BUS - Random Thoughts Thread

[Deucey]

4 hours ago, B35 via Church said:

Do you really want people dipping metrocards to access the subway (NY-ers are already impatient enough as it is & that threshold of impatience is far less tolerable when it comes to the subway, over the bus)? And as far as swiping on a bus, I think space is the issue; some moron'll find an inventive way to injure themselves while swiping around the bus cockpit area & the last thing this f***in agency needs is (paying out) more lawsuits....

Plenty of systems use bus fare boxes that swipe the bus pass, and two (Sacramento RT, LA MTA) spit out paper magstripe transfers.

So it was an interesting thought I had - Why NY picked a dip system that takes longer for bus boarding (thinking about waiting at 207th/10th to board Bx12 overnight).

Edited October 23, 2020 by Deucey

[MHV9218]

Saw 3801 and 3805 one after another on the M55 today. Might be some of the last runs out of Quill those buses make. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

11 minutes ago, MHV9218 said:

Saw 3801 and 3805 one after another on the M55 today. Might be some of the last runs out of Quill those buses make. 

Where are they supposed to be going? I remember when those buses first hit the ground when I lived on Staten Island, and when they ran on the M34SBS.

[Kingsbridgeviewer382]

4 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Where are they supposed to be going? I remember when those buses first hit the ground when I lived on Staten Island, and when they ran on the M34SBS.

JFK in Queens.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

6 hours ago, Kingsbridgeviewer382 said:

JFK in Queens.

Interesting...

[NewFlyer 230]

JFK seems to be the dumping ground where old buses go before retiring. At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if they got some of the 4800 XD40’s or even some buses out the 7100-7400 series XD40’s before they retire in the future. 
 

[B35 via Church]

16 hours ago, Deucey said:

....Why NY picked a dip system that takes longer for bus boarding (thinking about waiting at 207th/10th to board Bx12 overnight).

So you think the buses here should've resorted to some sort of a swiping system or something?

17 hours ago, danielhg121 said:

I would personally prefer the slots where the card goes through one end, unlocks the gate and spits it out the other if it's valid. It it's invalid, the machine spits it right back out. I feel like with this setup, they could even begin to accept paper bus transfers where they don't spit it out at the end but still unlock the gate. This setup is in use in China and Japan. 

New Yorkers are definitely gonna hate it tho. First day would be an absolute shitshow and with OMNY on the horizon, there's no need.

I personally don't mind PATH's turnstiles.... With that said, for what it sounds like you're describing, I can see many people in this city losing (or gaining, depending on who's perspective you're looking at it from) cards that way...

Train's at the station, card goes through the slot, person runs for the train, catches the train, feels a sense of accomplishment, "stand clear of the closing doors please", 5,6,7,8+ hours later, person attempts to pay the fare at some other station, stupid mf-er THEN realizes that they forgot to retrieve their card at the turnstile 5,6,7,8+ hours before the fact....

[Deucey]

17 minutes ago, B35 via Church said:

So you think the buses here should've resorted to some sort of a swiping system or something?

It's after penuckle now because OMNY, but, swiping takes less time than dipping. So the question was more "What led (NYCT) to go with a slower system?" then "Why'd they do something so stupid?"

[Deucey]

1 hour ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

JFK seems to be the dumping ground where old buses go before retiring. At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if they got some of the 4800 XD40’s or even some buses out the 7100-7400 series XD40’s before they retire in the future. 
 

Did they get rid of that lot in Co-Op city next to 95/Bay Plaza? (That's where I saw the last of the Bx Orion V's years ago.)

[Iron Valiant]

1 hour ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

JFK seems to be the dumping ground where old buses go before retiring. At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if they got some of the 4800 XD40’s or even some buses out the 7100-7400 series XD40’s before they retire in the future. 
 

Next might be the 2011 Orion VIIs. 

[B35 via Church]

1 hour ago, Deucey said:

It's after penuckle now because OMNY, but, swiping takes less time than dipping.

So the question was more "What led to go with a slower system?" then "Why'd they do something so stupid?"

...as opposed to leading credence to swiping on the buses, which is what I was asking... I get that we're talking pre-OMNY.

Quite honestly, I'd say the whole swiping vs. dipping bit is splitting hairs... All it takes is someone's faulty card (or a f***ked up reader) & whatever time savings you save swiping vs. dipping would be eradicated.... When the MTA first came out with the metrocard, people were swiping numerous times at turnstiles before the damn reader recognized the thing (which was one reason I kept using tokens until the bitter end), so of the many stupid things that the MTA's done over the years, I can't classify this as one of them - to the point where it's worth pointing it out anyway.....

[Calvin]

Has the B15 went to Postal Facility on partial trips or was it cut back due to low ridership?

[NewFlyer 230]

2 hours ago, Deucey said:

Did they get rid of that lot in Co-Op city next to 95/Bay Plaza? (That's where I saw the last of the Bx Orion V's years ago.)

The MTA still uses that lots, it’s where the retired buses go.

 

1 hour ago, Snorunts said:

Next might be the 2011 Orion VIIs. 

I was thinking that because at this point they are an oddball fleet in a sea of Nova’s on S.I but then again that doesn’t necessarily mean that they have to be moved. 

[B35 via Church]

1 hour ago, Calvin said:

Has the B15 went to Postal Facility on partial trips or was it cut back due to low ridership?

