BUS - Random Thoughts Thread

[Via Garibaldi 8]

4 minutes ago, Cait Sith said:

It does have a cheap look to it, but as someone with pretty poor vision without glasses, I like how it's spaced out it is. It makes things easier to see without my glasses. The text is also a little bigger as well. The original timetables to me were very cramped and narrow.

I think they could incorporate some of the old with some of the new. I mean they definitely need to be upgraded, but this is not it.  I personally preferred the bolded part of the schedule because you automatically knew it was for PM service. What I don't care for with the new look is how they keep trying to consolidate everything. Just feels like something is missing, just like the new website. I hate that also. I don't care for this font either. You have to look a bit more closely.

Edited January 19, 2021 by Via Garibaldi 8

[NewFlyer 230]

6 minutes ago, Cait Sith said:

It does have a cheap look to it, but as someone with pretty poor vision without glasses, I like how it's spaced out it is. It makes things easier to see without my glasses. The text is also a little bigger as well. The original timetables to me were very cramped and narrow.

I think the issue with the old schedules is that they didn’t color code and or separate the short turns from the regular route unless it was LTD service. The MTA is also very inconsistent with how they choose to organize the schedules too. For example the Q17 LTD times are separated from the local times but on the Q25 for example the LTD service times are all jumbled up with the Q25 local and Q34 service. 
I do see this switch up in schedule format spelling out the end for paper schedules though. So I guess for all the collectors out there, get them while you can. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

8 minutes ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

I think the issue with the old schedules is that they didn’t color code and or separate the short turns from the regular route unless it was LTD service. The MTA is also very inconsistent with how they choose to organize the schedules too. For example the Q17 LTD times are separated from the local times but on the Q25 for example the LTD service times are all jumbled up with the Q25 local and Q34 service. 
I do see this switch up in schedule format spelling out the end for paper schedules though. So I guess for all the collectors out there, get them while you can. 

Forget paper schedules. They would like to push for no schedules at all. I talked about that with them down at 2 Broadway in early 2019. I am vehemently opposed to that. They want to base it on wait times, claiming that's the industry standard, which allows them to have no accountability. Absolutely not.  Not having paper timetables doesn't save them that much money anyway. Only around $550,000 or so annually.

The real deal here is they've been dealing with driver shortages for a while now (still are), so they are looking to see the following: How can we get away with driver shortages? We can redesign the bus service and cut back frequency. We can eliminate schedules so we won't have to be aggravated about missing buses.  Aside from the driver shortage, their operating expenses are expected to increase, so they are looking to cut costs anyway they can.

Edited January 19, 2021 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Ultimategamer12c]

Umm there is a bus #976 and it was on the B69 a few hours ago, must be a glitch or something.

[4 via Mosholu]

7 minutes ago, Ultimategamer12c said:

Umm there is a bus #976 and it was on the B69 a few hours ago, must be a glitch or something.

Yes, that is a glitch. You are likely talking about bus # 776 on the B69.

[Cait Sith]

22 minutes ago, Ultimategamer12c said:

Umm there is a bus #976 and it was on the B69 a few hours ago, must be a glitch or something.

That is indeed a glitch. That's 776 assigned to run 976.

[trainfan22]

1 hour ago, Ultimategamer12c said:

Umm there is a bus #976 and it was on the B69 a few hours ago, must be a glitch or something.

That's funny as JG had an bus numbered 976 from the orginal order of C40s. 

[NBTA]

3 hours ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

I noticed that the MTA changed up the format of its schedule on their website.  
It kind of reminds me of the non pdf schedules NICE has on their website. I honestly like the old format better but I guess it was time for some change. 
 

 

Ironically, now NICE has a new schedule thingy for their PDFs.

[NBTA]

So 7112 is in Manhattan, running via 23rd Street, with passengers in it. I don't know what to say anymore.

[Future ENY OP]

5 minutes ago, NBTA said:

So 7112 is in Manhattan, running via 23rd Street, with passengers in it. I don't know what to say anymore.

That’s gotta be a training bus out of East New York. 

[LegoBrickBreaker101]

1 hour ago, NBTA said:

So 7112 is in Manhattan, running via 23rd Street, with passengers in it. I don't know what to say anymore.

 

1 hour ago, Future ENY OP said:

That’s gotta be a training bus out of East New York. 

^^ this. They regularly send buses from Brooklyn and Queens to Manhattan for driver training. A few years ago they sent an XD40 over to Harlem, and they regularly have several buses (I usually spot Orion Next Gens) from the outer boroughs in Midtown driving around the area for the purpose of training operators. I remember once seeing a couple of Next Gens from Jamaica, Queens Village, and Casey Stengel over by 14th Street and 3rd Avenue, all being used for training.

[Cait Sith]

It is indeed a training bus, it's in Chinatown right now. Still assigned to ENY.

[Future ENY OP]

29 minutes ago, LegoBrickBreaker101 said:

 

^^ this. They regularly send buses from Brooklyn and Queens to Manhattan for driver training. A few years ago they sent an XD40 over to Harlem, and they regularly have several buses (I usually spot Orion Next Gens) from the outer boroughs in Midtown driving around the area for the purpose of training operators. I remember once seeing a couple of Next Gens from Jamaica, Queens Village, and Casey Stengel over by 14th Street and 3rd Avenue, all being used for training.

I've seen Flatbush NG/XD40's train out in Manhattan and the same with East New York and Ulmer Park XD40's used as training buses.

