Express Bus Advocacy Group

[Via Garibaldi 8]

1 hour ago, QM1to6Ave said:

 

I love taking the QM's home on Christmas eve...I took the 6:45 pm QM31, and there were only 3 of us on the bus. The B/O's today were especially nice as well...I don't think they were the regulars. My off-peak Manhattan-bound QM6 B/O had us transfer to a waiting QM at 36th and 6th to make the rest of the loop after clearing it with the dispatcher. 

New Years Eve, on the other hand...I avoid express buses like the plague after about 2 pm. One of the few days where the subway is better than the bus going back to Queens

Yes, we were adamant about not leaving passengers out in the cold when going to Midtown with a QM express bus and they have honored that. I heard them over the radio on Saturday telling drivers to put passengers on another bus or they would figure it out. LOL If it happens again where you are thrown off instead of transferred or taken up accordingly to where you want to go let me know and I will raise hell again.

I’m also hellbent to fix the QM1 situation. I was out noting every single QM1 bus tonight on the iPad. The morning trips were all filled. The night trips were iffy though. I suspect one guy played games. He passed by as OOS and then popped up later up on BusTime and there was supposedly no 7pm either, but I saw something later on BusTime but couldn’t catch the bus # as it dropped off quickly. I do know that the 4pm deadheads back to Manhattan and is supposed to do the 06:30pm and I suspect that the 7pm is likely a deadhead that is supposed to do an earlier trip. I’m going to confirm this for sure in the next day or so, but we’re going to get those QM1 running consistently again, both in the morning and the evening.  I’ve made it clear that it is not optional service. A few guys from Baisley Park already know who I am. Even waited and asked if I was taking a trip tonight. lol I told them no, monitoring service, so guys are aware and they are starting to understand that we want them holding their time points. We’ve been focusing heavily on College Point. No hot buses. Either way I think we’re going to keep pushing for an audit because we are not going to tolerate ongoing missing buses. I’ve had enough of the missing bus BS. We mean business.

What we’ve also been doing is encouraging people in our group to file complaints when there is a problem in addition to posting in our group this way the MTA can see everything in real time and my contacts can work to address the problem. They have no excuse now.

Edited December 25, 2018 by Via Garibaldi 8

[trife86]

4 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I do know that the 4pm deadheads back to Manhattan and is supposed to do the 06:30pm and I suspect that the 7pm is likely a deadhead that is supposed to do an earlier trip. I’m going to confirm this for sure in the next day or so

If you get the run numbers I can pull it all up for you.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

4 hours ago, trife86 said:

If you get the run numbers I can pull it all up for you.

Thanks. Will find out and let you know.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

6 hours ago, trife86 said:

If you get the run numbers I can pull it all up for you.

I have my info. Basically the 04:00 does the 06:30pm, and the 04:30pm is supposed to do the 07:00pm trip. I can see why they may go missing. If they are stuck in traffic, they may not bother or if they don’t fill the trip then that could be two missing trips. @QM1to6Ave All of the other trips are on shot deals. In other words no second trip. There’s only seven trips so it’s very easy not to fill four of them. The 04:30 trip also does something before that which can mean it being stuck in traffic.

Edited December 25, 2018 by Via Garibaldi 8

[trife86]

1 hour ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I have my info. Basically the 04:00 does the 06:30pm, and the 04:30pm is supposed to do the 07:00pm trip. I can see why they may go missing. If they are stuck in traffic, they may not bother or if they don’t fill the trip then that could be two missing trips. @QM1to6Ave All of the other trips are on shot deals. In other words no second trip. There’s only seven trips so it’s very easy not to fill four of them. 

Didn't know it was only 3 runs. Easy to find.

Can get the rest if you need if it helps at all

 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

17 minutes ago, trife86 said:

Didn't know it was only 3 runs. Easy to find.

Can get the rest if you need if it helps at all

 

Thanks for that, but I have the background info on these trips. Just wanted to understand what was involved with them and now that I have that I can see why they go missing. 

