BUS - Random Thoughts Thread

[checkmatechamp13]

Labor costs are the main issue with the MTA financially speaking. I personally feel that the unions will always complain about the finances as a way to gain (or cry for) more funding for the agency which will in turn use it to bloat salaries each time contracts are negotiated. I'm usually a fan of labor unions but the unions behind labor in NYCT are a little too strong for their own good. 

 

This is a few years out of date, but it doesn't seem like B/Os are raking it in. I mean, ~$30/hr, plus some benefits. It's decent, but they're certainly not living like kings/queens.

 

The highest paid B/O got $153,173 through working a ton of overtime. Again, a decent salary, but nothing amazing. 

 

As a government worker, I'll tell you there's much more waste in the system than a few workers getting overtime. I jumped on all the overtime I was allowed (which was actually beneficial because if somebody has to work those hours, why not have it be the lowest paid guy?), and even adding together the overtime of all the inspectors on the project, it wouldn't have made a dent in the overall budget. Having a guy on-site to test tens of thousands of dollars worth of concrete to make sure it meets the specifications sounds like a good use of resources from a purely objective point of view, doesn't it?

 

The problem is all the other sources of waste. They say the cost per hour to run a bus is something like $125 or something like that. If a B/O is making $30/hr, and benefits are at most another $30/hr, where is the rest of the cost coming from? You're not going to BS me with nonsense about fuel costs. If a bus gets 4 mpg, and gas costs $4/gal (which it doesn't, because the MTA buys it in bulk), then for a 6 mile run, that's $6. Variable maintainence...mechanics aren't making that much per hour.

 

And then of course, there's the management of the resources themselves. Sending out 10 buses per hour and having them come in groups of 3-4....or having them run on a route purposely designed to get low ridership.....long story short, you're not getting what you pay for.

Edited June 1, 2016 by checkmatechamp13

[Future ENY OP]

Why not? You simply slap a "LIMITED" sign on the existing buses running to/from ENY and call it a day. So the buses run every 14-15 minutes instead of every 12 minutes, big deal. Better than waiting a half hour and having 4 show up at once.

 

As far as the fleet, that is the worst excuse I've ever heard. If they have enough buses to run Saturday service, they have enough for Sunday service. GOs are generally the whole weekend, not Sunday only. Not increasing frequencies is purely about not wanting to pay the B/Os for the extra runs (and an increase in frequency from 7 minute headways to 6 minute headways would require a whopping 17% more B/Os for that particular route, going off the lazy assumption that the running time and layover time remains the same, which is obviously unlikely as the limiteds will be able to move through the route quicker)

I will tell you this. I travel from East New York to Nostrand Avenue quite frequently. So when I tell you I see buses running in bunches 3's and 4's especially on Sundays that is a problem. I can tell you this thru my observations there are not enough Rockaway Parkway buses on Sundays vs East New York.

 

If the is investing on newer fleet. Invest on existing bus service. All this surplus s*it they talking about is all baloney unless it's invested in the right places.

 

...... Rant over

[JubaionBx12+SBS]

This is a few years out of date, but it doesn't seem like B/Os are raking it in. I mean, ~$30/hr, plus some benefits. It's decent, but they're certainly not living like kings/queens.

 

The highest paid B/O got $153,173 through working a ton of overtime. Again, a decent salary, but nothing amazing. 

 

There's much more waste than a few B/Os getting a little overtime. 

I never said B/O's in particular were raking it in. The overall labor cost structure is more problematic then the individual salaries of employess. Also $30 over a 40 hour work week and a 52 week year totals to $62,400 in gross income. Given how expensive it is to live in NYC it doesn't seem like too much but compared across various professions and industries, that's pretty good especially after just four years of experience. I can't even think of many career fields where people with minimal experience (regardless of education level) would start at say 50k. Relative to the overall job market, transit worker salaries are somewhat inflated even though said inflation across the tens of thousands of employees agency wide is more of an issue then strong wages for individual positions. 

 

Also on the new bus note, new buses are capital purchases. The money used to fund those could not be used to fund expanded service on the operation side even if a surplus of money was provided for the buses. That extra money would have to pay down debt or go towards some other capital project.

