Official MTA BusTime Discussion

[aemoreira81]

Nothing is SB on the M4 from 157th Street to 72nd Street, and the one at 157th Street is apparently ending at 135th.

 

Is BYD going to be on BusTime?

 

I doubt it. I don't think that the 1999 D60s are on it either.

[QM1to6Ave]

I can't wait until it comes to Queens.

Amen. Especially for off peak express runs, it will be perfect for me.

[Q43LTD]

Amen. Especially for off peak express runs, it will be perfect for me.

Unfortunately, Queens is last because it has the most routes.

[Jsunflyguy]

Everytime I check Manhattan on BusTime the case gets stronger in my mind for having kept the Manhattan Els.

[N6 Limited]

Are buses allowed to leap frog each other now that bunching is clearly visible? I remember reading that MTA doesn't like leapfrogging. 

[N6 Limited]

I can't wait until it comes to Queens.

Imagine Jamaica and Flushing during rush hour 

[paulrivera]

I haven't seen buses bunch any less. The Bx7, Bx10 and Bx20 still bunch like crazy so they don't seem to be doing much to address extreme bunching, which is mind boggling to me. If a guy is running so far behind, why have him do a run if he is going to just drive by passengers and not even stop? It's more like some B/O's know that they're being tracked so they're more mindful of not running hot, which is something that they weren't doing before which also makes no sense. Why didn't they think it was important to adhere to the schedules before Bus Time as opposed to now? The answer is obvious of course. Now there is no more his/her word against your word. Now there is actual proof, which is almost impossible to dispute.

I boarded a packed Bx12 SBS today at Fordham/Jerome and at Valentine the following bus caught up (of course it was emptier). I fell back and switched to the second bus which waited for time at Valentine, Williamsbridge, and Eastchester (why SBS buses wait for time IDK but thats not the point). By Fordham Plaza the lead bus was nowhere in sight.

 

If anything, drivers are more mindful about the bunching and running times, but nothing substantial has been gained as far as quality of bus service. But of course, it's really helpful that you can track your bus down and see where it is before you head to the bus stop.

[Q43LTD]

This has to be tweaked. It should be more than just how far the bus is.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Amen. Especially for off peak express runs, it will be perfect for me.

Are the QM's that bad? Every time I wait for the BxM2, I see the QM's coming and they seem to be on time.  Nevertheless I see your point.  The QM's off-peak are usually hourly so it's still nice to have that safety blanket.

 

 

I boarded a packed Bx12 SBS today at Fordham/Jerome and at Valentine the following bus caught up (of course it was emptier). I fell back and switched to the second bus which waited for time at Valentine, Williamsbridge, and Eastchester (why SBS buses wait for time IDK but thats not the point). By Fordham Plaza the lead bus was nowhere in sight.

 

If anything, drivers are more mindful about the bunching and running times, but nothing substantial has been gained as far as quality of bus service. But of course, it's really helpful that you can track your bus down and see where it is before you head to the bus stop.

I think that's a start, but they have no control over the bunching or run times. The bunching should be controlled by dispatch and the run times come from the .  I don't know where they get those run times from but some of them are simply ridiculous.  Some lines have wayyy too much run time and others not enough, hence the bunching. One bus gets slammed and then it's impossible for that bus to ever get caught up unless it is short turned.

[lupojohn]

This has to be tweaked. It should be more than just how far the bus is.

Specify what tweaks you mean.

[lupojohn]

 

Are the QM's that bad? Every time I wait for the BxM2, I see the QM's coming and they seem to be on time.  Nevertheless I see your point.  The QM's off-peak are usually hourly so it's still nice to have that safety blanket.

 

I've taken the QM's lately and they seemed to have come a bit early. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

I've taken the QM's lately and they seemed to have come a bit early. 

To or from Manhattan?  There are several QM's that are usually scheduled to come before the BxM2 in the city so I usually see the QM15, QM6, QM2 and or QM20 and a few others like the QM4.

[Q43LTD]

Specify what tweaks you mean.

On the mobile version, it doesn't tell you where the bus is going exactly. It doesn't include the short turns. Another tweak is to identify if the bus is local or limited. If the bus is limited, only the limited stops should be shown.

[lupojohn]

On the mobile version, it doesn't tell you where the bus is going exactly. It doesn't include the short turns. Another tweak is to identify if the bus is local or limited. If the bus is limited, only the limited stops should be shown.

Fair enough.

[lupojohn]

To or from Manhattan?  There are several QM's that are usually scheduled to come before the BxM2 in the city so I usually see the QM15, QM6, QM2 and or QM20 and a few others like the QM4.

To. Waiting for them at 35th St and 6th Av.

[MHV9218]

Two thumbs up from me on getting me an M2 without waiting at all earlier today.

