BUS - Random Thoughts Thread

[Orion6025]

24 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

stop at yellow lights

Jesus F. Christ it's so annoying when they do this. I'm not 100% sure but I think operators tend to do this because they don't want to have the light turn red on them as they're crossing, leading to a potential write-up...

[Via Garibaldi 8]

2 minutes ago, Orion6025 said:

Jesus F. Christ it's so annoying when they do this. I'm not 100% sure but I think operators tend to do this because they don't want to have the light turn red on them as they're crossing, leading to a potential write-up...

No, they do it when they want to kill lights (and time in some cases), so they can use that excuse to say oh I don't want to be written up.  When it's time for them to go home, they can run plenty of red lights. Some will run hot to avoid picking up people too, then lay over at a stop that doesn't see heavy usage to get back on-time and then continue in that fashion.  All of this is why bus service is what it is.  When I file complaints, I write specifically that if there is so much run-time in between stops, then the  needs to adjust the schedules accordingly because it takes so long with certain drivers to do some trips.  

What I do know is if I know the guy drives incredibly slow, I'll just let him pass and take another bus.  If it's a regular bus that I take, I'll switch to another bus entirely until the next pick is over, which is exactly what I did for this pick.  Fed up with that crap.  This guy was taking almost two hours to make the same trip that his colleague could make in about an hour or less.  

Edited January 29, 2018 by Via Garibaldi 8

[MTA Bus]

2 hours ago, danielhg121 said:

WHich of the CP C40LF’s have the info screens?

605 and 650

[Cait Sith]

9 hours ago, RestrictOnTheHanger said:

Was bus 2926 ever refurbished? It looks different and newer than the other 2002 MCIs, it has blue floors, different seat design, and LED destination signs

That bus had some work done to it. The seats were changed from the original NYBS-delivered seats, got repainted, ect. The signs were there when they were brand new to New York Bus Service. The original number of 2926 was 7426.

 

3 hours ago, danielhg121 said:

WHich of the CP C40LF’s have the info screens?

From what it looks like, the 600s for now. I rode 631 and it had them.

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If anyone is looking for 0016, don't waste your time, it's in New Jersey. That bus apparently has quite a few problems.

[ViaWaterViaChurch]

Does anyone know why the pick system is designed the way it is other than that it's probably written into the contract?  Why is there a long pick from Labor Day weekend up through the week after New Years, but then the Winter pick only lasts 3 months and ends in April, which then lasts another 3 months and picks up after the 4th of July, only to have a quick two month run and then bring us back to Labor Day with the long 4 month haul.

[danielhg121]

2 hours ago, Cait Sith said:

From what it looks like, the 600s for now. I rode 631 and it had them.

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If anyone is looking for 0016, don't waste your time, it's in New Jersey. That bus apparently has quite a few problems.

 

Are the signs on the C40LF's a pilot phase or are they starting to retrofit them on all because I know they did it to one C40LF from SC. 

I was searching for 0016 during the mid-afternoon, what's it doing in NJ anyways? Saw it running in the AM rush, then it disappeared. 

[Statty]

4 hours ago, Orion6025 said:

Jesus F. Christ it's so annoying when they do this. I'm not 100% sure but I think operators tend to do this because they don't want to have the light turn red on them as they're crossing, leading to a potential write-up...

Yes, correct somewhat. In terms of MTA rules, yellow is treated the same as red. Yellow = stop.  Bus operators can get a violation for crossing yellows. When a bus crosses a yellow, the front would make it, but the rear end might not clear it in time and cross on red.

[Brillant93]

I keep having this funny thought of the new flyer buses that have the front mirror windows. i'm 6'3 so when the bus pulls in the mirror window could possibly hit me in the head. I remember one time this bus driver honked at me to move out of the way.

But I just think it would be funny if the bus would hit me in the face with the window. 

 

[biGC323232]

22 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Welcome to the slow drivers bus club.  I bet they stop at yellow lights and wait at green lights until they change to red too like the buses along Madison Avenue do. lol

Word up..So true....That same exact thing happen to me on the M100 going up amsterdam...I mean damn...

[Orion6025]

I guess 0016 is back. It's tracking on the B32 down in Williamsburg currently.

