Express Bus Advocacy Group

[MysteriousBtrain]

29 minutes ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

Rosie Perez makes announcements about wearing a mask on public transit (but they repeat constantly)

They play the English and Spanish versions back to back repeatedly. At least 2 times each version within 10 minutes.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

31 minutes ago, MysteriousBtrain said:

They play the English and Spanish versions back to back repeatedly. At least 2 times each version within 10 minutes.

 Neither of which are comprehendible. Totally garbled...

[QM1to6Ave]

On 8/18/2020 at 6:24 PM, checkmatechamp13 said:

They were running Sunday schedules on Staten Island during the height of the pandemic (April 13th to June 8th was all a Sunday schedule with a few extra buses tossed in when necessary), and the only routes that run are the slow routes that travel through Downtown & Midtown (and also make more stops on the Staten Island end), so the pandemic had nothing to do with it. 

I would tend to believe that there was definitely some improvement in travel times and reliability, but I agree that they should've been more specific. (They do mention the travel times from the ETC, which is definitely a major hub with a lot of riders, but obviously not the only place where riders are coming from). On the South Shore, where the most drastic restructuring took place, there are areas that now have express bus service that never had it before (and Downtown service in particular was expanded). On the North Shore, we gained an extra off-peak route (and many areas throughout the island have longer spans of service than they previously had. Even if they still remained with rush hour-only service, a lot of areas have service that starts 30-60 minutes earlier and/or ends 30-60 minutes later). 

There's plenty of room for improvement (and it doesn't even have to cost additional money. We've proposed plenty of cost-neutral or even cost-saving ideas that would result in better service), but after all of this, it is somewhat better than the old X system overall.

I'm glad to hear the overall positive review!

[QM1to6Ave]

11 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

 Neither of which are comprehendible. Totally garbled...

I don't know how they ended up getting her to record those PSA's, but man do they need to either re-do them or get some other actors/radio hosts. 

[QM1to6Ave]

@Via Garibaldi 8 haven’t had this issue in a while, but bus 3026 from CP had 2 rows of seats chained off, then 1 row taped off, and then 2 rows folded up. The 3:15 pm QM5 run was so full that myself and the other person who got on at the last stop had to remove the tape to sit in those seats. Every other row had 1 person in it, and the last row had 3 people. The bus has a shower curtain. I’d have taken a pic, but the BO was glaring at me for removing the tape and I didn’t want to start a whole argument. I’ll put in a complaint on the MTA website as well. 

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

Looks like operators are playing games on the QM17. 

I decided to catch the bus on 57th Street & Madison Ave instead of where I usually do, and decided to wait for the bus. The bus departs at 2:15 AM from 34th Street & 3rd Avenue. I waited until around 2:45 AM, and the bus still wasn't on bus time. So I decided to start walking to 2nd Avenue for the Q60.

Suddenly, I see hear a bus, and it was a Hybrid, bus 3681 with the "NOT IN SERVICE SIGN" displayed. It was dark, and no one was inside. It also had JFK decals. Didn't get a good look at the operator, but he resembled one of the usual ones. That bus had not appeared on bustime, because I'm pretty sure that's who does the 2:15 trip. 

Under normal circumstances, I would be home right now (3:13 AM). However, because of this, I am currently still in Manhattan, waiting for the Q60 to depart. A previous bus hasn't shown up, and now this area around the bus stop is kinda crowded (although props to everyone for attempting to social distance here). 

Highly annoying. I will definitely be reporting this because it's unacceptable: that trip usually gets more than handful of people so for no one to be on it means that something went wrong. 

 

Edited September 5, 2020 by BM5 via Woodhaven

[Via Garibaldi 8]

20 hours ago, QM1to6Ave said:

@Via Garibaldi 8 haven’t had this issue in a while, but bus 3026 from CP had 2 rows of seats chained off, then 1 row taped off, and then 2 rows folded up. The 3:15 pm QM5 run was so full that myself and the other person who got on at the last stop had to remove the tape to sit in those seats. Every other row had 1 person in it, and the last row had 3 people. The bus has a shower curtain. I’d have taken a pic, but the BO was glaring at me for removing the tape and I didn’t want to start a whole argument. I’ll put in a complaint on the MTA website as well. 

Yeah, these are likely some drivers doing this. That's my guess. They fixed that after I complained about it. If it continues to happen, do let me know and I'll look into it.

[QM1to6Ave]

4 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Yeah, these are likely some drivers doing this. That's my guess. They fixed that after I complained about it. If it continues to happen, do let me know and I'll look into it.

Thank you as always!

[Via Garibaldi 8]

2 hours ago, QM1to6Ave said:

Thank you as always!

