BUS - Random Thoughts Thread

[danielhg121]

 

37 minutes ago, Calvin said:

Also: 2823 CP to scrap

Those 2001/2 MCI's D4500 are slowly dying off. Does that mean they were built well? 

[MHV9218]

1 hour ago, B35 via Church said:

Speaking of false narratives, speak of the devil.... I been stopped reading that guy's articles....

Only but so many dam Guse eggs I can try to intellectually & logically.... stomach.

Yep, that's the one...raised my blood pressure rereading that. What do they say, when your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail? That's how they write these pieces...

[Cait Sith]

11 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

For as large as 's fleet is, their maintenence is great. Be happy you don't live in New Jersey, where equipment is breaking down every 3 minutes.

That's nowhere near true.

[Lawrence St]

9 minutes ago, Cait Sith said:

That's nowhere near true.

I was exaggerating, but NJ does have a maintenance problem.

[Cait Sith]

Just now, Lawrence St said:

I was exaggerating, but NJ does have a maintenance problem.

Just like some of the depots here in NYC have maintenance problems....what exactly is your point?

If you're trying to make a point, don't exaggerate or be sarcastic by spreading a false point.

[B35 via Church]

Just now, Cait Sith said:

Just like some of the depots here in NYC have maintenance problems....what exactly is your point?

If you're trying to make a point, don't exaggerate or be sarcastic by spreading a false point.

Although they've gotten better with it over time, he could've used NICE bus in direct contrast with how well the MTA is with bus maintenance, before bringing up NJT in that category.... If it's anything that's been hampering NJT more, it's one of that of manpower (and that's moreso w/ the RR than w/ the bus).....

[Lex]

19 minutes ago, Cait Sith said:

Just like some of the depots here in NYC have maintenance problems....what exactly is your point?

If you're trying to make a point, don't exaggerate or be sarcastic by spreading a false point.

In all honestly, the only thing I could think of that would even remotely explain it is the apparent failure to conduct fleet swaps between the northern and southern parts of the state (imagine Staten Island getting and retaining the same buses from delivery to retirement).

[MHV9218]

34 minutes ago, B35 via Church said:

Although they've gotten better with it over time, he could've used NICE bus in direct contrast with how well the MTA is with bus maintenance, before bringing up NJT in that category.... If it's anything that's been hampering NJT more, it's one of that of manpower (and that's moreso w/ the RR than w/ the bus).....

Unrelated, but NICE also wins points for quietly lowering their accident safety standards after the Veolia takeover. How do you address more collisions? Just don't report 'em!

[Cait Sith]

1 hour ago, Lex said:

In all honestly, the only thing I could think of that would even remotely explain it is the apparent failure to conduct fleet swaps between the northern and southern parts of the state (imagine Staten Island getting and retaining the same buses from delivery to retirement).

That can't even be compared to NYC. Folks gotta realize that NJT's bus operations is statewide, unlike NYC's which is only citywide. Bus swaps won't do much of anything for NJT especially since they have routes that are longer than our S74 and S78.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

2 hours ago, Cait Sith said:

Just like some of the depots here in NYC have maintenance problems....what exactly is your point?

If you're trying to make a point, don't exaggerate or be sarcastic by spreading a false point.

Yeah, I'm not sure where all of this is coming from.  I've been a NJ Transit rider over the years and I have rarely had any problems with their express bus service. Buses are fairly clean, AC is always blasting, etc. It's actually a pretty pleasant ride.

[danielhg121]

1 minute ago, trainfan22 said:

6882, 6892, 6847, 6861 scrap

They're dropping like flies. Dang, I still remember the days when they had the Blackbacks and ran the CS routes.

[Lex]

53 minutes ago, Cait Sith said:

That can't even be compared to NYC. Folks gotta realize that NJT's bus operations is statewide, unlike NYC's which is only citywide. Bus swaps won't do much of anything for NJT especially since they have routes that are longer than our S74 and S78.

That's more of a general "lack of mileage swaps" thing, anyway...

[Cait Sith]

6 minutes ago, Lex said:

That's more of a general "lack of mileage swaps" thing, anyway...

Not really.

When you compare their longest local routes to MTA's longest local routes, mileage swaps won't mean a thing in NJ.

