BUS - Random Thoughts Thread

[checkmatechamp13]

Like the Bx15?

 

Limited-stop service stops running way before 10PM, but yes, most limited-stop routes have a local portion. The only limited-only routes I can think of (aside from the +SBS+ routes of course) are the Q50 and Q52/53. (The B103 runs local-only in Canarsie, and the M98 runs local-only in Washington Heights).

 

In any case, a route like the B6 or B35 with late limited-stop service (and a short-turning local counterpart to boot) is definitely affected by that technicality. Other routes like the S48/98 only have one or two trips where you're in that grey area.

 

From what I've seen, most of the time on the local routes, it's just a matter of being let off before the traffic light instead of after the traffic light (and in most cases, the light is red anyway. If only they had that flexibility to do it during the day). Very rarely (if ever) have I seen anybody ask to be let off in the middle of a block in front of their house or something.

Edited March 3, 2017 by checkmatechamp13

[R188 7857]

Our 'BRT' fleet surely needs a more streamlined look but to be fair flushed windows are probably more expensive to maintain and repair than traditional glazing windows. However slide-glide doors are definitely a plus for BRTs since they open and close faster than the push-out counterparts that are standard for almost every bus used that isn't an LFS.

If the MTA were to formally assign XD60s for SBS, Full-roof fairings should be an option to consider but not a must imo.

I've said in the past that the doors on the Novas suck, and I still stand by that point.  However, I do agree that those types of doors need to be used for SBS. They are faster not only when they are opening and closing, but for boarding too. People hold the door way to easily on 5987, it gets annoying after 4 minutes sitting at a stop waiting for the door to close. At least with the Novas the door actually forces people to get out because it closes on them. For the outward opening doors, they aren't even going to touch you. 

Edited March 3, 2017 by R188 7857

[B35 via Church]

Yeah, to sum it up, request a stop isn't a taxi service....

 

For the b/o to come to a dead stop to let someone off mid block can be unsafe; especially considering the nutcases that drive (unsafely in their own right) like they're in the India-damn-napolis 500 or somethin'.... From the tow truck drivers, to the commercial garbage truck drivers, to the newspaper delivery guys, to people coming from nightclubs or w/e, to anyone else gunning through red lights like there's no tomorrow (this is more common than a lot of you all might think)....

[MassTransitHonchkrow]

 

 

.

 

From what I've seen, most of the time on the local routes, it's just a matter of being let off before the traffic light instead of after the traffic light (and in most cases, the light is red anyway. If only they had that flexibility to do it during the day). Very rarely (if ever) have I seen anybody ask to be let off in the middle of a block in front of their house or something.

Speaking of red lights, I nearly missed my ride yesterday. The operator was ready to floor it but the signal turned red just in time.

 

 

???? Eric Shields | #MassTransitHonchkrow ????

THE Hudson Valley's essential Fare-blazer ????

[paulrivera]

I've said in the past that the doors on the Novas suck, and I still stand by that point.  However, I do agree that those types of doors need to be used for SBS. They are faster not only when they are opening and closing, but for boarding too. People hold the door way to easily on 5987, it gets annoying after 4 minutes sitting at a stop waiting for the door to close. At least with the Novas the door actually forces people to get out because it closes on them. For the outward opening doors, they aren't even going to touch you.

 

The Nova doors are only effective when the people on the bus aren't packed in like sardines. When the Bx12 reaches sardine status (basically every other trip all damn day) the doors actually get stuck, as it practically gets absorbed into the sea of humanity inside the bus.

 

If they were able to reprogram the rear door to not recycle when people are passing through as the doors close, the XD60 would be *perfect* for SBS.

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

The MTA really needs to make schedule adjustments to the Q38 schedule. The amount of bunching and delays after rerouting buses off Fresh Pond Road has spiked, to the point where there's bunching at any time of day. The delays during middays has increased, and buses bunch more during midday hours. It takes 15 minutes to go from 69 Street to Fresh Pond Road on Metropolitan Avenue alone (runtime is no more than half of that). That causes buses to start bunching. 

 

Yesterday, I was waiting for the bus at 108 Street in the PM rush towards Middle Village, and there was bunching, as I waited for a long time for a bus (I walked from Queens Boulevard to 108 Street as well, and not a single bus passed by). Two buses passed, and then I didn't see any bus going towards Rego Park, so that was it. I don't see a single bus until the Penelope Avenue (there were two buses at 84 Street and Dry Harbor Road towards Rego Park). I don't see another bus until Eliot Avenue & 69 Street, and another around 74 Street. By the time I got off to get Chinese food, a third bus was close to the other two (but not exactly bunching). During this time, buses run every 12 minutes.

 

In the morning, the buses are so full that buses are constantly flagging people from the early morning, and well into the late AM rush and early midday times (on occasion). I often walk to 80 Street (a few stops down from mine) because I know that a few people get off there in the AM, and the BO lets everyone in (some have to go through the back door, if they can). Buses regularly bypass stops in the morning when they are on time.

