BUS - Random Thoughts Thread

[xD4nn]

4 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

And it's a slap in the face to us who do pay that we have to pay MORE for congestion pricing because they can't figure out a farebeating solution. 

Well, what do you propose then? Front door boarding is not going to cut it...

[Lawrence St]

2 hours ago, xD4nn said:

Well, what do you propose then? Front door boarding is not going to cut it...

For one, do a better job at enforcing the fare. This “soft” approach isn’t cutting it. Increase patrols in the subway, increase the fine for farebeating, redo all the turn styles (and replace with the big ones that go in a circle), expand eagle team enforcement to all lines with checkpoints at the biggest known farebeating areas, etc.

[B35 via Church]

8 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

And it's a slap in the face to us who do pay that we have to pay MORE for congestion pricing because they can't figure out a farebeating solution. 

While one could argue that it expedited it, the farebeating issue didn't precipitate congestion pricing.... Congestion pricing would've eventually happened in this city, even if every single person paid their fare....

[Lawrence St]

3 minutes ago, B35 via Church said:

While one could argue that it expedited it, the farebeating issue didn't precipitate congestion pricing.... Congestion pricing would've eventually happened in this city, even if every single person paid their fare....

Why would you say that? Every basis for congestion pricing that I've seen, from both Twitter and public documents, is to fund the .

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

14 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

Why would you say that? Every basis for congestion pricing that I've seen, from both Twitter and public documents, is to fund the .

Proposals for congestion pricing go back decades, even before the actual term was even coined and regularly used. Historically it has been argued as a way to reduce congestion within Manhattan. However it failed to get enough political backing for the longest time.

The bit about funding the MTA is a more recent argument that has been used. 

Edited October 13, 2023 by BM5 via Woodhaven

[B35 via Church]

44 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

Why would you say that? Every basis for congestion pricing that I've seen, from both Twitter and public documents, is to fund the .

You're apparently falling victim to recency bias....

I'm saying that because the basis for congestion pricing has long been to reduce vehicle.... congestion.

[Lawrence St]

11 hours ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

Proposals for congestion pricing go back decades, even before the actual term was even coined and regularly used. Historically it has been argued as a way to reduce congestion within Manhattan. However it failed to get enough political backing for the longest time.

The bit about funding the MTA is a more recent argument that has been used. 

And the only reason it got enough of a political backing is because of the 1% of car hater nonsense in the city.

And quite frankly, ever since the pandemic, congestion in Manhattan has been non-existent except in select places where they've downgraded streets from 5 lanes to 2 or 1.

[NewFlyer 230]

19 hours ago, xD4nn said:

Well, what do you propose then? Front door boarding is not going to cut it...

You don’t have to make the bus free for folks to take advantage of all door boarding. That is what OMNY will attempt to fix however farebeating is a serious issue that needs to be addressed. OMNY will only make farebeating worst if there is nothing done to stop people from getting free rides.
Making the buses free is essentially rewarding bad irresponsible behavior while putting the burden on law abiding folks who now have to pay more taxes to fund such a thing. Best believe the rich ain’t having it so it’s going to be the person who is already struggling that will have to pay up some more. I don’t think it’s right. 

 

13 hours ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

Proposals for congestion pricing go back decades, even before the actual term was even coined and regularly used. Historically it has been argued as a way to reduce congestion within Manhattan. However it failed to get enough political backing for the longest time.

The bit about funding the MTA is a more recent argument that has been used. 

I’m a bit skeptical about the funding part. I know funding the MTA is something that was definitely discussed but I’m overall cynical on the whole idea. Just looking at how NY & the MTA handles money I have this belief that the money will be misused and actual improvements to the transit system will be very minimal.

[Far rockaway]

Ok two interesting things I saw this evening on the q6 bus, one saw a brand new bus with a blue livery scheme on it, and second an XD60 bus. Is JFK bus depot getting brand new buses.

