BUS - Random Thoughts Thread

[DaPr03]

23 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

What does this even mean?

No idea since whoever posted that isn't specifying what is happening

[paulrivera]

52 minutes ago, DaPr03 said:

I don't know what's with these unreliable sources, but I can just say some rumors are spreading

The only thing I know of that's been going on at Quill lately are those suspicious depot stickers being plastered on the buses... Did something else happen?

Real shame too if there was a big incident, I've had some of my best rides with b/o's from Quill. A lot of them are really friendly and nice. I hope this doesn't sour them...

[GojiMet86]

25 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

What does this even mean?

 

23 minutes ago, Future ENY OP said:

Filed under: When s*it hits the fan downtown. Everyone is watching. 

 

18 minutes ago, Michael J Q Last Bus said:

What exactly happened tho? I heard some of it but no enough to grasp and understand what went on in Michael J Quill bus depot.

 

1 minute ago, DaPr03 said:

No idea since whoever posted that isn't specifying what is happening

 

 

Some kid has been playing around with the depot stickers, placing the old Hudson Pier sticker on top of the Quill sticker on buses.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

8 minutes ago, paulrivera said:

That stop's hard to see at night if the driver's not paying attention, that's why I wait at Madison and 39th where it's lit up better. Even a rookie driver going twice the speed limit can't possibly miss that stop; it's lit up with a bunch of streetlights and the BxM3/4 stop also has a shelter with LED signs all over it. It would take a bumbling loon of a driver to miss it.

I've never had an issue with that stop, be it the BxM3 or BxM4 and I've waited there during the rush and on weekends.  You need to be alert when waiting there, especially as the bus is approaching.  Since @NBTA isn't a regular, the driver may have thought he wasn't waiting for the express bus. What I do is, I have my card out, looking directly at the bus and if necessary, I'll put my hand out to make it crystal clear, particularly on lines that I don't use regularly. If you ride regularly, most drivers will recognize you so that won't be necessary, but even then I do the same thing. Card is out, looking at the bus and making eye contact with the driver.

[Lawrence St]

8 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

There are a lot of people that have never used an express bus before, so they are learning the ropes.  That doesn't mean that a driver shouldn't stop. Yes, commuters should be more aware and more educated, but "punishing" them because they are new riders is not the answer.

It's like drivers that are new. I got a DM the other day about the SIM3 driver that made the wrong stops... **** happens. He's new. They just spoke to the guy so that he was aware and that's that. No write-up, as that isn't necessary.

I'm sorry. I don't agree. If I'm driving 30 MPH down an avenue and someone isn't paying attention and decides to wave down the bus at the last second, I'm not slamming on my brakes to pick them up.

[Future ENY OP]

2 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

I'm sorry. I don't agree. If I'm driving 30 MPH down an avenue and someone isn't paying attention and decides to wave down the bus at the last second, I'm not slamming on my brakes to pick them up.

This I agree.  Not slamming brakes if a person isn’t pay attention.  

However,  and the dispatcher gotta tell you to look at your paddle for the assigned stops in the area. (Basically awareness) 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

7 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

I'm sorry. I don't agree. If I'm driving 30 MPH down an avenue and someone isn't paying attention and decides to wave down the bus at the last second, I'm not slamming on my brakes to pick them up.

No driver should be driving 30 MPH anyway down an avenue when the speed limit is 25 MPH. They're in service to pick-up passengers. I've had this discussion with the  recently and that is not customer focused.  There have been too many incidents lately where drivers are in no position to pick-up passengers because they are so far away from the lane closest to the curb that they can't pull over to stop regardless, and you have passengers literally running into the street trying to get their bus.  That should be not necessary and I've seen improvements lately with the drivers I have had, including this morning.  These sorts of incidents lead to people not taking the bus.

  

1 minute ago, Future ENY OP said:

This I agree.  Not slamming brakes if a person isn’t pay attention.  

However,  and the dispatcher gotta tell you to look at your paddle for the assigned stops in the area. (Basically awareness) 

Exactly.... Some drivers motto is no one wants my bus so I can just drive... This 

Edited December 7, 2021 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Future ENY OP]

7 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I've never had an issue with that stop, be it the BxM3 or BxM4 and I've waited there during the rush and on weekends.  You need to be alert when waiting there, especially as the bus is approaching.  Since @NBTA isn't a regular, the driver may have thought he wasn't waiting for the express bus. What I do is, I have my card out, looking directly at the bus and if necessary, I'll put my hand out to make it crystal clear, particularly on lines that I don't use regularly. If you ride regularly, most drivers will recognize you so that won't be necessary, but even then I do the same thing. Card is out, looking at the bus and making eye contact with the driver.

