BUS - Random Thoughts Thread

[Lawrence St]

Does the Bx99 cost less to operate then the BxM4?

[checkmatechamp13]

17 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

Does the Bx99 cost less to operate then the BxM4?

I doubt it, considering it's a longer route. The only advantage (admittedly a big one) is that since it's a local bus, there's no question as to whether it can carry intraborough riders (compared to express buses, where they don't do so on a large scale).

[B35 via Church]

3 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

Does the Bx99 cost less to operate then the BxM4?

Per trip? No.....

 

[Iron Valiant]

Any new updates on the remaining 2006/07 Orion VII Hybrids from East New York/Fresh Pond Depots? 
Only 9 of them from East New York seem to be in service and none from Fresh Pond are out right now.

[trainfan22]

Went by ECH on I-95 and man it's weird to see 3××× MCI and MTA Bus hybrids in the scrap lot.

[Lawrence St]

So I guess the network redesigns are cancelled at this point, since the doesn't have any money to implement them.

[MHV9218]

44 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

So I guess the network redesigns are cancelled at this point, since the doesn't have any money to implement them.

Not sure how costly they all are. Some might be close to break-even. 

[Cait Sith]

For all of the kid fans(especially the ones that lurks this forum for information), that's impatiently waiting to catch 9622....y'all can relax. The bus is up in Canada right now.

Edited November 23, 2020 by Cait Sith

[checkmatechamp13]

2 hours ago, MHV9218 said:

Not sure how costly they all are. Some might be close to break-even. 

The idea is to break even. They throw in a little extra money if enough people want a certain route restored/maintained/modified but generally-speaking they are cost-neutral.

 

[MHV9218]

20 minutes ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

The idea is to break even. They throw in a little extra money if enough people want a certain route restored/maintained/modified but generally-speaking they are cost-neutral.

 

Makes sense. Hell, considering how they massacred some of the existing services, you'd hope there was a cost reduction in there somewhere!

 

Edited November 23, 2020 by MHV9218

[Via Garibaldi 8]

3 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

So I guess the network redesigns are cancelled at this point, since the doesn't have any money to implement them.

They are cancelled because the pandemic. When the pandemic is over, they will re-evaluate everything.  There are a number of community meetings that they did not have and they want to get feedback from everyone.

[B35 via Church]

1 hour ago, Cait Sith said:

For all of the kid fans(especially the ones that lurks this forum for information), that's impatiently waiting to catch 9622....y'all can relax. The bus is up in Canada right now.

Not far enough.

[Cait Sith]

1 hour ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

They are cancelled because the pandemic. When the pandemic is over, they will re-evaluate everything.  There are a number of community meetings that they did not have and they want to get feedback from everyone.

And to think that the Bronx one was supposed to be implemented this year. That would've been madness if it happened, especially with the current service patterns.

[Lawrence St]

1 hour ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

They are cancelled because the pandemic. When the pandemic is over, they will re-evaluate everything.  There are a number of community meetings that they did not have and they want to get feedback from everyone.

So waste money on redoing the entire Bronx and Queens plan again. Wow.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

2 minutes ago, Cait Sith said:

And to think that the Bronx one was supposed to be implemented this year. That would've been madness if it happened, especially with the current service patterns.

So agree. I think it was brought up casually during a phone call to be honest. I haven't asked since, given all of the uncertainty, but that was the plan at least some months ago. 

[Cait Sith]

3 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

So waste money on redoing the entire Bronx and Queens plan again. Wow.

No, not waste money and redo the whole thing, continue with community meetings.

Edited November 23, 2020 by Cait Sith

[danielhg121]

Honestly, wasn't the Queens one just so ridiculous that they might as well start over? There was a lot of opposition from various communities.

Edited November 23, 2020 by danielhg121

[Via Garibaldi 8]

6 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

So waste money on redoing the entire Bronx and Queens plan again. Wow.