[Bosco]

On 1/29/2018 at 4:34 PM, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

No, they do it when they want to kill lights (and time in some cases), so they can use that excuse to say oh I don't want to be written up.  When it's time for them to go home, they can run plenty of red lights. Some will run hot to avoid picking up people too, then lay over at a stop that doesn't see heavy usage to get back on-time and then continue in that fashion.  All of this is why bus service is what it is.  When I file complaints, I write specifically that if there is so much run-time in between stops, then the  needs to adjust the schedules accordingly because it takes so long with certain drivers to do some trips.  

What I do know is if I know the guy drives incredibly slow, I'll just let him pass and take another bus.  If it's a regular bus that I take, I'll switch to another bus entirely until the next pick is over, which is exactly what I did for this pick.  Fed up with that crap.  This guy was taking almost two hours to make the same trip that his colleague could make in about an hour or less.  

I was on a BM3 last week that ran super late and drove slow down 5 Av, then bypassed downtown all together (even though this was the first bus scheduled to make all stops after the rush hour).  Driver consistency is a huge problem (for trains too) and better training needs to be done.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Just now, Bosco said:

I was on a BM3 last week that ran super late and drove slow down 5 Av, then bypassed downtown all together (even though this was the first bus scheduled to make all stops after the rush hour).  Driver consistency is a huge problem (for trains too) and better training needs to be done.

If I had a dollar for every time that happened...  I wonder if it's the same guy I used to get.  He would come late on Saturdays and the bus would be 30 - 40 minutes behind schedule.  All of the other BMs would come and of course he'd have next to no one.  He was nice and would always take shortcuts to drop me off to where I was going, but I'd say to myself this guy is killing what little ridership remains.  I've also had instances where the BM3 doesn't stop at all Downtown and I have had to take a BM1 into Brooklyn, which is why I now almost always get it in Midtown to avoid that problem.  The other BM drivers will usually let you know if they see the guy go down the FDR Drive and not exit down by Pearl Street if you inquire, which then forces me to get off by Ocean and J or K and haul over to the  to then have a nice long walk to my destination after the subway ride that I didn't plan on taking in the first place, since the bus leaves me steps from my destination. 

The other thing you have to be careful of is if the guy doesn't come down 5th (hard to believe but that's happened also).  It was the 11:50 or 12:50 bus to Sheepshead Bay.  I'm waiting for the bus to turn onto 5th on BusTime and suddenly nothing... I'm like well where in the hell did he go? So I'm waiting and waiting to see him arrive back on BusTime again further down on 23rd.  He had skipped all of 5th. I was livid. I called the depot to complain, but they were useless.  He did the same crap going back to Manhattan... Skipped a portion of the pick-up route along Emmons and then started up by Ocean Avenue. I filed a complaint and noted everything.  

A lot of these guys out of Spring Creek are part-timers now, and they don't care.  The service used to MUCH better.  Now instead of asking if anyone is getting off Downtown going to Manhattan, they will do the entire loop even if no one is getting off there, wasting a good 20 minutes or more.  If Byford and the other  board members are reading, these are all of the reasons why ridership is tanking on buses!

[Bosco]

3 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

If I had a dollar for every time that happened...  I wonder if it's the same guy I used to get.  He would come late on Saturdays and the bus would be 30 - 40 minutes behind schedule.  All of the other BMs would come and of course he'd have next to no one.  He was nice and would always take shortcuts to drop me off to where I was going, but I'd say to myself this guy is killing what little ridership remains.  I've also had instances where the BM3 doesn't stop at all Downtown and I have had to take a BM1 into Brooklyn, which is why I now almost always get it in Midtown to avoid that problem.  The other BM drivers will usually let you know if they see the guy go down the FDR Drive and not exit down by Pearl Street if you inquire, which then forces me to get off by Ocean and J or K and haul over to the  to then have a nice long walk to my destination after the subway ride that I didn't plan on taking in the first place, since the bus leaves me steps from my destination. 

The other thing you have to be careful of is if the guy doesn't come down 5th (hard to believe but that's happened also).  It was the 11:50 or 12:50 bus to Sheepshead Bay.  I'm waiting for the bus to turn onto 5th on BusTime and suddenly nothing... I'm like well where in the hell did he go? So I'm waiting and waiting to see him arrive back on BusTime again further down on 23rd.  He had skipped all of 5th. I was livid. I called the depot to complain, but they were useless.  He did the same crap going back to Manhattan... Skipped a portion of the pick-up route along Emmons and then started up by Ocean Avenue. I filed a complaint and noted everything.  

