Via Garibaldi 8

10 hours ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

https://flic.kr/p/2oeuKez

 

I uploaded the screenshot of 8080 tracking on the x68 to flickr. There needs to be a better and more modern way of uploading images on this site. 

I agree. It's really annoying,,,

2 hours ago, FLX9304 said:

Actually, it’s not. That is the MTA who oversees it. The Government has nothing to do with it. 

And who do you think oversees the ? The governor....

15 minutes ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

I saw it on Queens Blvd on the main road and there was about 3 people on it. I have a screenshot of 8080 showing up on bus-time on the X68. I don’t know which sites allow me to upload an image onto here. I always found it weird how we don’t have a quick upload feature on these forums. 

That's insane. I definitely want to see that and see if happens again tomorrow. 

25 minutes ago, JustTheSIR said:

I’ve spoken to my dad about going to Jamaica for the GCM shuttle. He says he’s worried about the ice piling up since the Queens section is outdoors. Is this something to be worried about?

Why would it be a problem? Usually when snow is forecasted, the crews come out and salt the platforms, stairs, etc. In any event, there is no snow predicted, so why be worried about it?

11 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

We’re they not using local buses on the overnight QM17 during 2020?

Totally different situation. I'm talking about regular express bus service. They should not be charging $6.75 for that.  I believe when they did send out regular buses on the QM4, they didn't charge.  Having spoken with someone high up about this that oversees the service, express bus service is supposed to use coach buses always unless there is some extenuating circumstance where that isn't possible. In the case of Baisley Park, they were short MCIs (not the first time it has happened) and so they were using a regular bus here and there, which is why a transfer was made after I spoke with the about it.

The overnight service was free, so that's whatever.  

8 minutes ago, Kingsbridgeviewer382 said:

 

Yeah, but the routes were free to ride and it was only during the overnight hours as the MCI's were only let out during normal hours. Yonkers did something similar, but with Manhattan-based ops using the local buses from wherever the driver was based out of.

I took a few of them myself to see how the service ran since I was out late in the City anyway going home. Earlier on they ran MCIs, but when they had problems filling the trips, they would use local buses and operators from wherever.

1 minute ago, NBTA said:

Bus was originally 2253, but I think it’s a broken tracker and the bus is still 2253. It would be extremely late for that bus to be still out (left at 7:30).

Yeah, the trip should've been done over thirty minutes ago and the X68 is usually pretty prompt, so it is all very strange.  I spoke with the  when I first started my group about having local buses run on express lines and the last time that happened was years ago.  They immediately pulled that bus and made a transfer to ensure there were enough MCI buses. I think it was Baisley Park that was using local buses on the QM4.  Haven't seen it since then.

8 minutes ago, NBTA said:

It’s possible, bus used to be 2253.

What do you mean used to be 2253?  

10 minutes ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

If anyone is interested LFS 8080 is heading towards Floral Park on the X68

Probably not correct. No X68s run that late unless a bus broke down or something, but those buses aren't that old, so very strange if true.

8 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

Actually, SEVERAL TIMES it was either when full door OMNY was in effect or when the card was phased out, or 2024… Excuse me for trying to get some clarification.

Actually on the SBS lines, all of the OMNY readers are available for use (there is no reason for them not to be since those lines have all door boarding already - full door OMNY is only not available on non SBS local lines).  The issue right now is that the phasing out of the Metrocard has continued to be delayed/pushed back.

1 hour ago, N6 Limited said:

The Cross-Westchester Expressway is I-287 

As you surely know, I didn't write the letter. The Assemblyman's office did, and yes you are correct, but for some reason, I have seen I-278 used for the Bruckner as well. In any event, not sure why the Bruckner was even mentioned, as we only discussed the Deegan and the area where it becomes narrow and the GWB.  Maybe he felt it necessary to try to alleviate congestion throughout the Deegan, but in any event, it has been better.  Just a question of when the work will finally be complete.

3 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

@Via Garibaldi 8 Once the I-87 reconstruction project has been completed with more lanes, have there been any talks of adding an HOV lane for buses?

I've had this discussion back in early 2019 with Assemblyman Dinowitz at his office. The issue with the Deegan is that it is too narrow in some stretches to install one. He did however write to the State DOT on my behalf and the construction being done actually should alleviate some of the back-ups that exist today, particularly those stemming from the GWB issues. Once that work is complete, traffic should flow better overall, allowing the express buses to move better.