Is there any lighting on Mad & 46th. Haven’t been in the area in sometime but from what I gather and reading is that the area isn’t as bright as it is at night.  Correct me if I’m wrong in this instance. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

2 minutes ago, Future ENY OP said:

Is there any lighting on Mad & 46th. Haven’t been in the area in sometime but from what I gather and reading is that the area isn’t as bright as it is at night.  Correct me if I’m wrong in this instance. 

I work a few blocks from there.  I can tell you that earlier on when more people were WFH a bunch of stops were quite dark at night with so many businesses shuttered. That has improved slightly.  There's a Chase across the street that helps a bit and there are stores by the bus stop that should provide some lighting. I'll see what it's like tonight since I'm in my office today. If more lighting is needed, I can reach out to DOT about it.

[paulrivera]

8 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

I'm sorry. I don't agree. If I'm driving 30 MPH down an avenue and someone isn't paying attention and decides to wave down the bus at the last second, I'm not slamming on my brakes to pick them up.

the speed limit is 25 

[checkmatechamp13]

2 hours ago, FLX9304 said:

Say if the X29 was not hit back in 2010, would they have restructured that route to serve a express bus much needed area then added a super X39 to cover it, make it a 6 day service (no service on Sundays)

Sadly, I doubt they would've made any improvements (even if they were warranted). 

2 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I didn't say they did when they are in service. I just said that they use the Gowanus. However when deadheading they can, as there are some Brooklyn express buses that deadhead via the Belt to get to and from Manhattan. A few weeks ago when there was that shooting on the Belt, Brooklyn express bus service was impacted, as some buses were stuck in that.  For BMs that do second trips, etc. in the morning, this could help.

Right, but they still wouldn't use the HOV lane. The Gowanus HOV is peak direction only. The deadheading buses are reverse-peak.

1 hour ago, paulrivera said:

So if I ever find myself in lower Manhattan and the subway isn’t viable, I can get on an express bus from downtown to 23rd Street and switch over to (insert BxM route here) without the driver giving me any grief about it?

No guarantees, but they've been instructed to do so. If you have any issues, let us know.

[paulrivera]

11 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

There's a Chase across the street that helps a bit and there are stores by the bus stop that should provide some lighting.

That Chase is lit up like an Apple Store 24/7 lmao. Then you got the AT&T by the actual bus stop that doesn't seem bright enough by comparison.

16 minutes ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

No guarantees, but they've been instructed to do so. If you have any issues, let us know.

Good to know, thanks

[Lawrence St]

29 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

No driver should be driving 30 MPH anyway down an avenue when the speed limit is 25 MPH. They're in service to pick-up passengers. I've had this discussion with the  recently and that is not customer focused.  There have been too many incidents lately where drivers are in no position to pick-up passengers because they are so far away from the lane closest to the curb that they can't pull over to stop regardless, and you have passengers literally running into the street trying to get their bus.  That should be not necessary and I've seen improvements lately with the drivers I have had, including this morning.  These sorts of incidents lead to people not taking the bus.

  

Exactly.... Some drivers motto is no one wants my bus so I can just drive... This 

Um...if the speed limit is 30, speed limit is 30.

And it dosent matter if it's not customer focused, it's safety focused. I'm not risking getting into an accident because someone's not paying attention.

[Lawrence St]

30 minutes ago, Future ENY OP said:

This I agree.  Not slamming brakes if a person isn’t pay attention.  

However,  and the dispatcher gotta tell you to look at your paddle for the assigned stops in the area. (Basically awareness) 

True, but if it's a shared bus stop and I don't see you wave down the bus or not standing next to the bus stop, I'm going to assume your waiting for something else.

We aren't mind readers.

[NBTA]

44 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

I'm sorry. I don't agree. If I'm driving 30 MPH down an avenue and someone isn't paying attention and decides to wave down the bus at the last second, I'm not slamming on my brakes to pick them up.

He was driving 5-8 MPH. Don’t assume his speed if you wasn’t there.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

2 minutes ago, NBTA said:

He was driving 5-8 MPH. Don’t assume his speed if you wasn’t there.

That's crazy. Was he in a lane close enough to pull over? Some of them drive in the furthest lane away from the stop, which is nuts.

[NBTA]

2 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

That's crazy. Was he in a lane close enough to pull over? Some of them drive in the furthest lane away from the stop, which is nuts.

He was in the lane next to the bus lane, so he could’ve pulled over.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Just now, NBTA said:

He was in the lane next to the bus lane, so he could’ve pulled over.

Totally unacceptable.

