BUS - Random Thoughts Thread

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

According to bustime's info, the M2 LTDs go from 14th Street to 8th Street, then make all stops along 8th Street. In the NB direction, buses go from 9th Street to 15th Street. The stops in between show the M2 under the "no schedule service at this time" section.

Edited March 5, 2021 by BM5 via Woodhaven

[MHV9218]

7 minutes ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

According to bustime's info, the M2 LTDs go from 14th Street to 8th Street, then make all stops along 8th Street. In the NB direction, buses go from 9th Street to 15th Street. The stops in between show the M2 under the "no schedule service at this time" section.

Yeah, they're definitely not supposed to stop at University and I'm not even sure if they're supposed to stop at Bway. May just be 8th/5th to Astor. At least they aren't showing 12th and 10th, which have been wrong on the maps for as long as I can remember.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

10 hours ago, B35 via Church said:

Outside of where it ends in Harlem, the only problem I have with the thing is the fact that it ends at PABT.... I personally had no qualms about it having been taken off 42nd....

As an aside, the M42 should've been given commensurate service after that M104 truncation though...

I believe the M42 did receive a boost in service. Unfortunately, both lines haves suffered from the change. 

[R10 2952]

5 hours ago, QM1to6Ave said:

Geez, the MTA can't even be clear about what stops a bus should make, and then they wonder why these buses are viewed as the "redheaded stepchildren", so to speak. They really don't seem to give a damn about Manhattan local bus service

The general mentality at 2 Broadway makes me think that given the choice, they would much rather be some property-leasing conglomerate that doesn't even do public transit, much like what Penn Central became after they quit the railroad business (a holding company with controlling stakes in Madison Square Garden and Grand Central Terminal).

Because when faced with their main task, getting people from Point A to Point B, they only seem to do it with the utmost reluctance.

Edited March 5, 2021 by R10 2952

[QM1to6Ave]

1 hour ago, R10 2952 said:

The general mentality at 2 Broadway makes me think that given the choice, they would much rather be some property-leasing conglomerate that doesn't even do public transit, much like what Penn Central became after they quit the railroad business (a holding company with controlling stakes in Madison Square Garden and Grand Central Terminal).

Because when faced with their main task, getting people from Point A to Point B, they only seem to do it with the utmost reluctance.

I can totally see that as well...kind of like how the Catholic Church, with all its real estate, sometimes acts more like a landlord than a religious group lol (my priest tells me all sorts of stories about the nonsense that goes on behind the scenes lol)

[Q101viaSteinway]

14 hours ago, R10 2952 said:

The general mentality at 2 Broadway makes me think that given the choice, they would much rather be some property-leasing conglomerate that doesn't even do public transit, much like what Penn Central became after they quit the railroad business (a holding company with controlling stakes in Madison Square Garden and Grand Central Terminal).

Because when faced with their main task, getting people from Point A to Point B, they only seem to do it with the utmost reluctance.

That's what Triboro Coach, Green Lines and Jamaica Bus is today. The GTJ REIT. The GTJ REIT make more money as a real estate company than as bus company, they bought more properties and have more income now then they did when they were running the buses. 

[R179 8258]

Can somebody tell me what’s the point of the B98 & Q98

[B35 via Church]

On 3/5/2021 at 9:42 AM, MHV9218 said:

On 3/5/2021 at 8:26 AM, Q43LTD said:

The M2 runs local north of 110. If I remember correctly, the 2 had locals ending at 110 while the limiteds went to the Village 

Does it actually though? That's just an artifact of the schedule in my experience. Definitely below 14th, 90% of buses run Limited those last stops.

Yeah, the M2 LTD doesn't bypass stops in Harlem...

On 3/5/2021 at 10:20 AM, paulrivera said:

I took the M5 when it ran downtown a few times and it was a mixed bag too: iinm it was supposed to make all stops south of 14th Street (or was it Houston? I literally don't remember) and there were a couple times where the bus would go Chambers-Worth-Canal and didnt make the "local" stops between Worth Street and Canal.