1 hour ago, xD4nn said:

It will not. GCT will shut down between 2-4 or something around that time.

That makes sense, as they shut down for cleaning.

3 minutes ago, jaf0519 said:

I think he is referring to the buses where there is a large metal plate over the seat itself, so no one can sit there. I know on the M31 electric buses those seats are blocked off, but I don’t know if that is just because they are the electric buses or not.

Ahhh. Yeah, that's something totally different. That's definitely not consistent though. Likely due to the amount of space between that seat and where the driver sits.

3 hours ago, 7-express said:

Anyone note any weird issues with the Stop Requested bell system on the newer Prevosts?  I was on one yesterday and the bell kept ringing at random intervals even though no one was pressing it.  And the Stop Requested signal on the screen wouldn't clear when the driver opened the door at the bus stop.  So we just had to revert to folk just yelling out "next stop" in order to get off or standing near the front.

I had a conference call with the  last Thursday and we discussed the latest with the stop requested saga... Again... So, as you may recall, the screens were not programmed properly from the start, so when ads played and someone rang the bell, there was no acknowledgement of the stop being requested until the bus was literally at the stop, which created tons of confusion and people running to the front to make sure their stop wasn't skipped, and in some cases, it was skipped, as the driver apparently only realizes that the bell has been rung when they hear the "STOP REQUESTED" audio played.  Anyway, before Sarah Meyer left she reached out to me in private and I mentioned that this was something that needed to be fixed.  

Well they finally got around to reprogramming the screens, but now the stop requested display remains even after the stop has been made.  I am not quite sure yet how they plan on addressing this, but they are aware of it.  As for your issue, I have experienced this as well. That is not a malfunction.  It's usually someone sitting in one of the wheelchair aisles next to the window and unknowingly pressing up against one of the "STOP REQUESTED" buttons or strips.  That's the only time I've seen that happen and the driver got up and asked the person to move away from the bell. On older buses it sometimes happens when if the driver hit lots of potholes.

-------

@Lawrence St The BxM3 stop by Kingsbridge Rd going to Midtown has been addressed with new signage. The 84th & Madison stop is still pending. Those were the only two you asked about, right?

9 hours ago, Jdog14 said:

 

He means the one loner seat behind the driver in the front of the bus not the seats them selves

Yeah I've seen that seat and it looks like the others, sans any seat cover, hence my confusion.

And the escalators are already having issues... lol

38 minutes ago, Cait Sith said:

 

Grand Central is closed for four hours overnight for cleaning and for security purposes. MTA PD does a pretty good job kicking everyone out.

Correct, but why is everyone saying that Grand Central will be open 24/7 now?  I haven't heard any such news.

15 hours ago, IAlam said:

Also on a side note does anyone know if the MTA is finally removing the seat covers on the new Nova buses. I’m starting to see more CS Novas without the seat cover behind the driver. But I have yet to see cover removed on a QV or JA bus. 

There are local buses with seat covers? News to me. I know I don't ride the local buses much, but I can't recall seeing anything but hard seats on the ones I've been on.

2 hours ago, NoHacksJustKhaks said:

A month? How about a day... I might have seen some homeless people when I was walking into the station today. The stop is so big that I honestly didn't minded them, but I could definitely see that getting out of hand down the line when more of them tell each other.

 

There are always some homeless in Grand Central, but it's usually nothing like Penn Station, in part because there is a homeless outreach unit that goes around.  They are quite active.  Additionally, Grand Central does not stay open 24/7 like Penn Station, so they cannot just stay there indefinitely.  They also don't let them just lounge about. Most of the time you will see them standing on the Lower Concourse.  It used to be worse years ago, but with the more upscale options in Grand Central, you see fewer of them or they make themselves less noticeable. There are patrol desks on both the Main Concourse and Lower Concourse to monitor all activity, so as someone who has frequented Grand Central as MNRR rider and worker in the area for years that has dined there or bought food there often, they will not let it get out of hand like Penn Station.  The merchants using those areas made it clear that the homeless previously were bad for business, so measures were taken to contain the situation.  The opening to the LIRR area used to be filled with homeless before the conversion, so much so that us office workers that frequented Grand Central for lunch couldn't eat in that area.  

Occasionally I would eat lunch on the Lower Level with a co-worker and stopped doing that pre-COVID because there were too many of them walking around, so we would get food and bring it back to our office or eat elsewhere in Grand Central where they couldn't congregate, but now I would eat on the Lower Level with little concern.  Security all over Grand Central has been greatly improved I must say, not just the Concourse levels, but the entrances by Vanderbilt where you will find a few upscale restaurants that I have frequented over the years.

