BUS - Random Thoughts Thread

[Melbx15]

2 hours ago, LegoBrickBreaker101 said:

A bus on the Bx11 was involved in a fire around an hour ago near Jennings Street: at the time, police are saying the fire may have been caused after a motorcycle collided with the bus, and that folks were evacuated before the fire broke out. The bus (which was an XN40, number unknown) looks pretty scorched and in a bad state. Videos and info are on the Citizen app for anyone who's curious.

 

Link: https://go.citizen.com/VXnh3jLE6fb

 

I was driving by when I seen the bus  I also missed the bus number but it looked like an explosion had happened because all the windows looked blown out 

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

Would anyone be able to confirm if 2926 was on the Bx23 earlier? One of the tracking sites I'm using says it was last seen on the route about 32 minutes ago on Baychester Ave near Darrow Place, but I am not sure. I would think most deadheads use the New England Thruway and not travel through Co-op City.

Edited May 9, 2021 by BM5 via Woodhaven

[danielhg121]

10 hours ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

Would anyone be able to confirm if 2926 was on the Bx23 earlier? One of the tracking sites I'm using says it was last seen on the route about 32 minutes ago on Baychester Ave near Darrow Place, but I am not sure. I would think most deadheads use the New England Thruway and not travel through Co-op City.

I think the operator was doing a codebreak. The last run he has is a BxM9 to Layton, unless they called him up for some overtime. lol

Edited May 9, 2021 by danielhg121

[Lil 57]

18 hours ago, XcelsiorBoii4888 said:

I've reported so many issues with the Staten Island BusTime errors, only to hear "our BusTime team is working quickly to address these issues". 

You complacent f**ks. 

The S84 and S90 are the most inaccurate routes in the system as they list/announce all the local stops during the limited stop sections and its so irritating. That's my two biggest peeves. Every route has at least 4-5 stops incorrectly pronounced, or the screens announce stops that are discontinued, or some stops are duplicated on BusTime, and forget about the green stop positions on the desktop version...so many premature announcements or late announcements because the stops internally do not align with the stop locations on the street. They have Hylan Blvd/Clove Road in the middle of the intersection which is about 200ft away from the actual stop. 

 

What makes it worse is that these errors show up on map services such as google maps. Someone is going to be for an unlucky surprise when the s84 or s90 skips the "limited stop" that is in reality local only. And these routes then to have pretty long distances between stops when it comes to their limited portions.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

18 hours ago, XcelsiorBoii4888 said:

I've reported so many issues with the Staten Island BusTime errors, only to hear "our BusTime team is working quickly to address these issues". 

You complacent f**ks. 

The S84 and S90 are the most inaccurate routes in the system as they list/announce all the local stops during the limited stop sections and its so irritating. That's my two biggest peeves. Every route has at least 4-5 stops incorrectly pronounced, or the screens announce stops that are discontinued, or some stops are duplicated on BusTime, and forget about the green stop positions on the desktop version...so many premature announcements or late announcements because the stops internally do not align with the stop locations on the street. They have Hylan Blvd/Clove Road in the middle of the intersection which is about 200ft away from the actual stop. 

 

That's a programming issue and they are not going to go through and fix all of them. If you're lucky, you'll see some improvement when they do a big update.

[B35 via Church]

31 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

That's a programming issue and they are not going to go through and fix all of them. If you're lucky, you'll see some improvement when they do a big update.

In other words, they don't give a f***...

[Via Garibaldi 8]

4 minutes ago, B35 via Church said:

In other words, they don't give a f***...

In the overall scheme of things, it's low on the totem pole, sadly. Quite frankly if they had a team tending to this it would be a lot better, but they don't. They have however been more attentive to getting up signage at bus stops when pressed, but even that is a process. Some bus stop signs have to be approved at 2 Broadway. They need to revamp how some things are done and have them better streamlined.

[Deucey]

8 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Some bus stop signs have to be approved at 2 Broadway. They need to revamp how some things are done and have them better streamlined.

IIRC, DOT “owns” the bus stop signs (not in NY now; can’t go look at a sign to confirm), and obviously the sidewalk or roadside the sign is on.

Seems to me actual good changes (stops, bus/bike lanes, shelters, etc) could be made quickly and effectively if DOT and NYCTA were more like TfL in controlling all transport  infrastructure - non-freeway road maintenance and construction, buses and trains in the boros, etc. It’d have to be precise so NYCTA-DOT left small non-arterials to NYC to plow and pave, but it’d be several steps easier to relocate a stop, and funding and traffic management could be more stable if it got a portion of parking fine money.