@QM1to6Ave It’s still crazy though. If the 4pm trip incurs any traffic, forget it. Let’s say he finishes at 5pm, he’s supposed to get a break in there too, then go back to Manhattan. He’s bound to hit traffic so starting at 06:30pm I can see him being late and supervision saying just go back to the depot, and thus the trip is left unfilled. Same may be true of the 7pm because he’s the 4:30pm to 188th. If he hits any traffic forget it. No way he’s back in time to start that 7pm. Then if any of them play any games like last night and go OOS, that’s another factor. We will keep watching these trips to see how they do and we won’t watch them on BusTime. We’ll stand on 6th and see what happens and then compare with BusTime and check any buses that come by OOS or anything else.

Edited December 25, 2018 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Via Garibaldi 8]

We actually found schedules from the late 80s and the run times were the same as now!!! How in the hell can that be possible? Everyone knows how much slower Queens Blvd is now. Well this is why they have to be audited again. Drivers should have more time than an hour to deadhead. Just crazy. They’re supposed to have a 30 minute break, but that can easily be eaten up along Queens Blvd alone.

Edited December 25, 2018 by Via Garibaldi 8

[trife86]

1 hour ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

We actually found schedules from the late 80s and the run times were the same as now!!! How in the hell can that be possible? Everyone knows how much slower Queens Blvd is now. Well this is why they have to be audited again. Drivers should have more time than an hour to deadhead. Just crazy. They’re supposed to have a 30 minute break, but that can easily be eaten up along Queens Blvd alone.

I told you before lots of time points and stuff are the same for years. Never adjusted for anything.

But on another note I don't think a dispatcher will tell the 7pm trip to just return to depot if that's the last trip for that driver and only 7 trips  on that route in total.

Edited December 25, 2018 by trife86

[Via Garibaldi 8]

15 minutes ago, trife86 said:

I told you before lots of time points and stuff are the same for years.

But on another note I don't think a dispatcher will tell the 7pm trip to just return to depot if that's the last trip for that driver and only 7 trips  on that route in total.

Heh you’d be surprised. It USED to be that way, but there are a number of trips that were left unfilled that were the last trips on the line and I was told they would be filled going forward, so that should tell you all you need to know. 

Years... more like decades... I was shown a timetable from 1988 with the SAME time points as now!!! Ridiculous. As I said, the  was audited for this very thing in 2015 and they have BusTrek to assist them with real time info. Obviously traffic has worsened considerably in 30 years so to have the same time points is absurd. Of course when the driver is late or the bus goes missing, the driver is yelled at. I think it’s very possible. You can be stuck on Queens Blvd for 40 minutes easily. Assuming you do the loop to 57th street in 10 minutes (which is a joke during rush hour), you’re now 15-20 minutes late or more, then you have to deadhead back to Manhattan. Now you’re 30 minutes or more late. Mind you we’ve taken and tracked many QM trips along Union Turnpike and many of them have clocked in 30-40 minutes late because they don’t have enough time to get to Main Street and Union Turnpike.

Edited December 25, 2018 by Via Garibaldi 8

[QM1to6Ave]

2 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Thanks for that, but I have the background info on these trips. Just wanted to understand what was involved with them and now that I have that I can see why they go missing. 

@QM1to6Ave It’s still crazy though. If the 4pm trip incurs any traffic, forget it. Let’s say he finishes at 5pm, he’s supposed to get a break in there too, then go back to Manhattan. He’s bound to hit traffic so starting at 06:30pm I can see him being late and supervision saying just go back to the depot, and thus the trip is left unfilled. Same may be true of the 7pm because he’s the 4:30pm to 188th. If he hits any traffic forget it. No way he’s back in time to start that 7pm. Then if any of them play any games like last night and go OOS, that’s another factor. We will keep watching these trips to see how they do and we won’t watch them on BusTime. We’ll stand on 6th and see what happens and then compare with BusTime and check any buses that come by OOS or anything else.

Your efforts are appreciated as always!

It's still weird that the QM1s are the line that have the most issues, since the 5s and 6s are also usually coming off of previous runs, but are not missing nearly as often.  Still seems like someone playing games. 

 

And I have noticed that many nights,  a "QM1" will be showing as sitting at 36 and 6 at like 7:30 pm but then disappear without ever making the run. I can't figure out what is going on with that. 

 

The more I think about it, I realize the QM1 4 pm, 4:30 pm, 6:30 pm, and 7 pm runs are most likely to be missing. Based on the run info you and trife provided, it looks like if that B/O calls out that morning, they just never fill any of those runs

Edited December 25, 2018 by QM1to6Ave

[Via Garibaldi 8]

31 minutes ago, QM1to6Ave said:

Your efforts are appreciated as always!

