R188 7857

4468 on the Q20A. I'm not sure if these NGs are loans or if it might be a legitimate swap between CS and QV. 

4457 on the Q28 according to BusTime. 

6222 was signed up as a Q58 to Junction Bl on Roosevelt Av. today... Too bad I couldn't get a pic of it. 

5332 was on the Q44. It was doing a school tripper from John Bowne to Flushing, it had Flatbush stickers, and the farebox was working like regular even though it is a +SBS bus. It also looked like it was washed recently, the exterior of it was near spotless. 

Morning or evening rush?

Around 3-4 PM in Flushing. 

That moment when I saw 3579 on the Q34

There was also a hybrid on the Q65 LTD. 

8364, 8366, 8368 in at KB.

6010 KB to ECH scrap.

2444 YU to UP.

2858, 2891 CA to MA.

4182 CS to QV.

 

6191, 6202 and 6222 have been the only O5s in service at CS the past few days. Today only 6202 and 6222. Gonna be insane to think of CS without O5s. I have to confirm if the others are retired, but they certainly haven't been in service. Meanwhile, ancient 8756 keeps on truckin' over at JFK, getting awfully close to 20 years in service. I suspect a few 1996s will make that.

I recall seeing 6043 and 6037 very recently, both sporting those ugly ads. 

7366 is tagged on the back seat, not surprised. It was bound to happen. 

Question:

5903 had papers taped to the window(s) towards the back with the bus number on the papers. Does that mean it is getting repainted? (or wrapped) 

1) lanes are being painted every day but has anyone seen the lay out yets? its insane the road keeps swerving left and right and the bus lanes haven't even been installed yet.

2) Expected start date November 15 however it is subject (Source: I talked to ab B/O on the Q20 today)

3) Q44 buses start wrapping the buses near the end of this week to the beginning of next week 

Yeah, they had something online that showed the layout of the bus lanes. They swerve from the streets into the curbs then into the streets again. It's really unorganized IMO. All the curbside bus lanes are usually just at the intersections, they go back to offset ones after. All that for the sake of a turning lane. Today, there was a truck that was painting "BUS ONLY" as well. 

Some more progress on the SBS Q44.

1. They already have the bus lanes outlined, however the words "BUS ONLY" are not quite there yet. Not sure if they are being painted red.

2. Machines are installed at the Main St/Kissena stop. 

4697 repainted

Two thoughts:

1. Middle school students kill buses way more than high school students. There has been those lonely few middle school kids on board a HS school tripper, and I happened to be on one of those trippers once. The middle school kids were sitting on the floor towards the back door, and were bangin on that thing. Whole ride, what I hear: "Please move away from the doors."

2. The Q44 SBS is coming along nicely. There was lots of work going on today, they were spraying the new road on Main Street and they were filling the sidewalks where they installed the machines with with cement. I think it's gonna make a good difference, because traffic, boarding times, and red lights (a little bit) are the reasons why the Q44 is so slow. I ride the Q44 often so this is coming from personal experience. Hopefully, the double parkers on Main Street will get tickets if they double park in the bus lane. 

What's the point of moving individual buses from 4171-4219 when they have 413x and 46xx scrambled everywhere..

7426 is at CS.

Speaking of ads, I don't think 6037 is going to be retired anytime soon.

It seems to me like they recently put a new ad on that bus, and it's no regular ad. It's that ad that covers The WHOLE space from wheel to wheel, and stretches all the way to the very bottom of the bus. Looks horrible. 

Just saw a pic of 7370 on the Q17 and I believe that 7373 was on the Q5 recently. Is Jamaica depot testing the New Flyer XD40s or it was a school tripper?

Every day at about 3:30-3:40 you see a bus signed up as a Q17 turning left onto Union from the Q13-16-28 stops. It's school trippers on the Q17. Sometimes they are an Orion 5, and one day I managed to get a pic of the Q17 school tripper (Orion 5), next to a XD40 Q13. That's a shot that I won't get again. 

6866 repainted 

1. I would have to disagree, the stop request bells have been consistently loud on the ones I've been on.

 

2. Same with one, especially when the operator makes his announcements.

 

3. Seats getting scratched is pretty irrelevant in my opinion. A lot of buses below 2015 have scratched seats, but it's not really a big issue unless you're worried about the seat collapsing and you falling into it

 

I personally do not like the new Xcelsiors all that much and prefer the 4800s.

Not like I'm really really worried about the seats (maybe VG8 would be), but they really look ugly and stand out because on these seats the scratches are white/light blue, they dig into the seat, and stand out. 

About the speakers and the stop request bells, maybe it's just the CS batch that has these problems. When the operator makes his announcements, most of the time they aren't clear on an XD40. And on the CS ones, especially the newer ones with the yellow stop request buttons (why would they change it???), it is either I have really bad hearing or some of them just don't play the stop request bell. It might be just me, but I find the speaker quality (CS fleets for the most part) on the Orions and Novas to be much better than the ones on the XD40. 

Surprisingly, I've yet to ride a 4800. Or a XD60. 

After riding XD40s for quite some time now, I have some things to say:

-The stop request bell on some buses are either really hard to hear, or some don't even play it. I guess that isn't a big problem though.

-The speakers on these buses are quite bad. The Orion VII and Nova LFS speakers play the "Please exit through the rear door" announcement much clearer and smoother than any XD40. I guess that isn't a big problem either.

-Air assist seems to work well and consistent on these buses, unlike the 46xx NGs that came from JA.....

-These buses are REALLY REALLY silent when the A/C is off. I actually kind of like that, because the Nova LFS/A are really loud for new buses IMO.

-The seats get scratched VERY easily. There probably isn't a single bus out there that doesn't have scratches on their seats, it happens especially when people wear jeans (the metal buttons). 

6850 repainted

Jamaica RTS to scrap: 8864, 8945 based on the post from the transfers selection and 9068

 

Orion V removed: 6038, 6109, 6135-6136, 6143, 6246

Damn! 6109 was running on saturday on the Q28 last time I checked, it's a great bus too. 6143 got in an accident recently (and by that, I mean within a year??) and got fixed up as well. Sad to see them go. 

I bet all those fare beaters will those asian senior citizen that always get on the bus with an empty metrocard and act surprised when it has no money 

Or, it could be students who can care less when they take the bus..

6848 repainted

Yes I saw them putting them up today at Jewel Ave.

They're making good progress on the Q44 SBS. Main St has already been repaved from Elder Av to Kissena Blvd. It's still a really bumpy and uncomfortable ride from Northern to Kissena, and from Elder to Booth Memorial. The road has been destroying these buses, I'm pretty sure that the roads are the reason why the joint (or whatever you call it) squeaks on some buses, and makes loud noises on others (the type of noise you hear on trains when they come to a halt).