You reminded me... My contact should be back from vacation. Will follow up on some things this week.

[QM1to6Ave]

18 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

You reminded me... My contact should be back from vacation. Will follow up on some things this week.

Awesome! 

I got a canned response from the MTA following my complaint about how "front door boarding has resumed" blah blah, clearly the person was copying and pasting a response and did not really understand what I was complaining about, but at least the ending said they will forward my complaint to bus supervision. After the hell you raised, I'm hoping they now pay attention to the CP complaints. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

1 hour ago, QM1to6Ave said:

Awesome! 

I got a canned response from the MTA following my complaint about how "front door boarding has resumed" blah blah, clearly the person was copying and pasting a response and did not really understand what I was complaining about, but at least the ending said they will forward my complaint to bus supervision. After the hell you raised, I'm hoping they now pay attention to the CP complaints. 

I think it was back in November that I last met with the  , and at that meeting I met several people from the customer service team - I have several  folks in my group (some of them asked if they could join after the first meeting we had and I said ok, fine. I hadn't planned to have any  personnel in the group). They all came over and shook my hand and thanked me for creating a "platform" that customers use. I never really gave it much thought, but even if it's just Facebook, it allows them to see what their customers think in real time, and thinking about it further, I forget when, but I was told that getting feedback from express bus riders especially can be challenging, so this has given them an up close and personal experience that they have never had before to see what their customers care about, what they like, and what really pisses them off. I have found that a lot of the problems can be fixed.

I don't know how they're going about monitoring this situation to be honest, or if they are monitoring it at all, but most of the time they rely on reports for the most important things. The main focus is on getting buses out, so I would imagine this isn't too high on the list, though passengers have DEFINITELY complained about it in my group, so we continue to monitor crowding conditions. It is a MAJOR concern right now. You can always PM me with the time of whatever bus you got on that was packed and I can see if another bus can be added to alleviate the crowding. We've gotten that done before if it's a recurring problem. One thing I do know is the number of complaints that are filed are looked at by the  Board, so they do try to get recurring complaints down. The Rosie Perez announcements were a big one. LOL When I had a conference call recently, I couldn't finish my comments before they were telling me that they knew about it. LOL Not only were the passengers complaining, but drivers too. 20 times one way for me. Can't imagine driving and hearing that all day. They have been reduced considerably. Queens should not have that problem though, since the express buses there don't have automated announcements... Yet... The new express buses being built will though. 

I'm also going to inquire about the new express bus making rounds now. I believe it was last at Yonkers Depot, and then supposed to go to Eastchester Depot for a bit. I will see if Queens will see that bus at some point, or if it was pulled and will got back to Prevost.

Edited September 6, 2020 by Via Garibaldi 8

[checkmatechamp13]

@Via Garibaldi 8 Is there any way that the manual announcements by the B/O can be programmed to supercede the automated announcements? I remember a while back in January 2019 when they made the major changes, a SIM4C driver was announcing to the passengers on the bus that the SIM4C no longer stopped on Gannon Avenue, so if they needed Gannon Avenue, they needed to get off and take the SIM33C. Then in the middle of the announcement, he was cut off by some standard announcement. (I forget, maybe it was the "Welcome to New York, it's a MetroCard city" one)

[Via Garibaldi 8]

21 minutes ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

@Via Garibaldi 8 Is there any way that the manual announcements by the B/O can be programmed to supercede the automated announcements? I remember a while back in January 2019 when they made the major changes, a SIM4C driver was announcing to the passengers on the bus that the SIM4C no longer stopped on Gannon Avenue, so if they needed Gannon Avenue, they needed to get off and take the SIM33C. Then in the middle of the announcement, he was cut off by some standard announcement. (I forget, maybe it was the "Welcome to New York, it's a MetroCard city" one)

Not that I'm aware of. I have noticed this as well on some express buses I've been on. Driver seems to have no way to stop them, so they could be in the middle of making an announcement about a stop and that automated nonsense will come on. I do wonder if like BusTime, they have an outside vendor handle that. That's why the BusTime changes take a while. The changes to BusTime apparently aren't done in house, even though the platform itself was done in house.

I would imagine that down the line, perhaps more changes will come, but I also think they don't want drivers having control of such things. Could open up a can of worms.