It's still weird that the QM1s are the line that have the most issues, since the 5s and 6s are also usually coming off of previous runs, but are not missing nearly as often.  Still seems like someone playing games. 

 

And I have noticed that many nights,  a "QM1" will be showing as sitting at 36 and 6 at like 7:30 pm but then disappear without ever making the run. I can't figure out what is going on with that. 

Something I’m going to do is go right down to 6th and 36th to see for myself. I’ve also noticed what you described too on a number of lines. The later bus will sit at the terminal when they know that there’s a trip missing. I have a hard time believing that the drivers don’t have any idea that trips are missing. They would just rather not care since they get paid either way, but a number of guys will respond “Oh really?” when you note that you’ve waiting long with such and such bus missing. I mean they just drive the bus so their attitude is nothing we can do about it, but they do have eyes and ears. Something else I suspect they do is pull a bus from one line to another so they think oh they can just take the QM5 or the QM6 and transfer or whatever. That’s their attitude. Same crap with wanting to pull in at 36th & 6th.

Edited December 25, 2018 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Via Garibaldi 8]

1 hour ago, QM1to6Ave said:

Your efforts are appreciated as always!

It's still weird that the QM1s are the line that have the most issues, since the 5s and 6s are also usually coming off of previous runs, but are not missing nearly as often.  Still seems like someone playing games. 

 

And I have noticed that many nights,  a "QM1" will be showing as sitting at 36 and 6 at like 7:30 pm but then disappear without ever making the run. I can't figure out what is going on with that. 

 

The more I think about it, I realize the QM1 4 pm, 4:30 pm, 6:30 pm, and 7 pm runs are most likely to be missing. Based on the run info you and trife provided, it looks like if that B/O calls out that morning, they just never fill any of those runs

That’s exactly what they do. Then when ridership drops they’ll say oh well we have to cut service because there isn’t enough ridership, but when you look at how the trips are interlined, it becomes easy to see why they would be eager to cut them. There’s at least one swing in there. That means a guy does a morning QM1, has a long break, then does an evening QM1, all on the clock from my understanding. If you’re the  you’re looking at the cost of such trips. Do you want a guy on the clock like that AND you may have to pay him overtime if he’s late, which some of these QM1 trips would be given how little time they get to deadhead during the heart of the rush? If I’m a betting man I’d say you just wouldn’t fill them where possible. Saves money.

[checkmatechamp13]

1 minute ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

That’s exactly what they do. Then when ridership drops they’ll say oh well we have to cut service because there isn’t enough ridership, but when you look at how the trips are interlined, it becomes easy to see why they would be eager to cut them. There’s at least one swing in there. That means a guy does a morning QM1, has a long break, then does an evening QM1, all on the clock from my understanding. If you’re the  you’re looking at the cost of such trips. Do you want a guy on the clock like that AND you may have to pay him overtime if he’s late, which some of these QM1 trips would be given how little time they get to deadhead during the heart of the rush? If I’m a betting man I’d say you just wouldn’t fill them where possible. Saves money.

I remember somebody posting a run for MTA Bus and they didn't get paid at all for their swing (which surprised me). NYCT gets paid half-pay for the swing.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

3 minutes ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

I remember somebody posting a run for MTA Bus and they didn't get paid at all for their swing (which surprised me). NYCT gets paid half-pay for the swing.

It’s possible. That’s why I said I believe but didn’t say with certainty.  Bus is like the step child of NYCT. lol

[QM1to6Ave]

1 hour ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

That’s exactly what they do. Then when ridership drops they’ll say oh well we have to cut service because there isn’t enough ridership, but when you look at how the trips are interlined, it becomes easy to see why they would be eager to cut them. There’s at least one swing in there. That means a guy does a morning QM1, has a long break, then does an evening QM1, all on the clock from my understanding. If you’re the  you’re looking at the cost of such trips. Do you want a guy on the clock like that AND you may have to pay him overtime if he’s late, which some of these QM1 trips would be given how little time they get to deadhead during the heart of the rush? If I’m a betting man I’d say you just wouldn’t fill them where possible. Saves money.

