Express Bus Advocacy Group

[Via Garibaldi 8]

-Updates: This morning a X28 passenger took himself to NYU Langone after becoming ill due to anti-freeze fumes.  This is second incident on an express bus out of Ulmer Park Depot having to be pulled from service because of such problems in the last few months. It is disturbing to say the least. They are currently considering their legal options and I have offered to provide assistance for a lawyer if they can't find one to meet their needs.

https://video-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t42.3356-2/54231262_2542971819098969_1203790542815163190_n.mp4/video-1551893855.mp4?_nc_cat=107&vabr=410064&_nc_ht=video-lga3-1.xx&oh=2a5a4aa62142bfa855976a9c98b056f9&oe=5C815958&dl=1

-Looked into QM1 issue and hope that it will be resolved soon. @QM1to6Ave I will explain what is going on via PM.

UPDATE: QM1 issues are due to equipment problems so they are combining runs where possible to try to make service. QM1 trips are turned into QM5 trips which is nothing new. The signage however should read QM5 via Fresh Meadows and I was told that the signage should say this at the end when QM1 trips are turned into QM5 trips. If that doesn't happen, please let me know.  @QM1to6Ave

Additionally, we are going to look into pressing the equipment problems because service has been a mess now for months on the QM1 especially and this morning there was a QM5 trip that went missing and was combined.  It is also causing overcrowding, so we will see what can be done to improve maintenance at that depot.

Edited March 6, 2019 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Via Garibaldi 8]

More passengers from the X28 now going to the hospital to be checked out, as they are not feeling well. Anti-freeze contains ethylene glycol, which is toxic. Can't imagine inhaling that crap.

Edited March 6, 2019 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Lil 57]

BusTrek gave me some intel on the 5:30 PM QM1 that hasn't shown up for weeks. Bus 3198 is in "Non-Revenue" mode, shows up as the 5:30 PM bus (I checked the paddle) and then immediately turned into the 6:00 PM QM1. Maybe the 5:30 PM bus was told to wait until 6:00 PM? @Via Garibaldi 8 if you want to talk to the driver, he/she does the 7:25 AM QM36 bus out of NST, according to the paddle, if you want to go talk to them.

Edited March 6, 2019 by Lil 57

[Via Garibaldi 8]

7 minutes ago, Lil 57 said:

BusTrek gave me some intel on the 5:30 PM QM1 that hasn't shown up for weeks. Bus 3198 is in "Non-Revenue" mode, shows up as the 5:30 PM bus (I checked the paddle) and then immediately turned into the 6:00 PM QM1. Maybe the 5:30 PM bus was told to wait until 6:00 PM? @Via Garibaldi 8 if you want to talk to the driver, he/she does the 7:25 AM QM36 bus out of NST, according to the paddle, if you want to go talk to them.

lol... BusTrek can be misleading. It isn't always accurate. That 3198 bus was the 16:00 and is not the 17:30.  Given how short CP is on buses, they are combining buses and doing all sorts of things now to try to piece together service. There was no 17:30 tonight at all.  One of my contacts did me a favor and the QM1s that turn into QM5s are supposed to run via Fresh Meadows. I have been hearing on various occasions now from drivers and other people that CP is severely short on buses which is causing them to have up to 30 runs open and I have heard this more than once now. Too many times in fact.  In fact they at times have even sent some of their buses up to Yonkers Depot because they were so backed up with getting their buses fixed.

Edited March 6, 2019 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Via Garibaldi 8]

@Lil 57 See that 3198 bus is now a QM5. He's doing the 18:02 trip to Glen Oaks, and you'll see that the paddle changes, but that's really a QM1 that should be doing a 18:30 trip, so if the 18:30 is not covered I wouldn't be shocked.

[Lil 57]

2 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

@Lil 57 See that 3198 bus is now a QM5. He's doing the 18:02 trip to Glen Oaks, and you'll see that the paddle changes, but that's really a QM1 that should be doing a 18:30 trip, so if the 18:30 is not covered I wouldn't be shocked.

3198 is still sitting at 6/36. 3189 is doing the 6:02 PM QM5 trip.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

4 minutes ago, Lil 57 said:

3198 is still sitting at 6/36. 3189 is doing the 6:02 PM QM5 trip.

You're right. Damn numbers screwing with me!! I'm tracking a gazillion things at once and working on things in my office... So then there will be a 18:30 because there was no 18:00.

[Lil 57]

24 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

You're right. Damn numbers screwing with me!! I'm tracking a gazillion things at once and working on things in my office... So then there will be a 18:30 because there was no 18:00.

3198 is now a QM5 bus. No 6:30 PM bus either.

