Express Bus Advocacy Group

[trife86]

11 minutes 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. 

Don't think the engine and transmission are stressed as all, even fully loaded on highway it doesn't need much to maintain speed.

I wouldn't say an extra 5000lb over say a 45-50,000pound normal load is really even going to effect anything.

 

I would blame it just more on there getting broken in now and not just brand new and racking up the miles are bound to bring problems.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

18 minutes ago, XcelsiorBoii4888 said:

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. 

Yeah I know.  Some of the other units were moved to Bus as some depots desperately needed them (as beat up as they are). I don't blame the  for retiring most of what they did because they were in HORRID condition.

Edited November 28, 2018 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Via Garibaldi 8]

For express bus commuters...

Buses are supposed to be detoured off of 5th and onto Lex... That seems to be iffy at the moment. I would go down to 5th and 42nd and get your bus there.

For riders on 6th Avenue, QM express buses are detoured down Madison.  I'm being told that dispatch is radioing to ALL B/Os to make those stops.

I've been making such a stink about the QM1 in my group that I'm sure that those buses should be running now. Only one QM1 was a ghost bus (person in my group was in Manhattan and confirmed for me).

Edited November 28, 2018 by Via Garibaldi 8

[trainfan22]

2 hours 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. 

The same engine used in the Prevosts are also used in 18 wheeler trucks, which I would imagine pull far heavier loads than a full coach bus /w people standing.

 

 

I could see this being a issue with the 2300 MCI at Charleston though, those use the ISL, same engine in the XD40/Novas. I can see the 2300s being a little underpowered if filled up with people.

 

 

Speaking of those 2300s, those buses get lost in the shuffle and hardly anyone talks about them lol. I like them, I wish UP had all of them or spilt between UP & CAS rather than Q.V. & CHR.

 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

I had to give someone the boot a few minutes ago. I'm going to re-iterate the purpose of the Advocacy Group... For express bus commuters... I've let in a few "transit fans" and I am not tolerating any trolling or stupid posts under any circumstances.  I don't find it cute at all. People are arriving late to their jobs and are risk of being fired. Nothing cute about that at all.  This group was created to help people improve their commutes.  Anyone that comes into the group trolling will be immediately booted.

[trife86]

2 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I had to give someone the boot a few minutes ago. I'm going to re-iterate the purpose of the Advocacy Group... For express bus commuters... I've let in a few "transit fans" and I am not tolerating any trolling or stupid posts under any circumstances.  I don't find it cute at all. People are arriving late to their jobs and are risk of being fired. Nothing cute about that at all.  This group was created to help people improve their commutes.  Anyone that comes into the group trolling will be immediately booted.

Is it appropriate to say DAS BOOOOT

[Via Garibaldi 8]

5 minutes ago, trife86 said:

Is it appropriate to say DAS BOOOOT

For the most part people haven't presented any issues, but this one person was just posting such nonsense and they are not an express bus commuter.  Tonight buses are on detour and QMs are running on Madison.  Knowing that why in the hell would anyone post that they were wondering why such and such bus was on Madison when you know buses are on detour? Smh The page has been effective in improving service overall and I'd like it to stay that way without such BS and clutter.

Edited November 29, 2018 by Via Garibaldi 8

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

1 hour ago, trainfan22 said:

Speaking of those 2300s, those buses get lost in the shuffle and hardly anyone talks about them lol. I like them, I wish UP had all of them or spilt between UP & CAS rather than Q.V. & CHR.

 

They're my favorite of the MTA Express bus fleet. I wish they ran on weekends along with the Prevosts. I wouldn't want UP having them. I wouldn't want to see them run them into the ground. Too bad they rarely operate on the weekends. I still we should have got some more of these for bus company over whatever is gonna be awarded, but it is what is. 

Edited November 29, 2018 by BM5 via Woodhaven

[QM1to6Ave]

7 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

For express bus commuters...

Buses are supposed to be detoured off of 5th and onto Lex... That seems to be iffy at the moment. I would go down to 5th and 42nd and get your bus there.

For riders on 6th Avenue, QM express buses are detoured down Madison.  I'm being told that dispatch is radioing to ALL B/Os to make those stops.

I've been making such a stink about the QM1 in my group that I'm sure that those buses should be running now. Only one QM1 was a ghost bus (person in my group was in Manhattan and confirmed for me).

Yup, the QM1s have been running much more often. Granted they often still run late, but better than not running at all. 

Tonight was a mess on the QM5 at 7:00. It is always usually close to SRO, but tonight it had 7 standees. A new "record". And the B/O didn't bother to tell us "no seats" when we got on. 

Meanwhile, one of my local politicians got the following article published complaining about the Q46 cuts, except she forgot to mention the part about them taking a bus off of the 46 entirely. Better than nothing...

https://qns.com/story/2018/11/21/dont-put-many-limits-morning-q46-limited-bus-service-queens-lawmaker-urges-mta/

 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

7 minutes ago, QM1to6Ave said:

Yup, the QM1s have been running much more often. Granted they often still run late, but better than not running at all. 

