Bus Stories

[Via Garibaldi 8]

7 hours ago, 78 via Stew Leonards said:

I was getting off at 259th, not 263rd. And I don't live in Yonkers.

Your location says "Yonkers", not to mention your name and frequent trips in Yonkers, hence my confusion. I've never known any Riverdale resident to frequent Yonkers like that, especially not by public transit. Usually we'll go up there by car for shopping. There are those Yonkers folks that seem to go out of the way to ride the express buses. I mean Southbound you have to walk down to 261st and even Northbound you have to walk or take another bus to get into Yonkers to where I'm guessing some of these people live. I get it, they're trying to escape the higher rents in NYC, but it seems like a real hassle to pay $6.50 and then have to take another bus or walk a while to get home. It would make more sense to just take Metro-North. 

There are times when it takes over an hour and 30 minutes from where I'm at in Central Riverdale from Midtown so it has to take them well over two hours to get home and pay just slightly less than a Metro-North ticket.

[B35 via Church]

Rode the M5 today up towards GWB....

Now I'm not too great with faces as I am with numbers, but apparently the b/o (I won't say his name) remembered me from ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.... He calls out my name after I dipped my metro' & proceeded towards the back of the bus... I turn around & say to myself "who the f*** is this guy" (I was the only passenger that got on at the first stop - and honestly, I don't like people calling my name out in the open like that - even if its family)... I says "yeah" (with an angry look on my face).... He then goes, "hey man, this is _____ .... ____________ "(his first name.... then he said his full name)..... I was in shock - looked nothing like the stubby fat kid from back in 2nd/3rd grade...

What's funny about this is, his mother was a c/r, his father was a t/o (both retired now), and he always had a fondness for buses growing up (well before I did... I didn't start becoming a bus fanatic up until around the end of JHS)... Difference was, he wanted to drive them, I was/am more interested in where all the routes went.... Anyway, he went to transit tech HS, so I'm not surprised that he eventually landed a job w/ the MTA driving a bus.....

Talk about following your dreams, man..... Good for him.

[78 via Stew Leonards]

One time back in March 2006, on a Sunday Morning, I was on a Norwood bound Bx10 and at 237th St/HH Pkwy, there was a truck stuck and it was blocking the road going south. So the bus driver actually GOT ON HH PKWY itself for one exit before getting off at 232nd St. I thought it was the craziest thing being on a bus on the parkway itself.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

12 hours ago, 78 via Stew Leonards said:

as on a Norwood bound Bx10 and at 237th St/HH Pkwy, there was a truck stuck and it was blocking the road going south. So the bus driver actually GOT ON HH PKWY itself for one exit before getting off at 232nd St. I thought it was the craziest thing being on a bus on the parkway itsel

That happens regularly actually.   There's a driver on the Hudson Raillink Shuttle Bus that used to do this daily to avoid the local or express bus along Henry Hudson Parkway West by West 227th.  I always HATE it when there's an express bus or a local bus in front because you can't go around it south of 239th because the Henry Hudson Parkway Service Roads are so damn narrow, so where possible the buses will just get on the Henry Hudson Parkway itself and then exit.

One night years ago I got off the BxM18 at Henry Hudson Parkway East and West 239th.  I look across past the Bell Tower, and see not one but TWO express buses stuck on the Henry Hudson Parkway West Service Road. I think a truck or something had broken down, so you likely had a BxM1 and BxM2 running together (they used to have two of them scheduled back to back years ago at night). 

The other thing that you've likely haven't seen is when they repave the Henry Hudson Parkway Service Roads or there's ConEd work.... The buses run up Independence Avenue. It's so weird because below West 232nd, Independence Avenue becomes VERY narrow and there are no sidewalks in parts of it so here's this HUGE express bus running down this narrow VERY suburban looking street. lol I've walked down along there plenty of times to walk to the Metro-North station, but the funniest thing was when we were on detour because Kappock Street was closed off due to road work.   Well we eventually had to go along Palisade Avenue right near Edsall Avenue by the Spuyten Duyvil Metro-North station and we almost got stuck there because as you know Palisade Avenue is narrow in general for a two-way street, but especially for an express bus.  So somehow he managed to get us out of that mess - I think we got stuck slightly in a pothole given how poorly the roads can be paved in that part of Spuyten Duyvil, and we had to up hill along Johnson Avenue to get back to Kappock Street.  It was such a mess!

