Express Bus Advocacy Group

[Via Garibaldi 8]

6 hours ago, QM1to6Ave said:

@Via Garibaldi 8 I'm glad we have the precedent now of stopping the cuts, we will have to do the same for Queens. Ridership at all hours on the lines I take is way up, especially mid-week...I get the impression that a lot of people now have hybrid work situations and tend to go in person on Weds and Thurs, because the buses (and traffic) are notably more crowded every Weds and Thurs compared to when I take the same runs on other weekdays.

Even weekends and off-peak, I've been shocked at how many people are on the buses

That is correct. I have been work from home for almost two years now, but I go into my office and work alone once or twice a week, so I prefer taking later express buses in to avoid congestion. Well yesterday I opted for the 10am bus. It was packed.  Not only that, but someone noted that they are not taking the subway because of the crime and violence, so since people only have to travel a few times a week tops, you're seeing a low of newbies that are taking the express bus.

[QM1to6Ave]

7 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

That is correct. I have been work from home for almost two years now, but I go into my office and work alone once or twice a week, so I prefer taking later express buses in to avoid congestion. Well yesterday I opted for the 10am bus. It was packed.  Not only that, but someone noted that they are not taking the subway because of the crime and violence, so since people only have to travel a few times a week tops, you're seeing a low of newbies that are taking the express bus.

Oh yes, the 10 am-12 pm buses to the city are quite full as of late. Interestingly, the buses back to queens also start filling up around 2:30 pm now, so as far as I can tell, people seem to work for like 4 hours in their office and then home LOL

[paulrivera]

8 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

That is correct. I have been work from home for almost two years now, but I go into my office and work alone once or twice a week, so I prefer taking later express buses in to avoid congestion. Well yesterday I opted for the 10am bus. It was packed.  Not only that, but someone noted that they are not taking the subway because of the crime and violence, so since people only have to travel a few times a week tops, you're seeing a low of newbies that are taking the express bus.

Same here, but there are times where I'm doing errands in the city and I group the errands together, so often times I don't take the same bus twice. Yesterday I was doing an errand downtown and went down on the BxM3. Had an appointment by Einstein in the afternoon so I went back uptown on the BxM10. I don't travel every day either, but I'm also not taking the subways into the city because of all the crime. I've only been taking the els in and within the Bronx and even then only at certain times of the day.

Edited November 11, 2021 by paulrivera

[Via Garibaldi 8]

1 hour ago, QM1to6Ave said:

Oh yes, the 10 am-12 pm buses to the city are quite full as of late. Interestingly, the buses back to queens also start filling up around 2:30 pm now, so as far as I can tell, people seem to work for like 4 hours in their office and then home LOL

I've noticed that almost all of the offices on my floor, they close early now. lol I'm often times the last person on the entire floor aside from the cleaning people. People seem to run out around 3pm - 4pm. I think for the rest of the year, I'm aiming to go in just once a week. The less the better. lol

[QM1to6Ave]

56 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I've noticed that almost all of the offices on my floor, they close early now. lol I'm often times the last person on the entire floor aside from the cleaning people. People seem to run out around 3pm - 4pm. I think for the rest of the year, I'm aiming to go in just once a week. The less the better. lol

Yeah, I'm looking into switching jobs to one with more WFH flexibility...it's tough in my line of work since I deal with medical equipment, but with technology, a lot more can be done remotely now and some companies are embracing it more than my current one lol

[Via Garibaldi 8]

8 minutes ago, QM1to6Ave said:

Yeah, I'm looking into switching jobs to one with more WFH flexibility...it's tough in my line of work since I deal with medical equipment, but with technology, a lot more can be done remotely now and some companies are embracing it more than my current one lol

We may do remote one more year. Just signed a new one year lease for the space we're using, but it's not like our old office where we all had our own offices in a huge space, and since we are officially closed, it makes no sense spending 20 - 30k a month in a space. This is just an open space and when someone needs the office, we just come in and work alone. Rent is 5x cheaper, so that's a major plus. lol My boss was contemplating just having no office space, but we do occasionally need to come in here and there. lol

