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Express Bus Advocacy Group


Via Garibaldi 8

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48 minutes ago, 7-express said:

I managed to get 2209 this afternoon as a QM2.  It had strong AC but holy crap that thing is old.  The stop request light didn't work and neither did the ding so people had no idea if the bus was stopping or skipping.

I've caught that bus a few times as well. It feels like being in a museum. But I agree, the AC on those old buses is actually better than the new ones. Go figure. 

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Bus stops and bus shelters remain a HIGH priority for the Express Bus Advocacy Group. Happy to see this sign up:

64684947_489182038493086_121409828003669

We look forward to further improvements for express bus riders, be it safety or shelter from the elements. We have a conference call next week to discuss our monthly express bus pass being restored, the status of bus stop and bus shelter requests among other things.

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1 hour ago, Lawrence St said:

How come express buses don't have the express sign on the signs? Would make tourists understand that it isn't a local bus.

Some of the older 2011 Prevosts have them. I guess the use of a coach bus shows the difference.

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3 hours ago, 7-express said:

Just for historical perspective, why was the monthly bus pass discontinued way back when?

The (MTA) gave some BS excuse about how they were too expensive to replace if people lost them.  I don't want to hear that. I went to the Open House for the Bronx Redesign last night and as I was arguing with one of the planners, a lady that I have been dealing with that works with community affairs came over to me to tell me that one of my contacts owed me a phone call, so we'll be discussing the monthly pass when we chat.  Now that we have some express buses on the way, that is my next goal... To get our monthly pass back. It is absurd that we are the ONLY commuter group in NYC to not have a monthly pass and a clear case of discrimination.

1 hour ago, Lawrence St said:

How come express buses don't have the express sign on the signs? Would make tourists understand that it isn't a local bus.

Too much to put on the screen.  One of the reasons they are going from the "X" signage to the "SIM", "BM", "QM" and "BxM" signage. People generally know. They just like to play stupid.

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MTA is out patting itself on the back for swapping out Staten Island local buses, and adding the 50 Express buses.

They also continue to brag about their successes of the SI Express Redesign, notably:

Quote

In August 2018, MTA New York City Transit implemented a customer-focused redesign of the Staten Island express bus network that has yielded positive results for customers, increasing service reliability, speeding up commutes by up to 12 percent, adding 120 more weekday trips and frequency, and streamlining routes to help clear streets and simplify circuitous routes that unnecessarily lengthened trips. The lessons learned from this redesign will be used for a planned redesign of the Staten Island local bus network, which will take a clean-slate approach to a network that was based on trolley lines from nearly a century ago.

So all you Staten Island Express Bus complainers better get your minds right on this! You like what happened, and everything's much better than what it used to be!

Nice, too, that they admit they're planning the same treatment for SI Local customers. ("The lessons learned from [the Express Bus] redesign will be used for ... the SI local bus network ...")

And don't miss this gem from your Congressman as well:

Quote

I look forward to these buses getting on the road and showing the people of Staten Island that government can make a difference in their daily lives.

Komrades.

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8 hours ago, DetSMART45 said:

MTA is out patting itself on the back for swapping out Staten Island local buses, and adding the 50 Express buses.

They also continue to brag about their successes of the SI Express Redesign, notably:

So all you Staten Island Express Bus complainers better get your minds right on this! You like what happened, and everything's much better than what it used to be!

Nice, too, that they admit they're planning the same treatment for SI Local customers. ("The lessons learned from [the Express Bus] redesign will be used for ... the SI local bus network ...")

And don't miss this gem from your Congressman as well:

Komrades.

"I look forward to these buses getting on the road and showing the people of Staten Island that government can make a difference in their daily lives."

I hope someone informed him that those buses have been on the road a bit before his PR Stunt with (MTA) Brass and Staten Islanders. Plus this order has been scheduled to have buses go to Staten Island for a couple of years now, since (MTA) has determined that Hybrids don't perform well over there. These politicians are such a joke.

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On ‎6‎/‎18‎/‎2019 at 9:25 PM, 7-express said:

Some QM2/20 drivers later in the evening just forget about going over the Queensboro.  They just head down 2nd and make a beeline to the Midtown Tunnel/LIE/GCP in order to make it back in good time.   Better than dealing with the non-synced lights and the Jackson Heights traffic on Northern Blvd.  They should have more flexibility for reroutes like this.

I agree completely.  Buses crawl off peak on Northern Boulevard, stopping every 3 or 4 blocks because the lights aren't synced up.  I took an early AM QM32 bus back to Whitestone once and it took over an hour to get to Cross Island/160th with absolutely no traffic on Northern because of the lights.   And something needs to be done over in that Jackson Heights area, lately it's just been a complete crawl from 80th Street all the way to 108th Street at seemingly any hour of the PM rush.  It seems that the lights aren't synced up as well over there, but what really kills the traffic are lots of double parked cars and trucks unloading.  There also seems to be lack of enforcement in the no standing from 4 to 7pm in the parking lane.  Ironically enough, this is all within an earshot of the police precinct on Northern.   If they're adamant about keeping buses on Northern Boulevard, they should put a bus lane 

I think MTA should seriously consider sending buses via the BQE and Astoria Boulevard/GCP even during the PM rush.  Have buses run down 2nd Avenue to the tunnel or put them back on the upper level of the bridge and take Van Dam street to the LIE/BQE.  It doesn't save any time, and probably even adds some time if they send buses via Northern to 51st Street to 31st Ave to the BQE service road.  