The only plan that had been approved for implementation was the Bronx local bus plan. The Bronx express bus plan was shelved after fierce opposition.  I met with the bus planners back in November of last year on all of that and we discussed all of the Bronx express lines and the issues with the routes, stops and service that riders had. Then they came up and attended a community meeting my Assemblyman put together in Riverdale, and we had a huge turnout with little notice of almost 500 people. Room was packed and people were pissed. As you remember, my group circulated fliers like crazy for all of the lines and all elected officials were called by their constituents and told that they were opposed to the plan, including the Bronx Borough President, so they had no choice but to go back to the drawing board. Queens has been pretty much the same. People are pissed, and we did the same thing there too.  They promised they would make changes on the local and express Queens buses, so they certainly could start over to be honest.

Aside from that though, with the pandemic, ridership patterns have changed considerably and may be changed for years to come with so many working from home and traveling off-peak. Their redesigns seemed to focus on cutting off-peak express bus service in Queens and the Bronx and running barebones rush hour service.  That wouldn't work now. The kind of ridership I see off-peak calls for all off-peak service to be kept.

Edited November 23, 2020 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Lawrence St]

13 minutes ago, Cait Sith said:

No, not waste money and redo the whole thing, continue with community meetings.

But wouldn't it make more sense to start from scratch because of the now-changed ridership patterns? Now would be a perfect time to do it so that as ridership grows, people can get used to it.

I know for sure the Queens redesign aint happening, with all those stupid ideas they had. The Bronx redesign in my opinion needed more work. There are some good ideas in it tho, like the Bx6SBS to Tumball Av but the split of the Bx15 was not good at all.

10 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

The only plan that had been approved for implementation was the Bronx local bus plan. The Bronx express bus plan was shelved after fierce opposition.  I met with the bus planners back in November of last year on all of that and we discussed all of the Bronx express lines and the issues with the routes, stops and service that riders had. Then they came up and attended a community meeting my Assemblyman put together in Riverdale, and we had a huge turnout with little notice of almost 500 people. Room was packed and people were pissed. As you remember, my group circulated fliers like crazy for all of the lines and all elected officials were called by their constituents and told that they were opposed to the plan, including the Bronx Borough President, so they had no choice but to go back to the drawing board. Queens has been pretty much the same. People are pissed, and we did the same thing there too.  They promised they would make changes on the local and express Queens buses, so they certainly could start over to be honest.

Aside from that though, with the pandemic, ridership patterns have changed considerably and may be changed for years to come with so many working from home and traveling off-peak. Their redesigns seemed to focus on cutting off-peak express bus service in Queens and the Bronx and running barebones rush hour service.  That wouldn't work now. The kind of ridership I see off-peak calls for all off-peak service to be kept.

And what off peak ridership are you seeing, exactly?

[Via Garibaldi 8]

9 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

1. But wouldn't it make more sense to start from scratch because of the now-changed ridership patterns? Now would be a perfect time to do it so that as ridership grows, people can get used to it.

I know for sure the Queens redesign aint happening, with all those stupid ideas they had. The Bronx redesign in my opinion needed more work. There are some good ideas in it tho, like the Bx6SBS to Tumball Av but the split of the Bx15 was not good at all.

2. And what off peak ridership are you seeing, exactly?

1. The changes seem like a ton, but the reality is most of the Bronx network was kept as is.  I spoke with the planner that was responsible for it. She said 70% of the network was staying the same and only 30% would change, and that was before all of the feedback.  The Bronx redesign was more about spreading out the bus stops (they noted how close Bronx bus stops were, particularly the local bus stops) and making routes more direct. Those were the two goals.  

With Queens they wanted a more fresh approach to both the local and express side, but they still focused on fewer stops and more direct service, with fewer lines overlapping, so less network coverage or duplicate lines if you will.

2. Off-peak, there are a lot of new riders riding because they want to avoid the subway. Those people may become converts and stay on the express bus.  If they don't feel safe taking the subway now (they don't), they may very well say let me stick with it.  Aside from the pandemic, you have all of these random attacks happening now on the subways. People being pushed off of the platform (2 or 3 in the last few days). Guy was slashed and attacked at random also. Safety issues are very concerning to many riders now, and when that happens, those that can historically switch to the express bus, and that's what's happening now.