Edited March 6, 2019 by Lil 57

[Via Garibaldi 8]

2 minutes ago, Lil 57 said:

3198 is now a QM5 bus. No 6:30 PM bus either.

So I was right anyway... That means they are REALLY short... Technically the QM1s are there.  They are just turning them into QM5s when they are short on making service. 

[danielhg121]

So if it’s equipment problems, why are they taking so long to order new buses? I heard they pushed back the express bus order... From lack of maintenance to having so many open runs, this is just out of control. And the numerous people being hospitalized after the antifreeze, I think this is just a nail in the coffin.

[ViaWaterViaChurch]

17 hours ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

If the trip is deadheading back to College Point anyway, the marginal cost of having it swing through Whitestone might not be too much. I agree those trips likely aren't needed but I'd like to see the numbers on those first. Reverse-peak service in general (as you recall I mentioned with the SIM2) is dirt-cheap to operate.

 

They'd probably be even easier to operate if they let drivers go off route late at night and take a deadhead route with highways instead of going down Northern Boulevard and getting stopped every 5 blocks for a 45 second red light.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

55 minutes ago, danielhg121 said:

So if it’s equipment problems, why are they taking so long to order new buses? I heard they pushed back the express bus order... From lack of maintenance to having so many open runs, this is just out of control. And the numerous people being hospitalized after the antifreeze, I think this is just a nail in the coffin.

In part because it seems that they are pushing back any service cuts to next year based on the budget that we've reviewed. I have other people that look at these things and then we discuss them.  They seem to be planning some massive service cuts based on the budget along with the fact that they are only ordering about 257 express buses when they need to retire far more than that in the very near future. That alone seems to show that they plan on gutting service and they may also try to cut service through these redesigns.  Of course they may have also pushed back these things waiting to see what happens with congestion pricing and other other more secure long-term funding plans. 

Express bus riders spoke out like never before, and I have been really on them both in my meetings and speaking before the Board and at hearings giving them an earful.  The fact that so many people are so upset across the City that have been using the service for 20 - 30 years back when many lines were private shows just how bad it has become. I was looking around on the BxM1 bus I took this morning.  A shell of what it used to be. Before I would have to look around for a seat or sit next to someone.  This morning I had plenty of seats to choose from, and while some buses are still seeing good ridership, others are a lot emptier than they used to be. 

That said, there's been whispers that they are trying to cut back on things like OT, so with those cuts that means that maintenance can't fix as many buses or perhaps there is a slow down in retaliation to said cut back on hours.  Lots of talk going on now and this is not just out of places like College Point, but elsewhere.  You also have lots of B/Os that are due to retire, and so the question is do you replace those drivers or do you try to cut service to phase them out? That is something else that the  may be planning because they want to cut down on worker costs.  Meanwhile, Darryl Irick in his "cost savings" proposal at the MTA Finance Committee Meeting back in December noted that the new fleet would have an even longer cycle between rehabs, going from four years (the current cycle) up to SIX years, and he basically is asking us to trust him because he didn't offer any real stats to back such a move.  It's ridiculous. They are struggling to make service as it is now. They also haven't awarded the contract yet to a vendor to build these new buses, so I have to assume they are going off of reports regarding performance from the vendors and or reports from other transit agencies, otherwise it doesn't make much sense.  I would imagine that they also believe that the newer fleet will be more reliable with fewer breakdowns, but of course that remains to be seen, and some depots are better with keeping their fleet up than others. Always been that way...

Edited March 7, 2019 by Via Garibaldi 8

[BreeddekalbL]

I say Mr byford has to massacre maintenance management at up or all management there

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

19 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

In part because it seems that they are pushing back any service cuts to next year based on the budget that we've reviewed. I have other people that look at these things and then we discuss them.  They seem to planning some massive service cuts based on the budget along with the fact that they are only ordering about 257 express buses when they need to retire far more than that in the very near future. That alone seems to show that they plan on gutting service and they may also try to cut service through these redesigns.  Of course they may have also pushed back these things waiting to see what happens with congestion pricing and other other more secure long-term funding plans. 

I believe that they will attempt to implement service cuts before the redesigns come around, so that when it is time for the actual redesigns, they won't have much to work with (and thus won't have to promise a bunch of service). Keep in mind that Brooklyn and Queens are the last two boroughs getting redesigns, with Queens being the last. That right there gives them enough time to make any cuts they deem "necessary". Given how virtually all these redesign projects are likely to fall behind schedule, I don't doubt that they'll plan to take advantage of that too.

