BUS - Random Thoughts Thread

[R188 7857]

10 hours ago, danielhg121 said:

OMG I LOVED THOSE BUSES TOO!!! I WAS SO PISSED when they took them off the Q44, my home line. Gave us some subpar Allison XD60's I'm gonna be quite honest, they're just okay IMO but man those novas. Why the MTA take em away, I don't care if you giving us some high-tech blue and yellow shit, gimme the NOVAs

Those XD60s are starting to get less bland with the noises. I noticed some operators like to mess around with the gears and some of them have the bus stop shifting at 3rd or 4th gear. Makes for some nice sound effects. Most 44 operators tend to haul ass as well, I was on 6000 and the dude was doing 40 down a stretch of Main Street, man was absolutely flying on that bus. 

[danielhg121]

Just now, R188 7857 said:

Those XD60s are starting to get less bland with the noises. I noticed some operators like to mess around with the gears and some of them have the bus stop shifting at 3rd or 4th gear. Makes for some nice sound effects. Most 44 operators tend to haul ass as well, I was on 6000 and the dude was doing 40 down a stretch of Main Street, man was absolutely flying on that bus. 

I agree, a few operators on the Q44 are some of the best, they know when they can haul ass and get away with it. They play with the gears a lot, especially when climbing the Whitestone. When exiting the Whitestone on both ends, it's a quick maneuver but most are doing 30+ on a tight curve.

[XcelsiorBoii4888]

10 minutes ago, danielhg121 said:

I agree, a few operators on the Q44 are some of the best, they know when they can haul ass and get away with it. They play with the gears a lot, especially when climbing the Whitestone. When exiting the Whitestone on both ends, it's a quick maneuver but most are doing 30+ on a tight curve.

You can manually shift the MTA buses??

[MHV9218]

14 hours ago, danielhg121 said:

This thought just occurred to me. I've never seen an MCI or express bus at an CMF before LOL

The MCIs, with a handful of exceptions, were never repainted, so that was part of why were less likely to show up at CMFs. Only serious mechanical work could bring them there, whereas all the rest of the fleet is constantly in and out for cosmetic as well as mechanical upgrades.

[Jdog14]

1 minute ago, MHV9218 said:

The MCIs, with a handful of exceptions, were never repainted, so that was part of why were less likely to show up at CMFs. Only serious mechanical work could bring them there, whereas all the rest of the fleet is constantly in and out for cosmetic as well as mechanical upgrades.

I always wondered why they never repainted the MCIs...they look rough with all the cocking on some of them

[Cait Sith]

4 hours ago, XcelsiorBoii4888 said:

You can manually shift the MTA buses??

Of course! LOL. You can manual shift any bus.

[trainfan22]

Speaking of annoying sounding buses, the Orion 7 CNG HAVC sound was annoying as hell. I love the engine sounds on those buses but I will not miss their HAVC noise.

[XcelsiorBoii4888]

Whatttt, do they teach that in training or do you just have to know that being a driver? I've never seen that before. 

[trife86]

1 hour ago, XcelsiorBoii4888 said:

Whatttt, do they teach that in training or do you just have to know that being a driver? I've never seen that before. 

Buses with the Allison transmission you can choose to limit the top gear to be is about all.

So if it's a 4 or a 6 speed you can set it to 2 or 3rd gear and it won't pass whatever you set it at.

[trainfan22]

I'm gonna miss the B60 running out of Grand Ave, it was the only GA route in my area. Love the fact that Grand had those oddball buses like the small batch of RTS, the XDE40s and the Proterras.

 

 

I guess FP running the 60 will make it easier to ride the 64/6500 hybrids FP has... since I would imagine with the L shuttle cancelled these buses will be scrapped sooner rather than later. 

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

First day of Q58 at GA, and just like I imagined: a lot of gaps and bunching, more so than ever before. Seriously, what is it with that depot. It was never that bad with Fresh Pond. I can only imagine tomorrow.

Look at bustime right now:

               Q58 1/6/19 @ 8:25 PM by BM5 via Woodhaven (Main), on Flickr

Edited January 7, 2019 by BM5 via Woodhaven

[danielhg121]

47 minutes ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

First day of Q58 at GA, and just like I imagined: a lot of gaps and bunching, more so than ever before. Seriously, what is it with that depot. It was never that bad with Fresh Pond. I can only imagine tomorrow.

Look at bustime right now:

               Q58 1/6/19 @ 8:25 PM by BM5 via Woodhaven (Main), on Flickr

Nah it suffered from serious bunching and gaps too at FP ngl. A lotta ppl get passed up too when it's too crowded, just info that BusTime couldn't show ya. Only really big anomaly that stands out to me is those 4 buses en route to Flushing and no buses from Flushing back to Corona, granted it could be drivers logged off at terminal which then wouldn't be that bad. This actually doesn't look like normal service level at this time on a line like the Q58 tbh; it's a LOT less.

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

1 minute ago, danielhg121 said:

Nah it suffered from serious bunching and gaps too at FP ngl. A lotta ppl get passed up too when it's too crowded, just info that BusTime couldn't show ya. Only really big anomaly that stands out to me is those 4 buses en route to Flushing and no buses from Flushing back to Corona, granted it could be drivers logged off at terminal which then wouldn't be that bad. This actually doesn't look like normal service level at this time on a line like the Q58 tbh; it's a LOT less.

