MTA Bus Operations: Fleet & Depots

[Jdog14]

17 minutes ago, JeremiahC99 said:

I was just making some suggestions here. Yes it won’t happen, but this is just what could have happened if they had that damn Orion VII CNG situation at WF completely under control, which they didn’t, thus causing some of the XD40s to go there one way or another to cover for the rapid Orion VII CNGs.

 

Ill go one step and say they can cover the gap using electric buses assuming they can get en-route chargers and depot chargers in. Since the fleet is going electric may aswell 

[Future ENY OP]

1 hour ago, 4P3607 said:

4676 Jamaica to QV. Spotted on the Q88 last night. 

Ain’t Queens Village getting LFS right now. Why is Jamaica swapping NG’s to QV? If anything those needed to be sent Brooklyn bound. 

[JeremiahC99]

25 minutes ago, Future ENY OP said:

Ain’t Queens Village getting LFS right now. Why is Jamaica swapping NG’s to QV? If anything those needed to be sent Brooklyn bound. 

The 64 LFS buses they are getting are for replacements for the 63 2003-04 Orion VIIs they had.

[FLX9304]

4 hours ago, JeremiahC99 said:

The 64 LFS buses they are getting are for replacements for the 63 2003-04 Orion VIIs they had.

You mean have. Yes, 8511 is in QV. no worries 

[JeremiahC99]

1 hour ago, FLX9304 said:

You mean have. Yes, 8511 is in QV. no worries 

That is what I meant even though that number went down befor the deliveries commenced.

[XcelsiorBoii4888]

Does Gleason, CP, and SC really need all those C40s that they have? 

The B103 uses like 32 buses during rush hour (including deadheads) and the B100 uses like a max of 8 (including deadheads). But yet they have like 55 buses...

CP has 155 ish buses...during rush hour there's always buses parked in the depot...A LOT. 

Even JG...244 buses for those routes?? The B4, B11, B37, B67, B69 and B70 use like 50 buses combined during the rush. You telling me you need 144 buses for the B8, B9, B16, B43, B61, B63 and B68? 

Do CNG buses require high spare factors or something? I'm pretty sure you can pull 5-10 buses from these depots to send to WF to help the shortage over there. SC and CP definitely don't need all of those buses. 

[JeremiahC99]

38 minutes ago, XcelsiorBoii4888 said:

Does Gleason, CP, and SC really need all those C40s that they have? 

The B103 uses like 32 buses during rush hour (including deadheads) and the B100 uses like a max of 8 (including deadheads). But yet they have like 55 buses...

CP has 155 ish buses...during rush hour there's always buses parked in the depot...A LOT. 

Even JG...244 buses for those routes?? The B4, B11, B37, B67, B69 and B70 use like 50 buses combined during the rush. You telling me you need 144 buses for the B8, B9, B16, B43, B61, B63 and B68? 

Do CNG buses require high spare factors or something? I'm pretty sure you can pull 5-10 buses from these depots to send to WF to help the shortage over there. SC and CP definitely don't need all of those buses. 

For JG, the answer is ABSOULUTELY NOT!!!! They can give off 24 C40s 230-250 and 351-353 to WF like I have suggested many many times to help off with the shortage there. The 21 XDs can go off to Brooklyn where they really belong.

Since 124 C40s+69 XN40s=193 Standards, 72 XN60s+72 LFSAs (at most)=144 Artics, and 193+144=337 buses for the WF fleet, it all adds up. They should’ve done that sooner.

[GojiMet86]

6 minutes ago, East New York said:

3524, 3658, 3676, 3694, 3698, 3703, 3773, 3776, 3781 to SC on loan

 

2 hours ago, XcelsiorBoii4888 said:

Does Gleason, CP, and SC really need all those C40s that they have? 

The B103 uses like 32 buses during rush hour (including deadheads) and the B100 uses like a max of 8 (including deadheads). But yet they have like 55 buses...