[QM1to6Ave]

2 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I think it was back in November that I last met with the  , and at that meeting I met several people from the customer service team - I have several  folks in my group (some of them asked if they could join after the first meeting we had and I said ok, fine. I hadn't planned to have any  personnel in the group). They all came over and shook my hand and thanked me for creating a "platform" that customers use. I never really gave it much thought, but even if it's just Facebook, it allows them to see what their customers think in real time, and thinking about it further, I forget when, but I was told that getting feedback from express bus riders especially can be challenging, so this has given them an up close and personal experience that they have never had before to see what their customers care about, what they like, and what really pisses them off. I have found that a lot of the problems can be fixed.

I don't know how they're going about monitoring this situation to be honest, or if they are monitoring it at all, but most of the time they rely on reports for the most important things. The main focus is on getting buses out, so I would imagine this isn't too high on the list, though passengers have DEFINITELY complained about it in my group, so we continue to monitor crowding conditions. It is a MAJOR concern right now. You can always PM me with the time of whatever bus you got on that was packed and I can see if another bus can be added to alleviate the crowding. We've gotten that done before if it's a recurring problem. One thing I do know is the number of complaints that are filed are looked at by the  Board, so they do try to get recurring complaints down. The Rosie Perez announcements were a big one. LOL When I had a conference call recently, I couldn't finish my comments before they were telling me that they knew about it. LOL Not only were the passengers complaining, but drivers too. 20 times one way for me. Can't imagine driving and hearing that all day. They have been reduced considerably. Queens should not have that problem though, since the express buses there don't have automated announcements... Yet... The new express buses being built will though. 

I'm also going to inquire about the new express bus making rounds now. I believe it was last at Yonkers Depot, and then supposed to go to Eastchester Depot for a bit. I will see if Queens will see that bus at some point, or if it was pulled and will got back to Prevost.

HAHA! It is a nice surprise to hear that there are at least some people at the MTA that care about customer feedback!

[Via Garibaldi 8]

1 hour ago, QM1to6Ave said:

HAHA! It is a nice surprise to hear that there are at least some people at the MTA that care about customer feedback!

I had no idea the team was so big. Three customer service reps in that meeting. 

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

Looks like there are new operators on the QM17 with the start of the new pick. However, now I have to deal with BOs who don't know what stops they're supposed to be making.

Took the 2:15 AM trip towards Queens (bus 6533) and it went almost perfect. The reason I say almost perfect, is because while I rang the bell to get off at Woodhaven Blvd & 61st Road, the bus didn't stop. I had to tell the operator that I was getting off. The BO stopped at Dry Harbor and was questioning me on where I wanted to get off like if I got on the wrong bus, and I said "the bus stop was back there". He was like that's not a stop, but he'll let me off.

That's true if it was one of the rush hour QM17 trips (which go straight to Cross Bay Blvd & 159th Avenue from Midtown). Now, I don't think that particular run has an inbound trip it does right after that, which is good. Would hate for anyone waiting north of 159th Ave for a Midtown bus to be skipped just because the BO believes that he/she is supposed to operate as if it were a daytime, rush hour trip. 

Edited September 7, 2020 by BM5 via Woodhaven

[Via Garibaldi 8]

17 hours ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

Looks like there are new operators on the QM17 with the start of the new pick. However, now I have to deal with BOs who don't know what stops they're supposed to be making.

Took the 2:15 AM trip towards Queens (bus 6533) and it went almost perfect. The reason I say almost perfect, is because while I rang the bell to get off at Woodhaven Blvd & 61st Road, the bus didn't stop. I had to tell the operator that I was getting off. The BO stopped at Dry Harbor and was questioning me on where I wanted to get off like if I got on the wrong bus, and I said "the bus stop was back there". He was like that's not a stop, but he'll let me off.

That's true if it was one of the rush hour QM17 trips (which go straight to Cross Bay Blvd & 159th Avenue from Midtown). Now, I don't think that particular run has an inbound trip it does right after that, which is good. Would hate for anyone waiting north of 159th Ave for a Midtown bus to be skipped just because the BO believes that he/she is supposed to operate as if it were a daytime, rush hour trip. 

Some drivers may not be aware of the QM17 stops overnight, not only because of the new pick, but because guys are literally being thrown on the lines and asked to drive whatever they can do, so they give them a run sheet and send them on their way. Been that way now for months on some lines, as they are still short drivers overnight. The trips are picked by whoever wants them, so that means it won't be the same drivers, but whoever is available. They are trying to do their best to cover the trips, so expect skipped stops to happen, and we'll keep asking for reminders to be sent out. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

A number of passengers have been complaining about the lack of seats available on express buses, as drivers continue to block off far more seats than should be blocked off for social distancing.

Three rows on each side of the express bus should be blocked off - that's twelve seats out of 57. That leaves 45 seats available for passengers. If we have 20+ seats blocked off, then naturally there may be no seats available for passengers, and they may be forced to stand, which should not be happening. Going forward, please take photos so that this can be addressed. It was addressed once, and we need photos in order to show what is being done. 