Edited November 11, 2021 by Via Garibaldi 8

[QM1to6Ave]

3 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

We may do remote one more year. Just signed a new one year lease for the space we're using, but it's not like our old office where we all had our own offices in a huge space, and since we are officially closed, it makes no sense spending 20 - 30k a month in a space. This is just an open space and when someone needs the office, we just come in and work alone. Rent is 5x cheaper, so that's a major plus. lol My boss was contemplating just having no office space, but we do occasionally need to come in here and there. lol

Haha, I have a few friends whose companies (all fairly small) basically just rent Wework spaces for their employees as needed.

What's crazy is how full the streets of Manhattan are, and how much traffic there is, even though so many people are still WFH much of the time. I was never really in favor of congestion pricing, but the number of single-person vehicles is just too much now for our streets to handle, especially with all the idiotic bike lanes getting installed every where.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

1 hour ago, QM1to6Ave said:

Haha, I have a few friends whose companies (all fairly small) basically just rent Wework spaces for their employees as needed.

What's crazy is how full the streets of Manhattan are, and how much traffic there is, even though so many people are still WFH much of the time. I was never really in favor of congestion pricing, but the number of single-person vehicles is just too much now for our streets to handle, especially with all the idiotic bike lanes getting installed every where.

It's true. The streets are PACKED in Midtown with people out and about, and yes, far too many people driving into Manhattan. As for WeWork, that's a smart idea. I think my boss went for the one year deal because the building manager is obviously flexible (normally, they would never do a short-term lease, but with lots of office space, anything is doable now lol) so rather than deal with moving everything out, it's easier to just keep everything as is. If we're back to normal in 2023, maybe we can get regular offices again, but I'm honestly not interested in going in five days a week anymore, so I'm aiming for a hybrid schedule or work from home indefinitely. lol

Edited November 11, 2021 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Tonight, I followed up with the heads of the  regarding the preposterous leg room on these new Prevost express buses, as well as the narrower entrance, with the awkward staircase configuration, which has led to numerous riders falling while boarding or exiting the bus and could led to someone being seriously injured. The person in the photo below, a female, is 5'4", and barely has any leg room. Given how many riders are either elderly and/or disabled, or are just actually average height, yet have absolutely no leg room on these buses, I have made it clear that these conditions are unacceptable and must be remedied ASAP. I don't know who designed these buses, but common sense should've told them to analyze the leg room and get that correct on a bus that costs north of $500,000 each to manufacture. Then you have the placement of the OMNY reader, which initially seems convenient, but quite frankly is in the way, as commuters have complained about constantly banging into it, and it also means that their contactless cards may accidentally be read by said readers.

Finally, the placement of the USB ports is another issue. Instead of leaving them overhead, as they did with the MCI fleet, they have moved them to either the side of the seats on the "wall" of the bus, or on the backs of the seats, so that means you have to reach over your seat mate and bang into them while trying to charge your phone or tablet. 

It's astonishing that none of this was addressed beforehand. By comparison, when Metro-North introduced new fleet, they gave riders an opportunity to comment on things like leg room and to actually try out such things.

Edited November 12, 2021 by Via Garibaldi 8

[7-express]

On 11/11/2021 at 1:07 PM, QM1to6Ave said:

Oh yes, the 10 am-12 pm buses to the city are quite full as of late. Interestingly, the buses back to queens also start filling up around 2:30 pm now, so as far as I can tell, people seem to work for like 4 hours in their office and then home LOL

I can't wait for the express bus redesign for Queens to come out where they try to cut out all midday/off-hour buses like they did in the draft plan.  That will sure go over well with everyone's new commute patterns.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

33 minutes ago, 7-express said:

I can't wait for the express bus redesign for Queens to come out where they try to cut out all midday/off-hour buses like they did in the draft plan.  That will sure go over well with everyone's new commute patterns.

They may re-think that because they know that travel patterns have changed. I spoke with my two contacts via conference a few months ago about that, but at the same time, their roles are not in the planners position, though they do communicate with them, so we will see.