On 3/5/2021 at 11:02 AM, MHV9218 said:

Definitely some embarrassing mistakes. I have no idea what the M5 below 8th Street is actually supposed to do these days. I think it stops everywhere? About 1/4 of M2/M5s stop at 12th St., 10th St., etc. below 14th St. and have for the past decade-plus, since the schedule has always been printed wrong and indicated it. They don't take buses too seriously. At least they finally changed the M8 to Chelsea signs.

On 3/5/2021 at 11:25 AM, MHV9218 said:

Lol, I'm dating myself. But for those bunch of years when it was the 5 and the 55, no clarity.

(run local south of) Waverly.

On 3/5/2021 at 10:51 AM, QM1to6Ave said:

Geez, the MTA can't even be clear about what stops a bus should make, and then they wonder why these buses are viewed as the "redheaded stepchildren", so to speak. They really don't seem to give a damn about Manhattan local bus service

The MTA does what it wants & when it comes time to trim a budget, those "redheaded stepchildren" are the first to get ostracized.

19 hours ago, R10 2952 said:

...Because when faced with their main task, getting people from Point A to Point B, they only seem to do it with the utmost reluctance.

So much for a public agency being rather unwilling to provide public transit for the benefit of the public !

12 minutes ago, R179 8258 said:

Can somebody tell me what’s the point of the B98 & Q98

Being blunt, to transport project heads to two of the covid vaccine centers (Medgar Evers college & York college, respectively) in the city

Edited March 6, 2021 by B35 via Church

[NoHacksJustKhaks]

7 hours ago, R179 8258 said:

Can somebody tell me what’s the point of the B98 & Q98

Mass Covid vaccination sites at York and Medgar Evers college opened recently. The buses run in the ZIP's the vaccine sites serve, and basically shuttle people from areas (in this case, with high covid death rates and low car ownership, etc.) to the colleges to vaccinate them.

Interesting that you mentioned "what's the point", I didn't see any riders on the Q98V specifically when I saw it today, zilch... carried air. Seems like not many people know about it or use it, at least from what I saw.

Granted, the route is new and today's a Saturday when I saw it, so it'll likely have riders during the weekdays, but it's still something I noticed. 

7 hours ago, B35 via Church said:

Being blunt, to transport project heads to two of the covid vaccine centers (Medgar Evers college & York college, respectively) in the city

Telling, especially considering the Q98V ends directly by the projects near Beach 40th st. Wouldn't make much sense for them to go beyond there I guess, since the 113/114 also go to York.

On 3/5/2021 at 4:11 PM, R10 2952 said:

Because when faced with their main task, getting people from Point A to Point B, they only seem to do it with the utmost reluctance.

Well said, it's as unsurprising as it is a shame that whatever benefits them the most also tends to benefit us the least (in terms of bus cuts and whatnot). This perpetual round of reluctance with some of these routes only seems to welcome more of it, almost to the point of no return.

[QM1to6Ave]

2 hours ago, NoHacksJustKhaks said:

Mass Covid vaccination sites at York and Medgar Evers college opened recently. The buses run in the ZIP's the vaccine sites serve, and basically shuttle people from areas (in this case, with high covid death rates and low car ownership, etc.) to the colleges to vaccinate them.

Interesting that you mentioned "what's the point", I didn't see any riders on the Q98V specifically when I saw it today, zilch... carried air. Seems like not many people know about it or use it, at least from what I saw.

Granted, the route is new and today's a Saturday when I saw it, so it'll likely have riders during the weekdays, but it's still something I 

I'm gonna take a wild guess that the route doesn't actually coordinate with the times of operation of the vaccine center. Who knows if they even had any appointments today lol

[Via Garibaldi 8]

2 hours ago, NoHacksJustKhaks said:

Granted, the route is new and today's a Saturday when I saw it, so it'll likely have riders during the weekdays, but it's still something I noticed. 

The route will only be as good as it is if it is advertised well, and that is something that often times is not done well. Just because the areas being served have high COVID death rates does not mean it will see high usage. Aside from marketing the route, many people are still having a very hard time getting COVID appointments, so regardless of the service running, if people can't get appointments, it won't matter.

