Express Bus Advocacy Group

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

21 minutes ago, Lil 57 said:

Doesn't look like Queens is doing so well for express bus service this PM rush.

1. The first QM18 left on time at 4:35 PM. as of 6:27 PM, It is still doing its run with 31 minutes left to go, the bus should have gotten to the terminal at 6:00 PM, now it isn't going to arrive there until around 7:00 PM.

 

 

2. The 5:05 PM and 5:35 PM QM3 buses are 5 minutes apart, not good for a route that runs on 30-minute headways.

That tends to happen a lot on all the routes. The QM18 is notorious for it due to the route. The LIE is a disaster during the PM rush particularly, and it such a slow crawl from Maspeth. They make the bus turn onto Van Dam, an already congested street, turn onto Borden along with almost every other vehicle, take forever to get onto the LIE, just so that they can get stuck in Maspeth. 

The QM18 and QM21 should be using Queens Boulevard on the outbound route between Van Dam Street and Eliot Avenue. It would spees up the route more. You would think that the MTA would like to speed up it so that it can save costs from any overtime or other expenses, such as gas. Those delays do add up when it happens virtually every day, and they are often +30 minutes late to South Ozone Park.

Edited November 21, 2018 by BM5 via Woodhaven

[Via Garibaldi 8]

On 11/20/2018 at 7:08 PM, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

That tends to happen a lot on all the routes. The QM18 is notorious for it due to the route. The LIE is a disaster during the PM rush particularly, and it such a slow crawl from Maspeth. They make the bus turn onto Van Dam, an already congested street, turn onto Borden along with almost every other vehicle, take forever to get onto the LIE, just so that they can get stuck in Maspeth. 

The QM18 and QM21 should be using Queens Boulevard on the outbound route between Van Dam Street and Eliot Avenue. It would spees up the route more. You would think that the MTA would like to speed up it so that it can save costs from any overtime or other expenses, such as gas. Those delays do add up when it happens virtually every day, and they are often +30 minutes late to South Ozone Park.

Queens is being given a lot of attention. Express buses are being held now when they are hot to try to keep them as close to the schedule as possible.  Some issues are being addressed in real time which is very helpful. 

For the QM21, we've asked that the agency explore ways to get the trips back on-time, which includes moving them on other streets in the non pick-up segments of the route if necessary.

Some other important updates. I'm sharing it here since it isn't available yet online:

IMPORTANT DETOUR INFO: The hell starts tonight with the Lincoln Center Tree lighting - BxM2 express buses will be on detour using 10th Ave Northbound from 57th St. to 72nd St. Southbound they'll run via Columbus Ave between 65th St and 57th St starting at 5:30pm until 9:30pm. Expect heavy traffic delays on all routes in the area.

Also, on Wednesday the Rockefeller Christmas Tree lighting will be held. ALL 5th Avenue Express buses will be on detour starting at 6pm to 10pm running ON LEXINGTON from 57th to 42nd. If anything changes, we'll post here, but be sure to monitor the MTA website as well for updates. For Queens (QM) express bus riders, aside from some stops being moved along 6th, I would say to prepare yourself for the usual gridlock. Brooklyn and Staten Island express bus riders along 5th and 6th should also adjust accordingly per the aforementioned information.

QM1 service continues to be closely monitored.  My contacts are doing their best to try to fill as many missing trips as possible across the express bus network. I believe this morning there was one QM1 trip missing, but all others were filled on the line, and evening service will be closely monitored as well.

X27, X28, X37 & X38 also continues to be closely monitored. Maintenance problems are still an issue and talks are ongoing.  Some suggestions have been made to try to address the bunching especially in the morning.

For Staten Island, we are hopeful that once the new schedules are out in January, more trips will be filled and reliability improved. However, missing trips remains a BIG problem, as was the case with this morning's rush.  It seems as if bus breakdowns is also part of the problem.  We may call on the agency to do an internal audit to see how these Prevosts have performed because it seems as if the depots that have them are struggling terribly to make service and we're receiving a lot of complaints about long waits of 20 - 40 minutes or more and missing buses during rush hour.  

We've been aggressively tracking service and taking unannounced trips on the BM and QM lines to ensure that buses are making all stops, providing courteous service and arriving per the schedule.

Edited November 26, 2018 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Orion6025]

3 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

For the QM21, we've asked that the agency explore ways to get the trips back on-time, which includes moving them on other streets in the non pick-up segments of the route if necessary.

