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BUS - Random Thoughts Thread


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Am I the only guy that never rode an express bus once?

 

/inb4VG8 explodes

 

 

Same spot as you. However I do plan to though sometime in the near future. Once I do though don't expect me to be big on it. I simply just plan to start with my home express route the X64. I'll also ride an UP or YUK run route just to know the prevosts.that's it.

Edited by gtNovaBusRTS9369
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I got off the S62 a little while ago. There was a girl who said this was her first time riding a bus and she had no idea she had to pull the cord to tell the driver she wanted to get off. SMH. (I also think I heard that deeper beep that shows that the F5 button was pushed, so I don't even think she knew she had to pay)

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Caught 2211 on the X10, the last bus to Manhattan, last night at CSI. Bus had no GPS tracking though. In addition I rode 9829 on the B16 to 36th Street about a couple hours ago...fantastic ride.

 

As for my first express bus ride, it was the X1 back in December 2007, a few days before my 16th birthday.

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Yesterday, finally drove an ex-FP bus, #9594 - piece of shit. No power whatsoever.

 

 

Lol, guess that was a bit of a letdown! I maintain the best buses out of FB these days are the some of the 9600s (9644, 9445 anybody?) and some of the 5100s. I even like the 8860s but I'm sure those are a pita as an op.

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What a royal waste of time to operate the wheelchair lift to bring someone onto the bus.... To then bring them back down because they attempted to get on the wrong bus.... yesterday, someone needed the B68... but when he just missed the 68, he scooted over to the B82 bus stop in coney Island.... The b/o was about to let the standing passengers on the bus, but then the b/o accomodated to the wheelchair passenger first.....

 

lmao @ how loudly the passengers were cursing, after the wheelchair passenger got let off the bus.... Those B82 passengers were standing there for a while too, b/c I had just missed a 74, and had to wait 10 mins. for the next one to pull up (with a 5 min. stall, after it pulled off)....

 

If I were in that situation, I would have been pissed too, to be honest... but don't take it out on the man on the wheelchair....

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I have a question about the New Flyer XD40...

Why is it that every time i go on an xd40....either from castleton or ulmer park....one of the pull cords are broken....or loose...or like wrinkled?

But on every Orion VII 3g i rode....havent seen the problem...

is the xd40's pull cord string weaker...or people just choosing to mess up the pull cord on these specific buses??

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Yesterday, finally drove an ex-FP bus, #9594 - piece of shit. No power whatsoever.

 

So much for some guy [other forum]'s claim about the 9500s being so good. I would've moved back only up to 9599 since that was at FB at one time, the others are 'suspect'.

9380-90s from UP, I'm sorry, but the interior and exteriors of those buses sound and look like shit. I'd rather keep the current 8800s, 9000s over those buses.

 

What a royal waste of time to operate the wheelchair lift to bring someone onto the bus.... To then bring them back down because they attempted to get on the wrong bus.... yesterday, someone needed the B68... but when he just missed the 68, he scooted over to the B82 bus stop in coney Island.... The b/o was about to let the standing passengers on the bus, but then the b/o accomodated to the wheelchair passenger first.....

 

lmao @ how loudly the passengers were cursing, after the wheelchair passenger got let off the bus.... Those B82 passengers were standing there for a while too, b/c I had just missed a 74, and had to wait 10 mins. for the next one to pull up (with a 5 min. stall, after it pulled off)....

 

If I were in that situation, I would have been pissed too, to be honest... but don't take it out on the man on the wheelchair....

 

Much as I like the hf buses, their main problems are the lifts. If that malfunctions, the bus is OOS and you have a bunch of passengers stranded because of one person. Not to sound insensitive, but rush hours, 'the needs of the many outweighs the needs of the few'. If a bus is already crowded, i'm sorry, but I don't think it'd be fair to kick off anyone just to fit one person in a w/c. You can even offer those displaced ppl a transfer, but that's not enough. I'm sure there is some honor system, but I rarely see anyone in a w/c pay for their rides.

Thank god the lf buses needs just a ramp that can be manually lifted if needed and doesn't need the bus to be set to neutral to power a lift.

 

Lol, guess that was a bit of a letdown! I maintain the best buses out of FB these days are the some of the 9600s (9644, 9445 anybody?) and some of the 5100s. I even like the 8860s but I'm sure those are a pita as an op.

 

Those buses are very well maintained [even if they weren't no thanks to other depots*]. For the most part they all run great, but it seems like they don't accelerate much as if the 'break was stiffened'. 9644, I just love it for the unique sound it makes. You know it is that bus just by hearing that distinctive 'whirring' sound.

 

*their problems are FB's problems.

Edited by Grand Concourse
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hahaha that's how I feel about those 53xx-54xx Artics. You can literally stomp on the accelerator and it won't move for like a good 4-5 seconds.

 

I was able to work with it, but it seemed like it was giving out most of the way. I only had it for one round on the 46, then pulled it in. I wouldn't be able to bear with it if I kept the bus the entire day -- sorry, f**k that; I'm pulling this shit in. lol

 

And, to add onto issues with this bus - the kneeling mechanism was f**ked too. On my swing trip I had a fully loaded bus coming from the Willy B; by the time I hit Fulton Street, I had folks to the white line; at Eastern Parkway, I had no choice but to kneel the bus for an elderly person, but the kneel didn't come back up. I placed the bus into neutral with fast idle on in attempt to build air pressure; tried restarting the bus; it all resorted to me asking at least 10-15 people to exit the bus while I load for the KNEEL light to go off and release the interlock. smfh

 

It was one of those days you needed an NG instead where the kneel comes right back up, fully loaded or not.

oh nah... dude in the wheelchair needed (and missed) the 68.....