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/grand-central-terminal-business-owners-homeless/

2 minutes ago, KDGallagher said:

Hire more. Not that they really need to, they already have a good amount of dispatchers with no work to do

But I don't think it would hurt to hire more that can not only generate revenue for NYCT but also make bus service more efficient and improve the customer commute. 

The MTA should certainly be able to police their bus stops

Supervisors and Dispatchers aren't the same thing. The Supervisors oversee the Dispatchers.  The real issue in any event is so many cars are parked in bus stops. There would never be enough personnel to get them out.  That's why going the automated route is best where cameras take shots of the license plates and a ticket is sent to the offender in the mail.  Only problem is some people aren't aware of this. Sometimes having a NYPD presence sends the message as well.

2 hours ago, biGC323232 said:

Last Wed i decided to visit a few ppl in Manhatten and the Bronx....Got off Metro north From Stamford at 125-Harlem and Decided to use the bus rather than the 6 train to Hunts point ave...Caught the M101 to the Bx6...On the 101 and a i kid u not i saw at least 8-9 ppl simply get on the back and have a seat like its free.......i only rode the bus from just 125st-5av-155st-amsterdam...What i also notice is that the B/O Opens the back door even when there no one getting off....Me personally B/O Shouldnt open the back doors unless someone is getting off...Cause like 7 out of the 9 i saw got on the back without anybody getting off cause the B/O Opens both the front and back...

They must part of the "Transit should be free crowd", which means higher fares for the people that do pay like yourself. Gotta love it...

1 minute ago, QM1to6Ave said:

On here, I think a BO posted on here that some supervisors can write tickets. If i can find it, I'll link to it. That's why I wrote in a tentative manner. I'm not at all sure about it

 

What I'm saying is, if they are gonna have a badge that looks like a police badge, and flashing lighrs like a police car, at least let them write tickets lol. 

Even if they can though, most of the supervisors are being pulled so many ways these days that they certainly can't spend all of their time writing tickets.  Just not enough staff as it is.  Furthermore they are responsible for a number of things, which includes going to the scenes of accidents and sometimes they need to write up reports and such in the office, so they wear many many hats.

8 hours ago, KDGallagher said:

How come MTA supervisors aren’t able to give out tickets to people obstructing bus lanes and bus stops? 
 

MTAPD don’t really have much of a presence in nyc outside of stations and the nypd really couldn’t care less. 
 

Similar to how DSNY supervisors are able to ticket and generate revenue for their agency 

 

 

7 hours ago, QM1to6Ave said:

I think they technically can do that? I think I've read that somewhere. They certainly wear badges and their MTA cars have red flashing lights, so they should have some ability to give tickets

I don't know about tickets, but there are a few stops that I get a lot of complaints about and I was told that they were being worked on.  Sometimes that may mean sending over a supervisor to run out the offenders, but in other cases, it's having the NYPD traffic cops come out and ramp up writing tickets. I've seen that at some stops like 86th & 3rd.  That stop is much much better now compared to some months ago where school buses and the like would just park right in the stops and sit there. The real plan over time though is to have more tickets issued via cameras.

https://abc7ny.com/bus-lane-violations-crackdown-mta-manhattan/12138112/

6 hours ago, danielhg121 said:

Yea, there's an order of M9 railcars that were bought with federal funding for both the Metro-North and LIRR and these will be dubbed the M9A which I think will also have some additional features such as powered bathroom doors, stainless steel urinals and Gorilla Glass windows that don't haze, fade or crystallize. 

As for when they're coming, I'm not sure because the current LIRR M9 order is wrapping up soon. Not sure when the M9A's will arrive. At first in 2014, MNR said they would order 188 cars, and then backtracked in Jun 2018 and said they would just overhaul the M3A's and then in Nov 2018, they said they would purchase 170 M9A cars. 

Yeah I must've had an overhauled train because I normally get one of the old ones that jerk and was surprised to get a newer one today, as it was a semi-express train from Croton Harmon.

31 minutes ago, danielhg121 said:

They finally scrapped 6 M7 cars that were damaged in various accidents over the years. 

Credits to Marc Glucksman - River Rail Photo.

 

Does anyone know what happened to car 7054? Can't find anything online about it.

Do you know if the Hudson Line is finally getting new rail cars? I heard something a few years ago about some coming, but no idea when.