[bobtehpanda]

The MTA should focus less on schedule adherence and more on headway maintenance. Above a certain service level, headway maintenance becomes more important.

 

Keep in mind, however, that the MTA's job is not exactly made easier by traffic or unbalanced loading patterns on its bus routes. The M15 just went haywire after that fire on the Queensboro back in the summer.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

The MTA should focus less on schedule adherence and more on headway maintenance. Above a certain service level, headway maintenance becomes more important.

 

Keep in mind, however, that the MTA's job is not exactly made easier by traffic or unbalanced loading patterns on its bus routes. The M15 just went haywire after that fire on the Queensboro back in the summer.

What they should do is have more undercover employees riding the buses to see what tricks some of these B/O's are up to.  Too many of them like to lay back and not pick up passengers, which also leads to unbalanced loading patterns.  I see this far too often on the M5 and on a lot of buses out of Manhattanville Depot.  One guy picking up everybody with a slammed bus and he's extremely late while the other guy does nothing to help out.  

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Two thumbs up from me on getting me an M2 without waiting at all earlier today.

lol... You know you used Bus Time.  That bus is atrocious otherwise.  Sadly I remember when it had 10-12 min. headways. Service was much better then.

[QM1to6Ave]

 

Are the QM's that bad? Every time I wait for the BxM2, I see the QM's coming and they seem to be on time.  Nevertheless I see your point.  The QM's off-peak are usually hourly so it's still nice to have that safety blanket.

 

Off hours, you have to plan in 6 or 7 minutes before the arrival time, and sometimes it comes 8 minutes after that, so you can be standing for 15 minutes. Plus, esepcaully with the light runs into the city at night, I've seen some buses come 20 or 25 minutes early, which is ridiculous.

[BrooklynBus]

There already is an app that does this. Bus Bus NYC.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Off hours, you have to plan in 6 or 7 minutes before the arrival time, and sometimes it comes 8 minutes after that, so you can be standing for 15 minutes. Plus, esepcaully with the light runs into the city at night, I've seen some buses come 20 or 25 minutes early, which is ridiculous.

Wow! That's ridiculous!  I'll tell you something. You guys need to write in more.  The Riverdale express buses will literally wait because they know people will write in and now with Bus Time, it's rare to get a bus even 5 minutes early because they know they can be tracked as to where they were at what time and anytime I get a newbie on the line that "forgets" what time he should be at "X" spot I kindly file a complaint and that problem is corrected, otherwise they'll just come whenever they feel like it and at that point, there is no point of having a schedule.  With a local bus it's bad enough esp. when the line has high headways, but if the bus only runs every 30 minutes to an hour, you're trying to follow that schedule so that you don't elongate your commute any more than it has to be and believe you me, I know how painful it can be standing there waiting 20 - 30 minutes if you've got stuff with you standing that long.

 

That used to kill me on Staten Island with the X10, X16 and X30 all coming early.  With Bus Time the guessing game has certainly ceased. Now they usually come 5 - 10 minutes late and remain late the whole time, esp. the X10. The X30 may come a few minutes early but the others are relatively ok, but yeah Queens definitely needs Bus Time and so does Brooklyn.  The BM's have been a lot better of late, BUT then again, they've cut so many runs that maybe now the B/O's realized that it's time to start actually working and not BS around.  I had a guy that would consistently come 30 -45 minutes late every Saturday I got him on the BM3 going to Brooklyn.  Meanwhile all of the other BM's would come as scheduled, and since they all take the exact same route in Manhattan, that confirmed my suspicions that he was just off somewhere BS-ing.  He was a nice guy and would drop me off close to where I was going so I never wrote in for that reason, but coming that late anyone who is waiting for that bus is usually going to ditch it and use something else if they can, so you're just literally killing the ridership and killing a way of commuting for those who use the line which pisses me to the core.  That's why I give a double look when some of them talk about how they may lose their jobs.  You provide bad service and ridership will usually drop unless there are no alternatives.  Simple as that.

[nycmaps]

BusBus isn't available on Android or the web, though, and it doesn't have features like live arrival times, alerts when your bus is coming, etc. I also just think there's a better interface for mobile than overlapping bus icons that cover 2.5 city blocks.

[lupojohn]

There already is an app that does this. Bus Bus NYC.

Looked it up on the web and nothing came up. Maybe you have the title wrong.

[lupojohn]

What they should do is have more undercover employees riding the buses to see what tricks some of these B/O's are up to.  Too many of them like to lay back and not pick up passengers, which also leads to unbalanced loading patterns.  I see this far too often on the M5 and on a lot of buses out of Manhattanville Depot.  One guy picking up everybody with a slammed bus and he's extremely late while the other guy does nothing to help out.  

Perhaps you should report it yourself.