That kind of very long deadhead makes you wonder whether these runs are efficiently organized. I wonder if once upon a time when they had QM1 runs throughout the day if there were those runs rather than such a long swing. 

 

And what do B/Os do during swings? Stat with the bus? Or can they do whatever as long ad they return on time?

[Via Garibaldi 8]

8 minutes ago, QM1to6Ave said:

That kind of very long deadhead makes you wonder whether these runs are efficiently organized. I wonder if once upon a time when they had QM1 runs throughout the day if there were those runs rather than such a long swing. 

 

And what do B/Os do during swings? Stat with the bus? Or can they do whatever as long ad they return on time?

I’ve heard that some guys take classes in between. It will be very interesting to see what happens for the Queens redesign that’s for sure. The QM5 does far too much, but at the same time it’s clear that they don’t want to run those QM1 trips, even though you have the Fresh Meadows complex there.

[checkmatechamp13]

36 minutes ago, QM1to6Ave said:

And what do B/Os do during swings? Stat with the bus? Or can they do whatever as long ad they return on time?

A swing is basically a lunch break. They pull into the depot, leave the bus there, and do whatever they want as long as they return on time.

[QM1to6Ave]

2 hours ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

A swing is basically a lunch break. They pull into the depot, leave the bus there, and do whatever they want as long as they return on time.

Wow, so whoever picks this set of runs has a "break" from 9:15 am until 3:30 pm?? They could fit a second job in that time!

[Jdog14]

1 minute ago, QM1to6Ave said:

Wow, so whoever picks this set of runs has a "break" from 9:15 am until 3:30 pm?? They could fit a second job in that time!

 

That's what happens when you have peak routes/trips. 

[QM1to6Ave]

13 minutes ago, Jdog14 said:

 

That's what happens when you have peak routes/trips. 

Sounds like a good deal to me, sign me up lol

[trife86]

6 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Something I’m going to do is go right down to 6th and 36th to see for myself. I’ve also noticed what you described too on a number of lines. The later bus will sit at the terminal when they know that there’s a trip missing. I have a hard time believing that the drivers don’t have any idea that trips are missing. They would just rather not care since they get paid either way, but a number of guys will respond “Oh really?” when you note that you’ve waiting long with such and such bus missing. I mean they just drive the bus so their attitude is nothing we can do about it, but they do have eyes and ears. Something else I suspect they do is pull a bus from one line to another so they think oh they can just take the QM5 or the QM6 and transfer or whatever. That’s their attitude. Same crap with wanting to pull in at 36th & 6th.

It's a tough one. I don't do express much but even on local if someone asked me about the bus ahead that never showed up, 95% of the time I have no idea about it. We are never informed of missing trips on the route. Unless we actually pass a bus broken down or accident. 

We stay in the dark just like the passengers.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

48 minutes ago, trife86 said:

It's a tough one. I don't do express much but even on local if someone asked me about the bus ahead that never showed up, 95% of the time I have no idea about it. We are never informed of missing trips on the route. Unless we actually pass a bus broken down or accident. 

We stay in the dark just like the passengers.

Doesn’t surprise me. You likely just focus on your trips.

[checkmatechamp13]

1 hour ago, QM1to6Ave said:

Wow, so whoever picks this set of runs has a "break" from 9:15 am until 3:30 pm?? They could fit a second job in that time!

They could....but remember that if it's MTA Bus (and if the information in this post is still accurate) then they don't get paid  for the swing. So in that case, I'd rather just work 8 hours straight and work another job after I'm done instead of having to worry about running back and forth between jobs during the day.

Though to be fair, you might be able to get a little side hustle in (for example, one B/O told a story of someone who would walk dogs during his swing).

[Via Garibaldi 8]

22 minutes ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

They could....but remember that if it's MTA Bus (and if the information in this post is still accurate) then they don't get paid  for the swing. So in that case, I'd rather just work 8 hours straight and work another job after I'm done instead of having to worry about running back and forth between jobs during the day.

Though to be fair, you might be able to get a little side hustle in (for example, one B/O told a story of someone who would walk dogs during his swing).

This isn’t true for all MTA Bus depots.

[trife86]

44 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Doesn’t surprise me. You likely just focus on your trips.

Not just me , trust me that's how it is across the board. They will never be a announcement or anything at the depot or radio informing us of missing trips or anything to expect heavy ridership or delays.