A lot of these guys out of Spring Creek are part-timers now, and they don't care.  The service used to MUCH better.  Now instead of asking if anyone is getting off Downtown going to Manhattan, they will do the entire loop even if no one is getting off there, wasting a good 20 minutes or more.  If Byford and the other  board members are reading, these are all of the reasons why ridership is tanking on buses!

Cancelled trips used to be another problem (on the Brooklyn side, going into the city).  Sometimes there are drivers who will ask if anyone is going downtown to save time.  I'm also not surprised that some buses bypass 5 Avenue... could be a last-minute detour or just laziness.

Deteriorating bus service I feel is more responsible for the rise of Ubers than deteriorating subway service, since buses are a more localized form of transportation.

Edited January 31, 2018 by Bosco

[Via Garibaldi 8]

26 minutes ago, Bosco said:

Cancelled trips used to be another problem (on the Brooklyn side, going into the city).  Sometimes there are drivers who will ask if anyone is going downtown to save time.  I'm also not surprised that some buses bypass 5 Avenue... could be a last-minute detour or just laziness.

Deteriorating bus service I feel is more responsible for the rise of Ubers than deteriorating subway service, since buses are a more localized form of transportation.

Definitely. I see it all of the time.  People waiting for a bus.  They become impatient (rightfully so in some cases) and they jump in a cab.  Just last Saturday I waited over 30 minutes for a bus because the scheduled one never came.  The other thing that I don't understand is how these drivers are getting away with skipping portions of the route.  They can definitely track each and every bus, so why aren't they taking disciplinary measures to curb this nonsense? Maybe they are, but apparently they aren't severe enough because if they were, you wouldn't have so many guys playing games. 

[paulrivera]

On 1/29/2018 at 4:06 PM, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Welcome to the slow drivers bus club.  I bet they stop at yellow lights and wait at green lights until they change to red too like the buses along Madison Avenue do. lol

No kidding. I was at a red light to cross the Grand Concourse earlier and a Bx2 B/O stopped to let me cross while he still had the GREEN LIGHT. By the time I had the green I was already crossing the main road.

On 1/29/2018 at 5:47 PM, Cait Sith said:

That bus had some work done to it. The seats were changed from the original NYBS-delivered seats, got repainted, ect. The signs were there when they were brand new to New York Bus Service. The original number of 2926 was 7426.

I remember when NYBS was still around the bus didn't even have a rear route sign. Then when MTA took over, they repainted the bus and put a rear route sign on these MCI's within a couple of months. They did such a good job repainting and retrofitting the buses that you couldn't tell they were originally from another company even back then.

[trainfan22]

Had to go to Kings Plaza today, got off the 103 to transfer to the B46, a local came right away which was a hybrid, which got passed by two other 46 locals which were RTS.. and they got to KP before my 46 local did. Considering that I prefer the RTS over the hybrids AND they got to KP first.... I took a huge L

 

*insert Jason Terry GIF*

 

It is interesting to note that no SBS 46s passed us but one was right behind us when we got to KP, that was with my bus having a delay at Fillmore due to a driver change.

[NewFlyer 230]

I noticed about 17 1996 RTS remain in service at JFK and LGA together. Wasn’t the XD60’s enough to wipe them out to retirement? 

[EastFlatbushLarry]

45 minutes ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

I noticed about 17 1996 RTS remain in service at JFK and LGA together. Wasn’t the XD60’s enough to wipe them out to retirement? 

Absolutely not. The xd60's are at JFK to accommodate the 52sbs only. Not to expand the fleet on other lines that could use artics like the Q6/7

[Q43LTD]

Didn't the D60's show up on the Q6 and 7 occasionally? I rode one on the Q22 back in 2014. 

[EastFlatbushLarry]

On 1/29/2018 at 9:14 PM, Statty said:

Yes, correct somewhat. In terms of MTA rules, yellow is treated the same as red. Yellow = stop.  Bus operators can get a violation for crossing yellows. When a bus crosses a yellow, the front would make it, but the rear end might not clear it in time and cross on red.

