BUS - Random Thoughts Thread

[Lawrence St]

5 minutes ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

Doesn’t excuse the fact that he didn’t stop for me while I was standing up in front of a lit up bus shelter. His bus said “Not in Service” when he turned on the bus and turned the corner to start his run. 

Did you wave at him? Is that a bus stop with multiple routes?

[Cait Sith]

1 hour ago, Lawrence St said:

Did you wave at him? Is that a bus stop with multiple routes?

237th and 129th is only served by the Q84. The bus stop shelter there is one of the newer ones with the bright lighting from the ads and is on the corner next to a stop sign. It's almost impossible for a bus operator to not see a passenger there. What's being described definitely sounds blatant, especially if the bus was signed up as Not In Service, then turned the corner and changed the sign back to a Q84.

Edited May 3, 2023 by Cait Sith

[NewFlyer 230]

I was riding 6074 on the Q53 and boy have these XD60s seen better days. I still remember when they were brand new and I would love catching them on the Q44 and Q52/Q53. They are just so beat up now. 

[Kingsbridgeviewer382]

12 hours ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

I was riding 6074 on the Q53 and boy have these XD60s seen better days. I still remember when they were brand new and I would love catching them on the Q44 and Q52/Q53. They are just so beat up now. 

Not surprising as those buses are over 6 years old and don’t really have the luxury to be rested as often, especially on the 44 and 53.

[NBTA]

1 hour ago, Kingsbridgeviewer382 said:

Not surprising as those buses are over 6 years old and don’t really have the luxury to be rested as often, especially on the 44 and 53.

Those buses been outta wack since they came in. 

[Calvin]

1 hour ago, Kingsbridgeviewer382 said:

Not surprising as those buses are over 6 years old and don’t really have the luxury to be rested as often, especially on the 44 and 53.

I wonder if this applies to the M14A/D out of Quill. Majority of the day and night, 7-days a week, they've been running a lot without rest. Other artic routes, they are used but not much. Seen mainly Novas on the other SBS routes that Quill has. 

Edited May 4, 2023 by Calvin

[Kingsbridgeviewer382]

1 hour ago, NBTA said:

Those buses been outta wack since they came in. 

I know they weren’t that great when they first came in. It just got worse as the years passed by with the wear and tear, though you can say that about almost the entire bus fleet, not just the Xcelsior line.

Edited May 4, 2023 by Kingsbridgeviewer382

[Lawrence St]

5 minutes ago, Kingsbridgeviewer382 said:

I know they weren’t that great when they first came in. It just got worse as the years passed by with the wear and tear, though you can say that about almost the entire bus fleet outside of the Xcelsior line.

It also has to do with the potholes on the Whitestone bridge, they wear down them buses a lot.

[Iron Valiant]

755 from Jackie Gleason and 7551 from Manhattanville had their USB decals removed instead of the Wifi ones. Thought that was pretty funny XD

[NBTA]

Spotted 7602 on the , was a nice catch.

[Q43LTD]

So I'm on YouTube commenting on the 8000's RTS, and this user claims Jamaica was the stepchild of the TA

[NewFlyer 230]

8 hours ago, Q43LTD said:

So I'm on YouTube commenting on the 8000's RTS, and this user claims Jamaica was the stepchild of the TA

That is so far from the truth. The Queens NYCT depots are taken care of. Jamaica Casey Stengel, and Queens Village all have good maintenance. In the past 5-6 years Queens NYCT depots have received a bunch of new buses. Jamaica is set to get a little piece of the electric bus order. Now if that YouTuber claimed that MTA Bus Company was the stepchild I’d agree because I still personally don’t like how NYCT bus once again sent their hand me downs to MTA bus depots. MTA Bus on their own has been short of buses for years which is why they always need to borrow buses from TA whether it was the RTS, Orion V, 2005 Orion VII OG’s, now the NG’s. They even had hand me downs from Westchester come stay at MTA for a good 5-6 years when MTA Bus should have just received more NG’s but I understand money was tight back in 2009/2010. The 2017 NF XD60s were suppose to go back to NYCT but not enough artics were ordered for the Q53 and then the Q70 became an artic route. With how beat many of those 2017 XD60s are at LGA, TA probably doesn’t want them back lol. The MTA bus stops for years have had the old bus stop signs from the 90s and only within the past few years have the DOT been changing them to the modern ones. NYCT routes has had them for at least 2 decades. I understand the DOT puts up the signs but the MTA could have pressured the DOT to put up the newer bus signs at the stops their own bus routes stop at. ECH minus the Prevost order has never received any buses brand new. MTA bus is the true step child. 