Tonight was a mess on the QM5 at 7:00. It is always usually close to SRO, but tonight it had 7 standees. A new "record". And the B/O didn't bother to tell us "no seats" when we got on. 

Meanwhile, one of my local politicians got the following article published complaining about the Q46 cuts, except she forgot to mention the part about them taking a bus off of the 46 entirely. Better than nothing...

https://qns.com/story/2018/11/21/dont-put-many-limits-morning-q46-limited-bus-service-queens-lawmaker-urges-mta/

 

I believe once the holidays are over you should see even better service. Tonight 6th was a mess. I went to 3rd for the BxM1 and the driver was gunning it. Feels like the old days. Not perfect, but definitely better than before. We’ll keep working at it.

[SevenEleven]

7 hours ago, trainfan22 said:

 

I could see this being a issue with the 2300 MCI at Charleston though, those use the ISL, same engine in the XD40/Novas. I can see the 2300s being a little underpowered if filled up with people.

 

 

Speaking of those 2300s, those buses get lost in the shuffle and hardly anyone talks about them lol. I like them, I wish UP had all of them or spilt between UP & CAS rather than Q.V. & CHR.

 

They went with the 280hp rated engine instead of the 330 rated one. They're beautiful on the local streets but they suck on any sort of incline.

Those 2200s are all I try to drive when I work out of Charleston. 

[QM1to6Ave]

The 8:40 am QM31  was a no-show once again (or if it did run, it was more than 20 mins late, which is when I stopped tracking it). And the 7:00 pm QM1 last night back to Queens was a no-show as well, even with all the new pressure being put on CP to make the runs. The (MTA)'s incompetence continues to amaze me. 

[Lil 57]

1 hour ago, QM1to6Ave said:

The 8:40 am QM31  was a no-show once again (or if it did run, it was more than 20 mins late, which is when I stopped tracking it). And the 7:00 pm QM1 last night back to Queens was a no-show as well, even with all the new pressure being put on CP to make the runs. The (MTA)'s incompetence continues to amaze me. 

No 7:00 PM QM1 tonight either, they do have the 7:03 PM QM5 (And mabye the 6:43 PM QM5 going via Fresh Meadows)

[QM1to6Ave]

17 minutes ago, Lil 57 said:

No 7:00 PM QM1 tonight either, they do have the 7:03 PM QM5 (And mabye the 6:43 PM QM5 going via Fresh Meadows)

Those QM5's have been SRO all week (Ive been taking them very often). So ridiculous 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

4 hours ago, QM1to6Ave said:

The 8:40 am QM31  was a no-show once again (or if it did run, it was more than 20 mins late, which is when I stopped tracking it). And the 7:00 pm QM1 last night back to Queens was a no-show as well, even with all the new pressure being put on CP to make the runs. The (MTA)'s incompetence continues to amaze me. 

 

3 hours ago, Lil 57 said:

No 7:00 PM QM1 tonight either, they do have the 7:03 PM QM5 (And mabye the 6:43 PM QM5 going via Fresh Meadows)

@QM1to6Ave Not all of these trips are missing. Some are ghost buses and some are indeed late. The first QM1 the other day that I was bitching about in my group was a ghost bus because they often use the older buses on that line that cannot be tracked. There are a number of buses not on BusTime (not 2002 buses either) which I am told are ghost buses (I have ways of finding out). Too many in fact and I’m becoming annoyed with it, but trust me where they can fill the trips they’re trying because otherwise I keep bitching. The thing is you have realize how long this crap of missing trips had been going on. Not so easy to just fill those trips when you’ve been getting away with not filling them for so long, and they clearly view the QM1/QM31 as a supplementary service.

2 hours ago, QM1to6Ave said:

Those QM5's have been SRO all week (Ive been taking them very often). So ridiculous 

The QM5s tonight were bunched like crazy. They are trying but there are still some issues, one being traffic. Traffic the last few days has been HORRIBLE, and I suspect that some of those QM1s may do more than one trip if possible.  Additionally, I suspect that they may be short on extras. This can be a time when guys take off and it doesn’t take much to have a man power issue. That is definitely a problem on Staten Island from what I’ve been hearing among other things. Tons of missing buses...

Edited December 1, 2018 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Via Garibaldi 8]

As I noted above, there are a lot of ghost buses. Some in Queens, some in the Bronx, Brooklyn and the lions share on Staten Island. Will have to get this addressed at some point. I want all buses to be trackable. Can lead to people thinking the buses aren’t coming...

Edited December 1, 2018 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Lil 57]

24 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

As I noted above, there are a lot of ghost buses. Some in Queens, some in the Bronx, Brooklyn and the lions share on Staten Island. Will have to get this addressed at some point. I want all buses to be trackable. Can lead to people thinking the buses aren’t coming...