 

I look to see bustime to see if there's any difference, and well: 

 

Q38 Bullshit March 4, 2017 by BM5 via Woodhaven, on Flickr

 

At this time, buses run every 20 minutes, and buses leave Corona at :00, :20, and :40. It takes 12 minutes to go from Woodhaven Boulevard to the Corona Terminal. The bus that recently left the Corona Terminal is the 1:40 bus.

 

Buses leave Rego Park at :00, :20, and :40, and it takes 5-8 minutes to go from Queens Boulevard to 108 Street & 62 Drive.The bus that is approaching Queens Boulevard is the 12:40 PM bus, which was suppose to leave Rego Park at 1:40 PM. 

Edited March 4, 2017 by BM5 via Woodhaven Bl

[bobtehpanda]

Has the MTA ever used buses with plug-style doors?

[danielhg121]

What are those?

 

 

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[RTSTdrive]

Has the MTA ever used buses with plug-style doors?

What are those?

 

 

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Think of the front doors of the RTS and D4500s

[Jdog14]

Has the MTA ever used buses with plug-style doors?

 

Off the top of my head the RTS, Express buses and the Designline Ecosavers. 

[Mtatransit]

Anyone knows why the X17 takes a scenic tour of the south Shore of Staten Island? I understand they extended it to Tottenville a few years ago but to have to route to up and down, who would actually take it verse the X22

[checkmatechamp13]

Anyone knows why the X17 takes a scenic tour of the south Shore of Staten Island? I understand they extended it to Tottenville a few years ago but to have to route to up and down, who would actually take it verse the X22

 

Lazy planning. Simple as that. Instead of branching it (and having half of the buses go across Arthur Kill Road straight to Rossville and the other half go to Huguenot) or having it cut across Woodrow Road, they decided to graft the entire X22 route onto the X17. The same way they decided to merge the Q36 & Q79. 

[B35 via Church]

Anyone knows why the X17 takes a scenic tour of the south Shore of Staten Island? I understand they extended it to Tottenville a few years ago but to have to route to up and down, who would actually take it verse the X22

Towards Manhattan, you couldn't...

(out of Tottenville, the x17 doesn't run with the x22....)

 

Towards Tottenville, eh, I guess someone that gets out of work (who works in lower manhattan) early enough to catch it.... The person that doesn't wanna take the subway to 42nd st or w/e..... But other than that, basically nobody....

[IAlam]

Anyone knows why the X17 takes a scenic tour of the south Shore of Staten Island? I understand they extended it to Tottenville a few years ago but to have to route to up and down, who would actually take it verse the X22

Some of the people who ride there don't go to Manhattan. However there are some people on the X22 portion and the Off peak exclusive portion who do go to Manhattan, but not that far south.

[pranavbhat924]

The MTA really needs to make schedule adjustments to the Q38 schedule. The amount of bunching and delays after rerouting buses off Fresh Pond Road has spiked, to the point where there's bunching at any time of day. The delays during middays has increased, and buses bunch more during midday hours. It takes 15 minutes to go from 69 Street to Fresh Pond Road on Metropolitan Avenue alone (runtime is no more than half of that). That causes buses to start bunching.

 

Yesterday, I was waiting for the bus at 108 Street in the PM rush towards Middle Village, and there was bunching, as I waited for a long time for a bus (I walked from Queens Boulevard to 108 Street as well, and not a single bus passed by). Two buses passed, and then I didn't see any bus going towards Rego Park, so that was it. I don't see a single bus until the Penelope Avenue (there were two buses at 84 Street and Dry Harbor Road towards Rego Park). I don't see another bus until Eliot Avenue & 69 Street, and another around 74 Street. By the time I got off to get Chinese food, a third bus was close to the other two (but not exactly bunching). During this time, buses run every 12 minutes.

 

In the morning, the buses are so full that buses are constantly flagging people from the early morning, and well into the late AM rush and early midday times (on occasion). I often walk to 80 Street (a few stops down from mine) because I know that a few people get off there in the AM, and the BO lets everyone in (some have to go through the back door, if they can). Buses regularly bypass stops in the morning when they are on time.

 

I look to see bustime to see if there's any difference, and well:

 

Q38 Bullshit March 4, 2017 by BM5 via Woodhaven, on Flickr

 

At this time, buses run every 20 minutes, and buses leave Corona at :00, :20, and :40. It takes 12 minutes to go from Woodhaven Boulevard to the Corona Terminal. The bus that recently left the Corona Terminal is the 1:40 bus.

 

Buses leave Rego Park at :00, :20, and :40, and it takes 5-8 minutes to go from Queens Boulevard to 108 Street & 62 Drive.The bus that is approaching Queens Boulevard is the 12:40 PM bus, which was suppose to leave Rego Park at 1:40 PM.

You need to see the q46 bus my friend

 

 

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[Around the Horn]

Would anyone happen to know why a C40LF was parked on a residential street in Bay Ridge (with no bus route on it) for almost three hours?

[danielhg121]

Uhhhhh.......extra long bathroom break?? Or it could've broke down?

