BUS - Random Thoughts Thread

[Future ENY OP]

56 minutes ago, MHV184 said:

Anyone know why the XDE40s are still at JFK?

How many are at the facility?. Last I checked it was 4. However, they are still prolly be worked on for acceptance and service. Also 7616 is also there.  Right there are so many changes. The key word is patience. 

The LFSA order first 1/2 is being wrapped up with the rest of the buses heading to Quill than the 2nd part- 5531-5602 should commence. Plus, you have the XD40's for local and SBS service for Brooklyn Division to begin next. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

2 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

Does the Bx15 serve more stops in Manhattan or the Bronx?

You mean as in more people getting on?  If you don't then just look at a map.

[B35 via Church]

The Bx15 has more physical stops in the Bronx..... The Bx15 gets more pax/stop in Manhattan....

If we're talking about an average trip, it still makes more stops in the Bronx....

Quite frankly, I don't know what he's specifically asking about either....

Edited May 8, 2018 by B35 via Church

[trainfan22]

I'm on a D60 right now on the Bx15 and the A/C is not working.. It's hotter on the bus than it is outside, idc that the A/C isn't working though, I'm riding a D60!!!!! Fleet is shrinking fast, I'd take every ride I can get on these classics these days.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

6 minutes ago, trainfan22 said:

I'm on a D60 right now on the Bx15 and the A/C is not working.. It's hotter on the bus than it is outside, idc that the A/C isn't working though, I'm riding a D60!!!!! Fleet is shrinking fast, I'd take every ride I can get on these classics these days.

Reminds me of the Sopranos... Classics? They've gotta GO!! 

[paulrivera]

On 5/6/2018 at 2:15 PM, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I'm not sure what the story is with that stop because officially Northbound 123rd and Madison isn't supposed to be a drop-off stop for the BxM3 and BxM4, but I've noticed a lot of people now take the BxM3 and get off there, and people use the 125th and 5th stop too.  Definitely a sign that gentrification is progressing in Harlem.  Both lines can use the extra ridership, that's for sure.

It's one of those holdover policies from the Liberty Lines days. Officially it's not on the books but informally the old-timers in particular still take advantage of this unwritten policy.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

8 minutes ago, paulrivera said:

It's one of those holdover policies from the Liberty Lines days. Officially it's not on the books but informally the old-timers in particular still take advantage of this unwritten policy.

Yeah, but given how many people are using the buses they can't all be old-timers, but I'm sure the depot still tells drivers to pick them up so they don't cut service.  On one northbound BxM3 I was on a few months ago a good 10 people got off at 123rd and Madison.

[checkmatechamp13]

9 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

This is how the trip used to break down for me when I'd take the X10 when traffic was decent:

-20 minutes from Midtown to Downtown (we can start from 57th and 3rd where I'd often board or the next stop on 57th).

-~20 minutes from the last stop in Manhattan to Fingerboard

-~10 minutes from Fingerboard to Slosson

-Car service to house - ~8 - 10 minutes (assuming the car is waiting).

Total time ~60 minutes

There was once when we had a light load and the X10 skipped all drop-off stops until Slosson. That can save a good 5+ minutes right there. 

I would say that now with traffic being so bad, doing the Manhattan portion on just about any express bus now you need to add a good 15 - 20 minutes.  Going to Riverdale the pick-up portion used to be done in 20 minutes in some cases on the BxM2 and 15 or so on the BxM1.  Last night it took almost an hour (it was about 49 minutes) from the first stop to 99th and Madison.  

It isn't just the traffic.  Some of these B/Os just drive like freaking snails.  Overly cautious.  It's annoying.

20 minutes from Midtown to Downtown would have to be if the B/O was absolutely flooring it. To give a really rough estimate, when figuring out arrival times (say if I needed to give somebody an idea of when I'd return home), I'd say that it's 30 minutes from Midtown to Downtown and 30 minutes from Downtown to Staten Island on the X17, or 45 minutes from Midtown to Downtown on the X17J when traffic is moving decently. 