Edited December 2, 2020 by Cait Sith

[danielhg121]

13 hours ago, Cait Sith said:

Preliminary assignments of the new fleet are as follows. Depot assignments were set this week, allotments were set today. SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

LFS Hybrids: Kingsbridge: 25. Manhattanville: 58. MJQ: 62. Tusgekee Airmen: 20. Options as follows, Gun Hill: 20. Manhattanville: 94. MJQ: 12
XDEs : East New York: 25. Manhattanville: 15. Hale: 45. Casey Stengel: 25.
Prevost x3-45s: BP: 8 CP: 82 ECH: 48 JK/FR: 23 LGA: 22 SC: 45 YO: 39. All 50 buses for NYC Bus is rumored to go to Meredith.
LFS Diesel OPTION ORDER: East New York: 69. Casey Stengel: 50. Jamaica: 20. Queens Village: 50. Castleton: 20.

As always, this is SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

Also, 1301 is at Plattsburgh pending delivery to the service center.

They're definitely looking to consolidate the NG's at several depots from the looks of it. The ones that have a small NG fleet currently and getting new buses are most likely transferring NG's out. The ones without new buses will probably be receiving more next gens. 

Only exception to this is probably taking the XD40's out of CS and transferring them elsewhere. Numbers don't quite add up to 90 for CS but the XD40 fleet is ~70 currently.

Not familiar on the express bus side of things. Let's just wait and see though.

Edited December 3, 2020 by danielhg121

[Cait Sith]

2 hours ago, danielhg121 said:

They're definitely looking to consolidate the NG's at several depots from the looks of it. The ones that have a small NG fleet currently and getting new buses are most likely transferring NG's out. The ones without new buses will probably be receiving more next gens. 

Only exception to this is probably taking the XD40's out of CS and transferring them elsewhere. Numbers don't quite add up to 90 for CS but the XD40 fleet is ~70 currently.

Not familiar on the express bus side of things. Let's just wait and see though.

Could've just kept that quote in the fleets and depots thread.

[R32 3838]

On 12/1/2020 at 6:06 PM, Cait Sith said:

Yep, that's exactly what it was.

The complaints mostly stemmed from the fact that Gleason, at the time, was getting brand new buses. They felt that the areas served by routes that have the RTSs, were left out, which was factually untrue especially since they already had new buses on those lines, hence coming up with all of these theories of the RTSs polluting the air in low-income neighborhoods and all that crap, even though the RTS fleet had EPA KITS INSTALLED in them....the RTS fleet put out way less emissions after 1998. If we were to use the logic they employed to the RTS with the rest of the Brooklyn fleet, Brooklyn probably wouldn't have any operable buses and would have to wait for electrics. The low-income argument was bullshit, because if that was remotely true, the MTA would not have been running those buses in the Upper East and West Sides...

Not to mention, the person that created these theories didnt know the fact that, you know, other buses smoke up sometimes too.

Yes, the breakdowns did go up a bit, but that happens with every bus at that age. However, the newer buses at the time had higher breakdown rates in some situations than the RTS fleet altogether.

Kind of funny about all of the complaints that came after the RTS fleet retired, space being the biggest complaint. Those M66 and M72 passengers would not stop complaining for a long time and most of those riders WANTED the RTSs back just because of the space alone. They finally got used to those New Flyers.

All of that nonsense caused the more money in the longrun, The plan was to get rid of the Hybrids first (6365-6689) then the RTS due the their MDBF and the fact they costed more to maintain vs the RTS, they just finished fixing up the RTS too only for them to retire them.

[MHV9218]

29 minutes ago, R32 3838 said:

All of that nonsense caused the more money in the longrun, The plan was to get rid of the Hybrids first (6365-6689) then the RTS due the their MDBF and the fact they costed more to maintain vs the RTS, they just finished fixing up the RTS too only for them to retire them.

I think those Quill 5200s will go down in history as the buses in the best condition ever retired by the MTA. Brand new Hanovers, BART-compliant engines, retrofitted seats and recent paintjobs. 5241 looked practically new when they got rid of it. Shows you what happens when politics, not maintenance staff and RBO, decide what to do with the fleet.