[JAzumah]

On 11/12/2021 at 3:43 AM, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I don't know who designed these buses, but common sense should've told them to analyze the leg room and get that correct on a bus that costs north of $500,000 each to manufacture.

The MTA specs the seats. They can always use thinner seats or remove a row. Most Prevost X3-45s in the wild are between 51 and 55 seats.

[paulrivera]

2 hours ago, 7-express said:

I can't wait for the express bus redesign for Queens to come out where they try to cut out all midday/off-hour buses like they did in the draft plan.  That will sure go over well with everyone's new commute patterns.

But they promised "No SeRvIcE cUtS uNtiL 2024." But I'm sure that won't stop them from at least trying to sneak in something like when they tried to cut all the inbound BxM's past 4:30pm.

I'll believe no fare hikes, but promising no service cuts... I'll believe it when I see it.

[JAzumah]

Service cuts are coming for sure, but doing a smaller number now preserves more of the system later.

I think they need to consider a fare reduction to $5 outside of rush hour on the express bus system. Shifting some service to the off-peak preserves the general utility of the express bus system. It is a similar idea to how MBTA went to a regional rail format. It would also facilitate half days at the office, which I expect to also become more common as teams problem solve better in person.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

21 hours ago, JAzumah said:

The MTA specs the seats. They can always use thinner seats or remove a row. Most Prevost X3-45s in the wild are between 51 and 55 seats.

That's besides the point. They should've consulted with the riders beforehand, just like Metro-North did when they announced that they would be ordering new train cars.

[QM1to6Ave]

On 11/16/2021 at 12:29 AM, JAzumah said:

The MTA specs the seats. They can always use thinner seats or remove a row. Most Prevost X3-45s in the wild are between 51 and 55 seats.

If the MTA has no intention of opening up that first row ever again, might as well remove it and move all the seats up a few inches

[Via Garibaldi 8]

5 hours ago, QM1to6Ave said:

If the MTA has no intention of opening up that first row ever again, might as well remove it and move all the seats up a few inches

That and drivers still using garbage bags to block off more rows. lol I don't care since I don't sit in the front, but for seniors and those with disabilities, it must be annoying. Usually, I let it go, as long as they aren't blocking off like seven rows like some College Point drivers were doing. Haven't had anyone message me about that in a while, so I assume nothing too egregious has been happening on that end.

[QM1to6Ave]

4 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

That and drivers still using garbage bags to block off more rows. lol I don't care since I don't sit in the front, but for seniors and those with disabilities, it must be annoying. Usually, I let it go, as long as they aren't blocking off like seven rows like some College Point drivers were doing. Haven't had anyone message me about that in a while, so I assume nothing too egregious has been happening on that end.

HAHA, correct, nothing too egregious. Some buses still have the actual chains on the second and third rows, but at this point if the bus is full I just step right over those extra chains or garbage bags and sit down. If a B/O wants to hassle me about it, he can go right ahead and I'll file a complaint. They even have announcements on the X63/4/8 now that "all seats behind the first row are available for seating."

[Via Garibaldi 8]

59 minutes ago, QM1to6Ave said:

HAHA, correct, nothing too egregious. Some buses still have the actual chains on the second and third rows, but at this point if the bus is full I just step right over those extra chains or garbage bags and sit down. If a B/O wants to hassle me about it, he can go right ahead and I'll file a complaint. They even have announcements on the X63/4/8 now that "all seats behind the first row are available for seating."

Yeah, they never got around to getting all of the express buses set with just the first row on both sides blocked off.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

LEGROOM UPDATE ON NEW EXPRESS BUSES: There is indeed less leg room on the new Prevost express buses, apparently due to ADA enhancements. Happy to report that the is working w/the vendor (Prevost) to resolve this issue. Hopefully we will see changes sooner rather than later. 