[MysteriousBtrain]

23 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

The route will only be as good as it is if it is advertised well, and that is something that often times is not done well. 

Correct on the not advertised well part. Most bus stops don't even have the signage just the yellow shuttle bus paper saying "bus to/from (Medgar Evers or York) College vaccine site". Are you advertising new 98V bus routes or a random bus to a college?

Edited March 7, 2021 by MysteriousBtrain

[Lawrence St]

When did the M103 get rerouted off Frankford St?

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

3 hours ago, NoHacksJustKhaks said:

Mass Covid vaccination sites at York and Medgar Evers college opened recently. The buses run in the ZIP's the vaccine sites serve, and basically shuttle people from areas (in this case, with high covid death rates and low car ownership, etc.) to the colleges to vaccinate them.

Interesting that you mentioned "what's the point", I didn't see any riders on the Q98V specifically when I saw it today, zilch... carried air. Seems like not many people know about it or use it, at least from what I saw.

This route could end up similar to the Bx99, where usage was fairly light at inception, but started picking and even went up significantly (after it started picking up).  We'll have to wait a while to see if that's the case or not. Also, I'm actually curious at how a permanent implementation of this route (with certain tweaks) would do. 

[NoHacksJustKhaks]

(saw BM5's post, agree with your first half, unsure about the second half. The route has to be reliant on the ridership going well and that remains to be seen...)

2 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

The route will only be as good as it is if it is advertised well, and that is something that often times is not done well. Just because the areas being served have high COVID death rates does not mean it will see high usage. Aside from marketing the route, many people are still having a very hard time getting COVID appointments, so regardless of the service running, if people can't get appointments, it won't matter.

And I totally agree with you on that point. For a bus that travels along a niche route (and serves such a niche group of people, yet a relevant group as the agency would argue), it certainly needs better advertisement.

2 hours ago, MysteriousBtrain said:

Correct on the not advertised well part. Most bus stops don't even have the signage just the yellow shuttle bus paper saying "bus to/from (Medgar Evers or York) College vaccine site". Are you advertising new 98V bus routes or a random bus to a college?

This was also something that confused me as well. The yellow paper signage reminds me of what you would see with a subway shuttle route. Especially doesn't help that yesterday (Saturday), subway shuttles were running on the  in the Rockaway's, besides the Q22 AND Q98V on some streets.

They should've at least mentioned the Q98V on the paper (as well as explain it's purpose on a separate paper at the very least) because I could see how people would confuse it for being a shuttle (with no bus number), or not ride it because they don't know where it goes. The Q98V's signage itself (at least on the NG's) is also a little strange, in some cases, the "Q98V" clashes right beside "EDGEMERE" so it says "Q98VEDGEMERE", never knew vedgemere was a place... confusing stuff. 

2 hours ago, QM1to6Ave said:

 Who knows if they even had any appointments today lol

I sure hope they did. The buses were out and running when I saw them yesterday so I presumed the sites were open. Imagine if they weren't lol... 

 

Edited March 7, 2021 by NoHacksJustKhaks

[B35 via Church]

2 hours ago, MysteriousBtrain said:

Correct on the not advertised well part. Most bus stops don't even have the signage just the yellow shuttle bus paper saying "bus to/from (Medgar Evers or York) College vaccine site". Are you advertising new 98V bus routes or a random bus to a college?

Thing is, the MTA does quite well with selective advertising.... Kind of like how some parents play favorites with their kids.

1 hour ago, Lawrence St said:

When did the M103 get rerouted off Frankford St?

What are NB buses doing that has them no longer taking Frankfort st?

[Lawrence St]

3 hours ago, B35 via Church said:

Thing is, the MTA does quite well with selective advertising.... Kind of like how some parents play favorites with their kids.

What are NB buses doing that has them no longer taking Frankfort st?

I'm looking at the bus map from 2001 compared to the 2020 one, the 2001 map shows the 103 going NB on Frankford St but the 2020 map just shows it ending and starting directly at City Hall.

