Select Bus Service Discussion Thread

[IAlam]

On 11/15/2017 at 7:23 PM, FamousNYLover said:

On first day, two Q53 SBS drivers made mistake on northbound trip during early afternoon and late evening when he stop at old 63rd Drive-Penelope Av bus stop instead of across the street. He had to stop across the street at machine again.

I plan to take every SBS round trip in one day except S79 SBS.

In that case you have to start with the no 24/7 services cause it's going to take all day.

[Future ENY OP]

Just read an interesting article in Metro Magazine in regards to LA BRT.

I think this is something we can use in New York City, but with the bureaucracy of these politicians projects like this won't happen.

http://www.metro-magazine.com/bus/news/726161/l-a-metro-expands-all-door-boarding-for-key-metro-rapid-lines

[bobtehpanda]

13 hours ago, Future ENY OP said:

Just read an interesting article in Metro Magazine in regards to LA BRT.

I think this is something we can use in New York City, but with the bureaucracy of these politicians projects like this won't happen.

http://www.metro-magazine.com/bus/news/726161/l-a-metro-expands-all-door-boarding-for-key-metro-rapid-lines

You'll notice two things with this:

1. Tap card payments are a necessary feature. You can't fit a farebox or a Metrocard validator in the rear of a bus.

2. Tap card payments have to be done on the bus. So if we keep going with this dumb infrastructure-heavy, receipt-reliant SBS payment thing, it's never going to happen.

If you think about it, the way off board payments are handled on SBS are really, really stupid.

[IAlam]

Finally got a chance to ride the Q53 from end to end aside from my bus being trampled by middle school students the ride was pretty fast 1hr with only slight hiccups. But the Q70 was completely f**ked. it could really use artics. 

[BreeddekalbL]

9 hours ago, IAlam said:

Finally got a chance to ride the Q53 from end to end aside from my bus being trampled by middle school students the ride was pretty fast 1hr with only slight hiccups. But the Q70 was completely f**ked. it could really use artics. 

The question is can the artics handle the turn when going around the back of victor moore?

[Cait Sith]

9 hours ago, BreeddekalbL said:

The question is can the artics handle the turn when going around the back of victor moore?

Around the back? As in into the terminal? They can. It's been overstated that artics can make the same turns as the 40fters, and the Xcelsiors have a better turning radius.

They won't send them through the terminal though, likely because the entire bus won't fit at the platform bay, I could be wrong though.

[BreeddekalbL]

1 hour ago, Cait Sith said:

Around the back? As in into the terminal? They can. It's been overstated that artics can make the same turns as the 40fters, and the Xcelsiors have a better turning radius.

They won't send them through the terminal though, likely because the entire bus won't fit at the platform bay, I could be wrong though.

Around the back as in right on 75th then right on broadway

[MetroTransitTee]

They can fit on the Q33's Bay, with some re-arranging it's possible to have artic's run on the Q70.

[IAlam]

On 11/23/2017 at 2:56 PM, MetroTransitTee said:

They can fit on the Q33's Bay, with some re-arranging it's possible to have artic's run on the Q70.

I still don't understand why the Q70 didn't get that bay.

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

14 minutes ago, IAlam said:

I still don't understand why the Q70 didn't get that bay.

Likely because it's a through service. You typically shouldn't have more than one bus into the terminal at a time (unless it's bunching). Whereas on the Q33, the bus pulls in to the front (or attempts to) and then sits there on layover until it's time to leave for the return trip. In that time period, another bus will probably show up. 

[CollegeStudentIman]

Hello!

My name is Iman and I'm and undergraduate student at Hunter College. I am writing a paper on the qualitative measures of the SBS failures/success through the lens of rider's perception. I will be focusing mainly on the Q44 SBSB line as it is the one I am most familiar with. I have come across this forum and find your postings all very interesting. I was wondering if anyone here is personally an MTA bus driver for SBS. If so, I'd like to ask a couple simple questions from the perspective of an SBS bus driver for my paper. The sooner the better! I will leave my email for anyone wishing to participate: iman.mamdouh05@myhunter.cuny.edu

[danielhg121]

1 hour ago, CollegeStudentIman said:

Hello!