[Future ENY OP]

@Via Garibaldi 8 : There’s a report from Streetsblog NYC out right now that the 5th Avenue Bus Project is being scrapped. Would you know anything that went possibly wrong with the plan?

[Via Garibaldi 8]

48 minutes ago, Future ENY OP said:

@Via Garibaldi 8 : There’s a report from Streetsblog NYC out right now that the 5th Avenue Bus Project is being scrapped. Would you know anything that went possibly wrong with the plan?

I'm on the advisory board for this project, and have been working closely with other larger advocacy groups. We have been going back and forth via e-mail about me speaking along Fifth Av this week as someone who works along the corridor and supports the plan. The project is not scrapped per se. It's just that the DOT may be scaling back the design of the project. They are getting pressure from the luxury shops along Fifth who are yelling that they are going to lose clientele, as those people drive in. Between the luxury businesses and the real estate industry, they are two very powerful lobbies, and so the City is trying to appease them because they bring a lot of money into the local economy, and given the current economic situation, the City needs all the money coming in that it can get. 

Edited September 8, 2020 by Via Garibaldi 8

[QM1to6Ave]

@Via Garibaldi 8 bus 3054 has 5 rows blocked off on either side (seats folded up). I have pics on my phone, but not sure how to post it here. Anyone have instructions for posting photos here?

[Via Garibaldi 8]

10 minutes ago, QM1to6Ave said:

@Via Garibaldi 8 bus 3054 has 5 rows blocked off on either side (seats folded up). I have pics on my phone, but not sure how to post it here. Anyone have instructions for posting photos here?

It's ok. I reached out about it this morning and sent some examples. Waiting to hear a response. They're going to have to do something about this. I actually took four express buses today and this wasn't an issue, but there are enough drivers doing this that it's becoming a problem. My BxM18 last night had a number of rows blocked off and all sorts of crap blocking the seats. Old bus timetables, etc. More and more people are riding the express bus now, so we need those seats open.

Edited September 9, 2020 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Via Garibaldi 8]

On 9/9/2020 at 5:06 PM, QM1to6Ave said:

@Via Garibaldi 8 bus 3054 has 5 rows blocked off on either side (seats folded up). I have pics on my phone, but not sure how to post it here. Anyone have instructions for posting photos here?

I spoke with a contact about it today, and hope to have an update next week. Some drivers are complaining about this. This whole thing is a mess because the shower curtains are essentially useless for a few reasons. They create a blindspot, and apparently some drivers feel they aren't effective, so all of that time and money wasted for nothing. I spoke with a driver about it earlier tonight. Rather than this becoming a pissing contest, what I'm aiming for is to finally get a consensus on having an EQUAL amount of rows blocked off on each bus consistently, rather than some buses having three rows, some with five or seven. I see this becoming a bad situation where either a driver or a passenger is going to get in an argument about these seats. I have already seen passengers board, become annoyed at seats having napkins or other crap blocking them, or they try to unlock seats that are in the up position, and you can't blame them. They're paying to be able to sit comfortably. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

A few announcements:

-The new bus lane project on Hylan Blvd started today. Enjoyed working with the DOT, the MTA and other important local advocates on this.

-The Battery Tunnel counterflow lane will re-open again starting Monday, September 14th. Brooklyn and Staten Island express bus riders should finally see some relief, as congestion has been a problem of late, leading to extensive delays and commute times.

Edited September 12, 2020 by Via Garibaldi 8

[QM1to6Ave]

3 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I spoke with a contact about it today, and hope to have an update next week. Some drivers are complaining about this. This whole thing is a mess because the shower curtains are essentially useless for a few reasons. They create a blindspot, and apparently some drivers feel they aren't effective, so all of that time and money wasted for nothing. I spoke with a driver about it earlier tonight. Rather than this becoming a pissing contest, what I'm aiming for is to finally get a consensus on having an EQUAL amount of rows blocked off on each bus consistently, rather than some buses having three rows, some with five or seven. I see this becoming a bad situation where either a driver or a passenger is going to get in an argument about these seats. I have already seen passengers board, become annoyed at seats having napkins or other crap blocking them, or they try to unlock seats that are in the up position, and you can't blame them. They're paying to be able to sit comfortably. 

I'm glad it is being addressed! That is interesting to hear about the curtains, as I've slowly been seeing more and more B/Os use them. I also wonder if the MTA ever installed the higher quality HVAC filters in all the buses; there was an article recently that said the MTA was going to do that, but I never read any follow up to it.