[Fresh Pond]

I've got a few questions for my Surface folks, especially those familiar with Brooklyn. Every weekday morning about 5:30 or so there's a B41 on Bustime heading n/b for Empire Blvd. where it terminates. It vanishes from Bustime so for a few days I tried to find this bus. One morning, on Bustime, there was a notation that the next stop was Eastern Parkway and Nostrand Avenue which is on the B44 route. Two questions here. Why Eastern Parkway and Nostrand instead of Empire Blvd and Nostrand? What route does it take to get to Eastern Parkway? I know there aren't many posters up and about at that time but I'm just curious. My other question pertains to what appears to be small deviations on some Brooklyn routes that may be special (school) trips. Again, from Bustime, B6 e/b stop at Flatlands and Elton, with a B20 stop too, B12 at old Wingate HS at Kingston and Rutland, , B6 at East 45th St and Glenwood Rd., and a B41 stop at Fillmore and Stuart St among others. Last question pertains to all of these routings and those I haven't mentioned like the B46 at East 68th and Avenue N. Are these just starting points for these runs or are they also destination points with special signage? Before I forget the obvious question about my B41 to Empire. Why not run it to the Junction as a B41 and turn it into a B44 there ,n/b or s/b ?Thanks in advance people.

The first one is actually a run like that. It does the B41 to Empire, then deadheads to Nostrand (I would assume Empire > Bedford > Eastern Pkwy > Nostrand) to do the B44. A friend of mine did that run once and told me about it...told him it looks dumb as hell lol...

 

The other ones are school trippers. They start at those odd locations and run to their respective terminals using the normal signs. Don't think they make any intermediate stops until they get back on the regular route.

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

I rode the BM1 (all stops) from end to end today, and boy was that ride long. It was almost 2 hours long (missing it by only 5 minutes).

Edited June 2, 2016 by BM5 via WOODHAVEN BL

[B3 Via Av U]

Am I the only one that forces the door open (without touching the tape) when I'm the only person to get off at the stop? I do this as a courtesy so that the door will slam behind me instead of the driver waiting for the air motor to close it.

[Hound]

Very wrong indeed...

There's mistakes on these detours all the time. Must be a bunch of morons that post these.

[checkmatechamp13]

I never said B/O's in particular were raking it in. The overall labor cost structure is more problematic then the individual salaries of employess. Also $30 over a 40 hour work week and a 52 week year totals to $62,400 in gross income. Given how expensive it is to live in NYC it doesn't seem like too much but compared across various professions and industries, that's pretty good especially after just four years of experience. I can't even think of many career fields where people with minimal experience (regardless of education level) would start at say 50k. Relative to the overall job market, transit worker salaries are somewhat inflated even though said inflation across the tens of thousands of employees agency wide is more of an issue then strong wages for individual positions. 

 

Also on the new bus note, new buses are capital purchases. The money used to fund those could not be used to fund expanded service on the operation side even if a surplus of money was provided for the buses. That extra money would have to pay down debt or go towards some other capital project.

 

It's comparable to transit employees in other cities, and our bus and subway lines are some of the busiest in the country. (Heck, I think there's only a few bus lines in Canada with higher ridership than some of our local routes)

 

Am I the only one that forces the door open (without touching the tape) when I'm the only person to get off at the stop? I do this as a courtesy so that the door will slam behind me instead of the driver waiting for the air motor to close it.

 

I'd do it if I realized what the trick was. If the bus isn't particularly crowded, I always just exit through the front door so the B/O can close the door and keep it moving.

[Missabassie]

Am I the only one that forces the door open (without touching the tape) when I'm the only person to get off at the stop? I do this as a courtesy so that the door will slam behind me instead of the driver waiting for the air motor to close it.

I thought I was the only one who did that....

[Missabassie]

D60 5464's still kickin,. Saw it on the BX15. It didn't sound too good tho so maybe they're waiting for it to crap out then they'll pull it for good...

Edited June 2, 2016 by Missabassie

[JubaionBx12+SBS]

In today,s episode of Bx12 SBS chronicles, a new approach has been taken with Westbound service. Not even an hour ago I saw a bus come use Baychester Av to get to Bartow, That's not really strange since buses not in service do that to get to the depot but the bus being mentioned here is doing so with an SRO passenger load. What this bus did was pick up passengers at Bay Plaza and go straight to PBP from there skipping Bartow Av/Co-op City Blvd and Edson in the process. In practice it's actually a smart idea for crowd control since the passengers at the other Co-op stops aren't boarding (or getting passed by) sardine cans that filled up in Bay Plaza. However, this will just encourage buses to bypass stops in (or around) Co-op City that are not the Bay Plaza Mall making wait times for some Bx12 riders comparable to that of infrequent low ridership routes. Also the idea of getting passed up by buses that are not sardine cans is problematic regardless of the route and time of day. 

