Via Garibaldi 8

The fact of the matter is, ridership is still only about 60% of pre-pandemic levels overall, so while some buses and trains may be crowded, ridership is only a little more than half of what it normally was pre-pandemic, which for the is no good, given that they rely on fare box revenue for a chunk of their operating budget.

I'll take your word on it, since I'm not sure which subway cars those are. lol

Why? At best this is a cost neutral move and at worst, a service cut. Even if they have enough equipment (if that's what you're focusing on?), they still don't have enough personnel to run the service that they currently have, so either way it's a problem.

I think this is a poor decision. Sure they should increase service on weekends since ridership is growing and has rebounded faster, but they're doing this during the week in JUNE, when more people may be out and about because of warmer weather. This change is coming SIX months from now... I actually avoid traveling with the on Mondays because they can't meet their schedules. They should consider that. They are still struggling with staffing and dealing with cancellations.

Did you read the link they posted? The response as to why was very clear. Ridership is supposedly lighter during those days. Should be straight forward. If it's something that will likely be discussed for several pages, it should have its own thread. If it's just a random thought that can be answered in one or two responses, it probably doesn't need its own thread.

Yes you can. Some new users just put everything in the Random Thoughts Thread because they don't know better.

You can just start a thread specifically for this. Not everything needs to go in the Random Thoughts thread. This should have its own thread for discussion.

Least best? You mean which are the worst...

I think he was pretty clear about what they did, which is not allow him to speak after he raised his hand to do so. This was a virtual meeting via Zoom, so it's easy to control what people do and can't do.

Has anyone been experiencing leaks from the roof on the new Prevost express buses when it rains? I know this has been an issue on the older Prevosts, particularly those on the Staten Island lines. Ridiculous.

Some of the drivers hate those buses. They also don't like being enclosed behind those shields.

The sign issues are the least of the problems. Putting the sign issues aside, none of the other major problems are attributed to any street conditions whatsoever.

Except none of the issues with these buses have to do with rough roads. lol

There is someone in charge and I can assure you they're not overwhelmed. If it wasn't for me complaining, they wouldn't be addressing any of this. So far they've agreed to do the following: -Adjust the seats back to the original Prevost configuration on hundreds of new express buses -Re-program the screens so that the "Stop Requested" signage is displayed when the bell is rung - there is no longer a bell up front (still a work in progress, as there are still issues where the driver is unaware that someone wants a stop when they ring the bell). -Adjust HVAC due to buses being unbearably hot. Had a guy get off of the bus and throw up from being overheated with just a t-shirt on. The opted to make changes to this order knowing that there was things like less leg room due to then wanting more wheelchair spots, yet didn't do anything until I started complaining to them. Aside from that the vendor Prevost has done a poor job with quality control. I've been on several buses where screws are already falling out of the overhead areas, leaving sections just dangling. On the older Prevosts, quite a few of them leak when it rains. I am almost certain the new ones will have the same issue.

These buses are brand new. Destination signage, poor HVAC and a host of other issues... Most of the drivers say that these buses are garbage and quite frankly, I have to agree with them.

These buses are just shoddy and the issues are endless. Some buses already have broken destination signage displays.

These buses have had HVAC issues from the very beginning and some have been sent back to the manufacturer (Prevost). Any bus that you board that is that hot, please file a formal complaint to have it pulled and the air adjusted. Since I last posted, they have started addressing the air problems (there is still some warm air given that it's cold out, but it's not a sauna and at points of the trip, cold air blows out from the side vents to keep it comfortable - the overhead blowers usually don't blow out much like the old ones during these cold months), but it won't happen immediately, so report any of them you encounter. https://contact.mta.info/s/customer-feedback As for the screens, I noticed on Saturday coming home that they also started addressing that, that is reprogramming the screens. Before when ads played, you could not see the "Stop Requested" signage until the bus was practically at the stop, which meant people missing their stop. However, there still seems to be a glitch where when the "Stop Requested" sign is displayed and ads are below that, sometimes there is no sound playing, so it seems as if the driver has no way of being notified when the bell is requested UNLESS they hear the automated stop being announced, so even with the "Stop Requested" signage displayed, the driver still skipped a stop. Smh I have to follow up with the (again) about this (they should be paying me as a consultant at this point for all of the sh*t that's going on with these buses). Truth be told, before Sarah Meyer left, she reached out to me, and I had started talking with them about that issue and their tech team was working on it, but then someone from the tech team left too and apparently it was dropped, so now it's being worked on again since I started following up. As for the blank screen, that sounds like yet another malfunction (I had a new bus like that over the summer where the screens only came on sometimes and other times they went black, even when a stop was requested). The problems with these buses are never ending and so big that it takes a long while to work through the issues since they impact hundreds of buses. As it stands the seat adjustments are happening (noticed the difference on the bus I was on Saturday with more leg room), but with so many of buses to work through, they still have several weeks to go before they will be done (they had to order parts for the Prevost technicians, which were delayed due to COVID), as each bus has to be pulled and sent back to the manufacturer to work on them. I think myself and my contacts are both worn out. None of these issues should've happened, but there seems to be no quality control and just about all of the problems mean these buses have to be sent back to Prevost - I believe these are all issued covered under warranty, so the vendor has to fix them. Judging by some of the issues with the older Prevosts (roof leaking during rainstorms, etc.), I don't have high hopes of these lasting very long. Two different buses...

So far folks in Marine Park have not been pleased to learn that the B2 is being proposed to be eliminated. Assuming they are vocal enough, they may bring it back.

Drivers aren't supposed to be asking for anything. They're supposed to hit F5 and leave it up to the to handle.

Yeah that makes the most sense and is very easy. They can't come around any other way from there unless they go further north.

Good point. Last time I was there I walked around to several stores mainly for some specialty food items. Made my rounds, but before that walking around I noticed that it felt sort of isolated. Couldn't even begin to tell you what transit I would've used if I had to. lol I do know that some people in Bay Ridge shop there, so maybe Bay Ridge or Dyker Heights people will use the bus.

I shop there, but go by car, as do many people. I do wonder how many people would take the bus there.

Yeah they've done that for the other boroughs as well.

What difference does it make? The last stop is City Island Avenue and Rochelle St for the BxM8 and Bx29 in City Island, so they usually just turn there or go down to the very end at Belden Point and turn around. The BxM1 via Inwood doesn't have enough ridership to warrant its own route.

Yes I know what you mean. Just noting that because bus stop elimination is also a big part of this plan and some stops up for elimination are quite popular.