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.

Definitely seems like a codebreak.

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)?

I thought I was the only one who thought that. The Bombardier NTTs seem to feel/look different from the other ones (more bulky). It's minor differences (window frames, red light for doors) but it really does make the train feel a lot different than other NTTs.

6094 is on the Q44, might be a loaner.

What's the status on the XD40 order? Will we be seeing those buses in the next year or so?

What is up with the Main Street bus lane? They painted over the bus lane (which was red) with a dark red/black. The curbside bus lane on one of the streets is also always filled with cars. It says 4pm-7pm no standing yet at 5pm today there was 7 cars lined up in the bus lane. Seems like they are laying off on bus lane reinforcements and it's stupid.

Ever since Halloween I've spotted dozens of buses that were egged. Maybe it doesn't happen as often, but it still happens. There were XD60s on the 44 with eggs all over the window and I've seen other buses with egg on them as well.

5799 hasn't seen service in quite a long time, it was out because of a transmission issue. It was supposedly fixed recently but I don't know how that went.

The rush hour on the Q28-13-16 routes were pretty bad today. The line for the Q28 was three stops long, and the only bus that was there was told to leave with no standees. The next Q28 was changed to a short-turn Q13, and two more Q13s passed before a Q28 came. I passed this one up because I wasn't going to get a seat. Little did I know, the next bus was right behind and I wasn't going to walk all the way back to get on it. After it leaves, a fourth one comes and about five people board after me (out of a line that's still pretty long) and the farebox f*cks up. Out of my years and years of taking the bus, this was my first time seeing a MetroCard get stuck in the farebox. After all this, a 5th bus comes and the dispatcher tells him to leave with 6 people on board. I basically got home in an empty bus. There was a grand total of three buses in the opposite direction this whole time, so the rest of the rush hour was basically going to be a mess. They really have to work on traffic and how to get these buses moving.

They should really consider a rush hour bus lane on Northern Blvd in NE Queens. Buses in the morning are always late due to traffic from 149 all the way to the service road. In the afternoon and evening, traffic is heavy in the opposite direction from 150 to the LIRR stop. I'm pretty sure this traffic is what messes up the buses and throws off service. The intersection at 39 and Union should also be reworked, because traffic plagues that place almost past 12PM and it also delays the hell out of the buses.

The Q44 never fails to make me late. It's honestly so stupid that I had to wait 25 minutes in the middle of rush hour for two buses to come at the same time, especially on a route as frequently used as this one.

I'm pretty sure this whole time it's been a wrap (at least the front/back)...after a few scratches on the ones right now, you can see that behind the light blue is in fact yellow (rear area), meaning it's probably a wrap.