[xD4nn]

2 hours ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

That is so far from the truth. The Queens NYCT depots are taken care of. Jamaica Casey Stengel, and Queens Village all have good maintenance. In the past 5-6 years Queens NYCT depots have received a bunch of new buses. Jamaica is set to get a little piece of the electric bus order. Now if that YouTuber claimed that MTA Bus Company was the stepchild I’d agree because I still personally don’t like how NYCT bus once again sent their hand me downs to MTA bus depots. MTA Bus on their own has been short of buses for years which is why they always need to borrow buses from TA whether it was the RTS, Orion V, 2005 Orion VII OG’s, now the NG’s. They even had hand me downs from Westchester come stay at MTA for a good 5-6 years when MTA Bus should have just received more NG’s but I understand money was tight back in 2009/2010. The 2017 NF XD60s were suppose to go back to NYCT but not enough artics were ordered for the Q53 and then the Q70 became an artic route. With how beat many of those 2017 XD60s are at LGA, TA probably doesn’t want them back lol. The MTA bus stops for years have had the old bus stop signs from the 90s and only within the past few years have the DOT been changing them to the modern ones. NYCT routes has had them for at least 2 decades. I understand the DOT puts up the signs but the MTA could have pressured the DOT to put up the newer bus signs at the stops their own bus routes stop at. ECH minus the Prevost order has never received any buses brand new. MTA bus is the true step child. 

Jamaica was the stepchild of the DOB previously. At one point Jamaica always got the old buses and did not receive any new buses for more than a decade. You can still argue that Jamaica is still being treated unfairly as Manhattan, Bronx, and Brooklyn have been grabbing JA's buses.

[B35 via Church]

On 5/3/2023 at 6:36 PM, Cait Sith said:

237th and 129th is only served by the Q84. The bus stop shelter there is one of the newer ones with the bright lighting from the ads and is on the corner next to a stop sign. It's almost impossible for a bus operator to not see a passenger there. What's being described definitely sounds blatant, especially if the bus was signed up as Not In Service, then turned the corner and changed the sign back to a Q84.

The very reason they even put that shelter there was to discern it being the first Jamaica bound pickup stop (as opposed to the first Jamaica bound pickup stop being at the last Laurelton bound dropoff stop on Laurelton Pkwy (on the other side of the triangle)).... I remember that vividly... Long before the fact, buses would constantly make the first Jamaica bound pickup at that stop on Laurelton Pkwy, to the point where buses would literally bypass anyone waiting at 237th/129th to board the bus (as if to send a message that it wasn't even a stop, period -  let alone having passengers believe that it wasn't the first Jamaica bound stop) - regardless of how many people were waiting there.... Crazy thing is, the stop along Laurelton Pkwy. was never supposed to be a stop for onboarding pax.... Gradually, back then, b/o's being accommodating to folks walking from the other side of the highway to catch the bus became so much of a trend, to where the stop along Laurelton Pkwy (unofficially) became a pickup stop at some point...

For the most part, nowadays, buses on the Laurelton end of the route layover at that last stop along Laurelton Pkwy, then make that quick right up 237th st. to start picking up Jamaica bound passengers.... That isn't to say buses don't layover at the first stop (237th/129th), because some b/o's will do that as well....

That said, I'm also of the belief that what happened to @NewFlyer 230 was quite deliberate/blatant.... Disgustingly enough, come to think of it, something else that used to be done on that end of the Q84 back in the day (I wanna say, during the 90's or so), were some b/o's taking their layovers along 238th, right along the playground, just after it turns off 120th... Then buses would go 121st > 237th > to regular route for Jamaica bound service... These weren't trippers either (as there is a school over there), but b/o's (Laurelton bound) taking advantage of the fact that there weren't anyone left on the bus along 120th after a particular point - so they'd take it on themselves to layover along that playground in question, screwing anyone that needed Jamaica bound service south of 121st....