CP has 155 ish buses...during rush hour there's always buses parked in the depot...A LOT. 

Even JG...244 buses for those routes?? The B4, B11, B37, B67, B69 and B70 use like 50 buses combined during the rush. You telling me you need 144 buses for the B8, B9, B16, B43, B61, B63 and B68? 

Do CNG buses require high spare factors or something? I'm pretty sure you can pull 5-10 buses from these depots to send to WF to help the shortage over there. SC and CP definitely don't need all of those buses. 

 

Looks like Spring Creek really needs them.

[trainfan22]

Those depots on average probably have a bunch of buses getting routine maintenance in the maintenance shops at those depots, that you can't see from the street. At depots where you can see inside like UP and Flatbush there be a whole lot of buses getting worked on during the day.

 

Here's a pic of Gleason's maintenance bays (Not my photo)

 

 

As you can see a lot of buses OOS getting routine maintenance. I only have that photo cause I love collecting pics of transit vehicle maintenance shops lol. 

 

 

Also at depots like LGA some buses be OOS with defects and can't be used, I only picked out LGA cause you could see the defective buses out in the lot with the defects written in the windshield from the street.

 

 

[East New York]

On 3/22/2019 at 3:42 PM, XcelsiorBoii4888 said:

If they would've modernized them that's a different story. It's 2019...after being used to one thing that's a major downgrade. For passengers and drivers. Who cares how long it last, at the end of the day there will always be newer buses, more comfortable and stylish. 

I never understood how they're the best buses...how? For maintenance, for structural reasons? That's all under the hood shit, from a passenger POV, they're the worst, especially compared to whats out there NOW. Back when there were Orion Vs. I preferred Orion Vs because they were more spacious. 

Some of yall need to stop living in the past and get with the times, time to upgrade stop holding on, it's not that serious. 

No disrespect, let’s leave this area to the professionals and business managers. Who cares how long it lasts? Anyone who knows how to effectively run a business. 

They were the best buses overall in EVERY category except the wheel chair lift, driver comfort and rear seat comfort. They perform best on the road, had the best suspension, and nothing will ever perform as good in bad weather or torrential rains. They are the most durable and longest lasting buses ever made, and have a higher reliability rating than any new bus to date. They had the most powerful and most optimized engine/trans combo of any coach to date. They are the easiest to maintain, and cost the lowest to maintain. Many of the parts are not made anymore and have not been for a while and maintenance was still the lowest cost of any bus in the fleet. 

If you were to build a brand new RTS low floor with with new face, and new style it would still outperform anything on the road right now hands down. My person RTS runs circles around ANY bus in the MTA fleet including MCI’s and Prevosts.

You may not understand the significance of this America Icon, but we all do, especially MTA maintenance and management. Hence why we still have so many, why there are so many in the fleet, and why it’s the main topic on the Bus IQ Test on every Information screen on all these new buses.

The Orion V only had more space for the driver and the in the last row. That’s all. Even though I like them a lot, the structure was trash and they were nowhere near as reliable. MTA likely would have never gotten them if it wasn’t for the Flxible disaster. 

An upgrade is not always an upgrade. Maintenance records have been unable to match the ones of this to this this day in 2019 and this bus is a 1976 concept. The only other bus that will last ALMOST as long is a Nova LFS and that’s because it uses the exact same body design philosophy. The Cummins will just never last as long as a Detroit Diesel, or be as easy to maintain. I mean the engine leaks oil by design for Christ sake. Pure Detroit genius just like the RTS, Old Look, and New Look buses. 

Thats a classic era of transit that unfortunately too many of you are too young to remember or appreciate. 

Sure all these new buses are pretty, but if you knew anything about maintenance and value there would be a different opinion. 

Another fun fact of the day, Altoona stated publicly that they will miss the bus dearly as it was to date the easies bus ever to test and certify, and maintains the best in-service uptime record, and ease-of maintenance status.