The S89 can be physically untrackable because all of the 2002 MCI's at Yukon minus 2882 aren't trackable and all of the 2002 MCI's are used on the S89 for the rush hours. You can only see a few buses on the map during the heart of rush hour.

Edited December 1, 2018 by Lil 57

[Via Garibaldi 8]

10 minutes ago, Lil 57 said:

The S89 can be physically untrackable because all of the 2002 MCI's at Yukon minus 2882 aren't trackable and all of the 2002 MCI's are used on the S89 for the rush hours. You can only see a few buses on the map during the heart of rush hour.

I believe some of the 2900s are trackable, but after that it isn’t clear which 2002 buses have GPS. There are plenty of non 2002 buses that aren’t trackable though. I have to check the notes in my iPad to see when I have a chance.

[Lil 57]

Just now, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I believe some of the 2900s are trackable, but after that it isn’t clear which 2002 buses have GPS. There are plenty of non 2002 buses that aren’t trackable though. I have to check the notes in my iPad to see when I have a chance.

All of the 2002 buses at Castleton are also trackable.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

15 minutes ago, Lil 57 said:

All of the 2002 buses at Castleton are also trackable.

Good to know.... Some other quirky things noted during trips/tracking express bus lines:

Some QM4 trips to Electchester show up as via Midtown 57th Street along 6th Avenue and around 57th the signage switches to Electchester. I have screenshots of it too. The signage is correct on the bus though so it must be something with the GPS that throws things off. Sometimes when BxM2 buses Southbound take 5th down to Central Park South, those buses will come up as going to Riverdale because of the direction they travel. Then once the bus turns into 7th, the via Kappock signage comes up.

[QM1to6Ave]

1 hour ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

 

@QM1to6Ave Not all of these trips are missing. Some are ghost buses and some are indeed late. The first QM1 the other day that I was bitching about in my group was a ghost bus because they often use the older buses on that line that cannot be tracked. There are a number of buses not on BusTime (not 2002 buses either) which I am told are ghost buses (I have ways of finding out). Too many in fact and I’m becoming annoyed with it, but trust me where they can fill the trips they’re trying because otherwise I keep bitching. The thing is you have realize how long this crap of missing trips had been going on. Not so easy to just fill those trips when you’ve been getting away with not filling them for so long, and they clearly view the QM1/QM31 as a supplementary service.

The QM5s tonight were bunched like crazy. They are trying but there are still some issues, one being traffic. Traffic the last few days has been HORRIBLE, and I suspect that some of those QM1s may do more than one trip if possible.  Additionally, I suspect that they may be short on extras. This can be a time when guys take off and it doesn’t take much to have a man power issue. That is definitely a problem on Staten Island from what I’ve been hearing among other things. Tons of missing buses...

I'm glad you are on the inside of this! I agree, untrackable buses at this point is ridiculous. 

[Orion6025]

1 hour ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I want all buses to be trackable

Well nearly all buses have trackers installed. Save for newly delivered buses and ones transferred between MTAB and NYCT, all have trackers installed, it's just a matter of whether they're working... And that includes every 2002 MCI out of CP. The one bus that I'm aware of that consistently has issues tracking is 2204, which hasn't tracked reliably since last January

[LegoBrickBreaker101]

13 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

As I noted above, there are a lot of ghost buses. Some in Queens, some in the Bronx, Brooklyn and the lions share on Staten Island. Will have to get this addressed at some point. I want all buses to be trackable. Can lead to people thinking the buses aren’t coming...

A lot of the time the short turns aren't on BusTime or show up as heading to the end of the route, which can be a problem. Happens a lot of the Bx12 Select, the buses that end at University Avenue or Pelham Bay Park show up as buses ending at Inwood or Bay Plaza respectively.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

3 hours ago, LegoBrickBreaker101 said:

A lot of the time the short turns aren't on BusTime or show up as heading to the end of the route, which can be a problem. Happens a lot of the Bx12 Select, the buses that end at University Avenue or Pelham Bay Park show up as buses ending at Inwood or Bay Plaza respectively.

While it isn’t as paramount as things as on-time performance, it is definitely important. Having BusTime has made life so much easier for me to plan. When I’m working in the office and want to figure out which bus to take, I turn on BusTime and see how the buses are running. If the bus is delayed, I can relax in my office and wait or work on a few more projects before cleaning up and heading to the bus stop. When it works it can be a time saver for sure.

[BM1 Rider]

I'm a longtime BM1 rider. The service has never been great but in the past year or so its gone completely off the rails. Constant lates and no-shows. I ride off-hours and take the last bus out of Midtown home. I can't even count the number of times the bus just didn't show and stranded me in Manhattan. It's getting to the point where I have to consider moving out of Bergen Beach because I really can't take it anymore.