[Future ENY OP]

Don't want to clog up the bus moves with a whole bunch of loans.  However, 4051 is being loaned out to East New York. Bus currently on the B82

[trainfan22]

Went for a walk today since today was an nice day for January. Anyway while walking down 14th street I seen two of the nine? old MCI's Yukon has on layover, serveral blocks apart, one of them had fanners photographing code breaks on the bus. 

 

 

 

[NewFlyer 230]

I took the QM4 back home towards Queens tonight and it went via the Queens Midtown tunnel. In fact it stayed on the L.I.E to Kissena Blvd where me and another gentlemen got off. I honestly didn’t know express bus drivers were allowed to go off route like that. I do have to say that it was nice getting home in 30 mins in comparison to an hour with the train plus the local bus. 

[QM1to6Ave]

17 hours ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

I took the QM4 back home towards Queens tonight and it went via the Queens Midtown tunnel. In fact it stayed on the L.I.E to Kissena Blvd where me and another gentlemen got off. I honestly didn’t know express bus drivers were allowed to go off route like that. I do have to say that it was nice getting home in 30 mins in comparison to an hour with the train plus the local bus. 

Some B/O's do that, especially off-peak. The AM reverse peak buses have to go that way, since the QMT upper level only goes into Manhattan (I guess they could theoretically take the lower level, but I've never seen that), and the downtown buses use that routing. I don't know if it is "officially" allowed at the other times, though with BUs Trek the dispatchers could easily see that it is happening, but no one seems to care, from my own experience. 

[paulrivera]

On 1/21/2021 at 11:51 PM, NewFlyer 230 said:

I honestly didn’t know express bus drivers were allowed to go off route like that.

My express bus rides are few and far between, but the few times I do take them most take at least one little shortcut.

-I've had a couple of SB BxM10's that stay on 2nd Avenue to 86th Street (the "old route" avoids traffic by Mt Sinai while the current route is supposed to- even though the BxM10 has no stops between 125th/2nd and 86th/5th)

-I was on a SB BxM2 that skipped CPW and stayed on 72nd to Broadway (no one was getting off on CPW)

-I was on a NB BxM7 that skipped Einstein Loop and went straight thru Section 5 of Co-Op (no one was getting off there)

-One time I was the only rider on a BxM1.... and we wont talk about that one

Whether they're allowed to go off-route is a completely different conversation.

Edited January 23, 2021 by paulrivera

[NewFlyer 230]

1 hour ago, paulrivera said:

My express bus rides are few and far between, but the few times I do take them most take at least one little shortcut.

-I've had a couple of SB BxM10's that stay on 2nd Avenue to 86th Street (the "old route" avoids traffic by Mt Sinai while the current route is supposed to- even though the BxM10 has no stops between 125th/2nd and 86th/5th)

-I was on a SB BxM2 that skipped CPW and stayed on 72nd to Broadway (no one was getting off on CPW)

-I was on a NB BxM7 that skipped Einstein Loop and went straight thru Section 5 of Co-Op (no one was getting off there)

-One time I was the only rider on a BxM1.... and we wont talk about that one

Whether they're allowed to go off-route is a completely different conversation.

In comparison to regular bus service (Local/LTD/SBS) it seems that things are more lenient on the express bus side of things. The actual routing shows that buses are suppose to head back to Queens via the Queensboro Bridge & Queens Blvd but both times I took the QM4 it went via the Queens Midtown Tunnel/L.I.E. Also these drivers really haul it on the road despite the speed limit being 25 mph. Both times this week I took the QM4 from Midtown the drivers asked us what stop we were getting off at so it kinda felt like an Uber service. It’s crazy to think that I got from 6th Ave/ 36th street to my stop in 30 minutes by public transportation. I think I might just take the QM4 sometime, because I really do dig the speed. Too bad those late evening trips are at risk of being cut one day because they really carry air even before the pandemic.

 

 

[MysteriousBtrain]

Anyone know about the B201/202 Bus codes? I seen at least the B202 on the newer Prevosts at college point.

[Cait Sith]

13 hours ago, MysteriousBtrain said:

Anyone know about the B201/202 Bus codes? I seen at least the B202 on the newer Prevosts at college point.

Those two routes were supposed to be overnight routes, but were rejected.

[MysteriousBtrain]

48 minutes ago, Cait Sith said:

Those two routes were supposed to be overnight routes, but were rejected.

Any idea on what routes they would of ran? I assume they were supposed to service to/from southern Brooklyn.

[Cait Sith]

Just now, MysteriousBtrain said:

Any idea on what routes they would of ran? I assume they were supposed to service to/from southern Brooklyn.

One was supposed to be the East Side version of the B99, I forgot about the other.

[Bill from Maspeth]

For the second time today, Q44-SBS and Q50 service is being rerouted over the Throggs Neck Bridge in at least in one direction due to seperate incidents not having anything with the buses themselves. 

Edited January 24, 2021 by Bill from Maspeth

[QM1to6Ave]

I finally saw the Eagle Team enforcing fares on the M34 this week. I constantly see a van with those guys at Main and Union, but I never see them actually go on and check the Q44

Anyway, with OMNY, if you have a tapping card, couldnt someone avoid paying 99% of the time and just stay near the scanner and tap it if they see the Eagle Team at the stop? They don't exactly blend in like plainclothes cops lol. 

 

Of course, that won't work if you don't have a tappable card, but once the OMNY card.comes out, everyone can get it