But yeah that explains it, if you're coming from Midtown, then yeah a typical trip would be closer to an hour. 

And I've had my share of empty X10s that got to skip parts of the service road. My favorite was one time when an X10 came 20 minutes late on a Sunday, and the following one came on time (so they were 10 minutes apart on a Sunday night). I was waiting for the X17 but said screw it and got on the second X10. We ended up dropping one person off at Fingerboard and one at Hylan, and it was just me and one other guy left, so the B/O jumped back on the SIE and went straight to Victory Blvd, dropped us off further down Richmond Avenue, and then went empty to Port Richmond, so I essentially got the equivalent of an X17. (There was another one where I took the S79 to Narrows Road, and the X10 B/O tried to bypass Hylan but I pointed up at the sign that said "NYCT Transfer Point" so he reluctantly stopped, picked me up and jumped onto the SIE until Bradley before going back to making stops). 

In any case, I just realized the S53/93 schedules have a "Bike & Ride" logo on the front.

Edited May 9, 2018 by checkmatechamp13

[Via Garibaldi 8]

14 minutes ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

20 minutes from Midtown to Downtown would have to be if the B/O was absolutely flooring it. To give a really rough estimate, when figuring out arrival times (say if I needed to give somebody an idea of when I'd return home), I'd say that it's 30 minutes from Midtown to Downtown and 30 minutes from Downtown to Staten Island on the X17, or 45 minutes from Midtown to Downtown on the X17J when traffic is moving decently. 

But yeah that explains it, if you're coming from Midtown, then yeah a typical trip would be closer to an hour. 

And I've had my share of empty X10s that got to skip parts of the service road. My favorite was one time when an X10 came 20 minutes late on a Sunday, and the following one came on time (so they were 10 minutes apart on a Sunday night). I was waiting for the X17 but said screw it and got on the second X10. We ended up dropping one person off at Fingerboard and one at Hylan, and it was just me and one other guy left, so the B/O jumped back on the SIE and went straight to Victory Blvd, dropped us off further down Richmond Avenue, and then went empty to Port Richmond, so I essentially got the equivalent of an X17. (There was another one where I took the S79 to Narrows Road, and the X10 B/O tried to bypass Hylan but I pointed up at the sign that said "NYCT Transfer Point" so he reluctantly stopped, picked me up and jumped onto the SIE until Bradley before going back to making stops). 

In any case, I just realized the S53/93 schedules have a "Bike & Ride" logo on the front.

Actually the 20 minute segment is more true going from Union Square to Downtown, but later in the evening, a B/O would have a better chance back then of making decent time. Not so much now unless he's moving and there's no traffic.

[Lil 57]

23 minutes ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

In any case, I just realized the S53/93 schedules have a "Bike & Ride" logo on the front.

I notice that on the S53/93, there's always a few buses with no bike racks. There's also bike racks on other calstleton bus routes.

[Calvin]

Were the bike racks even used on the S53/93? Most of the time, I don't see a bike loaded on. 

[Lil 57]

1 minute ago, Calvin said:

Were the bike racks even used on the S53/93? Most of the time, I don't see a bike loaded on. 

Only saw a bike once on the S53 out all the years

[XcelsiorBoii4888]

6 hours ago, Lil 57 said:

I notice that on the S53/93, there's always a few buses with no bike racks. There's also bike racks on other calstleton bus routes.

Thats because Castleton was in the process of converting the bike rack fleet from Orion VIIs to Nova LFSs. There were mostly Nova LFSs on the route without the racks (the tended to do that during the winter or bad weather where the racks wouldn’t be as needed). Now the S53/S93 is basically all Nova LFS. 

4 hours ago, Calvin said:

Were the bike racks even used on the S53/93? Most of the time, I don't see a bike loaded on. 

During the spring and summer, those racks get used often, especially during the summer. There’s plenty of times where bikers have to let a bus pass because the rack is full. Bikers tend to use the S53 more since there’s bike lanes along the entire route for the most part, and the S53 is much more frequent than the S93. 