The only thing that was worse was when Johnson Avenue was closed due to the Metro-North crash, so the driver made all stops in Spuyten Duyvil up until Henry Hudson Parkway West and Independence Avenue, then he had to backtrack and turn onto Independence Avenue heading North and takes that all the way up to 239th, comes over on West 239th and then come down Riverdale Avenue so that he could get down the hill, so basically anyone who needed the express bus was screwed after that stop or they had to make their way all the way down the hill to West 230th and Tibbett.  

There has also been times when Kappock was closed and Northbound all buses would head up Johnson after Irwin and come up along Johnson Avenue up to West 239th street.  Really weird, since Johnson is a very quiet residential street, but the layout up here gives you very few options when one of the main roads to get up or down the hills is closed.

[78 via Stew Leonards]

12 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

That happens regularly actually.   There's a driver on the Hudson Raillink Shuttle Bus that used to do this daily to avoid the local or express bus along Henry Hudson Parkway West by West 227th.  I always HATE it when there's an express bus or a local bus in front because you can't go around it south of 239th because the Henry Hudson Parkway Service Roads are so damn narrow, so where possible the buses will just get on the Henry Hudson Parkway itself and then exit.

One night years ago I got off the BxM18 at Henry Hudson Parkway East and West 239th.  I look across past the Bell Tower, and see not one but TWO express buses stuck on the Henry Hudson Parkway West Service Road. I think a truck or something had broken down, so you likely had a BxM1 and BxM2 running together (they used to have two of them scheduled back to back years ago at night). 

The other thing that you've likely haven't seen is when they repave the Henry Hudson Parkway Service Roads or there's ConEd work.... The buses run up Independence Avenue. It's so weird because below West 232nd, Independence Avenue becomes VERY narrow and there are no sidewalks in parts of it so here's this HUGE express bus running down this narrow VERY suburban looking street. lol I've walked down along there plenty of times to walk to the Metro-North station, but the funniest thing was when we were on detour because Kappock Street was closed off due to road work.   Well we eventually had to go along Palisade Avenue right near Edsall Avenue by the Spuyten Duyvil Metro-North station and we almost got stuck there because as you know Palisade Avenue is narrow in general for a two-way street, but especially for an express bus.  So somehow he managed to get us out of that mess - I think we got stuck slightly in a pothole given how poorly the roads can be paved in that part of Spuyten Duyvil, and we had to up hill along Johnson Avenue to get back to Kappock Street.  It was such a mess!

The only thing that was worse was when Johnson Avenue was closed due to the Metro-North crash, so the driver made all stops in Spuyten Duyvil up until Henry Hudson Parkway West and Independence Avenue, then he had to backtrack and turn onto Independence Avenue heading North and takes that all the way up to 239th, comes over on West 239th and then come down Riverdale Avenue so that he could get down the hill, so basically anyone who needed the express bus was screwed after that stop or they had to make their way all the way down the hill to West 230th and Tibbett.  

There has also been times when Kappock was closed and Northbound all buses would head up Johnson after Irwin and come up along Johnson Avenue up to West 239th street.  Really weird, since Johnson is a very quiet residential street, but the layout up here gives you very few options when one of the main roads to get up or down the hills is closed.

I do remember the detour around 2008 when all northbound buses would take Kappock-Palisade-232nd-HHP East

[Via Garibaldi 8]

5 hours ago, 78 via Stew Leonards said:

I do remember the detour around 2008 when all northbound buses would take Kappock-Palisade-232nd-HHP East

Did they make stops along Palisade or just a dropped off at 232nd? 

[78 via Stew Leonards]

17 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Did they make stops along Palisade or just a dropped off at 232nd? 

They made one stop at Kappock St/Independence Ave, then the next stop was 232/HHP

[BrooklynBus]

I saw a friend today I used to work with at the MTA, and he told me his favorite bus story which he gave me permission to retell here. 

It was 1992. Maybe this is why buses no longer carry interior ads.

The bus he was riding on hit a massive pothole. The jolt was so great that all the interior ads popped out of their slots and came down.  Apparently, behind the ads lurked thousands of roaches which also fell out and landed on the passengers causing a bunch of female passengers to start screaming. 

[BreeddekalbL]

I have a weird story involving some Spanish dude  incidents happened on different times and days (Talking about some same dude remember)

this Spanish dude is a drunk and when he talks he slurs his speech and you cant make out what he is saying

one day while waiting at Edison mall bus station the aforementioned dude was at a bench next to my dad and I he was slurring his speech and he was slamming a bag with what looked like deodorant and he was trying to square up to fight my dad my dad was watching the guy and i said if he engages with you or me he is gonna get dropped. then he tries to engage and bother some dude before a rent a cop tells him off

this past Saturday this same guy gets on on the 110 bus coming from Lehigh Acres to the Edison mall this aforementioned Spanish dude gets on tries to duck the fare, holds up the bus talking his drunken mess to some dude who had just gotten off, driver tells him to get on later on in the ride a woman comes to the front from the back cause this dude was harassing her trying to make kissing faces to her etc and he follows her to the front also and sits across from her in the WC seats still trying to hit on her in his drunken state, and makes threatening gestures towards me (i saw out of the corner of my eye) , luckily he gets off before the Edison mall. 

if he engages with the wrong dude he will get dropped

[Deucey]

One time on S52 when I was going to Jersey St, a truck was stopped on Westervelt and holding up traffic.