Edited March 7, 2019 by BM5 via Woodhaven

[Via Garibaldi 8]

24 minutes ago, ViaWaterViaChurch said:

They'd probably be even easier to operate if they let drivers go off route late at night and take a deadhead route with highways instead of going down Northern Boulevard and getting stopped every 5 blocks for a 45 second red light.

I really gave it to one of the head planners (Mark Holmes) that oversees the QMs. They claim that they know about the QM2 and QM20 problems (I'm sure they've received a litany of complaints based on what riders in my group say and what I have seen in person from pissed passengers giving it to the B/Os).  The DOT doesn't want to move them off of 59th because of "capacity issues". In other words, they don't want too many buses running across 57th, and they (the MTA, per the planner) also don't want the QM2 and QM20 meandering about to get back to Queens, hence why they want them on 59th.  I told Mark Holmes and the DOT that 59th street is a parking lot and something MUST be done to fix this mess, and those were the exact words that I used. They basically acted like they had tried some things they didn't work and were out of ideas and I basically made it clear that that wasn't acceptable in any way shape or form. I told them we want the buses BACK on 57th street OR you come up with a traffic mitigation plan for 59th street. I have out walked the damn QM2 on weekends from the last stop on 6th to the first stop on 59th street when I missed the bus, and I'm not kidding when I say that either. 

The other thing we want to propose is giving more flexibility to the drivers.  As you probably know, taking Northern is better during the rush, but using the LIE is better off-peak. They tried one routing as a trial. It was a mess and they've left them on Northern ever since to crawl back to Bay Terrace, so the DOT will likely stand firm on wanting them on 59th (out of the two DOT reps that were in meeting, the female rep seemed to be set on that), but we'll insist on what I said before and see what they come up with. The planner promised to have another look at it, so I would expect some sort of change perhaps in the next pick.

Edited March 7, 2019 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Via Garibaldi 8]

7 minutes ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

I believe that they will be attempt to implement service cuts before the redesigns come around, so that when it is time for the actual redesigns, they won't have much to work with (and thus won't have to promise a bunch of service). Keep in mind that Brooklyn and Queens are the last two boroughs getting redesigns, with Queens being the last. That right there gives them enough time to make any cuts they deem "necessary". Given how virtually all these redesign projects are likely to fall behind schedule, I don't doubt that they'll plan to take advantage of that too.

Oh I'm well aware of that trust me. We know the deal. The person that runs the group with me has been down this road before. We a VERY aware of what they likely plan on doing, so we are trying to make people aware NOW and build up a base NOW to make it pure hell for them.  Make no mistake about it.  We have been making it quite miserable for the  on Staten Island between my group and the other commuter groups there.  This is why they are making so many "tweaks" as they call them because the service is a mess and people are pissed.  Now there has been some improvements regarding overcrowding, but there are still too many missing buses leading to large gaps and overcrowding.  They promised frequent service and they basically have had a hard time making good on that promise.  Meeting Sarah Wyss in my meeting, I could see that they really are not all that aware of who their ridership is when we talked about the SIM2, and that in my mind is crazy. Then again, when you have people sitting in the office all day that don't use the damn service, it isn't that shocking.  I'm sorry, but taking an express bus here and there doesn't count.

Edited March 7, 2019 by Via Garibaldi 8

[BrooklynBus]

7 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I really gave it to one of the head planners (Mark Holmes) that oversees the QMs. They claim that they know about the QM2 and QM20 problems (I'm sure they've received a litany of complaints based on what riders in my group say and what I have seen in person from pissed passengers giving it to the B/Os).  The DOT doesn't want to move them off of 59th because of "capacity issues". In other words, they don't want too many buses running across 57th, and they (the MTA, per the planner) also don't want the QM2 and QM20 meandering about to get back to Queens, hence why they want them on 59th.  I told Mark Holmes and the DOT that 59th street is a parking lot and something MUST be done to fix this mess, and those were the exact words that I used. They basically acted like they had tried some things they didn't work and were out of ideas and I basically made it clear that that wasn't acceptable in any way shape or form. I told them we want the buses BACK on 57th street OR you come up with a traffic mitigation plan for 59th street. I have out walked the damn QM2 on weekends from the last stop on 6th to the first stop on 59th streeT when I missed the bus, and I'm not kidding when I say that either. 

The other thing we want to propose is giving more flexibility to the drivers.  As you probably know, taking Northern is better during the rush, but using the LIE is better off-peak. They tried one routing as a trial. It was a mess and they've left them on Northern ever since to crawl back to Bay Terrace, so the DOT will likely stand firm on wanting them on 59th (out of the two DOT reps that were in meeting, the female rep seemed to be set on that), but we'll insist on what I said before and see what they come up with. The planner promised to have another look at it, so I would expect some sort of change perhaps in the next pick.