[NewFlyer 230]

3 hours ago, MHV9218 said:

I think those Quill 5200s will go down in history as the buses in the best condition ever retired by the MTA. Brand new Hanovers, BART-compliant engines, retrofitted seats and recent paintjobs. 5241 looked practically new when they got rid of it. Shows you what happens when politics, not maintenance staff and RBO, decide what to do with the fleet.

I bet none of the buses we have on the road today will make it close to the age of the RTS. I think our LFS’s though will outlive the XD40s though. As much as I like the XD40s the LFS seems to have better built quality which may also explain why they dominate Staten Island and the Bronx.

[Around the Horn]

New ad campaign on Brooklyn buses: 

I don’t think the drivers side wraps work quite as well on C40LFs as they do on NGs 

[Future ENY OP]

21 minutes ago, Around the Horn said:

New ad campaign on Brooklyn buses: 

I don’t think the drivers side wraps work quite as well on C40LFs as they do on NGs 

I tend to agree on this. I think it depends on the ad... Wraps definitely work better with the NG's.

Hopefully one day we'll see a wrap with the white & blue XD40's

Hopefully in 2021 we could see some HBO Max wraps as seen at Ulmer Park. Some of the Manhattanville transfers to ENY have them.

Edited December 4, 2020 by Future ENY OP
Addition.

[MHV9218]

13 minutes ago, Around the Horn said:

New ad campaign on Brooklyn buses: 

I don’t think the drivers side wraps work quite as well on C40LFs as they do on NGs 

 

6 minutes ago, Future ENY OP said:

I tend to agree on this. I think it depends on the ad... Wraps definitely work better with the NG's.

Hopefully one day we'll see a wrap with the white & blue XD40's

You know what it is, it's the framed windows. Makes the ad wraps super obvious. Actually kind of a throwback – last buses we saw with framed windows and full ad wraps were probably the PBL O5s, a minute and a half ago...

[Iron Valiant]

6 minutes ago, Future ENY OP said:

I tend to agree on this. I think it depends on the ad... Wraps definitely work better with the NG's.

Hopefully one day we'll see a wrap with the white & blue XD40's

I agree on your statement completely.

[Future ENY OP]

1 hour ago, MHV9218 said:

 

You know what it is, it's the framed windows. Makes the ad wraps super obvious. Actually kind of a throwback – last buses we saw with framed windows and full ad wraps were probably the PBL O5s, a minute and a half ago...

Agreed.

 

1 hour ago, Snorunts said:

I agree on your statement completely.

I can't see why they can't do it in The Brooklyn Division.  Hopefully, the can bring some HBO Max wraps to the rest of the Brooklyn Division in 2021.

 

@Around the Horn:  This is from a Flatbush NG earlier in October   

Edited December 4, 2020 by Future ENY OP
Addition

[QM1to6Ave]

Anyone else having lots of issues of passengers literally refusing to put on masks on the express buses? I messaged VG8 about this, but it is crazy. At least one passenger per bus ride on average refuses to put on a mask at all, and gets angry with me for asking them to do so. I’ve had yelling matches with people, but the BOs don’t want to get involved and neither do other passengers, so I give up on it. COVID rates are spiking and these selfish pricks won’t put on a little mask to keep us all a little. Safer for 45 minutes. Really makes my blood boil. I don’t know what to do about this. 

[MHV9218]

17 minutes ago, QM1to6Ave said:

Anyone else having lots of issues of passengers literally refusing to put on masks on the express buses? I messaged VG8 about this, but it is crazy. At least one passenger per bus ride on average refuses to put on a mask at all, and gets angry with me for asking them to do so. I’ve had yelling matches with people, but the BOs don’t want to get involved and neither do other passengers, so I give up on it. COVID rates are spiking and these selfish pricks won’t put on a little mask to keep us all a little. Safer for 45 minutes. Really makes my blood boil. I don’t know what to do about this. 

It's a huge issue. One guy breaking the rules messes up the air for everybody, and unlike the locals you can't open a window to air things out. It's pure selfishness...definition of a break of the social contract. I feel like Costanza... 'we're trying to live in a SOCIETY here!' I don't blame the B/Os for not getting involved. It really requires a cop to fine the violators, but of course half the cops won't wear their masks anyway. 

It doesn't help, either, that a lot of the express bus routes (especially the Staten Island and South Brooklyn lines) correspond with the neighborhoods with the most anti-mask residents. [That's not a political comment, that's just a reality.]