What do the numbers in red indicate?

[Robert Bosco 0]

What do the numbers in red indicate?

 

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t152/netsbball/pho.jpg

[East New York 4,104]

It indicates the run number for that route/driver.

['89 Liberty MCI 2]

The bus block number, or the run number as it's most commonly called. Basically refers to the order in which that particular bus operator for that particular route has left the depot. Run numbers don't necessarily have to be in order on the road, since you can be 1 on the Bx10 and pull out from one end, with 2 on the Bx10 pulling out from the other end and then other pull outs fill the gap in service as the frequency increases, like going from the small hours of the morning to the AM rush.

 

The run number is also a simpler way to keep track of a bus operator's work, so instead of a dispatcher identifying a bus operator as the guy who leaves Riverdale at 5:50 and arrives in Norwood at 6:40, he can just say it's run #8 on route Bx10. Also the run number corresponds roughly to the time of day at which the run has left the depot and (typically) to the time at which the run pulls in as well, since most operators get an 8-hour schedule I think. That's not to say run 1 would leave the depot at 1AM, but the run numbers correspond in terms of how early they pull out and then pull in.