Edited March 6, 2017 by danielhg121

[trainfan22]

Would anyone happen to know why a C40LF was parked on a residential street in Bay Ridge (with no bus route on it) for almost three hours?

A driver on a swing run took the bus home 

[checkmatechamp13]

Some of the people who ride there don't go to Manhattan. However there are some people on the X22 portion and the Off peak exclusive portion who do go to Manhattan, but not that far south.

 

Even taking the local bus would likely be quicker than looping around the whole South Shore for most trips (unless you happened to just miss one). Even for intra-island island riders, it's pointless. 

[MTA Bus]

So 8119 is still at ENY. I'm riding it on the B42 right now.

 

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[BM5 via Woodhaven]

You need to see the q46 bus my friend

 

 

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The Q46 and Q38 are two completely different animals. The Q46 is more frequent than the Q38 at any given time of day, sometimes even more than twice as frequent. On weekdays (since there's no weekend service to 260 street), the individual branches still have more frequent service than the Q38 gets. 

 

Yes, the Q46 gets crowded and they bunch, but I'd rather deal with that line over a line that runs every 20-30 minutes outside of the rush hour and constantly bunch. If 4 Q46 buses bunch during the midday period, that means that there's a 24 minute gap in service from the previous bus. If 2 Q38 buses bunch during that same period, that means that there's a 40 minute gap in service. During the rush hour, you can have 7 buses bunching (I don't believe that I've seen that before), which equates to a 18-21 minute gap in service. You have two Q38 buses bunching, and that's a 24 minute gap. Especially since the Q38 is overcrowded (ridership has increased in the last few years) with the current amount of buses, if you're skipped by a bus, it's a much longer wait (and many would likely give up). 

 

Obviously that shouldn't happen at all, but it's impossible to do so. While it may be more "acceptable" on a route like the Q46, the Q38 does not operate on many streets with lots of traffic (except parts of Woodhaven Boulevard and Metropolitan Avenue). The problems existed way before this, but that construction and diversion of buses off Fresh Pond Road just made evident at all times of the day, that it's even common to see the scenario on Saturdays and Sundays, when buses operate every 20 and 30 minutes, respectively. Whoever is responsible for the scheduling believes that this is a non-issue. That is completely wrong, because traffic is spilling to Eliot Avenue and causing congestion from 69 Street to Metropolitan Avenue & Fresh Pond Road. 

 

I would like to know where are these new riders coming from though. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Somewhat Related: The was out last weekend, so there were shuttle buses. Because of the construction, shuttle buses were diverted from the original path. Shuttle buses typically turn right from Fresh Pond Road to Metropolitan Avenue, and terminate at the station. They take Metropolitan > 69 Street > JV Road? 69 Street > Metropolitan, in order to turn around. Instead, the buses are doing as follows: Fresh Pond > Eliot > 69 Street > Metropolitan.

 

Brooklyn-bound buses were being diverted as well. From the station, they usually take Metropolitan > Fresh Pond > Putnam Avenue, and on to Myrtle Avenue & Broadway. However, they are serving Forest Avenue twice, operating as follows: Metropolitan > Forest > 67 Avenue > Fresh Pond Road > Putnam Avenue,  and on to Ridgewood.

 

For the duration of the construction, the agency can do as follows: 

 

 

 

 

DAY (8 AM to 9 PM)

1. Shuttle bus serving Metropolitan Avenue, Forest Avenue,  Fresh Pond Road, then back to Metropolitan Avenue (every 10 minutes)

2. Shuttle bus serving Metropolitan Avenue, Forest Avenue, Seneca Avenue, Myrtle-Wyckoff, and all other stops until Broadway (every 6-8 minutes)

 

NIGHT

1. COMBO route (like current routing in both directions)

 

 

 

OR

 

 

 

DAY

1. Shuttle bus serving Metropolitan Avenue, Forest Avenue, Seneca Avenue, etc.

2. Shuttle bus serving Fresh Pond Road, Seneca Avenue, Myrtle-Wyckoff, etc.

 

NIGHT

1. COMBO route (like current setup)

 

 

Edited March 6, 2017 by BM5 via Woodhaven Bl

[IAlam]

Even taking the local bus would likely be quicker than looping around the whole South Shore for most trips (unless you happened to just miss one). Even for intra-island island riders, it's pointless. 

I mean if you don't want to wait, or it goes closer to your destination why not, to anyone with an unlimited it'snot really an issue, and I've done it before. the X17/X22 covers portions that are not served by local buses. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Would anyone happen to know why a C40LF was parked on a residential street in Bay Ridge (with no bus route on it) for almost three hours?

Nothing unusual. Same deal in Sheepshead Bay. They park anywhere and everywhere.

[MHV184]

I was looking on google maps and I saw that Manhattanville has a big space on the roof why can't they use that roof to store some buses like Artics or RTS's if they ever received them

 

 

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[Future ENY OP]

I guess ENY is keeping 8119 for now. Currently on board 8119.