And the closing fact, 5249 will go down as the most historic RTS now inducted into the Museum Fleet. Looking pretty in 1999 delivery colors, she was the last model designated the RTS T80-206 ever made. 

As to modernization, as Lil Wayne would say, “it ain’t broke, don’t break it.”

On 3/22/2019 at 3:48 PM, limitednyc said:

They said the when the fish bowls/ blitz's we're retired.

Because it was a fact. The RTS was born from that very bus and later assumed it’s title as best.

Sales, satisfaction and maintenance records hail them the King and Queen of transit.

21 hours ago, JeremiahC99 said:

Honestly, what they need to do now is take C40LFs 230-250, 351-353 from Gleason to fill in the shortage , and have the 21 buses that will be assigned to them sent to Flatbush. With articulation of the B35, it looks like they won't need a lot of buses to cover all of its routes, especially since the headways were supposedly decreased. If they cant do that, send in 25 NG hybrids to WF, since they are already borrowing one of them (4100) from another depot just to cover service. If they are continuing to use that bus to cover service, just have an additional 24 NGs set up shop there. 100+169+25=194 buses, more than enough to cover service on the local routes at West Farms.

From there, EN and UP should give the 73xx buses they have back to FB and instead man up and take on some hybrids for the time being. Enter the retirement of the 2004-05 Orion VIIs, and EN should get 58 more NGs, for a total of 70 NGs. Finally, displace the 22 NG at UP with 25 new XDE40s and supplement the 70 NGs there with 20 new XDE40s to retire the 2006-07 NGs. If the drivers don't want to drive them, they should incentivize them into doing so by telling them that if you (the drivers) drive the NGs, you will get extra pay onto your paycheck, similar to how driving an artic would add an extra 25 cents an hour.

What in the word are you talking about? Gleason doesn’t have any buses to spare. Have you been somewhere under a rock? The XN60’s didn’t just come in yesterday, or anytime recently for that matter, and quite a few buses were ALREADY transferred to West Farms from Gleason.

Leave this to the MTA and the professionals please, because nothing that you said there makes logistical or monetary sense. 

Incentivize the NG? You can’t be serious..... But you are serious..... 😴

 

20 hours ago, Jdog14 said:

 

Ill go one step and say they can cover the gap using electric buses assuming they can get en-route chargers and depot chargers in. Since the fleet is going electric may aswell 

Not only is it not possible, but it’s also a waste of money. We don’t own any chargers or electric buses yet so they’re is nothing to fill in a gap. These are engineering test buses that do not belong to us, and we will soon have our own anyway. In the meanwhile it’s not just that simple to just up and move chargers like legos or something. 

Maintenance is not trained on them, MTA mechanics cannot work on them. Any agency/person that leases buses/cars have to have mechanics that are mandated by the manufacturer to perform all maintenance. An entire maintenance program is being designed around these buses because they are unlike anything we have when it comes to the power train and the batteries. We don’t have enough duty cycle data to loan these buses out either. 

2 hours ago, XcelsiorBoii4888 said:

Does Gleason, CP, and SC really need all those C40s that they have? 

The B103 uses like 32 buses during rush hour (including deadheads) and the B100 uses like a max of 8 (including deadheads). But yet they have like 55 buses...

CP has 155 ish buses...during rush hour there's always buses parked in the depot...A LOT. 

Even JG...244 buses for those routes?? The B4, B11, B37, B67, B69 and B70 use like 50 buses combined during the rush. You telling me you need 144 buses for the B8, B9, B16, B43, B61, B63 and B68? 

Do CNG buses require high spare factors or something? I'm pretty sure you can pull 5-10 buses from these depots to send to WF to help the shortage over there. SC and CP definitely don't need all of those buses. 

If they didn’t need them why would they have them? You gotta learn the inner workings of these things.