[MysteriousBtrain]

18 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

I'm looking at the bus map from 2001 compared to the 2020 one, the 2001 map shows the 103 going NB on Frankford St but the 2020 map just shows it ending and starting directly at City Hall.

I think post 9/11 (around the mid 2000's) the M103 started operating on its own ROW through the financial district. 

[NBTA]

Just thought of something.. when the Bx6+ heads to Soundview, what’s gonna be the Bx5s verdict? It may sound out of the window, but since more people are gonna head over to the 6 rather than the 5, we might see the 5 get a service cut AND lose artic buses entirely, since it has the lowest amount of ridership per articulated routes (besides the Q70 now).

[checkmatechamp13]

19 minutes ago, NBTA said:

Just thought of something.. when the Bx6+ heads to Soundview, what’s gonna be the Bx5s verdict? It may sound out of the window, but since more people are gonna head over to the 6 rather than the 5, we might see the 5 get a service cut AND lose artic buses entirely, since it has the lowest amount of ridership per articulated routes (besides the Q70 now).

They mentioned it in The Bronx plan that it would lose frequency (probably most or all of those Soundview short-turns will be eliminated). Not sure if they would have it losing artics as well.

[B35 via Church]

4 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

I'm looking at the bus map from 2001 compared to the 2020 one, the 2001 map shows the 103 going NB on Frankford St but the 2020 map just shows it ending and starting directly at City Hall.

NB buses still take Frankfort st.... The 2020 bus map or whatever just isn't as detailed.

[bobtehpanda]

1 hour ago, B35 via Church said:

NB buses still take Frankfort st.... The 2020 bus map or whatever just isn't as detailed.

It seems like maps are on the fence about whether or not the part of Frankfort St before the Park Row ramp could also be considered Park Row.

Ulitmately, I don't know that it really matters, since there isn't a bus stop on Frankfort St itself, and the segment is what, barely a few hundred feet?

[Via Garibaldi 8]

12 hours ago, MysteriousBtrain said:

Correct on the not advertised well part. Most bus stops don't even have the signage just the yellow shuttle bus paper saying "bus to/from (Medgar Evers or York) College vaccine site". Are you advertising new 98V bus routes or a random bus to a college?

Keep in mind that the  doesn't handle the actual bus stops. That's the DOT, and they are woefully behind. The process is as follows:

Wherever bus stops or bus signage is needed, the paperwork has to be put in for it. DOT has 90 days (3 months) to comply with the request. Who knows how soon they'll get the signs up. I will credit the  for getting those signs up (they do handle the temporary laminated ones you see), but not the lollipop signage or any of that.

Edited March 7, 2021 by Via Garibaldi 8

[NewFlyer 230]

On 3/6/2021 at 11:51 AM, B35 via Church said:

Yeah, the M2 LTD doesn't bypass stops in Harlem...

(run local south of) Waverly.

The MTA does what it wants & when it comes time to trim a budget, those "redheaded stepchildren" are the first to get ostracized.

So much for a public agency being rather unwilling to provide public transit for the benefit of the public !

Being blunt, to transport project heads to two of the covid vaccine centers (Medgar Evers college & York college, respectively) in the city

To expand on this, it’s just another way to waste MTA resources. Buses have carried air all week and if they really wanted to have a vaccine shuttle I don’t think the MTA should have provided service for it. They could have gotten some private company to do it with mini vans and etc.
The Q113/Q114 already go to York and both connect with the Q22 and  which serves Edgemere 

The B15 and B20 pass by the Pink Houses which can take people to the  which takes one walking distance from Medgar Evan’s. 

Edited March 7, 2021 by NewFlyer 230

[MysteriousBtrain]

20 minutes ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

To expand on this, it’s just another way to waste MTA resources. Buses have carried air all week and if they really wanted to have a vaccine shuttle I don’t think the MTA should have provided service for it. They could have gotten some private company to do it with mini vans and etc.
The Q113/Q114 already go to York and both connect with the Q22 and  which serves Edgemere 

Not to even mention the MTA added a stop for the Q113/114 at York College so it would also serve the vaccine site.

Edited March 7, 2021 by MysteriousBtrain