They already do that; it's not too rare  to see a 21 on queens blvd. I was talking to a friend a while back who drove the 21 daily and he mentioned how daily he would run down queens blvd to avoid LIE traffic, but sometimes he'd get written up for it even thiugh queens blvd was easily flowing better than the LIE.. I'm not an operator so I personally don't know what's up with thr culture but that little anecdote is a bit troubling to me..

[Via Garibaldi 8]

16 minutes ago, Orion6025 said:

They already do that; it's not too rare  to see a 21 on queens blvd. I was talking to a friend a while back who drove the 21 daily and he mentioned how daily he would run down queens blvd to avoid LIE traffic, but sometimes he'd get written up for it even thiugh queens blvd was easily flowing better than the LIE.. I'm not an operator so I personally don't know what's up with thr culture but that little anecdote is a bit troubling to me..

That's precisely my point though. Some depots give flexibility to do that, and some don't, so we want drivers to have the flexibility out of that depot to go different ways so that they can stay on-time where possible.  I didn't suggest specific ways for them to go. I'll leave that up to my contact and his folks to decide, but one thing I stressed in my meeting vehemently is I want these damn buses on-time.  Since I sent over my 9+ pages of comments there have been some improvements and they are even holding some buses to make sure that aren't leaving early, but there are still some problems.  These problems have been going on for months in some cases, so you can go an entire pick with the same bus coming late or not coming regularly. That's how you lose ridership.

For example, ever since I had to wait almost 30 minutes for a BxM2 going up to the  workshop some weeks ago and it took me over two hours to get there, I've been monitoring BxM2 Northbound service from 4pm - 08:30pm. For those 4 1/2 hours service has been HORRIBLE. The 4:05pm bus was on time today for the first time in several weeks. It would always come some 20+ minutes late and run up with the 04:25pm bus and ride empty.  I don't know who the driver is, but I suspect this guy is playing games. If he does the trip that I think he does after this, I've had him and he always manages to do his trips with almost no passengers during rush hour which should not be because he tries coming with the next scheduled bus.  He's regularly late and I'm going to start making a point of taking his trips to see if he is dragging the line. He's doing a Southbound trip now and he sat at the terminal and started almost 20 minutes late. Why? That's what I want to know. He gets a 21 minute break if he arrived at the terminal on-time.

Edited November 26, 2018 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Lil 57]

The QM3 is having issues again, all 3 buses for the evening rush are within 20-25 minutes of each other.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

7 minutes ago, Lil 57 said:

The QM3 is having issues again, all 3 buses for the evening rush are within 20-25 minutes of each other.

The morning trips are generally ok, though one of them runs a bit hot but nothing crazy. Tonight the weather is horrible so I'm not going to too crazy on on-time performance, but if it's a pattern where we see weeks with the same thing, then it's a problem. Keep in mind that these schedules are supposed to reflect the actual arrival times of these buses. After they were audited in 2015 for on-time performance, they were supposed to use BusTrek to get the schedules more aligned with the actual times that buses arrive, so if buses are 30 minutes consistently late then obviously that's a problem. That's what I had a chat with some of planners about.

Edited November 26, 2018 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Jdog14]

3 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

We may call on the agency to do an internal audit to see how these Prevosts have performed because it seems as if the depots that have them are struggling terribly to make service and we're receiving a lot of complaints about long waits of 20 - 40 minutes or more and missing buses during rush hour.  

 

 

Perhaps one reason many of these buses are now OOS is because they are capped at 60 mph and many buses going through NJ are doing top speed for too long.  Perhaps they should raise it to 70 mph so the engines don't strain as much. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

1 minute ago, Jdog14 said:

 

Perhaps one reason many of these buses are now OOS is because they are capped at 60 mph and many buses going through NJ are doing top speed for too long.  Perhaps they should raise it to 70 mph so the engines don't strain as much. 

I don't know what the story is but they are definitely struggling to make service out there and it can't continue like this. People are furious because they are getting warnings from their bosses to either get their act together and they're going to fire them, and some people can only leave but so much more earlier, so having 40 minutes gaps in service during rush hour is totally unacceptable. We've got people standing on these buses 06:00 in the morning when previously there were no standees at those hours.  

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Southbound the BxM2 was a mess from 6pm until now. The 6pm was almost 20 minutes late. I never saw a 06:30 bus at all. The 07:00 was almost 30 minutes late, and now the 07:30pm Southbound and Northbound are due and both are currently late as well.

