QM1to6Ave

19 minutes ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

To put things into perspective, NJ Transit constantly does promotions every season. The MTA definitely has room for improvement in that regard.

Yeah, and they are still having B/O's collecting coins on their routes lol...the MTA could do all sorts of things with OMNY promotions and so forth

6 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

New Haven technically doesn’t count, but Harlem tickets to/from Fordham are accepted despite being in different fare zones.

Which brings up a good question, why is Botonical Garden not a seasonal stop on the New Haven line? Seems a lot of people go to Fordham just to come back up one stop.

I think the MTA broadly could benefit from more creative collaboration with public events, spaces, etc and have some mutually beneficial cross-promotion...the site gets advertised, and the MTA gets more customers (especially on their more expensive, underused modes of transit). I've seen more efforts at this in the past few years, but there is a lot more room for growth. 

On 5/21/2023 at 3:00 PM, checkmatechamp13 said:

The West Hempstead Branch isn't within walking distance of the Hempstead Branch. Riders would end up having to take a bus to reach either the Babylon/Long Beach Branches or Hempstead Branch.

What time is that shuttle?

They could just do inbound/outbound. Reverse-peak ridership should always be encouraged on any commuter mode, since the marginal cost is low (Since B/Os would otherwise be deadheading back to their home depot).

In any case, I think reason would be that the B/O might log in as the opposite direction (So if it's a Midtown-bound SIM8, it might log in as an Arden Heights-bound SIM8 and accidentally charge the senior citizen half price for a peak trip).

Funny enough, I was just talking with someone who lives in west hempstead and she was saying that she purposely takes the long walk to one of the Hempstead stations as her exercise, and when her neighbors pass her while she is walking, they offer her a ride and look at her like she's crazy when she says she wants the long walk LOL. I think she lives on the edge of west hempstead so it isn't such a crazy long walk

Any word on express bus unlimited pass getting programmed into OMNY? At this point, I'm going to probably change jobs and not need it anyway past the fall, so I'll switch to OMNY for PPR after that

I have to say, I really like having the private security guards at Union Tpke station. They really do seem to be preventing farebeating by blocking the emergency exit door, and the sketchy weirdos have mostly disappeared. And they successfully cleared out the homeless lady who had been living on the staircase by the court house stairs for years. 

On 5/21/2023 at 3:47 PM, B35 via Church said:

Hell, that's what goes on now with the n15..... I know you're merely throwing the options out there, but to be specific with what's going on currently (due to the W. Hempstead branch running like shit), riders from W. Hempstead tend to take the n15 towards Hempstead in the morning if they need another bus to complete their commute, and the longer ride towards RVC more if they want the train... You won't catch too too many ppl. taking the n15 from W. Hempstead specifically for the Hempstead branch....

Can't say I blame them (as there's something I never cared for about the Hempstead branch (not just the one station, but the whole branch).... Of the times I was around Hempstead & didn't feel like fighting/jockeying for position with the crowds to board the n6 (have to put up with enough of that crap here in Brooklyn), I'd find myself taking the n40 to the main line.... One thing I'll say about the n40 b/w Hempstead & Mineola is that it can be surprisingly quick, or a complete drag... No in-between.

Yep... I was just speaking to the varied nature of what constitutes the peak direction for buses coming from the different outerboroughs of this city, compared to all LIRR trains coming from the one direction...

Before it didn't bother me, but I'm finding as I get older, b/o's having the wrong sign up is increasingly irking me.... Not that it matters, but I do wonder what percentage of it is due to honest forgetfulness, in comparison to b/o's simply not giving a damn... I don't want to hear it's 100 / 0 in favor of the former, because with the games some of these b/o's play out here, it would be a flat out lie....

When you say the West Hempstead branch runs like sh*t, do you just mean it has bad headways, or also lots of late/missing trips, etc?

Also, thank you to you and@danielhg121, I used City Ticket through the app for Penn-->Forest Hills today. The conductor definitely gave me a second look when I showed the ticket, but then moved on. I knew what to say to him if he gave me a hassle

3 hours ago, danielhg121 said:

Yes. Peak fares will always supersede off-peak fares anyway. Since you’re going opposite peak direction, this is an off-peak trip. CityTicket is fine.

11 minutes ago, B35 via Church said:

To both of you: The problem is that they emphasize off peak hours, instead of off peak trips.... Even though it's an option, they really don't want City Ticket to catch on.

To QM1to6thAve: Peak trains aren't just time period specific, but also direction specific - AM rush towards Penn, PM rush leaving Penn...... While you would be traveling during peak hours, you wouldn't be on a peak train riding from Penn to get to Forest Hills..... So as Daniel said, you're fine.

Thank you both for the quick replies! Much appreciated!

Yeah, it threw me off because I juat learned from this group that on the EXP bus, peak hours are in effect regardless of direction (such as for reduced fare cards). Go figure lol

Question--Can I use a City Ticket on an LIRR train from Penn Station to Forest Hills during the morning rush hour (around 9 am)? The MTA site seems to say that peak fares are only charged in the morning going towards NYC, not from NYC to Queens, but it isn't totally clear to me. Can someone confirm that?