He attempted to board the 82.

 

It (the 82) was an RTS.

 

My bad; I mixed the routes around, thinking he boarded the 68 but wanted the 82, but it was the other way around. Before a wheelchair boards my bus, I ask what stop they're getting off at just to make sure I don't load him, and it turned out to be the wrong bus; this happened before on the B46 at Halsey St. & Malcolm X Blvd. when I loaded a wheelchair who needed the stop at Myrtle, but I was one of the LTD buses that turned around at Dekalb, therefore having to redeploy the lift and instruct him to get a bus going all the way to the Willy B. *sighs*

Much as I like the hf buses, their main problems are the lifts. If that malfunctions, the bus is OOS and you have a bunch of passengers stranded because of one person. Not to sound insensitive, but rush hours, 'the needs of the many outweighs the needs of the few'. If a bus is already crowded, i'm sorry, but I don't think it'd be fair to kick off anyone just to fit one person in a w/c. You can even offer those displaced ppl a transfer, but that's not enough. I'm sure there is some honor system, but I rarely see anyone in a w/c pay for their rides.

Thank god the lf buses needs just a ramp that can be manually lifted if needed and doesn't need the bus to be set to neutral to power a lift.

 

Yeah, I've had this problem already - on the B41 at Joralemon & Adams Streets, when I loaded the wheelchair [with an RTS (#9670)] successfully, but the lift wouldn't go into the stow position, kinda like the whole mechanics went dead. I called it in, road control ops came, saw no power, and wind up staying there for a few hours before a road truck came to manually crank the lift back into position and pull it in, at 3:30am.

 

My thing is, with these ADA folks, I believe Access-a-ride should be the ones transport 'em around, as it'll make everything a bit more convenient for everyone. But I also understand they don't want to feel as if they're any different, as an act of discrimination. Low-floor models have definitely made life a lot easier in that department, though.

 

When SBS comes to the B44 at the end of this year, we'll see how many wheelchairs board the bus then. Many of them think they don't have to pay, which is untrue -- the operators really don't say much; they know they have to pay, but choose to play stupid.

 

BTW, the NGs have to be placed into neutral before the ramp is deployed.

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From what I've seen so far, the 9600s* have the most problems with the lifts where one time a bus was taken out of service with the lift stuck [probably was closing up after letting a w/c rider off and then the bus had to shut down and forcing everyone off].

 

I agree as well, I'd go one step further, I'd get the TLC to get one of those yellow cabs to take them to where they need to go and send the bill to the MTA. That would still be cheaper than one w/c rider taking up space that 3 people would sit and the time lost to load them in and let them off. I know how insensitive I sound, but let's face it: rush hours, time is money, I don't have time to be delayed so the w/c rider can be strapped in and not even pay 'double' for services used [lift/ramp, driver helping to buckle the person in and then repeat in reverse to let them off...] SO to a paying rider like me, I'm sorry, but that does piss me off. I pay my fare and I have to be held up and that person doesn't even pay? It's as bad as a farebeater.

 

I totally understand why some b/o would love the lf buses, just a ramp and no worries about the ramp not working.

 

Ah, understood. But at least that can be operated from the seat instead of having to go to the back and operating the lift. So another plus for the lf buses. I do remember one time an RTS was semi crowded and the b/o had to get off the bus and open the back doors just to operate the lift. Not convenient at all...

 

*just so happens 80% of the time there's a w/c rider it's that number series. Also the bus would 'struggle' with the power to have the lift raise the person in the bus and then close. Finally when it's time to start up the bus, one b/o had to restart the bus 3 times to get it to work. It was almost that close to where the b/o was gonna go 'f* that' and put it OOS.

Edited by Grand Concourse
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Well, in all honesty, ADA pays MTA millions per year to accommodate folks who are disabled, specifically wheelchairs. They're supposed to pay, but we don't say much as I've said before; it's usually the "I have to pay?" look on their face. I rather just go back to the operator's seat than argue about their fare; it saves time that way.

 

And I've never heard an operator having to restart the bus 2-3 times just to get it moving because of the lift. Once you turn the power off at the lift-box and the backdoors close, then it should be ready to go, after pushing in the ICC, put tranny into drive, and releasing the interlock.

 

BTW, it weren't for ADAs federal funding to MTA, I'm quite sure fares would be close to express fares. lol

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Well, in all honesty, ADA pays MTA millions per year to accommodate folks who are disabled, specifically wheelchairs. They're supposed to pay, but we don't say much as I've said before; it's usually the "I have to pay?" look on their face. I rather just go back to the operator's seat than argue about their fare; it saves time that way.

 

And I've never heard an operator having to restart the bus 2-3 times just to get it moving because of the lift. Once you turn the power off at the lift-box and the backdoors close, then it should be ready to go, after pushing in the ICC, put tranny into drive, and releasing the interlock.

 

BTW, it weren't for ADAs federal funding to MTA, I'm quite sure fares would be close to express fares. lol

 

Yeah, this one time must've been a real problem plagued bus. Everything about it, how it runs etc, was fine, but when the bus had to restart after the lift closed, it was just trouble.

 

It wouldn't surprise me the 'service' wc riders gets, it would be more like double an express bus fare.

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Spotted at Prevost at Morani/Richmond signed as X2, probably heading to Manhattan to start an X2 trip. I joked around on a Facebook page saying that the X2 is lost since the route goes nowhere near Bulls' Head.

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