[Cait Sith]

22 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

LEGROOM UPDATE ON NEW EXPRESS BUSES: There is indeed less leg room on the new Prevost express buses, apparently due to ADA enhancements. Happy to report that the is working w/the vendor (Prevost) to resolve this issue. Hopefully we will see changes sooner rather than later. 

It's roughly the same amount of legroom as the current Prevost fleet AFAIK, it's just new to MTA Bus customers, and they'll more likely complain about it.

[IAlam]

23 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

LEGROOM UPDATE ON NEW EXPRESS BUSES: There is indeed less leg room on the new Prevost express buses, apparently due to ADA enhancements. Happy to report that the is working w/the vendor (Prevost) to resolve this issue. Hopefully we will see changes sooner rather than later. 

If that's the case I'm hoping they can just remove a row on each side, I think we can all live with 53 seats on each side. At least for the MTAB models. The NYCT ones are fine as is, the seats they use don't make the leg room feel any different than the previous models. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

1 hour ago, Cait Sith said:

It's roughly the same amount of legroom as the current Prevost fleet AFAIK, it's just new to MTA Bus customers, and they'll more likely complain about it.

It doesn't feel like it, and from what they said, they made changes to the wheelchair area. I've rode the older Prevosts and some rows still have adequate room. The only place I can sit on these new buses is in the wheelchair area. We had people that are 5'4" take photos and there is barely any room. We have some Staten Island riders that are also short and they too are complaining. 

Edited November 20, 2021 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Via Garibaldi 8]

1 hour ago, IAlam said:

If that's the case I'm hoping they can just remove a row on each side, I think we can all live with 53 seats on each side. At least for the MTAB models. The NYCT ones are fine as is, the seats they use don't make the leg room feel any different than the previous models. 

The President of  Bus and the President of the  are both aware of the issue. Through my communications with them over the last few weeks, it seems that the President of  Bus will be undertaking this problem and handling it. They did not say how they will address it, and quite frankly, I don't care how they fix it. The riders and I just want it handled. They promised that they are working with the vendor. I don't write to them unless it is something super important, as they are not my points of contact, and I know they have enough on their plate, so some months ago, I agreed to follow a setup that works with everyone. 

Originally, the plan was to have one point of contact in my group for all of the boroughs, but that never happened, and it is likely because my points of contact are in Government Relations, so that is not really their tole. What I do have however is people from Brooklyn, Staten Island and the Bronx overseeing the lines and the Bronx folks directly post in the group now, which is helpful, as it's real-time info. I would really like someone from Spring Creek (Queens) in the group, but technically, there is already someone in the group overseeing everything, so that's fine.

I had originally just agreed to let whoever was in the group from the  just observe, but we're getting too big now and quite frankly, having some of these things addressed in real-time makes life a lot easier. For everyday issues, I agreed that I would just Tweet Customer Service. I met some of them down at 2 Broadway and a few of them are in the group as well. They too post when they want. They are all volunteering their time, so that is why I let them answer as they wish and try to avoid tagging them. It generally has worked out well this way.

My group covers all of the outer boroughs, so it is a bit unique in that way. We have some folks in there that just joined unofficially and others that joined specifically to see what issues arise.

[QM1to6Ave]

3 hours ago, Cait Sith said:

It's roughly the same amount of legroom as the current Prevost fleet AFAIK, it's just new to MTA Bus customers, and they'll more likely complain about it.

I think it's the curvature angle of the seat that kills it. If you look at that pic the VG8 posted, it's a fairly tight squeeze to begin with, but if your legs are long so that your knees go up to that curved point (which is true for me), good luck getting comfortable!

Having ridden most of the EXP bus fleet now, my personal favorites are the QV MCIs...good mix of everything that was good about the MCIs in general, with extra benefits like the passenger counter on most buses, grab handles on the top of all aisle seats, and powerful HVAC. And I actually like that the engine or fans or whatever add some white noise to block out yappy passengers, unlike the Prevosts that are so quiet, you can hear the turn signal lol. Also, I think this a personal touch from QV, but I really like how their outlets all work and they have little labels on top of the seats with outlets letting you know there is an outlet.