[NewFlyer 230]

1 hour ago, xD4nn said:

Jamaica was the stepchild of the DOB previously. At one point Jamaica always got the old buses and did not receive any new buses for more than a decade. You can still argue that Jamaica is still being treated unfairly as Manhattan, Bronx, and Brooklyn have been grabbing JA's buses.

I would still say not by a long shot especially not in comparison to a depot like TU. A bunch of TU’s LFSA’s are hand me down’s and they lost the M86 and I think also the M79 when they became SBS routes. 
Jamaica has been good ever since the Orion VII Next Gens came in. Afterwards they received the 2011 LFS’s which were still relatively new when they were transferred, they received brand new LFS’s back in 2015/2016 even though a few units did go to ENY for a brief time. They received a brand new set of blue/yellow XD40s back in 2017/2018. Now Jamaica has sending their hand me downs to other depots in favor of 62 brand new cone head LFS’s. Now that I think about Jamaica was the first to test the 2015 LFS’s as they received the first batch. 7484 was the first of the blue/yellow XD40’s and Jamaica once again received the first batch. 8755 first tested out of Jamaica as well and not long after the conehead LFS’s started to come in, Jamaica quickly received a few and placed them in service.

Edited May 6, 2023 by NewFlyer 230

[xD4nn]

1 hour ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

I would still say not by a long shot especially not in comparison to a depot like TU. A bunch of TU’s LFSA’s are hand me down’s and they lost the M86 and I think also the M79 when they became SBS routes. 
Jamaica has been good ever since the Orion VII Next Gens came in. Afterwards they received the 2011 LFS’s which were still relatively new when they were transferred, they received brand new LFS’s back in 2015/2016 even though a few units did go to ENY for a brief time. They received a brand new set of blue/yellow XD40s back in 2017/2018. Now Jamaica has sending their hand me downs to other depots in favor of 62 brand new cone head LFS’s. Now that I think about Jamaica was the first to test the 2015 LFS’s as they received the first batch. 7484 was the first of the blue/yellow XD40’s and Jamaica once again received the first batch. 8755 first tested out of Jamaica as well and not long after the conehead LFS’s started to come in, Jamaica quickly received a few and placed them in service.

The problem is that Jamaica is always getting its buses jacked. It is true that Jamaica has been treated much better compared to previously. However, with recent events such as the fleet swap and the taking of XD40s, Jamaica is once again started to be mistreated. The new diesels were not an improvement over the XD40s and from what I heard, many drivers don't like them due to the slow acceleration. 

[NewFlyer 230]

12 hours ago, xD4nn said:

The problem is that Jamaica is always getting its buses jacked. It is true that Jamaica has been treated much better compared to previously. However, with recent events such as the fleet swap and the taking of XD40s, Jamaica is once again started to be mistreated. The new diesels were not an improvement over the XD40s and from what I heard, many drivers don't like them due to the slow acceleration. 

You aren’t wrong about their buses being taken. The Orion VII NG’s they had went to QV and CS, part of their 2015/16 LFS’s were sent to Staten Island and QV. When the XD40s were moved,  I personally found it shocking that out of all the depots The Bronx got them. I predict the conehead LFS’s will be moved in a few years and Jamaica will probably get some new buses because the 2011 LFS’s are 12 so we know they will be gone in a few years. I still believe that those 2011 LFS’s will have a brief stint at MTA Bus depots before they retire. 

[xD4nn]

2 hours ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

You aren’t wrong about their buses being taken. The Orion VII NG’s they had went to QV and CS, part of their 2015/16 LFS’s were sent to Staten Island and QV. When the XD40s were moved,  I personally found it shocking that out of all the depots The Bronx got them. I predict the conehead LFS’s will be moved in a few years and Jamaica will probably get some new buses because the 2011 LFS’s are 12 so we know they will be gone in a few years. I still believe that those 2011 LFS’s will have a brief stint at MTA Bus depots before they retire. 

