R188 7857

Here's a tweet with some more pictures. Seems to show two R62A trains side-by-side in one of them. My guess is that right before this happened trains were running express to 96th because of a mechanical issue on a train at 79th. From some of the pictures it seems that there was a train on both the local and express tracks at 96th, both signed as trains. It is possible that there was a switching error leading to the OOS R62A colliding with the in-service train crossing over.

The XD40s have gotten somewhat better as I believe some of them went in for their mid-life rehab, but still a very sluggish batch of buses. As for the XD60s, the Q44 just seems to be taxing on buses in general. Before they were replaced, the Nova LFSAs were also insanely beat up.

Have not really been liking these new Nova diesels at Stengel. They seem to take bumps much harder, and I've noticed that the new plug doors don't like opening when you tap the tape. I've been on too many where people are screaming back door because they can't get it to open. Compared to the XD40s, some people are also not making enough space to fit two people in the width of the aisle, so these buses feel crowded much quicker. To make it even worse, I recently had one without working A/C and with a very warm rear section. Starting to miss those Orion NGs, they had the coldest A/C of any buses I've been on. I'm wondering if the Nova hybrids are any better, I've yet to be able to take a ride on one but I've heard good things about them.

The QT81 is a terrible route. How many people from Whitestone would actually benefit from a bus connecting to Astoria? Chances are, most people are getting off or on at Flushing to go in one direction (either to/from Astoria, or to/from Whitestone). The worst part is, once there is traffic on one end of the route an entirely different group of people will suffer from it, going against what they set out to do... Not to mention the new routes in Bayside are going to screw certain people over, with the lack of weekend and off-peak service. I don't understand what function the QT71 serves, as it connects to no subway stops at all. Generally, from how I see it, the way they re-did Northeast Queens was quite sloppy, connecting corridors that might not have much to relate to each other. I really think the number one thing should have been connecting people with the subway at all times, and with these new purple routes that are peak hours only, I think it might make things worse for a lot of people.

7372 version 3

7390 has version 3. Looks like the Stengel batch of XD40s are finally getting screens installed. Also saw a couple more with screens on the interior, but did not get down their numbers.

Spotted a SBS artic from CS parked on Northern today (along the Q12). Not sure if it was a deadhead and the driver stopped or if they were testing things.

Those XD60s are starting to get less bland with the noises. I noticed some operators like to mess around with the gears and some of them have the bus stop shifting at 3rd or 4th gear. Makes for some nice sound effects. Most 44 operators tend to haul ass as well, I was on 6000 and the dude was doing 40 down a stretch of Main Street, man was absolutely flying on that bus.

6001 does that on the Q44. It flashes super quick and only shows +SELECT BUS with a split second frame showing its destination, so it's very hard to notice. They're probably messing with the program on that sign and screwed up again.

Are they working on new sign programs? I've noticed on the Xcelsiors at CS that multiple buses have signs with different looking fonts and colors on them (Spectrum buses).

Is there an update on where 7484 is headed to as well as the rest of that order?

First 647 (1306?), now 6000. Guess there's only one Orion V in the museum fleet now. Sucks because the Orion Vs were such a large fleet at one point.

Those Luminator signs are absolute garbage. I don't know what they did to those signs on the XD40 batch that CS has, but multiple buses have been getting these large green boxes stuck on their destination signs. It's one thing when it happens to one bus, it's completely different when 5+ buses are experiencing the same issues with their signs.

Does the LFS on the M42 have any reason to do with the LFS that was on the Q28 today (actually, it's still on it)? Or is the LFS just a loan to CS (doesn't make sense why JA would loan CS the LFS over the NG)?