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Random Thoughts Thread - Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE)


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Lets not forget the n20 is the longest NICE route. ..the n22 is not that long to begin with since it goes straight down hillside avenue exceptions would be the mineola detour and RF Mall loop. ..also Flushing is more distant from the county line than Jamaica is to the line. A nominal n20 would take a 1/2 hour to finally reach Nassau county while the n6, n22, n24 makes it in 20 minutes ...even if the hypothetical n35 is to be extended to Oyster Bay it would still be second place behind the n20 bus (if the today's n20G-H refuse once again)

What would u rate the n25 as I always wondered how long it's gets from lynbrook to greatneck.
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In timing is long but in trajectory it is shorter than the n20 (prior to 17 January)

 

The discussion of the n35 to Oyster bay was discussed here a while ago and if is to be extended then the headway would be 75-80 minutes that is a 6:30pm n35 to Oyster Bay would arrive Oyster Bay at between 7:45-7:50pm rest 10 minutes and then depart 8pm towards Baldwin

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Just thinking out loud:

 

The NICE fleet is CNG -- good for the environment (some say), better cost-wise than those nasty fossil-fuel (diesel) hogs tooling down the road (according to various sources), and IIRC has been that way since Veolia/Transdev started running the joint.

 

So where have all those cost-savings (notably from being more "efficient" and in fuel price volatility) gone over the years, if service cuts are always lurking on the horizon?

 

And then there's that extra $15 million Transdev just got over and above their yearly contracted base as well.

 

Hmmmm.

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For Tom Meadow, here's the surprise. We all know PinePowerLI reads this forum, takes information from it, then passes it off in his YouTube videos as his own. Well here's payback, a dump of his hacked and then deleted Photobucket. Keep up the nonsense John, you have been warned: http://www.mediafire.com/download/n565h80e88g1v5e/Btraindash_183320a.zip

40+ downloads and counting. Glad people like the upload. Also, for Tom, no complaints = no virus.

 

Just thinking out loud:

 

The NICE fleet is CNG -- good for the environment (some say), better cost-wise than those nasty fossil-fuel (diesel) hogs tooling down the road (according to various sources), and IIRC has been that way since Veolia/Transdev started running the joint.

 

So where have all those cost-savings (notably from being more "efficient" and in fuel price volatility) gone over the years, if service cuts are always lurking on the horizon?

 

And then there's that extra $15 million Transdev just got over and above their yearly contracted base as well.

 

Hmmmm.

You're perfectly right to be suspicious. For example, I remember reading about not only NICE saying they saved so much on a new fuel contract that they attributed the ability to do so many things with. But, they also stated the first year they were in service that they made close to half a million dollars on auctioning off used buses when the first batch only sold for up to a couple thousand dollars a bus, no where close to that number when you add them up. Of course, when the announcement was made, there wasn't much proof anymore since Auctions International hides their sold listings after a month or two.

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So today, I took the 8:48am N1 from Hewlett to Jamaica and right after our bus pass CIP, I saw a group of passengers and a bus driver flagging down our bus(N1). The bus driver on the N6 told the passengers to get on the N1 because their bus broke down. It was an XN40 #1936.

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So today, I took the 8:48am N1 from Hewlett to Jamaica and right after our bus pass CIP, I saw a group of passengers and a bus driver flagging down our bus(N1). The bus driver on the N6 told the passengers to get on the N1 because their bus broke down. It was an XN40 #1936.

It's alright guys, don't worry. The XN40's might be less than 5 months old and breaking down already, but we have free money and we're going to spend it to run more empty buses on routes little amounts of people care about. - NICE, 2016

 

I'd download that zip but that means having more of he-who-must-not-be-named's crap on my hard drive.

Piney is somewhere crying right now because he doesn't have everyone's attention.

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He actually got pissed cause people were harassing him Orion and some guy name mr softee on his YouTube video.He did mention a nice bus breakdown sometimes I wonder if he steals the pictures that you or from your video that you guys put on here.And than uses them in his videos.oh I forgot he cries that a elevator his broken in mineola and he has to walk lol.

40+ downloads and counting. Glad people like the upload. Also, for Tom, no complaints = no virus.

 

 

You're perfectly right to be suspicious. For example, I remember reading about not only NICE saying they saved so much on a new fuel contract that they attributed the ability to do so many things with. But, they also stated the first year they were in service that they made close to half a million dollars on auctioning off used buses when the first batch only sold for up to a couple thousand dollars a bus, no where close to that number when you add them up. Of course, when the announcement was made, there wasn't much proof anymore since Auctions International hides their sold listings after a month or two.

question those this file contain old videos of him ranting about nonsense.
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Man can't believee the xxcelsiors. Break downn sooo qquickl. ..what a bbummer

I think this is hilarious, in a way.  And it's a perfect way for folks to go after Transdev/Nassau/Eddie illustrating not only incompetence, but fiscal mismanagement.

 

Go over the "great divide" that separates the uncivilized city from the haughty Nassau, and MTA has Xcelsiors running miles around town, with even more being pressed into service.  XD60s have been seeing regular service for awhile now.  Yet, somehow, NICE has a bunch of lemons?  It's obviously not a bad product, and I'll stand up for New Flyer since both 40s and 60s are taking some decent abuse here in Detroit and have been chugging along beautifully.  Problems because they're a CNG fleet?  Personally doubt it, because if NICE is going to be touted by NF as a CNG customer to entice other agencies to buy, NF is going to do their best to ensure the entire product is designed to run without problems -- especially within mere months of delivery.