Short turns used to end there... Now they end at Drew/Linden, alongside the movie theater.

You can sum it up to low ridership, but the official reason they gave was that the (former) diversion through the mail facility was disruptive to all the riders seeking JFK & how it impacted the route's reliability...

[Jdog14]

24 minutes ago, B35 via Church said:

Short turns used to end there... Now they end at Drew/Linden, alongside the movie theater.

You can sum it up to low ridership, but the official reason they gave was that the (former) diversion through the mail facility was disruptive to all the riders seeking JFK & how it impacted the route's reliability...

In no way directed towards you, but this is the biggest crock of shit regarding the B15 I've ever read. The route is still garbage lol

[checkmatechamp13]

14 minutes ago, Jdog14 said:

In no way directed towards you, but this is the biggest crock of shit regarding the B15 I've ever read. The route is still garbage lol

I mean, if reliability went from (say) 60% on-time to 61% that's still an improvement lol...might not solve the major reason (which is the route's sheer length and number of turns going through Crown Heights IMO) but at least it's something.

[B35 via Church]

1 hour ago, Jdog14 said:

In no way directed towards you, but this is the biggest crock of shit regarding the B15 I've ever read. The route is still garbage lol

Lol, no argument from me.

Shaving runtime off a route doesn't necessarily mean riders will find the route more reliable.... The ousting of the B15 from the mail facility is a good example of that.

1 hour ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

I mean, if reliability went from (say) 60% on-time to 61% that's still an improvement lol...might not solve the major reason (which is the route's sheer length and number of turns going through Crown Heights IMO) but at least it's something.

For me, it's actually not the Crown Heights portion of the B15 that bugs me - It's the Bed-Stuy portion; from like Fulton on up.... That part of the route AFAIC is like blowing inside your Genesis cartridge back in the day to get the damned game to work.....

[danielhg121]

3 hours ago, Calvin said:

I heard right now Brooklyn is getting whatever buses are available when it comes to the Bronx or Queens. Due to the 2004-5 Orion VII retirement, they are running low on equipment. 

It certainly feels like they were rushing them to scrap towards the end. Was it really necessary to kill off the 05's in such a hasty manner? Do the batteries die out? JFK was definitely running them to the ground, 6541 had little dings and scraped paint all over the bus.

[GojiMet86]

3 minutes ago, danielhg121 said:

It certainly feels like they were rushing them to scrap towards the end. Was it really necessary to kill off the 05's in such a hasty manner? Do the batteries die out? JFK was definitely running them to the ground, 6541 had little dings and scraped paint all over the bus.

 

So are these the units being replaced by the new LFS and Xcelsior hybrids then?

[NBTA]

6 hours ago, GojiMet86 said:

 

So are these the units being replaced by the new LFS and Xcelsior hybrids then?

Well, it seems like they are pushing the Next Gens to various boroughs. Those 38/39XXs are going to Queens along with the XDEs, and everything in the Bronx is being pushed down to Brooklyn. The Bronx and Manhattan are getting LFS HEVs. But still, unpredictability, stuff can change in a heartbeat (i.e Manhattan getting XDEs {I think they are supposed to anyway}).

[Lawrence St]

You know, I just noticed that all the off-peak SIM routes have the C abbreviations in them, but when the SIM2 was running off peak, it didn't. 

[MysteriousBtrain]

14 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

You know, I just noticed that all the off-peak SIM routes have the C abbreviations in them, but when the SIM2 was running off peak, it didn't. 

Because the SIM2 kept the same pattern 24/7 (save late nights)

[SevenEleven]

The C stands for "combination", where it serves downtown and midtown. The SIM2 only went Downtown, so it didn't get a C designation. 

[checkmatechamp13]

17 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

You know, I just noticed that all the off-peak SIM routes have the C abbreviations in them, but when the SIM2 was running off peak, it didn't. 

Another thing about the numbering pattern out here:

SIM10-series routes serve the East Shore (basically they are variants of the SIM1)

SIM20-series routes serve the South Shore (basically they are variants of the SIM2) and the numbers go up from east to west (SIM22 - SIM26)

SIM30-series routes serve the North Shore (basically they are variants of the SIM3) and the numbers go up from south to north (SIM31 - SIM35, with the exception of the SIM30 which kept its old number and is the only one to run via NJ)

SIM4 variants serve the major express bus corridor on the West Shore (Richmond Avenue). If you were to start adding SIM40-series variants, you would be overlapping with the local bus numbers (plus the X17 hasn't had "via West Street" or "via FDR" variants in almost 20 years, so I doubt those will ever be added to the SIM system)

[Lawrence St]

1 hour ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

Another thing about the numbering pattern out here:

SIM10-series routes serve the East Shore (basically they are variants of the SIM1)

SIM20-series routes serve the South Shore (basically they are variants of the SIM2) and the numbers go up from east to west (SIM22 - SIM26)

SIM30-series routes serve the North Shore (basically they are variants of the SIM3) and the numbers go up from south to north (SIM31 - SIM35, with the exception of the SIM30 which kept its old number and is the only one to run via NJ)

SIM4 variants serve the major express bus corridor on the West Shore (Richmond Avenue). If you were to start adding SIM40-series variants, you would be overlapping with the local bus numbers (plus the X17 hasn't had "via West Street" or "via FDR" variants in almost 20 years, so I doubt those will ever be added to the SIM system)

What about the SIM1-SIM 9?