Spares, preventive maintenance, scheduled maintenance, unscheduled maintenance, accidents......  Buses don’t just run every day of their lives. They have to be pulled from service. Not to mention we are in the biggest fleet overhaul cycle in a very long time. Buses need to be upgraded to WiFi and have Info screens installed on top of all that. 

SC for example just got 9 OG’s on loan. The have 56 C40’s to be exact. All of which are needed for service and spares. At rush it’s actually about 42 in rotation which leaves room for only 14 buses to be for spare on in the shop for maintenance. 9 of them are now out of service for maintenance.

For example on Friday just past, every bus was in service except 4 C40’s at some time during the day.

Yes JG needs all of theirs as well. The B35 requires all its artics and 4 standards. It’s 8pm on a Saturday and there are currently 118 C40’s and XN40’s in active service as I type this. Now ass that up and tell me how many they need at rush.

Same for CP, with 73 in service right now out of 157. Not only that, they had at least 3 buses that were road called. That’s unplanned. Now they need to go in the shop and have 3 to replace them go out on the run line.

 

Edited March 24, 2019 by East New York

[XcelsiorBoii4888]

Thanks for the clarification. I just used those depots as examples because routes like the Bx6 SBS...they use like 13 out of the 16 buses they have for SBS duty. So I just calculated that amount for each route a depot uses and multiply them, and I just thought there was maybe excessive buses that probably couldn't switch over between MTA Bus and NYCT. My apologies though, I wasn't trying to come at you or any information you give us, but I'll just be sitting back watching from now on since I don't know the inner workings of these things. 

[Around the Horn]

Gleason also has a LOT of school trippers in the peak...

I think the B16 has like 15-20 buses out that are just for schools for example.

[East New York]

14 minutes ago, XcelsiorBoii4888 said:

Thanks for the clarification. I just used those depots as examples because routes like the Bx6 SBS...they use like 13 out of the 16 buses they have for SBS duty. So I just calculated that amount for each route a depot uses and multiply them, and I just thought there was maybe excessive buses that probably couldn't switch over between MTA Bus and NYCT. My apologies though, I wasn't trying to come at you or any information you give us, but I'll just be sitting back watching from now on since I don't know the inner workings of these things. 

Not a problem at all. That’s what this thread is for. No need to apologize as I knew you weren’t coming for any information. You legit asked a question that you don’t know about and I’m glad you didn’t take offense. You all know how I can come off a bit strong at times lol. 

I don’t want you or anyone to ever take what I say personal or think you are asking a stupid question. I am just very passionate about what I do lol. 

I am sure a lot of people didn’t know that and learned something, so don’t be afraid to ask anything because of “How ENY might come off.”

 

Edited March 24, 2019 by East New York

[Calvin]

I know that the B38 and Q58 are getting artics in the future, the question is can these turns be made with the buses?

-Dekalb Av and Fulton St

-Main St and 41 Rd

Ridgewood Area of the Q58 

[Brillant93]

12 hours ago, Calvin said:

I know that the B38 and Q58 are getting artics in the future, the question is can these turns be made with the buses?

-Dekalb Av and Fulton St

-Main St and 41 Rd

Ridgewood Area of the Q58 

The 38 turns on Bond st and its curved for traffic to go on to fulton. 

I believe the 58 can do the same in its own situation. 

[JFK Depot]

1 hour ago, Brillant93 said:

The 38 turns on Bond st and its curved for traffic to go on to fulton. 

I believe the 58 can do the same in its own situation. 

Artics can make moves 40 footers can’t... tight turns are no problems for Artics 

[Cait Sith]

And at long last.....17, 18 and 19 have returned to service. Happy hunting, everyone.

[Future ENY OP]

46 minutes ago, Cait Sith said:

4134, 4138, 4139, 4170 & 4221 @ Flatbush. 