 

I'll go back to the main problem of having Transdev run NICE:  They have nothing personally to lose in the entire contract.  If they were forced, as they are in the European markets where they operate, to buy and maintain the fleet on their own dime, those Xcelsiors would most certainly NOT be breaking down in 2, 3, or 6 months.  In fact, the entire fleet would more than likely have been brand new from the start of the contract.  It would have meant a higher priced contract from the beginning (probably closer to, but still under, what MTA wanted Nassau to pay), but it would have meant a higher risk to their corporate reputation, should they not perform to standards they're forced to comply with elsewhere.  In Britain, especially, their newest fleets are used in the TfL-bidded routes.  After a few years, those buses are moved to other smaller than London cities where they operate -- but are still in good enough shape so as to not jeopardize their contract performance.  So they'll make sure their investment is maintained until the buses are destined for the second-hand market (where they'll be able to get something decent for them still), instead of just being cannibalized for parts and sent to the scrapper for pence on the Pound.  (Interestingly enough, in the EU they have to pay for disposal at the scrapper -- just like regular people with their cars.)

 

Heck, they just got the Nassau taxpayers to give them $15 million over and above their contract amount for 2015, on the heels of telling you because money's tight, service has to be cut.  And it's no real secret -- passed only amongst bus fans on forums like these -- that NICE maintenance has been piss-poor for more than recent times, it's surely been noticed by the riding public.

 

This opportunity shouldn't be missed.  By putting together some good research, a boardroom table full of expensive suits could be left with some ruddy complexions under the watchful eye of Public Access cameras.

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New buses have to be broken in.  The NGs had the exact same issue... but NICE's track record (as a whole!) doesn't help at all.

Hmmmm ... interesting.

 

So, all these truck/commercial buyers should expect their new vehicles to suffer breakdowns:  Wrecker drivers, semi-tractors, the electric/phone/cable companies with cherry pickers, UPS' custom designed vehicles, FedEx cube vans, and even the charter/tour bus operators.  Buses that run close to $500,000 each (by the time they really actually reach full revenue service), and the transit agencies that buy them, yep, gotta expect that.  Somehow I don't think the electric company with their specially-equipped, cherry pickers/cargo work trucks are going to want their close to $500,000 investment to breakdown as part of being "broken in."

 

Then again, since transit agencies don't really run as a traditional business (i.e. listen to customers and any downtime equals customer/income loss), that thinking seems legit.

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New buses have to be broken in.  The NGs had the exact same issue... but NICE's track record (as a whole!) doesn't help at all.

  

Hmmmm ... interesting.

 

So, all these truck/commercial buyers should expect their new vehicles to suffer breakdowns:  Wrecker drivers, semi-tractors, the electric/phone/cable companies with cherry pickers, UPS' custom designed vehicles, FedEx cube vans, and even the charter/tour bus operators.  Buses that run close to $500,000 each (by the time they really actually reach full revenue service), and the transit agencies that buy them, yep, gotta expect that.  Somehow I don't think the electric company with their specially-equipped, cherry pickers/cargo work trucks are going to want their close to $500,000 investment to breakdown as part of being "broken in."

 

Then again, since transit agencies don't really run as a traditional business (i.e. listen to customers and any downtime equals customer/income loss), that thinking seems legit.

Yes, I've delivered MANY vehicles and to answer your question new vehicles break down all the time. New coach buses break down, UPS brown boxes, new Volvo tractors all break down during delivery. I can't really comment on stats for after delivery but I've seen enough vehicles back at dealerships of all time to support test that they do. New engines do need to be "broken in" as well, I'm not an engineer so I'm not even going to attempt to change it. A new vehicle breaking down is not unrealistic, that's why manufactures offer warranties and fix these these vehicles for free. It would only be unrealistic. If the problems weren't fixed by the manufacturer.

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I'm giving the rest of that year's Orion V order another year and a half before they're all gone.  I rode 1636 in 2010 and I remember it sounding fantastic.  I found it again as LIB was closing shop at the end of 2011 and it sounded horrible.

 

1634 is also running strong and it appears that NICE scrubbed the wheels for the spring.

Edited by Joel Up Front
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Had the opportunity to get in to Nassau back on Saturday, so I got 1931 on the N24, and maaan, those buses are BEAST!!!!

Not only do they SOUND better than, they also RIDE better than MTA's 7000 series buses, which in saying a lot. I started riding LIB irregularly back in 2003, and they always had the worst, cheapset built buses (130-245/270-287 I think is was) were abysmal, you'd be riding along and all of a sudden it'd just chip out. The tranny would just start doin' this effin'...... whiplash lurch-thing, that shit was BEYOND surreal. 288-352/353-395 got a lil' better... 396-462 (1633-1699) improved from there, and the NG/3G's (1700-1799/1800-1839/1840-1884) were a noticeable improvement. Please pardon my armchair analysis here, but it almost seems like the Xcelciors (1885-19xx) may have surpassed the MTA's own standards....

 

How the mighty have fallen.... :mellow:

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