups all the way into the HOV lane and Midtown tunnel. Ridiculous. Thanks again for doing this!

I'm going to compile my list later today and post it! THanks for doing this!

I didn't even realize they only give an hour and seven mins total. On a typical weekday, it is only by Utopia and Union in an hour and seven mins. And totally agree about the kneeling issue.

That's great! Ill keep an extra eye out on the Union Tpke corrider throughout the week and report any issues.

Don't expect that this genius employee will be able to comprehend English. He could still make trouble for you,

As always, much appreciated!

The 7 pm QM1 to Queens continues to never show up. I didn't see it even once this week. Last night was especially bad since the 7 pm QM5 and 7:03 QM6 also did not show up

I find it very suspicious that that 4:00, 4:30, and 7:00 pm QM1 runs to Queens almost never show up. I have noticed this pattern for 3 years now, even on days with no traffic and all the other runs are on time. I hope I am wrong, but I have a suspicion that since the QM5 and 6 make almost all of the stops of the QM1, these buses disappear since they figure the passengers can take the other buses. I hope I am wrong, but this pattern is ridiculous.

I can't even imagine having to take the full route so often LOL. Sounds awful, even off-peak

Are there ever more than 2 buses scheduled for be leader/followers together? I often see 3-4 Q46's all pull up within 10 seconds during off-peak times when there isn't much traffic, and I wonder if these are actual bunching or leader/followers

I don't have any different points to add. I think the increased hours of service, new buses, and reduce missing buses are the most critical issues, personally.