Looks like Flatbush gets an original back with 4221. Let’s see if more Grand Avenue buses make their way to Flatbush Avenue. (Only guessing in response for TA to start scrapping RTS) 

[Express Bus Operator]

1 hour ago, Future ENY OP said:

Looks like Flatbush gets an original back with 4221. Let’s see if more Grand Avenue buses make their way to Flatbush Avenue. (Only guessing in response for TA to start scrapping RTS) 

A few of the RTS are being scrap this week from Flatbush.

[Express Bus Operator]

Hey @EastNewYork are any of these RTS's that are being pulled away from the roster will eventually be up for sale to the public?  

[East New York]

1 hour ago, Flatbush SBS Duece said:

Hey @EastNewYork are any of these RTS's that are being pulled away from the roster will eventually be up for sale to the public?  

 

Unfortunately MTA doesn’t like to do that, and even if they did you likely wouldn’t want one unless you are a mechanic.

I have wanted one since I was a kid and if by chance I can get my hands on one I would only want one sold to another party like NYPD or FDNY. When MTA retires buses they drain them of all usable fluids and fuel. The exceptions are the buses that have ended up with other agencies. If that occurs you have a chance of getting something good like what has been seen with 7018, 9207, and the now infamous Black and white Mechanics RTS that’s at College Point all the time.

However, since this is the final retirement phase, they may retain a few for sale. I just want some damn parts! Lol

But if I could snag 9525, 4983, 4987, 5000, 5012, or 5234 man oh man...... I would opt for 5124 but you can keep the maintenance on that ZF for someone else. I don’t think anyone will ever maintain one of those better than MTA.

MTA will also go down in history as the best maintainers of The Detroit Diesel engine ever. Detroit Department of Transportation will go down in history as the worse. How ironic! Lol

[Express Bus Operator]

16 minutes ago, East New York said:

 

Unfortunately MTA doesn’t like to do that, and even if they did you likely wouldn’t want one unless you are a mechanic.

I have wanted one since I was a kid and if by chance I can get my hands on one I would only want one sold to another party like NYPD or FDNY. When MTA retires buses they drain them of all usable fluids and fuel. The exceptions are the buses that have ended up with other agencies. If that occurs you have a chance of getting something good like what has been seen with 7018, 9207, and the now infamous Black and white Mechanics RTS that’s at College Point all the time.

However, since this is the final retirement phase, they may retain a few for sale. I just want some damn parts! Lol

But if I could snag 9525, 4983, 4987, 5000, 5012, or 5234 man oh man...... I would opt for 5124 but you can keep the maintenance on that ZF for someone else. I don’t think anyone will ever maintain one of those better than MTA.

MTA will also go down in history as the best maintainers of The Detroit Diesel engine ever. Detroit Department of Transportation will go down in history as the worse. How ironic! Lol

There's a guy who has one of the old RTS nearby flatbush depot parked inside his drive way. The bus is currently wrap and only a few time I saw him drive off with it during night time.... When I get the chance and remember I will take a picture of it and post it here to show you.

[East New York]

6 minutes ago, Flatbush SBS Duece said:

There's a guy who has one of the old RTS nearby flatbush depot parked inside his drive way. The bus is currently wrap and only a few time I saw him drive off with it during night time.... When I get the chance and remember I will take a picture of it and post it here to show you.

I know, or know of most everyone in this area with an RTS. I may know which one that is. There about 10 Privately (non-corporate) owned in the city if I recall off the top of my head. 

[QM1to6Ave]

4 hours ago, East New York said:

I know, or know of most everyone in this area with an RTS. I may know which one that is. There about 10 Privately (non-corporate) owned in the city if I recall off the top of my head. 

Wasn't there a guy a year or so ago who was gonna start a private quasi-express route with an old RTS (or at least I think it was an RTS)? I remember someone posting an article about it. What ever happened to that? 

[Brillant93]

Since grand avenue has two lfsa that will be an artic implementation. Will Grand Avenue depot be a mixed CFM unlike its original plan to be just new flyer?