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9 hours ago, ViaWaterViaChurch said:

I agree completely.  Buses crawl off peak on Northern Boulevard, stopping every 3 or 4 blocks because the lights aren't synced up.  I took an early AM QM32 bus back to Whitestone once and it took over an hour to get to Cross Island/160th with absolutely no traffic on Northern because of the lights.   And something needs to be done over in that Jackson Heights area, lately it's just been a complete crawl from 80th Street all the way to 108th Street at seemingly any hour of the PM rush.  It seems that the lights aren't synced up as well over there, but what really kills the traffic are lots of double parked cars and trucks unloading.  There also seems to be lack of enforcement in the no standing from 4 to 7pm in the parking lane.  Ironically enough, this is all within an earshot of the police precinct on Northern.   If they're adamant about keeping buses on Northern Boulevard, they should put a bus lane 

I think MTA should seriously consider sending buses via the BQE and Astoria Boulevard/GCP even during the PM rush.  Have buses run down 2nd Avenue to the tunnel or put them back on the upper level of the bridge and take Van Dam street to the LIE/BQE.  It doesn't save any time, and probably even adds some time if they send buses via Northern to 51st Street to 31st Ave to the BQE service road.  

Well I can see why the return AM trips would take forever on Northern because the lights are synced for Manhattan-bound traffic at that hour.

But I do agree, the PM rush hour has been very slow between 82nd Street and 108th Street lately.  I'm pretty sure this has to do with deBlasio's Vision Zero policy of slowing down traffic by retarding traffic signal timing.  Traffic through the area used to flow fairly well but they tweaked the signals 3 or so years ago and just killed any chance of gaining speed in the area.  They also did this with Astoria Blvd too.  I think I had one driver who got frustrated with Northern in Jackson Heights and found his way north to Astoria Blvd instead for some relief.

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On 6/21/2019 at 6:51 AM, DetSMART45 said:

MTA is out patting itself on the back for swapping out Staten Island local buses, and adding the 50 Express buses.

They also continue to brag about their successes of the SI Express Redesign, notably:

So all you Staten Island Express Bus complainers better get your minds right on this! You like what happened, and everything's much better than what it used to be!

Nice, too, that they admit they're planning the same treatment for SI Local customers. ("The lessons learned from [the Express Bus] redesign will be used for ... the SI local bus network ...")

And don't miss this gem from your Congressman as well:

Komrades.

Honestly, I don't know why the (MTA) is giving themselves credit for the Staten Island changes.. There needs to be more creation of new routes, extend hours on existing routes and have its partners in the state and feds fight for more money to make additional fixes in Staten Island.

That re-design was atrocious. I'm awaiting what comes in store for the Brooklyn and Manhattan re-design plans..

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The Express Bus Advocacy Group was out in Pelham Bay last week supporting CB10 on the proposed BxM8 and BxM9 changes.  Spencer Estates in Country Club is also vehemently opposed to the Bx24 re-routing through Country Club, changes citing ADA concerns.

Meanwhile, once we speak with the (MTA) about our concerns this week, depending on how that goes, we are ready to start circulating petitions on the BxM2, BxM4, BxM8, BxM9 and BxM18 changes. We also continue to gather feedback on the BxM11 (BxM5) proposed changes as some apparently don't care for having the bus removed from White Plains Road.  We spoke with the planner about having the bus terminate along 233rd and expressed our displeasure with the northern part of the BxM11 no longer having service 24/7.

 

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20 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

The Express Bus Advocacy Group was out in Pelham Bay last week supporting CB10 on the proposed BxM8 and BxM9 changes.  Spencer Estates in Country Club is also vehemently opposed to the Bx24 re-routing through Country Club, changes citing ADA concerns.

Meanwhile, once we speak with the (MTA) about our concerns this week, depending on how that goes, we are ready to start circulating petitions on the BxM2, BxM4, BxM8, BxM9 and BxM18 changes. We also continue to gather feedback on the BxM11 (BxM5) proposed changes as some apparently don't care for having the bus removed from White Plains Road.  We spoke with the planner about having the bus terminate along 233rd and expressed our displeasure with the northern part of the BxM11 no longer having service 24/7.

 

Excellent work as always. Kudos!

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On 6/24/2019 at 11:31 PM, 78 via Stew Leonards said:

What are the petitions against the supposed re-routes?

None started yet but that depends on how the conference call I have goes.  Still waiting on it... 

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-Lots of people complaining about express buses with no AC is this heat.  We're asking folks to report which buses so that they can be fixed ASAP.

Edited by Via Garibaldi 8
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On 6/26/2019 at 6:27 PM, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

None started yet but that depends on how the conference call I have goes.  Still waiting on it... 

------

-Lots of people complaining about express buses with no AC is this heat.  We're asking folks to report which buses so that they can be fixed ASAP.

If it's anything like the (1) train cars, they'll never fix em...

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There's been a lot going on in the last little bit. 

-As service continues to worsen, some of us are serious considering staging a protest of the (MTA) 's service, starting with Staten Island. One express bus rider has stated he is working on drafting something.

-In the meantime, I have begun reaching out to elected officials for more sit-downs with the (MTA) to demand answers on what continues to be abysmal service with TONS of missing trips and buses with NO AC across the system.

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53 minutes ago, QM1to6Ave said:

I got an MTA email that new summer QM5/6/20 schedules will be in effect, but the website still has the spring schedules. Anyone know what the changes are?

Likely will be changed/updated this afternoon if anything. I think the new picks start very soon for the summer.

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