[Kingsbridgeviewer382]

1 minute ago, Far rockaway said:

Ok two interesting things I saw this evening on the q6 bus, one saw a brand new bus with a blue livery scheme on it, and second an XD60 bus. Is JFK bus depot getting brand new buses.

They're in the middle of getting Nova LFS units. Two units are already in service, with one of them being 9029 on the Q6. The XD60's were at JFK for years.

[Far rockaway]

Just now, Kingsbridgeviewer382 said:

They're in the middle of getting Nova LFS units. Two units are already in service, with one of them being 9029 on the Q6. The XD60's were at JFK for years.

I know the XD60 bus been at JFK for years. It's just that it's very rare for an XD60 bus to pop up on that route. I was just curious about the Nova LFS units

[Calvin]

If I remember back then, was there a mention that the Q6 would be articulated but didn't work out due to the 165 St terminal or the JFK cargo terminal not wide or in capacity of the bus? 

[trainfan22]

I wonder if those 46 XD40s thats supposed to go to JFK will all go to Far Rockaway. 46 buses should be enough to cover all of the Far Rock routes?

 

 

For years, they kept the FR local routes entirely OG hybrids while all the NGs stayed at JFK. Once they started retiring the OGs then NGs started regularly popping up on FR routes. 

 

 

I'm excited that the ex Green Line depots are getting a new batch of local buses. I missed the introduction of the OG hybrids on the former Green Line routes cause I wasn't actively bus fanning at the time. Spring 05 was the last time I regularly commuted in Green Lines service area, came back a few years later the MTA and the Old Gen Orion hybrids had taken over   

Edited October 15, 2023 by trainfan22

[Kingsbridgeviewer382]

3 minutes ago, trainfan22 said:

I wonder if those 46 XD40s thats supposed to go to JFK will all go to Far Rockaway. 46 buses should be enough to cover all of the Far Rock routes?

 

 

For years, they kept the FR local routes entirely OG hybrids while all the NGs stayed at JFK. Once they started retiring the OGs then NGs started regularly popping up on FR routes. 

 

 

I'm excited that the ex Green Line depots are getting a new batch of local buses. I missed the introduction of the OG hybrids on the former Green Line routes cause I wasn't actively fanning at the time. Spring 05 was the last time I regularly commuted in Green Lines service area, came back a few years later the MTA and the Old Gen Orion hybrids had taken over   

Those XD's are still going to pop up on the FR routes, and vice-versa as both depots use buses from one pool. Even some of the OG's that showed up on FR routes were usually JFK ones.

[Lawrence St]

On 10/13/2023 at 12:00 PM, NewFlyer 230 said:

You don’t have to make the bus free for folks to take advantage of all door boarding. That is what OMNY will attempt to fix however farebeating is a serious issue that needs to be addressed. OMNY will only make farebeating worst if there is nothing done to stop people from getting free rides.
Making the buses free is essentially rewarding bad irresponsible behavior while putting the burden on law abiding folks who now have to pay more taxes to fund such a thing. Best believe the rich ain’t having it so it’s going to be the person who is already struggling that will have to pay up some more. I don’t think it’s right. 

 

I’m a bit skeptical about the funding part. I know funding the MTA is something that was definitely discussed but I’m overall cynical on the whole idea. Just looking at how NY & the MTA handles money I have this belief that the money will be misused and actual improvements to the transit system will be very minimal.

You hit all the points. I for one would love all door boarding, but it will cause farebeating to get more out of control than it already is. I was on the Bx19 earlier and not a single person paid for 14 stops. It’s outrageous.

[R179 8258]

Can someone explain the situation with JFK and Far Rockaway depot. Are they separated or the same. Or just JFK depot holds the local and Select Bus, buses and Far Rockaway depot hold the express bus ?

[Calvin]

38 minutes ago, R179 8258 said:

Can someone explain the situation with JFK and Far Rockaway depot. Are they separated or the same. Or just JFK depot holds the local and Select Bus, buses and Far Rockaway depot hold the express bus ?