There was serious bunching at FP too, but the gaps more a lot more tolerable. It actually got worst after that, I'll post some more screenshots later.

[Jdog14]

56 minutes ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

First day of Q58 at GA, and just like I imagined: a lot of gaps and bunching, more so than ever before. Seriously, what is it with that depot. It was never that bad with Fresh Pond. I can only imagine tomorrow.

Look at bustime right now:

               Q58 1/6/19 @ 8:25 PM by BM5 via Woodhaven (Main), on Flickr

 

I suspect a big reason why is due to the location of the depot itself..Grand Ave isn't situated well for alot of commercial traffic, and if the area becomes clogged with even one truck all hell breaks loose...

[Armandito]

In my perspective, this would've been a better service plan for the B1 and B64 routes in south Brooklyn back in 1978: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=13tvdU-CwuMaF3wGayQkZd9p5EAWLWUHL&ll=40.61611749782938%2C-74.00470272469596&z=14

Yet the MTA didn't implement a straight-through 86th Street bus service until the B1 and B64 swapped their western termini in 2010--which IMO is too late. One way to learn from past mistakes, indeed...

Edited January 7, 2019 by lara8710

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

4 hours ago, danielhg121 said:

Nah it suffered from serious bunching and gaps too at FP ngl. A lotta ppl get passed up too when it's too crowded, just info that BusTime couldn't show ya. Only really big anomaly that stands out to me is those 4 buses en route to Flushing and no buses from Flushing back to Corona, granted it could be drivers logged off at terminal which then wouldn't be that bad. This actually doesn't look like normal service level at this time on a line like the Q58 tbh; it's a LOT less.

 

4 hours ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

First day of Q58 at GA, and just like I imagined: a lot of gaps and bunching, more so than ever before. Seriously, what is it with that depot. It was never that bad with Fresh Pond. I can only imagine tomorrow.

Look at bustime right now:

               Q58 1/6/19 @ 8:25 PM by BM5 via Woodhaven (Main), on Flickr

Here are some more screenshots, at a time when service is suppose to be running every 9-12 minutes:

                                           

In this one, the Flushing bound service is suppose to be 20 minutes apart. The first bus is over 30 minutes late:

Service is just now starting to normalize once FP takes over for the night. I've never seen buses with such gaps and super-concentrated bunching (whether rush hour, midday, or evening) like that. That tends to be a GA thing, as it always happens with the Q59. Don't know about you, but I think the Q59 might start becoming more important along Grand Avenue (the corridor) if the Q58 bus service is going to be consistently run like this.

Edited January 7, 2019 by BM5 via Woodhaven

[EastFlatbushLarry]

4 hours ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

 

Here are some more screenshots, at a time when service is suppose to be running every 9-12 minutes:

                                           

In this one, the Flushing bound service is suppose to be 20 minutes apart. The first bus is over 30 minutes late:

Service is just now starting to normalize once FP takes over for the night. I've never seen buses with such gaps and super-concentrated bunching (whether rush hour, midday, or evening) like that. That tends to be a GA thing, as it always happens with the Q59. Don't know about you, but I think the Q59 might start becoming more important along Grand Avenue (the corridor) if the Q58 bus service is going to be consistently run like this.

this is technically day one of the pick's weekday schedule, so operators are getting acclimated. however, this is Grand Avenue, and as much as I'd like to defend fellow operators, lines like the B47 notoriously suffer from this affliction consistently, so i don't see this getting any better until the artics show up. i wonder how the B38 fared yesterday 

[XcelsiorBoii4888]

I can't wait to see how hideous the SIM33C destination code is gonna look with combination spelled out on a split screen 🤢. 

 

[SIM33  |Combination] 😥

Edited January 7, 2019 by XcelsiorBoii4888

[Lil 57]

1 hour ago, XcelsiorBoii4888 said:

I can't wait to see how hideous the SIM33C destination code is gonna look with combination spelled out on a split screen 🤢. 

 

[SIM33  |Combination] 😥

Probably since SIM33C can't fit LOL.

[161 New York]

6 hours ago, Lil 57 said:

Probably since SIM33C can't fit LOL.

Yep LOL..

It reads exactly that! "SIM33 COMBINATION", with combination written very small. In the rear, it reads, SIM, then 33c. The side destination sign truncates the word.

Edited January 7, 2019 by 161 New York

[Lil 57]

31 minutes ago, 161 New York said:

In the rear, it reads, SIM, then 33c

Just like those 2002 MCI buses with SIM and BxM routes above 4 characters. 

Do you have any pictures?

Edited January 7, 2019 by Lil 57

[Lil 57]

27 minutes ago, Lil 57 said:

Just like those 2002 MCI buses with SIM and BxM routes above 4 characters. 

Do you have any pictures?

Looking at this image of the SIM33 sign, it looks like SIM33C can fit on the left.https://goo.gl/images/dYaUz9

 

[trainfan22]

Rockaway Parkway between Flatlands and the station is basically a busway today due to NYPD closing the street cause the Firefighter that died worked out of the firehouse down the block.

 

 

B60 however is detoured yet the TA website says "Good Service" SMH.

 

 

[Lil 57]

Starting to snow...

Let's hope that the  can get their act together this time.

[Lil 57]

40 minutes ago, Lil 57 said:

Starting to snow...

Let's hope that the  can get their act together this time.

Never mind it ended.