Vistausss

You're right, I didn't think of that. In that case it makes sense for them to start enforcing the new rules in Q3/Q4 instead of March 30th

Like I said last year: here in The Netherlands and since Q4 2013 also in Germany, Transdev started enforcing new, strict rules about running on schedule in their companies. If you're too far behind schedule and it's something *you* as driver could've prevented, you get a warning. If you're running early (even as early as 3 minutes early - they measure it via the black box), you have to wait at the next stop (or sometimes next timing point, depends on the route) until you're back on schedule again. If not, you'll get a warning. 3 warnings and you're fired. IIRC, Transdev wanted to enforce this on NICE as well starting Q2 2014. But maybe they've changed the date on that (wouldn't surprise me, sometimes they're quite unpredicatble ), I'll ask them next week. Oh, I just received word that those new rules are to be put into effect on NICE at or around the final rollout of 'the new system' (by which they mean the first day of Clever, which was Q4 IIRC?). Well, better late than never, I'd say, although for image sake they should've put the new rules into effect by March 30th IMHO.

People being unfriendly doesn't say anything about satisfaction. Ratings over here in my city are pretty good every year yet a lot of people are unfriendly to b/o's. I've noticed it in videos of Express Buses as well. It says more about the people being rude (and sometimes obnoxious) than it says about service, really.

It's good to see that at least one Orion VII is getting a repair job They can do better still but hey, one fixed = one problem less at least.

I accidentally hit the -1 button on your post. I'm sorry Was supposed to be a +1

If did so well with maintaining buses, then why did even the newer bus not pass the inspection? Yeah, good maintenance ! [/sarcasm] Conclusion: both LIB and NICE are no king of the hill when it comes to maintaining buses.

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For once I'm being skeptic about NICE and now I'm getting the ball lol. Nah, I totally understand Anyway: it might as well be the fan belt. Or something's loose underneath the bus scraping against the asphalt or something else's loose in the motor. Anywho, they should fix it if they want to prolong the life of the bus (esp. when it's only 3 years old!).

Totally agree with you guys. Smart Cards, in any form including the MetroCard, are 100x better than carrying all that cash or paying per zone.

PATH is overseen by Port Authority of New York and New Jersey so no wonder they accept MetroCards. SCT, on the other hand, is not overseen by NY or NJ. NICE isn't either, but LIB was and besides, there are too many NICE MetroCard users to call it quits.

Regarding your video: are you talking about that screeching noise? I heard that last year on new MAN CNG buses in Arnhem as well. Those buses were just over a year old and do get maintenance. Now I'm not defending NICE, I just thought that with new CNG's it's normal for engines to sound like that but seems like it isn't because I've never heard it on other Orion's before. So thank you I'm not seeing that much dirt in NICE bus videos but I won't say they're clean either. But don't pin it on NICE, Transdev cut a lot of contracts with cleaning companies last year to fill the budget gap. Buses over here are getting dirtier as well because of that. I wish I'd taken a picture for you this afternoon to show you the dirty side panels and windows (and the chassis of one of the buses I was on this afternoon was veering like crazy, like I was sitting on a trampoline, not sure what's up with that because that isn't how it normally runs, but I'm gonna ask Transdev executives this month what's up with the low maintenance on both Connexxion and NICE!).

Of course. They all come running to the to hear Pellet's "Stand clear of the closing doors" announcement at every station.

Like it should. Else the wouldn't live up to the old name (Interborough RAPID Transit) lol.

South Ferry NEW comes to mind but there are probably others as well.

Not really the best idea. The is only a few blocks away and Norwood is not really the best place when it comes to terminating trains. So a nice, new terminal at Co-Op would be great. The also isn't that far from Co-Op, it even crosses the border with Eastchester to reach Dyre. But I'm in for the because of the wider trains and the better terminal argument.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ci5K8ROMgE Dang, woman is pronouncing 'Dyre Avenue' so much faster compared to announcements she did on other lines.

Sorry, my bad. I clearly am a fool sometimes lol. I confused the n19 with the n80/n81, so please when you re-read my previous post, substitute 'n19' with 'n80/n81'. I do agree with your n19 proposal though

Plus whenever there's a hickup at Sunrise Hwy (happens once in a while going by the info that @thenicebus and @SCTBusInfo give) the n19 gets either rerouted via a strange route or doesn't serve the mall at all. By routing it via Amityville RR, in worst case scenario it can always terminate there. Better to temporary terminate it at Amityville RR then to cut half of the route because of a hickup.

There's also many reasons why they ran it express before 2010. But Im not saying they should run it express again, I was just going through his list of ideas and the one actually seemed like a good one to me in *comparison* to the rest, but that's all I meant

@Burrstone: Over here Transdev doesn't invest as much in Veolia. But that's only because the funding is a lot better. Esp. the province of Limburg, where almost everything is Veolia, invests heavily in the train and bus system and thus in Veolia. And the other areas also provide better funding. But if they were to **** up (like Connexxion did in my city), they'd get a cut on their funding for one year. Transdev is about to boot Veolia Transport Netherlands so they don't invest in it anymore. They want them to continue with the same name on their own. They wanted to give them the boot last year, but didn't. But now it will happen in a few months because Connexxion, the largest Dutch bus company which Transdev bought last year, has been a sinking ship for years and on top of that, they have to pay millions of tax dollars back this year, according a court ruling. (they = Connexxion, but obviously Transdev will have to cover their ass else Connexxion would be defunct) Anyway: I'll ask the manager of Transdev again when I see them next month about the investment in NICE, even though they have told me last time that they do invest and even pumped a little bit extra last year.

- Would be hard to given that the middle track was never built for express service in the first place... - Will not work, just as last time. Nobody wants the . - Leffers people want the express, not the local. Multiple thread have been locked because they kept bringing up this subject. - This actually seems like a good idea. It used to work before, it could work again.

What hate? We re not hating, the doesnt want to use diamonds for new services anymore. But they will probably find something new in the future. I mean, they also dropped the double letter signage (AA, HH, etc.) in the past and found something new...

@Burrstone: It's not different over there. Transdev already invested some extra money in NICE last year and they will continue to do so if NICE asks for it. As someone like me who actually meets up with Transdev managers every once in a while, I know what I'm talking about @Orion: I'll ask them at the next meeting, wouldn't be surprised if they did kick in because it's not an easy nor cheap task to replace everything.

That's actually one of your less crazy ideas, probably because that was the original 1929 plan for the But I don't think Bowery will cut it for the TM, it'd be too small. If anything, they could finish one track connection to Roosevelt Ave and house the TM in there. It's a pretty big space given that it was supposed to be a terminal. The extra space also allows for future train sets to be stored (I mean: the current fleet won't run forever...).

service 24/7 to Far Rock isn t really needed and to Rockaway Parkway is definetly not needed. With the exception of Far Rock and Broad Channel, the Rockaway stations are among the lowest in the whole system. Besides, the to Lefferts is not feasible (if anything, even the crazy serveral times debunked local to Lefferts would be more feasible than that!) and the will cause congestion on Second Ave. Unless you mean it should use SAS but then there s no room for it in the current plan because it will be two tracks only in most places. Unlike the last century plans ranging from 3-6 tracks.