Asking for a co-worker who is about to get a Reduced Fair (Senior) Metrocard...for express buses, is the full fare charged during peak hours on all runs, or only those in the peak travel direction? (for example, if traveling from Manhattan-->Queens at 8:30 am on a weekday, is it full fare?). I tried googling but can't find the answer.

3 hours ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

Last night I had a driver on the Q84 skip me at the routes first stop at 237th street and 129th Ave in front of a lit up bus shelter. Caused me to wait almost double time for the bus. He figured he would keep on the “Not In Service” sign as a way to keep me from boarding just so that he could turn it on when he got to 120th Ave. So I reported his behind because I’m tired of some of these drivers doing whatever they want. The next driver had his sign up for Jamaica as normal and had no trouble seeing and stopping for me. Got lucky with back to back LFS coneheads on the Q84 and Q20. 

I'm sorry you had that happen. That is the lowest sh*t these drivers can pull. I'm glad you reported him, and if you don't get an adequate response, email your local representatives about it.

5 hours ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

Yeah, I've been having this same issue  for a hot minute now. Sometimes as we're boarding, the person in front of me will dip and the machine will take like close to 10 seconds before it spots the card out, and then I put mine in and then two seconds later spits it out with a "READ ERROR". 

I think many B/Os already know and they'll just tell you that's it's alright, but some will tell you to try again, or even feel some type of way after several tries (they do let me on though). Like what am I supposed to do?

On the flip side, the card works normally whenever I swipe at the subway turnstiles. 

Ha, yup, I'm convinced the farebox ruins my card in these instances, because there are no scratches or bends on the card.

The worst was one time a farebox just ate my card completely and the B/O got pissed at me because he had to open up the top of the box to retrieve the card, as if I caused the janky-a** box to eat my card!

20 hours ago, Cait Sith said:

To me, that very, very much depends. Subways it hasn't been as bad, but buses.....it's been a very wishy-washy experience with me as of late.

One of the most annoying things that has been happening with me lately is when a farebox f**ks up my metrocard from being read, and it's even more annoying when I have an unlimited and the card is potentially damaged.

And coincidentally, this has always started when I board a Q24 or Q56.

I don't know what causes it, but I've only had problems with ENY's buses and their fareboxes, which then sometimes leads me to having to swipe a thousand times at the turnstile to get into the subway. I have had a total of six cards since the year started that ended up getting read errors and constant "please swipe again" messages because of some fareboxes.

I just had that same damn experience with an Exp farebox killing my brand-new Metrocard, which had a full 7-day Exp bus pass loaded onto it. An S/A once told me that the bus fareboxes, especially if you take exp buses everyday, kills Metrocards. I know OMNY has a lot of gltiches, but I would like to finally try out an OMNY card with an unlimited EXP bus pass on it, if they ever bother to make that option available.

2 hours ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

I will say is that in comparison to OMNY, the metrocard has less read errors overall when collecting fare. Sometimes with OMNY you’ll have to tap a few times to get the OMNY reader to recognize the tap and there has been a few times where myself or someone couldn’t pay because the OMNY reader wasn’t recognizing our cards. 

Agree with this 100%

This is a new one...I saw a CP Prevost with the front destination sign saying "CHARGING" (I think the side sign was blank, as was the rear sign)

Is this sone secret EV/hybrid mode or something lol?

21 hours ago, SoSpectacular said:

Not happening until cash fares/Metrocards are fully phased out

What's the logic behind that? Let the people who want to pay with OMNY/credit cards use either entrance to cut down on dwell time, and maybe get more people to ride the bus if it's faster

I was pleasantly surprised to see two private security guards at Union Tpke station, near the courthouse entrance which is always a little sketchy, and they finally removed the homeless lady who literally lived on the staircase for years

On 4/21/2023 at 10:56 PM, 7-express said:

I talked about the incident to one of my usual B/Os and she mentioned that there's someone at CP depot who's main job is to test the lifts every day on every bus so they're supposed to be working when they go out.  So it's pretty surprising to see it fail on that many buses in a row as in this particular incident.

I'd put money on that job being a BS, cushy job for someone with an uncle or whatever high up in the union 

2 hours ago, 7-express said:

Anecdotally, I have seen fewer front seats blocked off this month but it could very well because of different drivers with this pick.

Yup, some of the worst offenders have disappeared from the runs I take, thankfully. Seems like a lot of different faces this pick 

13 hours ago, Snorunts said:

It's probably in case a local bus runs on a SBS route.

Right, but why not just make all routes have all-door boarding to speed things up at this point? If the technology is already in place, it seems silly to not use it. 

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.