But it’ll never happen bc NYCTA and  have given more reasons en masse to not government enterprise than the whole of NYC government has.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

16 minutes ago, Deucey said:

IIRC, DOT “owns” the bus stop signs (not in NY now; can’t go look at a sign to confirm), and obviously the sidewalk or roadside the sign is on.

Seems to me actual good changes (stops, bus/bike lanes, shelters, etc) could be made quickly and effectively if DOT and NYCTA were more like TfL in controlling all transport  infrastructure - non-freeway road maintenance and construction, buses and trains in the boros, etc. It’d have to be precise so NYCTA-DOT left small non-arterials to NYC to plow and pave, but it’d be several steps easier to relocate a stop, and funding and traffic management could be more stable if it got a portion of parking fine money.

But it’ll never happen bc NYCTA and  have given more reasons en masse to not government enterprise than the whole of NYC government has.

I should've clarified what I was referring to. If buses are detoured or the stop is moved, then the  puts up the temporary paper signs. Those can be done quickly. If they are laminated, those come from 2 Broadway, and are usually for more long-term changes, but have to be approved, and that can be a process. I had one put up at 33rd and 3rd for the BxM1 stop since that stop is impacted by construction long- term.

I've been involved a few times now where either I was working to get a bus stop moved, or there was work going on that necessitated a detour, so this is how I know this. I worked to get the BxM1 stop moved from 86th and 3rd to 87th and 3rd in front of the old Modell's. It took months to get it moved because if the DOT agrees to move the stop, first the  goes out to see if it's feasible. Then the paperwork has to be filed with the DOT, and then the DOT has a good three months to move the stop because they have a unit that handles replacing and moving bus stops and of course they are short staffed. After the stop was finally moved, then I had to ask the  to have signage put up at the old stop so passengers weren't bypassed, and have signage put at the depot so drivers knew, and then ask drivers in my group if the message had been relayed - eventually I reached out to a union rep. to make sure the drivers knew. After that, I had to get the  to change BusTime to the new stop, which is still pending. All and all it's taken a good six months to get that stop moved. By comparison, the BxM3 stop that @Lawrence St asked me to work on before the pandemic took about four months or so, but that was just getting the stop installed, not moved.

People have no idea how difficult it is to get basic things done in this City when it comes to the  and the DOT. DOT is always short-staffed, so it always takes forever to get basic things. 

Edited May 10, 2021 by Via Garibaldi 8

[MTABusTransitFanner]

What happened to 3563? Its not on Zeregas roster.

[NBTA]

Funny observation, so 5818 has a unique paint job on the front, with the MTA logo, with “Bus” underneath it. 

[ParkerTheM7]

23 minutes ago, NBTA said:

Funny observation, so 5818 has a unique paint job on the front, with the MTA logo, with “Bus” underneath it. 

lol, its funny you say that, i just saw it at west farms lol

[trainfan22]

I saw 8755 on layover and snapped a quick pic, I didn't ride it cause I had no idea what route it was gonna run on and I didn't want to stand if I was at the end of the boarding line, etc. I was walking down Parsons and saw an Cuomo scheme LFS w/ Jamaica depot sticker and first thought to myself, WTF, JAM don't have a Cuomo LFS and then I realized, oh s*it, its 8755!

 

 

 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

25 minutes ago, trainfan22 said:

I saw 8755 on layover and snapped a quick pic, I didn't ride it cause I had no idea what route it was gonna run on and I didn't want to stand if I was at the end of the boarding line, etc. I was walking down Parsons and saw an Cuomo scheme LFS w/ Jamaica depot sticker and first thought to myself, WTF, JAM don't have a Cuomo LFS and then I realized, oh s*it, its 8755!

 

 

 

What's so special about 8755?

[1train2255railfan]

5 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

What's so special about 8755?

It's the first 2021 LFS, and it has come with seat, signage, door and HVAC modifications 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

3 minutes ago, 1train2255railfan said:

It's the first 2021 LFS, and it has come with seat, signage, door and HVAC modifications 

Interesting...

[R10 2952]

23 hours ago, Deucey said:

Seems to me actual good changes (stops, bus/bike lanes, shelters, etc) could be made quickly and effectively if DOT and NYCTA were more like TfL in controlling all transport  infrastructure - non-freeway road maintenance and construction, buses and trains in the boros, etc. It’d have to be precise so NYCTA-DOT left small non-arterials to NYC to plow and pave, but it’d be several steps easier to relocate a stop, and funding and traffic management could be more stable if it got a portion of parking fine money.

