What’s the matter to all articulated buses in the Bronx today?

[SaToShi-TK]

I checked many routes in the Bronx that may has articulated bus online, but I didn’t see any of them, Even on the SBS routes! And some 40 ft buses supports from Queens! Do anyone know what happened?

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

2 minutes ago, TK27 said:

I checked many routes in the Bronx that may has articulated bus online, but I didn’t see any of them, Even on the SBS routes! And some 40 ft buses supports from Queens! Do anyone know what happened?

It's supposed to snow later on. Artic buses don't perform well in the snow, so they need all the 40 footers they can get. 

[Lawrence St]

12 minutes ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

It's supposed to snow later on. Artic buses don't perform well in the snow, so they need all the 40 footers they can get. 

To be honest, any articulated route that has a variant to it should not run.

For example, the Bx12 SBS should not run and instead the Bx12 LCL should run with 40 footers.

[SaToShi-TK]

2 hours ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

It's supposed to snow later on. Artic buses don't perform well in the snow, so they need all the 40 footers they can get. 

Will this last for the entire weekend?

[Gotham Bus Co.]

3 hours ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

It's supposed to snow later on. Artic buses don't perform well in the snow, so they need all the 40 footers they can get. 

What will happen in later years when even more routes are converted to articulated and there are even fewer standard buses to swap for them?

[josephnyy42]

Is it any way possible to have AWD or 4WD articulated buses? 

[B35 via Church]

This paranoia has gotten way out of hand....

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

4 hours ago, TK27 said:

Will this last for the entire weekend?

It will last until the roads are in decent condition to send artics out. In previous snowstorms, they sent artics out, but they would get into accidents. When it snowed in November, there were a lot of artics OOS because of accidents. There's even videos of artics colliding into each other, by the news.

[Orion6025]

4 hours ago, Gotham Bus Co. said:

What will happen in later years when even more routes are converted to articulated and there are even fewer standard buses to swap for them?

I would assume/hope a small subfleet of 40 footers is stored in Eastchester to go into service on call. WMATA is/has been a prime example of this with their reserve fleet of 50 Orion Vs coming in handy numerous times over the past 2 years (The huge Metrorail shuttles, when the NABI 42-BRT HEVs shat themselves, to assist in Orion VII CNG retirements, and to help out with bus shortages while they built cinder bed and were training operators and personell there).

[GreatOne2k]

On 1/19/2019 at 2:27 PM, Lawrence St said:

To be honest, any articulated route that has a variant to it should not run.

For example, the Bx12 SBS should not run and instead the Bx12 LCL should run with 40 footers.

Bx12 SBS is considered a separate route from the Bx12 LCL.

[East New York]

On 1/19/2019 at 6:16 PM, josephnyy42 said:

Is it any way possible to have AWD or 4WD articulated buses? 

Sure but, no one will be able to afford them, and unless they are electric they won’t be efficient at all. So that just doubled the price. 

On 1/19/2019 at 8:00 PM, B35 via Church said:

This paranoia has gotten way out of hand....

True, but it’s a lose-lose situation, and these days the weather forecasts seem to change hourly. 

You see what happened during the first snow of this year... Better safe than sorry. And interestingly enough, the 40’s are still out. Saw a hybrid on the M60+ this morning pulling into LGA Airport. 

[MHV9218]

1 hour ago, East New York said:

And interestingly enough, the 40’s are still out. Saw a hybrid on the M60+ this morning pulling into LGA Airport. 

This was also an interesting weekend loans-wise is that the buses were used for the whole fleets of depots borrowing, not just the artic lines. Quill had SI LFSes running on the M20, which was a funny sight, and MCH had flip-dot OGs on the M1. Funny reading for that: just M1 BROADWAY and M1 GRAND ST across the monitor. 

[Lawrence St]

3 hours ago, East New York said:

Sure but, no one will be able to afford them, and unless they are electric they won’t be efficient at all. So that just doubled the price. 

True, but it’s a lose-lose situation, and these days the weather forecasts seem to change hourly. 

You see what happened during the first snow of this year... Better safe than sorry. And interestingly enough, the 40’s are still out. Saw a hybrid on the M60+ this morning pulling into LGA Airport. 

Have those buses that jack-knifed come back into service yet?

[Interested Rider]

I was reluctant to post something on this subject when I first read this post  I changed my mindas when it comes to the MTA, and the weather, it is damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Let's face it, the science of weather is an inexact science so that what looks like one thing one minute can change a minute or two later. I have been a student of the weather since I took a course in high school over a half century ago and has watched how technology has changed forecasting in an attempt to make it more precise. I look at two sites, weatherunderground.com   and accuweather.com of which the latter has been a major source of up to date information since I worked on Staten Island many years ago. My guide was Elliot Abrams of accuweather.com on WINS at 430 AM each morning who helped me in planning for the day and his ability to provide accurate information proved to be a life savior for me as I was dependent on the bus system.