Edited November 23, 2020 by Via Garibaldi 8

[B35 via Church]

30 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

So waste money on redoing the entire Bronx and Queens plan again. Wow.

How did you remotely conclude that from anything anyone said..... smfh....

24 minutes ago, danielhg121 said:

Honestly, wasn't the Queens one just so ridiculous that they might as well start over? There was a lot of opposition from various communities.

Shit, my disdain for that redesign is quite clear.... You'd think people would be more ecstatic that it is being put off.... The longer, the better... Preferably for eternity.

Edited November 23, 2020 by B35 via Church

[Via Garibaldi 8]

3 minutes ago, B35 via Church said:

How did you remotely conclude that from anything anyone said..... smfh....

Shit, my disdain for that redesign is quite clear.... You'd think people would be more ecstatic that it is being put off.

The one that still baffles me about the Queens one is having areas like parts of Williamsburg be served by an express bus. For what!?!?!? They would destroy service for the people that need it like Middle Village and Glendale and serve areas that have subways already.  Just retarded. I was convinced that they had someone in their ear for these bus redesigns given who I saw at some of the workshops, and these people are VERY subway focused. 

[B35 via Church]

Just now, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

The one that still baffles me about the Queens one is having areas like parts of Williamsburg be served by an express bus. For what!?!?!? They would destroy service for the people that need it like Middle Village and Glendale and serve areas that have subways already.  Just retarded. I was convinced that they had someone in their ear for these bus redesigns given who I saw at some of the workshops, and these people are VERY subway focused. 

It's the notion of an express bus even using the dam Williamsburg bridge for Queens patrons that's the asinine part.... It's not even fixing what's broken (of course it isn't; why should NY-ers deserve something as simple as, you know, a sensical bus system 🙃), it's a solution in search for a problem..... How the f*** would something from Glen Oaks or Bay Terrace fare, if a dinky ass unofficial shuttle over the same bridge that is the B39, takes well over half an hour to get to either end terminal.... Stupid shit.

To your point at the end there, well this is what we get when you have misfits leading misfits.

[Lawrence St]

26 minutes ago, B35 via Church said:

How did you remotely conclude that from anything anyone said..... smfh....

Um, have you seen the ridership changes?

[Via Garibaldi 8]

8 minutes ago, B35 via Church said:

It's the notion of an express bus even using the dam Williamsburg bridge for Queens patrons that's the asinine part.... It's not even fixing what's broken (of course it isn't; why should NY-ers deserve something as simple as, you know, a sensical bus system 🙃), it's a solution in search for a problem..... How the f*** would something from Glen Oaks or Bay Terrace fare, if a dinky ass unofficial shuttle over the same bridge that is the B39, takes well over half an hour to get to either end terminal.... Stupid shit.

To your point at the end there, well this is what we get when you have misfits leading misfits.

In speaking with the planners, there's a part of me that wonders if this was done on purpose to invoke outrage to keep them from cutting service or what.  I mean they were hellbent on having the BxM2 and BxM18 use the West Side Highway, so I asked them, I said well when are you guys going to meet with the DOT about an HOV lane for those buses because they'll be stuck in the same traffic as they are now on the Deegan? They hadn't even met with the DOT about that, yet they're making this proposal to have these buses use the West Side Highway... A plan that even they noted was contingent upon the DOT agreeing to allow those lines to use the West Side Highway. It's nuts when you think about it. 

But something else I may have mentioned before is, some of these routes, supposedly, they thought they would redesign them around traffic. I told them there is traffic all over the City. You're not going to redesign bus routes around traffic. LOL Their attitude is they don't control the streets and the layout of them (DOT does), so the next best thing they can do is redesign the routes to run along less congested corridors. Brilliant idea...  

Edited November 24, 2020 by Via Garibaldi 8