Edited November 27, 2018 by Via Garibaldi 8

[QM1to6Ave]

Traffic has been so bad so far this holiday season, and it seems to start earlier and earlier each year. Monday mornings are especially bad. 

[trife86]

8 hours ago, Jdog14 said:

 

Perhaps one reason many of these buses are now OOS is because they are capped at 60 mph and many buses going through NJ are doing top speed for too long.  Perhaps they should raise it to 70 mph so the engines don't strain as much. 

I don't think that's a option. The tires on our busses only have a speed rating of 55 or 60mph.

[Jdog14]

7 hours ago, trife86 said:

I don't think that's a option. The tires on our busses only have a speed rating of 55 or 60mph.

 

I didn't know that tires had speed ratings until now....

[trife86]

2 minutes ago, Jdog14 said:

 

I didn't know that tires had speed ratings until now....

Yes not just busses and heavy vehicles but bassicly every car and motor vehicle there is.

Some tire compounds get too hot when loaded at speed and become unsafe. 

Usually higher speed rated tires cost more and they usually don't last as long either.

Edited November 27, 2018 by trife86

[SevenEleven]

10 hours ago, trife86 said:

I don't think that's a option. The tires on our busses only have a speed rating of 55 or 60mph.

Nah. NJT uses the same tires on their buses and they still blowing us out the water on the turnpike. 

[trife86]

1 hour ago, SevenEleven said:

Nah. NJT uses the same tires on their buses and they still blowing us out the water on the turnpike. 

That doesn't make it safe. Read the sidewall of the tire on any of our coach bus it will say the speed rating of it.

Not sure if some of them have been going over to Michelin

But here is both, I know for a fact we use the 305width tire and the Goodyear's were 55mph rated not sure what the Michelin are at or if we use them on coach.

https://www.goodyear.com/mileage/pdf/goodyear_transit_tires.pdf

https://www.michelinb2b.com/wps/b2bcontent/PDF/Transit_Buses.pdf

 

Look up the history of the Goodyear g159 RV tire is a prime example of over running the tire and speed limit. That tire has caused many many deaths from people pushing over the limit of them 

Edited November 27, 2018 by trife86

[SevenEleven]

4 hours ago, trife86 said:

That doesn't make it safe. Read the sidewall of the tire on any of our coach bus it will say the speed rating of it.

Not sure if some of them have been going over to Michelin

But here is both, I know for a fact we use the 305width tire and the Goodyear's were 55mph rated not sure what the Michelin are at or if we use them on coach.

https://www.goodyear.com/mileage/pdf/goodyear_transit_tires.pdf

https://www.michelinb2b.com/wps/b2bcontent/PDF/Transit_Buses.pdf

 

Look up the history of the Goodyear g159 RV tire is a prime example of over running the tire and speed limit. That tire has caused many many deaths from people pushing over the limit of them 

Thought my days of homework were done. 😭

Also, all of Castleton's buses have Michelin, local and express.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

19 hours ago, QM1to6Ave said:

Traffic has been so bad so far this holiday season, and it seems to start earlier and earlier each year. Monday mornings are especially bad. 

I've followed up on my request to meet with the DOT.  The traffic has been unbearable. The fare hike hearings are here now so knows when I'll be able to pry away my contacts to meet with the DOT, not to mention that I have meetings for work, so I won't be available for some days either.  Anywho, today it took almost two hours to get to the office and then the driver decided to have an extended conversation with someone who didn't pay and shouldn't have been picked up. I was pissed so I confronted him about it. He tries to pretend like it was a paying passenger who had gotten off early and got back on.  I get tired of drivers sitting around on our time when we're trying to get work asking questions about picking up passengers at drop-off only stops. The rule is DROP OFF only and I file complaints about it too.  Tell the passenger you drop off only, close the damn door and keep it moving.  They can take the local bus. You pay $6.50 for what is supposed to be EXPRESS service and then you have put up with that nonsense.

This guy especially annoys me because he drives so slow and he's always late.  To add insult to injury these schedules have already been pushed back some 20+ minutes so it means the drivers just take even longer to do the trips now. There is no way in hell that it should take almost two hours to go from Riverdale to Midtown one way, but if I don't leave at a certain time now, I'm pretty much guaranteed a late arrival to my office.