I was on the 57 Street local bus a few weeks ago during the week midday. While traffic was okay westbound which is where I was going, for some reason, it was at a standstill eastbound. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

8 minutes ago, BrooklynBus said:

I was on the 57 Street local bus a few weeks ago during the week midday. While traffic was okay westbound which is where I was going, for some reason, it was at a standstill eastbound. 

Well the other problem is we need a cap on those damn for-hire vehicles. I am absolutely astonished by how many of them are clogging up the streets all across the City, primarily EMPTY too. Every morning when I wait for the express bus, I make a point of looking at the license plates as they pass by the stop, and all of these cars that look like "personal cars" are really Ubers, Lyfts and the like. Even on my block... I live on what used to be a VERY quiet residential street. We would have the occasional yellow cab from the City dropping off someone. Now when I walk out of my residence, there are at least TWO Ubers parked waiting for someone, not to mention all of the other ones that come flying down the block to go elsewhere.  It has really gotten out of hand. Even the Commissioner of the DOT (Polly Trottenberg) noted that we now have hundreds of thousands of these vehicles on the streets now in just a few years, and the City has allowed this mess to spiral out of control.  That's why I was persistent about getting the DOT in a meeting because they are part of the problem too. The have narrowed down street after street, manufacturing congestion that wouldn't be as severe otherwise. It's ridiculous. 

Edited March 7, 2019 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Via Garibaldi 8]

12 minutes ago, BrooklynBus said:

I was on the 57 Street local bus a few weeks ago during the week midday. While traffic was okay westbound which is where I was going, for some reason, it was at a standstill eastbound. 

Shouldn't be too shocked.  You have TONS of for-hire vehicles now on 59th and 57th for that matter. You should stand at Park and 59th as I have a few mornings and see all of the taxis and for-hire vehicles clogging up the street. I did that one morning while I was waiting to cross. Since I was drinking a coffee I decided to sit there a bit longer. I would say that 80% or more of the cars that came down 59th were either taxis or for-hire vehicles, and the for-hire vehicles DEFINITELY outnumbered the yellow taxis.  Add your construction vans and Fed-Ex trucks and other delivery trucks and you have a nice amount of gridlock.

Edited March 7, 2019 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Union Tpke]

2 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

In part because it seems that they are pushing back any service cuts to next year based on the budget that we've reviewed. I have other people that look at these things and then we discuss them.  They seem to be planning some massive service cuts based on the budget along with the fact that they are only ordering about 257 express buses when they need to retire far more than that in the very near future. That alone seems to show that they plan on gutting service and they may also try to cut service through these redesigns.  Of course they may have also pushed back these things waiting to see what happens with congestion pricing and other other more secure long-term funding plans. 

 Express bus riders spoke out like never before, and I have been really on them both in my meetings and speaking before the Board and at hearings giving them an earful.  The fact that so many people are so upset across the City that have been using the service for 20 - 30 years back when many lines were private shows just how bad it has become. I was looking around on the BxM1 bus I took this morning.  A shell of what it used to be. Before I would have to look around for a seat or sit next to someone.  This morning I had plenty of seats to choose from, and while some buses are still seeing good ridership, others are a lot emptier than they used to be. 

 That said, there's been whispers that they are trying to cut back on things like OT, so with those cuts that means that maintenance can't fix as many buses or perhaps there is a slow down in retaliation to said cut back on hours.  Lots of talk going on now and this is not just out of places like College Point, but elsewhere.  You also have lots of B/Os that are due to retire, and so the question is do you replace those drivers or do you try to cut service to phase them out? That is something else that the  may be planning because they want to cut down on worker costs.  Meanwhile, Darryl Irick in his "cost savings" proposal at the MTA Finance Committee Meeting back in December noted that the new fleet would have an even longer cycle between rehabs, going from four years (the current cycle) up to SIX years, and he basically is asking us to trust him because he didn't offer any real stats to back such a move.  It's ridiculous. They are struggling to make service as it is now. They also haven't awarded the contract yet to a vendor to build these new buses, so I have to assume they are going off of reports regarding performance from the vendors and or reports from other transit agencies, otherwise it doesn't make much sense.  I would imagine that they also believe that the newer fleet will be more reliable with fewer breakdowns, but of course that remains to be seen, and some depots are better with keeping their fleet up than others. Always been that way...

In terms of service cuts, do you see them eliminating routes entirely, eliminating overnight/weekend service, a combination of both.... Is this 2010 level bad or worse?