1 hour ago, Calvin said:

Just a point out, please be safe when you ride the bus. Today, on the B82-SBS, there were eagle team members at Flatlands and Livonia Av. One passenger had a firearm was escorted to the machines but, ended up opened fire at the members outside at the said area. No one was injured at that time. Happened around 6:20 AM.

https://abc7ny.com/bus-shot-shooting-mta-brooklyn/13148166/?ex_cid=TA_WABC_FB&utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR32MDdH8a19-EoQAqaI6HS32LLhDld16bX7OZ2RRHAB6UJifkGA6FRsqlo#lgmg3itsn2uusatewc8

 

Jesus! Interestingly, yesterday on the M15 SBS (not at the stop, on the actual bus), there were 3 Eagle Team members, except instead of checking tickets, each one stood at a door and rode the bus for a few stops. I've seen MTAPD, NYSP, and NYPD TD do that in the past at times, but this was the first time the eagle team was providing some sort of security (or at least that's what it looked like they were doing)

For anyone who takes CP routes regularly, I just heard back from one of my elected officials, to whom I complained about the blocked seat issue. This is what they told me:

"I heard back from my contact at the MTA - she spoke with the Depot and they have made announcements and spoken with operators. Please let me know if you continue to see these issues."

So, please post on here if you continue to see blocked seats and send in complaints with specific times, routes, etc.

I have personally started to see some improvements in this area...

On 3/21/2023 at 4:07 PM, Icebreaker768 said:

QM5 / QM6 major problems in the afternoon

Hell of a commute today, Long story below:

Took the 1:40 PM QM5 out of Glen Oaks. Everything was fine until we arrived at Union Turnpike and Parsons BLVD. Wheelchair person attempted to board the bus, and the lift broke down on a NEW bus.The B/O of the QM5 was very kind and understanding. We were delayed by at least 20 mins for the first attempt, then a QM6 pulled up behind us, and we all moved to the QM6. The wheelchair individual tried to board that bus and then the lift AGAIN broke down. This was a new bus so what the heck??

At this point we are delayed for 1hour+, and people are requesting Ubers from Eastern Queens all the way to the city because the entire express bus on Union Turnpike is delayed. We end up having to wait for a third bus. The wheel chair individual again attempts to board the bus again.

On the Third attempt, me and another passenger who are both engineers were able to help the three Bus Operators get the individual on {Lift was having trouble at first going up}. First and foremost this is unacceptable that the new busses are not able to get a wheelchair man on the bus. 

Second all of us passengers deserve a refund after being delayed for at least an hour, bus operators were very helpful and kind and it wasn't their fault, but we should not have been delayed 1 hour getting into the city, we all were late to work, and some had to take Ubers all the way down to Queens. College point operators the three of them were very kind and understanding.

 

Below are all the photos and videos I took of this incident:

Bus Operator on phone with College Point Mechanics

Image 1: 

<a href="https://ibb.co/MSkmYMF"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/6w0k3gj/IMG-1883.jpg" alt="IMG-1883" border="0"></a><br /><a target='_blank' href='https://geojsonlint.com/'>geojson coordinates order</a><br />

 

Lift breaking down on second NEW bus Qm6

Image 2:

<a href="https://ibb.co/8K5xyXf"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/LktgTvc/70111278296-52838904-F3-E0-4616-9024-225625-F2382-C.jpg" alt="70111278296-52838904-F3-E0-4616-9024-225625-F2382-C" border="0"></a><br /><a target='_blank' href='https://geojsonlint.com/'>geo file online</a><br />

 

Video of Lift breaking down:

<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/810290835?h=c669cec056" width="640" height="1138" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/810290835">IMG_1884.MOV</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/user95423446">Icebreaker768 roblox</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

Video of ALL OF US STRANDED 1 HOUR +

<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/810290022?h=94da572f85" width="640" height="564" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

Tweet to MTA:

 

(I missed this post somehow until now)

Oh boy, that's ridiculous. I recognize those B/Os, good guys. I've only seen one wheelchair passenger get onto/off of a Prevost, and the B/O didn't really know what he was doing. I think they use the lifts so infrequently that they A- break down and B- the B/Os forget how to use them without regular practice/use

One of my coworkers today was telling me how shocked he was that the AriTrain doesn't accept OMNY or any contactless credit cards, and the lines for the MVMs were so long that the staff just opened the gates for everyone to prevent overcrowding. It seems like it should be relatively simple to apply the Cubic readers to the AirTrain gates, but this is the MTA we are talking about...

I've got a funny question...as context, there's a real a**hole B/O on the QM35 I get frequently, who blocks seats with his belongings and argues with anyone who tries to sit there because "I don't want nobody sitting there". I've filed multiple complaints about him, @Via Garibaldi 8 is aware of this issue, etc.

This B/Os other trick is that he always moves up one of the wheelchair seats so it is not usable (and trust me, he is not getting a wheelchair rider in the same position every single day of the week, he is doing this to reduce ridership on his bus). He always has one of the new Prevosts, so I was wondering if there is a way to move the seat back into position easily? I'm tempted to just do it myself the next time I get on his bus and it is packed.

I've never seen the wheelchair system be used on the new Prevost, so I can't tell how to move the seat on the track, but it must be moveable so B/O's can put in wheelchairs.