[Future ENY OP]

On 11/26/2018 at 6:54 PM, Jdog14 said:

 

Perhaps one reason many of these buses are now OOS is because they are capped at 60 mph and many buses going through NJ are doing top speed for too long.  Perhaps they should raise it to 70 mph so the engines don't strain as much. 

... and this is why I miss the old school 1989 MCI's on the express buses. The ones at Spring Creek: 478, 444, 446, 434 and like 3 more were tops at 70MPH driving down the prospect expwy. Also the ones from Eastchester // NYBS. I forget some of their fleet #'s but those buses flew down the Bruckner, Sheridan, Thruway-Bronx Extension, and Yonkers // Liberty Bus.

buses fly down at 75 on the Tpke // GSP.

Even the buses the gave fly down at 75. SMDH. There's something that maintenance is doing that   isn't.

[Jdog14]

2 minutes ago, Future ENY OP said:

... and this is why I miss the old school 1989 MCI's on the express buses. The ones at Spring Creek: 478, 444, 446, 434 and like 3 more were tops at 70MPH driving down the prospect expwy. Also the ones from Eastchester // NYBS. I forget some of their fleet #'s but those buses flew down the Bruckner, Sheridan, Thruway-Bronx Extension, and Yonkers // Liberty Bus.

buses fly down at 75 on the Tpke // GSP.

Even the buses the gave fly down at 75. SMDH. There's something that maintenance is doing that   isn't.

 

MTA cut down the top speed for fuel economy (so i heard)

[trainfan22]

2 hours ago, Future ENY OP said:

... and this is why I miss the old school 1989 MCI's on the express buses. The ones at Spring Creek: 478, 444, 446, 434 and like 3 more were tops at 70MPH driving down the prospect expwy. Also the ones from Eastchester // NYBS. I forget some of their fleet #'s but those buses flew down the Bruckner, Sheridan, Thruway-Bronx Extension, and Yonkers // Liberty Bus.

buses fly down at 75 on the Tpke // GSP.

Even the buses the gave fly down at 75. SMDH. There's something that maintenance is doing that   isn't.

I read in the NJT subforum that NJT has MCI's with over a million miles on them, I wonder if any MTA MCI's ever hit that mark?

[QM1to6Ave]

37 minutes ago, trainfan22 said:

I read in the NJT subforum that NJT has MCI's with over a million miles on them, I wonder if any MTA MCI's ever hit that mark?

Many of the CP ones are well past 1 million, based on the odometer readings I see when I get off the bus

[SevenEleven]

12 hours ago, trainfan22 said:

I read in the NJT subforum that NJT has MCI's with over a million miles on them, I wonder if any MTA MCI's ever hit that mark?

The highest I've seen was 503K on 2836 and that was like 3 weeks ago. 

[XcelsiorBoii4888]

On 11/26/2018 at 6:54 PM, Jdog14 said:

 

Perhaps one reason many of these buses are now OOS is because they are capped at 60 mph and many buses going through NJ are doing top speed for too long.  Perhaps they should raise it to 70 mph so the engines don't strain as much. 

The main reason why these buses are going OOS so fast is because of the overcrowding. Coach buses are designed for certain weights, and these commuter buses definitely weren't specd for standees, so the engine, the LBSS on the transmissions, the shocks, etc, are all wearing down faster. Check out reasons for why the buses are OOS, 90% will be from reasons above. Overheating, engine/transmission problems, airbags popped, etc, The Prevost were perfectly fine before this redesign. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

1 minute ago, XcelsiorBoii4888 said:

The main reason why these buses are going OOS so fast is because of the overcrowding. Coach buses are designed for certain weights, and these commuter buses definitely weren't specd for standees, so the engine, the LBSS on the transmissions, the shocks, etc, are all wearing down faster. Check out reasons for why the buses are OOS, 90% will be from reasons above. Overheating, engine/transmission problems, airbags popped, etc, The Prevost were perfectly fine before this redesign. 

That and shoddy maintenance.  Same problems at Ulmer Park Depot, and more of those buses are seeing standees too...

[XcelsiorBoii4888]

2 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

That and shoddy maintenance.  Same problems at Ulmer Park Depot, and more of those buses are seeing standees too...

Shoddy maintenance at UP has been going on FOREVER, Staten Island has improved all around, with Yukon still having some work to do.

You know what I don't understand? The MTA ordered Prevost, knowing damnn well it wasn't enough to replace all the early 2000s MCIs, but yet, we have a good 7-8? still in Staten Island. Should've kept more buses if these are still in service, would've had a better spare factor.