From looking at the electrification chart. It looks like Jamaica and Queens Village's 2011s will be directly retired by electric buses but nothing is set in stone yet.

[Lawrence St]

Can someone please explain to me why they couldn’t leave the HOV lane open for SIM buses during the bike marathon? Currently 2+ hours on this bus and counting.

[Future ENY OP]

4 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

Can someone please explain to me why they couldn’t leave the HOV lane open for SIM buses during the bike marathon? Currently 2+ hours on this bus and counting.

No HOV lane on weekends for the BQE & SIE...

[Cait Sith]

On 5/5/2023 at 8:37 PM, xD4nn said:

Jamaica was the stepchild of the DOB previously. At one point Jamaica always got the old buses and did not receive any new buses for more than a decade. You can still argue that Jamaica is still being treated unfairly as Manhattan, Bronx, and Brooklyn have been grabbing JA's buses.

I don't agree with any of this at all, especially when you consider how incredibly reliable the RTS fleet actually was. Also, the fleet age at Jamaica Depot prior to the next gen order was balanced, so they didn't need any new buses at the time especially when they had a solid fleet ranging from 1996 to 1999. Other depots in Brooklyn and Queens had buses from 1991 up to 1996 still in service, so they were the priority. Jamaica was fine based on fleet age alone.

You can make the same argument for Ulmer Park, except they rejected their share of the next gen order and then eventually got dumped with the oldest of the 1996 RTSs.

Jamaica also has a high spare factor, so they can afford to lose some buses.

 

Edited May 7, 2023 by Cait Sith

[xD4nn]

46 minutes ago, Cait Sith said:

I don't agree with any of this at all, especially when you consider how incredibly reliable the RTS fleet actually was. Also, the fleet age at Jamaica Depot prior to the next gen order was balanced, so they didn't need any new buses at the time especially when they had a solid fleet ranging from 1996 to 1999. Other depots in Brooklyn and Queens had buses from 1991 up to 1996 still in service, so they were the priority. Jamaica was fine based on fleet age alone.

You can make the same argument for Ulmer Park, except they rejected their share of the next gen order and then eventually got dumped with the oldest of the 1996 RTSs.

Jamaica also has a high spare factor, so they can afford to lose some buses.

 

Jamaica does not have a high spare factor. They have one of the lowest if not the lowest out of all the depots. They have a 1.5% spare factor. Jamaica has 196 scheduled buses and is normally assigned 199. That is 3 spares which equates to 1.5%. All of this information can be found in their electrification plan.

Edited May 8, 2023 by xD4nn

[Cait Sith]

Just now, xD4nn said:

Jamaica does not have a high spare factor. They have one of the lowest if not the lowest out of all the depots. They have a 1.5% spare factor. Jamaica has 196 scheduled buses and is normally assigned 199. That is 3 spares which equates to 1.5%. All of this information can be found in their electrification plan.

This is assuming you even know how many buses are in service from Jamaica on a single day(hint, its not all of them). That largely determines the spare factor, not the total count.

Jamaica has always maintained a high spare factor and maintain the same level of service as they do regularly, otherwise, they would have never loaned buses to The Bronx(especially when the Bronx redesign screwed up runs), or Stengel when their buses were acting up and a number of Xcelsiors went there. Hell, Jamaica has also loaned/transferred RTSs to Manhattan and still maintained a high spare factor.

In terms of Queens TA depots with low spare factors, QV has the lowest largely because of the Q46 and Q27. Whenever they have nothing, they are often getting buses to fill gaps. Jamaica has never had that significant of an issue until recently, at the fault of the 8Ks. The last time they ever had to get buses because of a shortage was back in 2014-ish, when they had OGs and NGs from Stengel.

[MHV9218]

Also worth mentioning that Jamaica is a heavily school year-dependent depot, too. When school's out over the summer (nearly 3 month timeline), the depot has often put 15-20 buses into storage. Only running 9-10 months out of the year is a big difference compared to 24/7 service for a fleet.

[Q43LTD]

This all kind of started when I commented on a review for the 8000-8399 RTS. I told this user that Jamaica got 8200 RTS, the repowered ones to be specific. The user did a mini rant about Jamaica never getting Orion 5's or OG's.