JFK houses the Local and Artic Q10, Select Bus Service- Q52 while Far Rockaway does the Express part. For the local fleet, 50-60 Hybrids at JFK are rotated and stored at Far Rockaway for pulling in and out of said depot as it's close distance to the Q11, Q21, Q22, Q35 and Q41. Then, the rest of the local fleet are out of JFK in-service itself. 

Both Far Rockaway and JFK are the same because back then, they were part of Green Lines Bus Inc. However, even with the Express fleet: they all have Far Rockaway decals but, whenever they need maintenance done, it goes and stays at JFK until the unit is fully repaired, it goes back down to Far Rockaway. 

Edited October 15, 2023 by Calvin

[NoHacksJustKhaks]

On 10/14/2023 at 9:15 PM, trainfan22 said:

came back a few years later the MTA and the Old Gen Orion hybrids had taken over   

Yeah we have seemingly had the old gens since the dawn of time lol

[7-express]

How typical is it for buses to randomly start their route mid-run just because they are late?  Reason I ask is because I was waiting for the Q34 in Whitestone with no signs of it showing up.  Only to see on BusTime that a bus started its run several stops away closer to CP depot heading south to Jamaica.  So it seems like the bus ran on time and made service while it missed a bunch of stops from the northern terminus to where it ended up starting it's run.

[KDGallagher]

3 hours ago, 7-express said:

How typical is it for buses to randomly start their route mid-run just because they are late?  Reason I ask is because I was waiting for the Q34 in Whitestone with no signs of it showing up.  Only to see on BusTime that a bus started its run several stops away closer to CP depot heading south to Jamaica.  So it seems like the bus ran on time and made service while it missed a bunch of stops from the northern terminus to where it ended up starting it's run.

Happens all the time 

[B35 via Church]

21 hours ago, 7-express said:

How typical is it for buses to randomly start their route mid-run just because they are late?  Reason I ask is because I was waiting for the Q34 in Whitestone with no signs of it showing up.  Only to see on BusTime that a bus started its run several stops away closer to CP depot heading south to Jamaica.  So it seems like the bus ran on time and made service while it missed a bunch of stops from the northern terminus to where it ended up starting it's run.

Rather common.

What I've been noticing more & more, are the b/o's that turn on the not in service signage mid-route - to only drop off whatever passengers that are left on the bus.... Now if you're one of the people that's already on a bus of sorts, that can be a good thing, as it speeds up your trip... However, if you're someone waiting at a stop & get flagged in that manner, it's infuriating.

[NewFlyer 230]

I noticed that MTA Bus LFS’s have a USB C and a regular USB charging port instead of the two regular USB ports that all the other blue and gold buses have. 
This is a neat little addition. Too bad the 2021-2023 NYCT LFS’s don’t have it. 

 

 

[B35 via Church]

8 hours ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

I noticed that MTA Bus LFS’s have a USB C and a regular USB charging port instead of the two regular USB ports that all the other blue and gold buses have. 
This is a neat little addition. Too bad the 2021-2023 NYCT LFS’s don’t have it.

No way in hell am I sticking my USB devices in those ports on the buses....

[Calvin]

I saw one XD-60 out of Casey Stengel today on the Q44-SBS, 6005. The rear of the bus has two clips attached like the other XD-60s that Ulmer Park has in appearance. 

[IAlam]

1 hour ago, Calvin said:

I saw one XD-60 out of Casey Stengel today on the Q44-SBS, 6005. The rear of the bus has two clips attached like the other XD-60s that Ulmer Park has in appearance. 

Honestly the entire New Flyer fleet at CS isn’t doing to well. From a passenger POV those NG’s are much better than both the XD40’s and XD60’s. It feels like those buses are weren’t built well to begin with. The XD60’s in particular need to be removed from the Q44 ASAP otherwise they’ll be run into the ground soon.