[BrooklynBus]

2 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Shouldn't be too shocked.  You have TONS of for-hire vehicles now on 59th and 57th for that matter. You should stand at Park and 59th as I have a few mornings and see all of the taxis and for-hire vehicles clogging up the street. I did that one morning while I was waiting to cross. Since I was drinking a coffee I decided to sit there a bit longer. I would say that 80% or more of the cars that came down 59th were either taxis or for-hire vehicles, and the for-hire vehicles DEFINITELY outnumbered the yellow taxis.  Add your construction vans and Fed-Ex trucks and other delivery trucks and you have a nice amount of gridlock.

I was shocked because the delays were only in one direction and not both ways. That's why I take the train to my appointment and walk. Going home I don't mind the slow traffic.

[BrooklynBus]

2 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Well the other problem is we need a cap on those damn for-hire vehicles. I am absolutely astonished by how many of them are clogging up the streets all across the City, primarily EMPTY too. Every morning when I wait for the express bus, I make a point of looking at the license plates as they pass by the stop, and all of these cars that look like "personal cars" are really Ubers, Lyfts and the like. Even on my block... I live on what used to be a VERY quiet residential street. We would have the occasional yellow cab from the City dropping off someone. Now when I walk out of my residence, there are at least TWO Ubers parked waiting for someone, not to mention all of the other ones that come flying down the block to go elsewhere.  It has really gotten out of hand. Even the Commissioner of the DOT (Polly Trottenberg) noted that we now have hundreds of thousands of these vehicles on the streets now in just a few years, and the City has allowed this mess to spiral out of control.  That's why I was persistent about getting the DOT in a meeting because they are part of the problem too. The have narrowed down street after street, manufacturing congestion that wouldn't be as severe otherwise. It's ridiculous. 

I am glad you at least recognize the problem with DOT narrowing the streets. Add to that the hundreds or thousands of parking spaces they eliminated with cutibikes and daylighting that causes people to look longer for parking spaces. Have you looked at Corey Johnson's report? He is asking for a bus lane for every redesigned route, even if the bus runs infrequently. That won't benefit bus riders but only will make traffic that much worse. He is acting as if no one has a reason to drive anywhere and every trip can be easily made by bus subway or bike. He also wants to give the mayor unlimited taxing ability with no oversight from Albany. Don't vote for this guy when he runs for mayor. 

[QM1to6Ave]

Traffic to and from the city/Queens during rush hour has been an absolute nightmare for the last two weeks...my trips are taking an extra 15-20 minutes each way. It's holiday-gridlock level bad some days

And speaking of missing QM5's, I've seen a few SRO QM5's heading back to Queens at the 6-7 pm hours the last two days, which is ridiculous, since there is supposed to be frequent service. I've been sticking to the 3rd Ave buses because they are much more reliable and usually emptier.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

21 hours ago, QM1to6Ave said:

Traffic to and from the city/Queens during rush hour has been an absolute nightmare for the last two weeks...my trips are taking an extra 15-20 minutes each way. It's holiday-gridlock level bad some days

And speaking of missing QM5's, I've seen a few SRO QM5's heading back to Queens at the 6-7 pm hours the last two days, which is ridiculous, since there is supposed to be frequent service. I've been sticking to the 3rd Ave buses because they are much more reliable and usually emptier.

That’s because there have been so many missing QM1 trips. Tonight there was no 5:30pm, no 6:00pm and no 7pm, and to add insult to injury, two of the three missing trips had a bus sitting at the terminal that then disappeared off of BusTime and didn’t go out, as they are turning those buses into other trips on other lines. What I did do is have someone do a favor for me and have those QM5 trips signed up as via Fresh Meadows to Glen Oaks, which was not happening before, but happened tonight. I walked over there to check and saw the 7:02 signed up that way, but yes THREE QM5s in a row tonight were 20 minutes late. Absolutely horrendous. Something has to change here because it’s really a mess on that line. 

On the SIM11, I had someone in my group furious. A friend and all other passengers were thrown off of the bus. The driver was instructed to turn into a SIM6 with no SIM11 in sight. He said he was going to complain to the Union about it. The change came from Command. The guy from Command said he didn’t care if there were passengers. Discharge them and turn into a SIM6.

Edited March 8, 2019 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Via Garibaldi 8]

21 hours ago, Union Tpke said:

In terms of service cuts, do you see them eliminating routes entirely, eliminating overnight/weekend service, a combination of both.... Is this 2010 level bad or worse?

They will likely try to gut off-peak service on lines like the QM4 and BxM4. They may also target the QM2 and QM20. I think they want to get rid as many express buses in Queens as possible.