Bus is fully loaded, but we're on St Mark's, and driver won't open the door because it's not a stop (daytime rules).

Cat living in Richmond Houses gets mad saying he has to piss. Driver won't open the door.

Cat punches the backdoor open.

Driver has to power cycle the bus, and when it turn onto Westervelt finally, backdoor swings open.

Sat there a good 5 minutes while he did something to get the door reset so it stays closed. Ended up being on/off through front door only.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

9 hours ago, Deucey said:

One time on S52 when I was going to Jersey St, a truck was stopped on Westervelt and holding up traffic.

Bus is fully loaded, but we're on St Mark's, and driver won't open the door because it's not a stop (daytime rules).

Cat living in Richmond Houses gets mad saying he has to piss. Driver won't open the door.

Cat punches the backdoor open.

Driver has to power cycle the bus, and when it turn onto Westervelt finally, backdoor swings open.

Sat there a good 5 minutes while he did something to get the door reset so it stays closed. Ended up being on/off through front door only.

And late for the ferry I bet.

[Deucey]

35 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

And late for the ferry I bet.

Actually we came from the Ferry - I just stayed on past my house to go to Family Dollar.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

27 minutes ago, Deucey said:

Actually we came from the Ferry - I just stayed on past my house to go to Family Dollar.

LMAO... Oh God... I have far too many Staten Island local bus stories.  All of them frustrated me to no end until finally when I graduated college, returned from Italy and started working full time, I gave up and tried the express bus for a week and never went back.

There are several, so I'll condense them.  There was a 06:59 (or thereabouts) S98 bus.  We had the slowest driver ever.  I'd get on along Forest Avenue in West Brighton by the SI Zoo and often times the bus was already packed, so it's SRO and I'm right near him.  I once watched him drive and saw another S98 bypass him as he was driving.  Had to be doing no more than 10-15 mph.  Well that's when I stopped taking him and would wait for the next guy.

My frustration with the SI local buses started when I would come down to work during college breaks.  Had to be a 12 something bus to the ferry.  Lady arrives late, picks up and I'm furious because I know I'm likely going to be late to the ferry and thus late to work.  Work started at 14:00 at that time as I was working a gig that had odd hours (I'd finish at 21:30 or something like that).  At one point, I got so irritated that I was yelling at her from the back door area.  That seemed to be the point in which service really went down hill.  There was a time when SI local bus service was great.  When some of our family had just moved to Staten Island from South Brooklyn, my mother and I took a trip out there to relax and see the new house.  We tried the local bus and we were impressed. They were actually clean and prompt.  Of course this was a weekend afternoon but still. I believe we were driven back home to Brooklyn though, so when I moved there, I was expecting similar service, but by then, some time had passed and their fleet wasn't as new. In fact the buses were falling apart.  Buses being held together by duct tape (literally).  I think it was around 2006 that I was sick one day and called out and said when you return to work, let's try out the X16 for one week.  I took the first express bus of the morning (the 06:45).  At that time I was in my early 20s, fresh out of college, but I had been working for a bit and was making a nice salary even then.  A weekly express bus pass was $41.00 compared to $59.50 today.  My co-worker who lived in Mitchell Gardens and would commute with the QM20 (then the QM2A) told me about the pass because my thinking was with the way I traveled, I'd be spending double that each week with the express bus, so when I heard about the pass, my thinking was that's it, I'm never going back to the local bus again. I could sleep and relax on the bus, as seats were never available in the morning going to the ferry. I had my same seat every day.  I would get off Downtown and take the  train up the 18th street and then walk to the office from there.  Eventually I started branching out since the X16 didn't run late  going home.   My first trip with the X10 was HORRIBLE.  I think I got on around 14th street. The bus was SRO going into the Tunnel and we were packed in like sardine cans.  I walked home from the bus stop, but I remember thinking that it was a long walk (15-20 minutes) but given the ride, it felt like an eternity.  I adjusted to that too though.  At that time the express bus schedules weren't as readily available, so that made it more tricky to know about all of the different routes.