BUS - Random Thoughts Thread

[Via Garibaldi 8]

1 hour ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

Well that sucks (to put into context, this is the last outbound trip):

Service Change  Posted:  03/01/2021 11:45 PM

The southbound 12:30AM X27 departure out of 57 St/Madison Ave will not run.

We're running as much service as we can with the bus operators we have available. 

See when the next bus will arrive at your stop using: http://bt.mta.info/

Yeah, the 10:15om also didn't run.  Overnight, bus service has been horrendous, local esp. So many trips they can't fill.

[ItsDavid]

21 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Yes, but there is still ridership on those QM3 trips. This picture was taken by some QM3 riders in my group. 

@Lex @ItsDavid 

To add on to the very good LIRR service, many long-time express bus riders feel that the private lines just ran much better service. The buses were prompt and clean, and you don't have all of the missing buses either. When Bus took over, that's when the quality of service declined considerably. Here's an example from 2007:

https://riverdalepress.com/stories/Editorial-More-reliable-express-bus-service,24432

Thats cool that we have those who still use the QM3

[ItsDavid]

19 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Yes, I have a few more pictures from my group. The first one is a decorated QM3 bus celebrating the holidays:

The second one is another crowded QM3 bus:

The QM3 service that remains, we will fight like hell to keep. 

This reminds me of the QM22, there was a group who has love for it and always meets up with them, I love the community holding on the QM3. Its beautiful...

[MTADieselBuses]

https://gyazo.com/bfee17ed2370665a2ef53f89b8851391

74 passengers on a 40 foot bus...something's not right.

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

1 hour ago, MTADieselBuses said:

https://gyazo.com/bfee17ed2370665a2ef53f89b8851391

74 passengers on a 40 foot bus...something's not right.

Although extremely high (even if it wasn't for covid), it looks like there might be a shift change at the Amazon facility around that time.

[Lawrence St]

What is with poor organizational skills when it comes to fleet management? I was taking a look at the XN60 roster and the entire order is a mess in terms of fleet assignments.

[NBTA]

1 hour ago, Lawrence St said:

What is with poor organizational skills when it comes to fleet management? I was taking a look at the XN60 roster and the entire order is a mess in terms of fleet assignments.

I’m assuming you’d rather have it like this:

Bx6 +SBS+: 1000-1016

Rest of WF: 1017-1067

JG: 1068-1109

[Lawrence St]

25 minutes ago, NBTA said:

I’m assuming you’d rather have it like this:

Bx6 +SBS+: 1000-1016

Rest of WF: 1017-1067

JG: 1068-1109

Yes, much better and organized. 

Although I'm not sure why JG needs close to 40 artics when the only articulated route they have is the B35.

[Lex]

1 minute ago, Lawrence St said:

Yes, much better and organized. 

Although I'm not sure why JG needs close to 40 artics when the only articulated route they have is the B35.

That's a combination of the B35's high ridership and having an appreciable spare factor.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

3 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

Although I'm not sure why JG needs close to 40 artics when the only articulated route they have is the B35.

If they didn't, you'd be complaining about how beat up the buses are.... 

[EastFlatbushLarry]

2 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

If they didn't, you'd be complaining about how beat up the buses are.... 

exactly. right now, there are approx. 25-26 runs on the B35... all artics. if you run any combination of 26 artics 24/7, well congratulations, MDBF just shot up in your depot exponentially, and for no good reason other than to add stress (and unnecessary OT) for the mechanics (at least in management's eyes) 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Just now, EastFlatbushLarry said:

exactly. right now, there are approx. 25-26 runs on the B35... all artics. if you run any combination of 26 artics 24/7, well congratulations, MDBF just shot up in your depot exponentially, and for no good reason other than to add stress (and unnecessary OT) for the mechanics (at least in management's eyes) 

Exactly. You need at least half of those 40 buses most of the day, if not more. Even with the artics, just a quick look at the schedule shows how frequent service is.  Basically, Church Avenue should have a subway line, but since it doesn't, this is the next best thing, and those buses take a beating (I see the crowds along Church Avenue when I go back to Brooklyn - it's constant), so you need to be able to have time to maintain the buses and rotate them out.  

In my mind the B35, is just like the other SBS lines, even though it isn't an SBS line (yet). Those buses take a beating, and need to be swapped out every so many years.  

[EastFlatbushLarry]

10 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Exactly. You need at least half of those 40 buses most of the day, if not more. Even with the artics, just a quick look at the schedule shows how frequent service is.  Basically, Church Avenue should have a subway line, but since it doesn't, this is the next best thing, and those buses take a beating (I see the crowds along Church Avenue when I go back to Brooklyn - it's constant), so you need to be able to have time to maintain the buses and rotate them out.  

In my mind the B35, is just like the other SBS lines, even though it isn't an SBS line (yet). Those buses take a beating, and need to be swapped out every so many years.  

btw, the 35's scheduled headway is what it is even with patronage being chicken-hawked by dollar cabs (and just today, i was on church and east 49, and I see that the jitney vans have now descended on church av) despite this, guaranteed the JG artics will be reminiscent of the GH/two-six 12xx artics in matter of time.. beat to shite. so imagine, if they had less than 40 artics to beat to death.