[Lil 57]

2 hours ago, XcelsiorBoii4888 said:

Thats because Castleton was in the process of converting the bike rack fleet from Orion VIIs to Nova LFSs. There were mostly Nova LFSs on the route without the racks (the tended to do that during the winter or bad weather where the racks wouldn’t be as needed). Now the S53/S93 is basically all Nova LFS. 

There's still around 10 Orion's with bick racks.

[SevenEleven]

12 hours ago, Lil 57 said:

I notice that on the S53/93, there's always a few buses with no bike racks. There's also bike racks on other calstleton bus routes.

If there's no available buses at the yard, anything will get sent out to make service. Not going to have missing/late trips over a bike rack. Also, when operators cover any open trips on the 53/93, it's not a requirement to have a bus with a rack.

10 hours ago, Calvin said:

Were the bike racks even used on the S53/93? Most of the time, I don't see a bike loaded on. 

They get used not a LOT in terms of numbers but a lot by regulars. I did the 53 hawk on Sunday morning, had 4 bikes on just the first half of the run.

[Subwayfan12]

These Q44 drivers really be having a blast driving the XD60s 😄

[Chammer]

Why you say that?

[Subwayfan12]

54 minutes ago, Chammer said:

Why you say that?

Cause of the crazy speeds they take turns at and I also notice that a lot of them prefer to manually shift the bus

[trainfan22]

45 minutes ago, Subwayfan12 said:

Cause of the crazy speeds they take turns at and I also notice that a lot of them prefer to manually shift the bus

Its possible to manually shift the XD60s? I always thought buses were like a car, either automatic transmission or manual, never heard of a vehicle having both. I can't really see drivers prefer to use a manual transmission on a stop and go bus route cause I would imagine it would get old/annoying fast. When it comes to Cars, seems like only enthusiasts prefer to use Manual where's everybody else prefers the Automatic transmissions.

 

EDIT: Apparently their are cars that can be both automatic and manual transmissions, their called semi automatics, just googled it, still can't find nothing about the XD60s having such a feature though.

Edited May 11, 2018 by trainfan22

[Brillant93]

Was on an RTS on the B41 and i sat in the back and my god the back seat was hot as hell. It smelled like the bus was going to catch on fire. I sat on the seat for a good 15 mintues until I got up. I don’t know why the mta keeps these damn things in service. 🙄 

[Cait Sith]

48 minutes ago, Brillant93 said:

Was on an RTS on the B41 and i sat in the back and my god the back seat was hot as hell. It smelled like the bus was going to catch on fire. I sat on the seat for a good 15 mintues until I got up. I don’t know why the mta keeps these damn things in service. 🙄 

Because they'd be short on buses if they didn't?

Also because they're much more reliable than most of the new buses we have today.

Also, bus engines will always be hot, Cummins, Caterpillar, Detroit Diesel, they run hot.

Edited May 11, 2018 by Cait Sith

[Brillant93]

6 hours ago, Cait Sith said:

Because they'd be short on buses if they didn't?

Also because they're much more reliable than most of the new buses we have today.

Also, bus engines will always be hot, Cummins, Caterpillar, Detroit Diesel, they run hot.

Reliable isn’t have the back seat feel like a stove top. Plus this isn’t the first time this has happened and to be honest that’s dangerous for passengers. 

Again if the engine is making the seats hot to the point it feels like the bus is going to catch fire it needs to go and dangerous. 

[Brillant93]

Double comment deleted.

Edited May 11, 2018 by Brillant93
Double comment

[B35 via Church]

12 hours ago, Subwayfan12 said:

These Q44 drivers really be having a blast driving the XD60s 😄

Don't remember who said it on here, but according to one b/o on here, a bus is a bus.....

[trainfan22]

10 hours ago, Brillant93 said:

Was on an RTS on the B41 and i sat in the back and my god the back seat was hot as hell. It smelled like the bus was going to catch on fire. I sat on the seat for a good 15 mintues until I got up. I don’t know why the mta keeps these damn things in service. 🙄 

This is common on DD50 powered buses, Orion V, D60HF and RTSs that use that engine the rear seats are always hot in the warm weather months.