But it’ll never happen bc NYCTA and  have given more reasons en masse to not government enterprise than the whole of NYC government has.

Agreed; Massachusetts did something similar under Deval Patrick in 2009 when they placed the MBTA and the Turnpike Authority under the direct control of the MA DOT.  It's been unofficially said up there that the ultimate plan was to subsume the MBTA into DOT entirely, but ever since that smarmy GOP corporatist Baker pulled an upset win in the 2014 gubernatorial election, a lot of further reform has stalled and there have been concerns that Baker may be gunning for a backdoor privatization of the MBTA entirely.

As for New York, I figure the million-dollar reason neither MTA nor Port Authority have been taken over by the DOT is because of political patronage.  Albany is not going to stop milking that cow until it keels over and dies, basically.

[paulrivera]

Pelham Parkway's speed limit is going from 30mph to 25mph very soon.

RIP Bx12 SBS

[Deucey]

7 minutes ago, R10 2952 said:

As for New York, I figure the million-dollar reason neither MTA nor Port Authority have been taken over by the DOT is because of political patronage.  Albany is not going to stop milking that cow until it keels over and dies, basically.

NY politics is and has always been like the Royal Courts of the Tudors - there’s always a Cardinal Wolsey or Thomas More amassing power with others trying to take it away.

We can’t have better things because Wolsey or More become megalomaniacal, and the King overreacts towards the ‘down with him and plan’ idea, while the people get screwed.

[R10 2952]

1 hour ago, paulrivera said:

Pelham Parkway's speed limit is going from 30mph to 25mph very soon.

RIP Bx12 SBS

That and watch Pelham's side streets turn into a parking lot once this goes into effect.

[Future ENY OP]

5 hours ago, paulrivera said:

Pelham Parkway's speed limit is going from 30mph to 25mph very soon.

RIP Bx12 SBS

It already went into effect in Brooklyn. Flatbush Avenue between Empire and Grand Army Plaza which was already 30MPH and Linden Boulevard was already at 30 is also at 25MPH. 
 

Forget it bus service will be abysmal at this point. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

8 hours ago, R10 2952 said:

That and watch Pelham's side streets turn into a parking lot once this goes into effect.

If people are driving on Pelham Parkway, it's because they need to. The side streets are not that conducive for long east-west travel, especially along Pelham Parkway South, so I don't see that happening.

Edited May 11, 2021 by Via Garibaldi 8

[P3F]

9 hours ago, Future ENY OP said:

It already went into effect in Brooklyn. Flatbush Avenue between Empire and Grand Army Plaza which was already 30MPH and Linden Boulevard was already at 30 is also at 25MPH. 
 

Forget it bus service will be abysmal at this point. 

I'll bet they're not going to simultaneously retime the traffic lights for 25 (as they usually don't), so buses will get stuck at even more traffic lights if they stick to the new "speed limit".

[Lawrence St]

22 hours ago, Deucey said:

NY politics is and has always been like the Royal Courts of the Tudors - there’s always a Cardinal Wolsey or Thomas More amassing power with others trying to take it away.

We can’t have better things because Wolsey or More become megalomaniacal, and the King overreacts towards the ‘down with him and plan’ idea, while the people get screwed.

Is there a way to fight against these speed limit changes? It's clear that vision zero does not work and makes the problem worse. Look at 12th Av, they lowered the speed limit on that and people are going even MORE faster on that stretch.

And why Cross Bay Blvd out of all streets, are they trying to screw everyone over, even those that take the bus?? Lowering the speed limit by 5 MPH does not do anything but make the problem worse.

[Deucey]

20 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

Is there a way to fight against these speed limit changes? It's clear that vision zero does not work and makes the problem worse. Look at 12th Av, they lowered the speed limit on that and people are going even MORE faster on that stretch.

And why Cross Bay Blvd out of all streets, are they trying to screw everyone over, even those that take the bus?? Lowering the speed limit by 5 MPH does not do anything but make the problem worse.

You’d have to get City Council to revoke the uniform speed limit law or DOT policy, or get NYS to adopt a law like California’s that requires local DOTs to evaluate the mean speed on stretches of road and increase it every few years to accommodate that mean.

Another alternative is to get NYS to “take over” roads and set their own speeds - but given how few roads in the City are State Highways, and that the ones that are (like QB, Webster Av, Conduit, et al), like expressways, are maintained by NYCDOT, NYS would likely not do it since it means road maintenance and clearing would come from the NYS Budget.

So the last alternative is to vote for folks for council and mayor who would be more inclined to find compromises rather than pander to get loud and stupid people to stop yelling.