Taking the Sunday weather event first, the long range forecast at the beginning of the past week was for snow and ice and this continued up and until early last Friday when it changed to rain. In the meantime, the paranoid media played up the snow and ice knowing full well that the longer the time between the forecast, and the actual event  the probability of accuracy is low. The MTA had to go with the long range forecast in terms of the ability to plan and it seems that is what happened here. As I stated, as it got closer to Sunday, the forecast changed as the storm path indicated that the storm would be farther west thus allowing warm air from the ocean to come in, thus negating any snow.

The November storm was quite different in that the long range forecast was calling for a small accumulation and that the sudden change to the higher amounts of snow occurred on the same day within a couple of hours. I checked the sites early in the morning and then at 11 AM  when I noted that there was a significant change between the two forecasts  with the higher amount being mentioned at being after 1 PM. I had to go to Avenue M that day and as soon as I read about the change, I left my apartment immediately and by the time I arrived home, I could virtually see the higher totals. 

For the MTA to be proactive in a storm such as we had in November, it needs time to move equipment and the window of opportunity was not there on that day as the change occurred basically over a three hour period. This is why I am not part of the blame MTA crowd  where both the phony journalists and the know it all politicians who blame the MTA for everything  had collective amnesia as they were forgetting that weather is an inexact science. If anything, the fault may be in the MTA chain of command as the superintendents all have radios and they knew what was going on. Then based on the weather change, then why were 40 footers not sent out  (for example in Brooklyn and Queens) instead of the artics when  notice of the significant change in the weather was being reported beginning at 11 AM?  

In looking at the upcoming weather forecasts, bear in mind that there are two ingredients that are necessary for  a significant event The first being cold air and the second a south to north storm.This winter we have had above average mean temperatures as our weather has been coming from the west straight to the east and the split of the polar vortex which provides the cold air did not occur until now. Our weather has been coming from the Ohio Valley and not from either the Tennessee Valley and further south to the Gulf of Mexico where our winter storms get their act together. If that starts occurring from that area, then there will be a significant snow event.

 

 

[QM1to6Ave]

6 hours ago, Interested Rider said:

I was reluctant to post something on this subject when I first read this post  I changed my mindas when it comes to the MTA, and the weather, it is damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Let's face it, the science of weather is an inexact science so that what looks like one thing one minute can change a minute or two later. I have been a student of the weather since I took a course in high school over a half century ago and has watched how technology has changed forecasting in an attempt to make it more precise. I look at two sites, weatherunderground.com   and accuweather.com of which the latter has been a major source of up to date information since I worked on Staten Island many years ago. My guide was Elliot Abrams of accuweather.com on WINS at 430 AM each morning who helped me in planning for the day and his ability to provide accurate information proved to be a life savior for me as I was dependent on the bus system.

Taking the Sunday weather event first, the long range forecast at the beginning of the past week was for snow and ice and this continued up and until early last Friday when it changed to rain. In the meantime, the paranoid media played up the snow and ice knowing full well that the longer the time between the forecast, and the actual event  the probability of accuracy is low. The MTA had to go with the long range forecast in terms of the ability to plan and it seems that is what happened here. As I stated, as it got closer to Sunday, the forecast changed as the storm path indicated that the storm would be farther west thus allowing warm air from the ocean to come in, thus negating any snow.

The November storm was quite different in that the long range forecast was calling for a small accumulation and that the sudden change to the higher amounts of snow occurred on the same day within a couple of hours. I checked the sites early in the morning and then at 11 AM  when I noted that there was a significant change between the two forecasts  with the higher amount being mentioned at being after 1 PM. I had to go to Avenue M that day and as soon as I read about the change, I left my apartment immediately and by the time I arrived home, I could virtually see the higher totals. 

For the MTA to be proactive in a storm such as we had in November, it needs time to move equipment and the window of opportunity was not there on that day as the change occurred basically over a three hour period. This is why I am not part of the blame MTA crowd  where both the phony journalists and the know it all politicians who blame the MTA for everything  had collective amnesia as they were forgetting that weather is an inexact science. If anything, the fault may be in the MTA chain of command as the superintendents all have radios and they knew what was going on. Then based on the weather change, then why were 40 footers not sent out  (for example in Brooklyn and Queens) instead of the artics when  notice of the significant change in the weather was being reported beginning at 11 AM?  

In looking at the upcoming weather forecasts, bear in mind that there are two ingredients that are necessary for  a significant event The first being cold air and the second a south to north storm.This winter we have had above average mean temperatures as our weather has been coming from the west straight to the east and the split of the polar vortex which provides the cold air did not occur until now. Our weather has been coming from the Ohio Valley and not from either the Tennessee Valley and further south to the Gulf of Mexico where our winter storms get their act together. If that starts occurring from that area, then there will be a significant snow event.

 

 

I remember Elliott Abrams was the very first to predict how horrific Sandy was going to be, a solid 4 days before any other forecasters started to suggest it may be an unprecedented storm. I've always trusted his reports since then.