[Future ENY OP]

10 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

True, but if it's a shared bus stop and I don't see you wave down the bus or not standing next to the bus stop, I'm going to assume your waiting for something else.

We aren't mind readers.

I get what your saying @Lawrence St  However, the  will look at the argument that you didn’t look at your paddle and essentially skipped a stop.  TA don’t care if the stop is shared or not. (You gotta look at from the TA perspective) and not driver perspective.  There are a few stops uptown on Madison that are shared shops and 3rd Avenue that are shared stops. The same argument could be said if drivers missed those stops for pax who need them to enter The Bronx. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

1 minute ago, Future ENY OP said:

I get what your saying @Lawrence St  However, the  will look at the argument that you didn’t look at your paddle and essentially skipped a stop.  TA don’t care if the stop is shared or not. (You gotta look at from the TA perspective) and not driver perspective.  There are a few stops uptown on Madison that are shared shops and 3rd Avenue that are shared stops. The same argument could be said if drivers missed those stops for pax who need them to enter The Bronx. 

And that was exactly the discussion we had recently in our group. It takes a driver a few seconds to wait at a stop and confirm that no one wants a bus versus a passenger waiting 30 minutes or another hour for a bus. When it happened to him, he complained, but since it isn't him, he's claiming it's totally ok. Smh

[Future ENY OP]

2 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

And that was exactly the discussion we had recently in our group. It takes a driver a few seconds to wait at a stop and confirm that no one wants a bus versus a passenger waiting 30 minutes or another hour for a bus. When it happened to him, he complained, but since it isn't him, he's claiming it's totally ok. Smh

Many years ago BM1, BM2, BM3 and BM4 all stopped at 5th & 39th creating these big lines as it was a shared stop for all command bus, now  bus.   Years later the BM1, BM2 were given split stops at the far end of the block near 40th and 5th which helped eased the confusion.  
 

I will say this. It is the drivers responsibility to be at the stop waiting for pax if the bus stop is a shared shop. Most local buses have shared stops unless they are separated with subsections of the stop- (Ex: Flatbush/Nostrand with the B41 and B103)

[Via Garibaldi 8]

4 minutes ago, Future ENY OP said:

Many years ago BM1, BM2, BM3 and BM4 all stopped at 5th & 39th creating these big lines as it was a shared stop for all command bus, now  bus.   Years later the BM1, BM2 were given split stops at the far end of the block near 40th and 5th which helped eased the confusion.  
 

I will say this. It is the drivers responsibility to be at the stop waiting for pax if the bus stop is a shared shop. Most local buses have shared stops unless they are separated with subsections of the stop- (Ex: Flatbush/Nostrand with the B41 and B103)

Right, and where possible, I've had a few stops moved to ease this problem to make it easier for the drivers and the passengers, but that can't be done for all stops.

[Lawrence St]

1 hour ago, Future ENY OP said:

I get what your saying @Lawrence St  However, the  will look at the argument that you didn’t look at your paddle and essentially skipped a stop.  TA don’t care if the stop is shared or not. (You gotta look at from the TA perspective) and not driver perspective.  There are a few stops uptown on Madison that are shared shops and 3rd Avenue that are shared stops. The same argument could be said if drivers missed those stops for pax who need them to enter The Bronx. 

TA can say what they want, but it's the unions say in the end. 

For example, if someone skips a stop because of the mentioned reasons and TA tries to penalize them, the union will side with the driver because it wasn't a safe stop. I've seen it happen before.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

1 hour ago, Lawrence St said:

TA can say what they want, but it's the unions say in the end. 

For example, if someone skips a stop because of the mentioned reasons and TA tries to penalize them, the union will side with the driver because it wasn't a safe stop. I've seen it happen before.

Of course the union is going to stand up for their members. That's just common sense. That's what the union is there for, to fight for their members. That doesn't mean it's right just because the union fights for their members. Your logic is totally flawed. It's comical to say the least. There are very few instances where the union would distance themselves from their members and not have their back.

 

Edited December 7, 2021 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Lawrence St]

14 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Of course the union is going to stand up for their members. That's just common sense. That's what the union is there for, to fight for their members. That doesn't mean it's right just because the union fights for their members. Your logic is totally flawed. It's comical to say the least. There are very few instances where the union would distance themselves from their members and not have their back.

 

Right, your going to tell me, who's been doing this for longer then you have in the driver's seat, that my logic is flawed.

You know I respect you, but sometimes you talk pure nonsense.

Why don't you get behind the wheel of a bus, do the BxM1 at night and tell me if you can safely stop if a pax waits until the last second to wave you down.