Especially probation operators. I've known rookies who got extended (or were threatened to have their probations extended) for "running" yellows on beekie rides. What they teach you at Zerega is to use the crosswalk countdown anyway (or when i trained, literally count the flashing crosswalk to know when a signal was going from green to yellow)

[Via Garibaldi 8]

On 29/1/2018 at 9:14 PM, Statty said:

Yes, correct somewhat. In terms of MTA rules, yellow is treated the same as red. Yellow = stop.  Bus operators can get a violation for crossing yellows. When a bus crosses a yellow, the front would make it, but the rear end might not clear it in time and cross on red.

Slows down service so much... Each bus I get on is emptier and emptier...

[EastFlatbushLarry]

7 minutes ago, Q43LTD said:

Didn't the D60's show up on the Q6 and 7 occasionally? I rode one on the Q22 back in 2014. 

 Not that i can remember. I definitely remember them on the Q22 & Q35. But recently, before the pick started, they were definitely throwing xd60's on Q6 & Q7 runs... I assumed it was to get operators acclimated with artic operation before rolling out on the 52sbs. Most of those operators are currently on the 52 this pick, so that may have been the case. 

[EastFlatbushLarry]

3 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Slows down service so much... Each bus I get on is emptier and emptier...

As much as I want to argue the slowing of buses not being operators fault (most of us are just trying to follow the rules... you know, work within a system that we didn't build, break or make policy in) and blame friggin vision zero, at the end of the day, if we don't do this, as I'm sure you know, we run the risk of bunching up with a late leader who may be late for whatever reason... And bunching of course can eventually lead to runs getting cut or headways increasing.

Years ago, I had a pm run on the B82 (local only, no LTD) I had a leader who was on his last trip heading to 25 avenue/Cropsey, while I was doing the full trip to CI. He was in no hurry (late slip demon) so I basically caught him every day at Ocean Pky/Kings Hwy on 12 minute headway. If I killed yellows, I would never had caught him, been able to pass him, "help" him out and sit at Bay Pky/86 waiting for him to roll up the line (before GPS) But, one thing I always did was pick up passengers and never rolled pass a dispatcher ahead of my leader with a empty bus. Not in 9 years. Why? Because they will legit cut runs. Sorry to say, but killing yellows is a operators best friend in certain scenarios, aside from the fact that it is legitimately dangerous to run yellows in an age where people walk aimlessly into traffic and more people are speeding due to frustration from the 25mph speed limit. 

[Orion6025]

1 hour ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

Wasn’t the XD60’s enough to wipe them out to retirement

LGA and JFK lost a few NGs to Eastchester so their 1999s could go back to transit. Thus, the 1996s still are hanging on. I'm not sure if the old shortages at both depots are related to the 1996s remaining in seevice or not, though.

Also they need more 40 footers for snow days.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

10 minutes ago, EastFlatbushLarry said:

As much as I want to argue the slowing of buses not being operators fault (most of us are just trying to follow the rules... you know, work within a system that we didn't build, break or make policy in) and blame friggin vision zero, at the end of the day, if we don't do this, as I'm sure you know, we run the risk of bunching up with a late leader who may be late for whatever reason... And bunching of course can eventually lead to runs getting cut or headways increasing.

Years ago, I had a pm run on the B82 (local only, no LTD) I had a leader who was on his last trip heading to 25 avenue/Cropsey, while I was doing the full trip to CI. He was in no hurry (late slip demon) so I basically caught him every day at Ocean Pky/Kings Hwy on 12 minute headway. If I killed yellows, I would never had caught him, been able to pass him, "help" him out and sit at Bay Pky/86 waiting for him to roll up the line (before GPS) But, one thing I always did was pick up passengers and never rolled pass a dispatcher ahead of my leader with a empty bus. Not in 9 years. Why? Because they will legit cut runs. Sorry to say, but killing yellows is a operators best friend in certain scenarios, aside from the fact that it is legitimately dangerous to run yellows in an age where people walk aimlessly into traffic and more people are speeding due to frustration from the 25mph speed limit. 

I don't disagree. I'm just saying that all of this is why ridership continues to decrease. It's safety overkill. I'm so happy when I get a driver who puts the peddle to the metal. It's a rarity for sure.