[MysteriousBtrain]

In today,s episode of Bx12 SBS chronicles, a new approach has been taken with Westbound service. Not even an hour ago I saw a bus come use Baychester Av to get to Bartow, That's not really strange since buses not in service do that to get to the depot but the bus being mentioned here is doing so with an SRO passenger load. What this bus did was pick up passengers at Bay Plaza and go straight to PBP from there skipping Bartow Av/Co-op City Blvd and Edson in the process. In practice it's actually a smart idea for crowd control since the passengers at the other Co-op stops aren't boarding (or getting passed by) sardine cans that filled up in Bay Plaza. However, this will just encourage buses to bypass stops in (or around) Co-op City that are not the Bay Plaza Mall making wait times for some Bx12 riders comparable to that of infrequent low ridership routes. Also the idea of getting passed up by buses that are not sardine cans is problematic regardless of the route and time of day.

I remember this one time there was this Bx12 shuttle I rode from Bay plaza to PBP. The bus only made stops in the mall before running in section 5 (the Bx29 route) to PBP.

[favbusbx13]

WHAT A HOT MESS! Due to the unplanned service changes on the the Bx7/Bx20 were a hot mess. Waiting at Isham for a Bronx 7/20 3 buses past packed, not a soul could fit. Then a Bx20 arrived but they made it go as a Bx7. Sooooo chaotic definitely would try avoiding riding those for the next hour or so

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

Wish I had taken a picture of it, but 4530 has a different font on the side sign than the traditional font on other buses. I saw it on the B48.

[TheNewYorkElevated]

So the X80's running this weekend. I know it starts in East Harlem, but where? With the M35? 

[LegoBrickBreaker101]

So the X80's running this weekend. I know it starts in East Harlem, but where? With the M35? 

 

Yep

 

Also, on a side note, I took one of Chris Schmidt's paper XD60s and I edited it (with permission, ofc.). I though you guys would like to see...

 

https://goo.gl/photos/B5fTpZUj1je45u379

Edited June 5, 2016 by r142a 7795

[Fresh Pond]

So the X80's running this weekend. I know it starts in East Harlem, but where? With the M35?

The bus stop for the X80 is behind the M35 stop. Closers to 126 St

[IAlam]

X80 is a rip off tho

[MHV9218]

X80 is a rip off tho

 

No price too high to avoid the tour of human misery in that M35 man!

[B35 via Church]

X80 is a rip off tho

...and the M35 is what, paradise on wheels?

 

No price too high to avoid the tour of human misery in that M35 man!

Earlier last month, I rode the M35 for shits & giggles.... Turns out, I ended up hearing (and seeing) someone vomit.... In the middle of that, an argument broke out b/w two other men (something about insurance, wasn't paying attention to the whole thing)... After we did the loop (heading back towards Manhattan), a lady started cursing out the bus driver (she didn't have enough to pay the fare, the driver waved her on, and apparently the lady had a problem w/ the way the driver.... waved).....

 

Before any of that happened, of course, the smell stench of that lovely fragrance called Eau de Eurine was ever so present....

 

Yeah, it'll be another 3 years or so before I go fanning that route again..... Smh...

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

Am I lucky if I say that I took the M35 one time to not pay the express fare the X80, and didn't witness any issues on the bus? I already knew how bad the M35 was, but I kinda wanted to see what that was all about.

 

Regardless though, I don't know how those B/O's doing a M35 trip make it through the end of the day.

Edited June 6, 2016 by BM5 via WOODHAVEN BL

[GojiMet86]

I read an article printed some years back about an associate pastor that had a run on the M35 in order to make him a more patient minister.

[IAlam]

Geez i didn't realize the M35 was that bad. Never took it, never will but last year I did take the M60 and I was more people walking than on the X80.

[B35 via Church]

Am I lucky if I say that I took the M35 one time to not pay the express fare the X80, and didn't witness any issues on the bus?

I already knew how bad the M35 was, but I kinda wanted to see what that was all about.

 

Regardless though, I don't know how those B/O's doing a M35 trip make it through the end of the day.

Depends on how packed your bus was.....

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

Depends on how packed your bus was.....

There were are few standees, and all the seats were taken.