Edited March 3, 2021 by EastFlatbushLarry

[Via Garibaldi 8]

2 minutes ago, EastFlatbushLarry said:

btw, the 35's scheduled headway is what it is even with patronage being chicken-hawked by dollar cabs (and just today, i was on church and east 49, and I see that the jitney vans have now descended on church av) despite this, guaranteed the JG artics will be reminiscent of the GH/two-six 12xx artics in matter of time.. beat to shite

Oh I know. That area was always very dense, and thank God for the dollar vans. The  would need even more buses if those didn't run. lol The crazy thing is you need those buses seven days a week. A constant grind. Constant crowds on the buses. It all puts stress on those buses, along with the crappy streets.

Staten Island was dealing with a very similar issue pre-COVID, where their express buses were overcrowded and breaking down as a result of the pounding they were taking.

Edited March 3, 2021 by Via Garibaldi 8

[EastFlatbushLarry]

2 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Oh I know. That area was always very dense, and thank God for the dollar vans. The  would need even more buses if those didn't run. lol

shiiid, i wouldn't be surprised if they'd stop at nothing to pull off shenanigans to somehow reduce service (a-la B41) 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Just now, EastFlatbushLarry said:

shiiid, i wouldn't be surprised if they'd stop at nothing to pull off shenanigans to somehow reduce service (a-la B41) 

That's pretty much what they did in Battery Park City. The  is totally fine with those shuttle buses that run down there because they can run far less M9, M20 and M22 service.  It's really crazy. Those shuttle buses are very frequent (and free) versus waiting 20 - 30 minutes for a local bus, and paying $2.75 for it.

[MysteriousBtrain]

I don't know how many times we have to repeat this:

Assignments are based on mileage and ridership needs, not numbers

[EastFlatbushLarry]

1 minute ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

That's pretty much what they did in Battery Park City. The  is totally fine with those shuttle buses that run down there because they can run far less M9, M20 and M22 service.  It's really crazy. Those shuttle buses are very frequent (and free) versus waiting 20 - 30 minutes for a local bus, and paying $2.75 for it.

the 20 is an absolute joke on the west side. one would think that it'd be more successful than it is... which is what perplexed me about the M12 experiment. they've gone out of their way to basically give up on the 20 (short of a elimination proposal) yet you conjure up the M12.. to boost west side bus service 🙄

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Just now, MysteriousBtrain said:

I don't know how many times we have to repeat this:

Assignments are based on mileage and ridership needs, not numbers

Yup, and if the  does what they've been talking about, which is pushing back the time that they overhaul of buses, look out.  I think that's a terrible idea, but they've discussed doing that in previous board meetings, saying that the amount of breakdowns are down, so they can essentially do overhauls less frequently. If @Lawrence St thinks the buses are beat up now, it'll be even worse.

[Lawrence St]

Alright we get it.

I was going based off of the fact that the Bx6-SBS being that it only has 16 artics, but I forgot that the Bx6 local is also a thing, and the B35 doesn't have an SBS counterpart. Brain fart.

[EastFlatbushLarry]

1 minute ago, MysteriousBtrain said:

I don't know how many times we have to repeat this:

Assignments are based on mileage and ridership needs, not numbers

we don't. it's just out & out ignored, which is a microcosm of society these days. muthaf**k logical reasoning, things should be this or that way, and that's that. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

1 minute ago, EastFlatbushLarry said:

the 20 is an absolute joke on the west side. one would think that it'd be more successful than it is... which is what perplexed me about the M12 experiment. they've gone out of their way to basically give up on the 20 (short of a elimination proposal) yet you conjure up the M12.. to boost west side bus service 🙄

I used to have to be down in BPC on a weekly basis. I found local bus service down there to be HORRIBLE. I would either walk if I wasn't in a rush, get an Uber, or try to get to one of those areas where the shuttle buses run. The M22 was probably the worse out of the three lines, but the M20 wasn't much better.  I got the M9 most of the time whenever I could actually get a bus.

[Lawrence St]

1 minute ago, EastFlatbushLarry said:

we don't. it's just out & out ignored, which is a microcosm of society these days. muthaf**k logical reasoning, things should be this or that way, and that's that. 

No no, I understand that it's based on that, but I was speaking on the organizational aspect of the fleet assignments. 

[EastFlatbushLarry]

4 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I used to have to be down in BPC on a weekly basis. I found local bus service down there to be HORRIBLE. I would either walk if I wasn't in a rush, get an Uber, or try to get to one of those areas where the shuttle buses run. The M22 was probably the worse out of the three lines, but the M20 wasn't much better.  I got the M9 most of the time whenever I could actually get a bus.

if i needed the m20 to save my life, I'd have been a dead duck several times over in my past. on nice days, I've trekked from 14 street to central park without a hint of a 20 appearing. and i actually enjoy walking (the job being what it is) but i couldn't help but feel some kind of way. in all honesty, I've been waiting for the taps bugle call for the 20 going back to when the m10 stopped terminating at MSG. 

[NewFlyer 230]

37 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

That's pretty much what they did in Battery Park City. The  is totally fine with those shuttle buses that run down there because they can run far less M9, M20 and M22 service.  It's really crazy. Those shuttle buses are very frequent (and free) versus waiting 20 - 30 minutes for a local bus, and paying $2.75 for it.

I’m surprised the downtown area has as much bus service as it does. Everytime I’m in the downtown area I see the M20, M21, M22 and M55 carry nothing but air. Even before the pandemic those routes wasn’t doing much better from what I recall. Most people just hop on the subway since they are way faster and more frequent. If it wasn’t for the lack of accessible stations some of those routes may not even exist in the way they do. 
 

I personally think the M20 should be eliminated all together. I would just have the M104 run down to 14th street and have the M12 cover the bottom part of the M20’s route. 
 

Edited March 3, 2021 by NewFlyer 230