My name is Iman and I'm and undergraduate student at Hunter College. I am writing a paper on the qualitative measures of the SBS failures/success through the lens of rider's perception. I will be focusing mainly on the Q44 SBSB line as it is the one I am most familiar with. I have come across this forum and find your postings all very interesting. I was wondering if anyone here is personally an MTA bus driver for SBS. If so, I'd like to ask a couple simple questions from the perspective of an SBS bus driver for my paper. The sooner the better! I will leave my email for anyone wishing to participate: iman.mamdouh05@myhunter.cuny.edu

Cool! As a daily rider, there are a few things that really irk me about the line. Bunching, traffic, etc. It is an absolute god on Main St as you move away from the Downtown Flushing area.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

18 hours ago, CollegeStudentIman said:

Hello!

My name is Iman and I'm and undergraduate student at Hunter College. I am writing a paper on the qualitative measures of the SBS failures/success through the lens of rider's perception. I will be focusing mainly on the Q44 SBSB line as it is the one I am most familiar with. I have come across this forum and find your postings all very interesting. I was wondering if anyone here is personally an MTA bus driver for SBS. If so, I'd like to ask a couple simple questions from the perspective of an SBS bus driver for my paper. The sooner the better! I will leave my email for anyone wishing to participate: iman.mamdouh05@myhunter.cuny.edu

I've used it a few times, most recently from Union Turnpike and Main Street because I had missed my QM2 express bus from Manhattan to do shopping up in Whitestone and didn't feel like waiting an hour, so I took the QM6 in and transferred to the Q44.  My previous Q44 trips have always been relatively short within Whitestone, but this one was just slow and annoying.  It seemed as if it took forever to go from Union Turnpike and Main up to Parsons and 20th Avenue.  I'll NEVER do that trip again. Too many damn people, and the buses are too slow, even with the SBS features. The lights aren't synced either (due to that stupid Vision Zero), so you're constantly stopping and going. I don't see how those buses can gather any speed.  This particular trip we had two Q44s back-to-back and neither made any real headways in terms of time.  That's another thing. From my observations, I know that the line is pretty frequent, but bus bunching is still a big problem.

[checkmatechamp13]

If you want to toss it in, I think the S79 was done pretty well, but they should've had bus lanes north of New Dorp instead of just north of Lincoln (they wanted to avoid putting them on the busiest section when that is the first place they should'be put them). Also they should get a move on with installing that Brooklyn-bound center island platform at Yukon Avenue)

[bobtehpanda]

11 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I've used it a few times, most recently from Union Turnpike and Main Street because I had missed my QM2 express bus from Manhattan to do shopping up in Whitestone and didn't feel like waiting an hour, so I took the QM6 in and transferred to the Q44.  My previous Q44 trips have always been relatively short within Whitestone, but this one was just slow and annoying.  It seemed as if it took forever to go from Union Turnpike and Main up to Parsons and 20th Avenue.  I'll NEVER do that trip again. Too many damn people, and the buses are too slow, even with the SBS features. The lights aren't synced either (due to that stupid Vision Zero), so you're constantly stopping and going. I don't see how those buses can gather any speed.  This particular trip we had two Q44s back-to-back and neither made any real headways in terms of time.  That's another thing. From my observations, I know that the line is pretty frequent, but bus bunching is still a big problem.

The lights in Queens are synced to give priority to east-west traffic, so crosstown routes like the Q44 tend to get shafted. I'm surprised it doesn't have TSP.

Are you not allowed to use SBS receipts on the Q20, though? The driver told me when I was back that it was for a different route so I couldn't use the slip.

Edited November 29, 2017 by bobtehpanda

[JubaionBx12+SBS]

On 11/27/2017 at 5:17 PM, CollegeStudentIman said:

Hello!

My name is Iman and I'm and undergraduate student at Hunter College. I am writing a paper on the qualitative measures of the SBS failures/success through the lens of rider's perception. I will be focusing mainly on the Q44 SBSB line as it is the one I am most familiar with. I have come across this forum and find your postings all very interesting. I was wondering if anyone here is personally an MTA bus driver for SBS. If so, I'd like to ask a couple simple questions from the perspective of an SBS bus driver for my paper. The sooner the better! I will leave my email for anyone wishing to participate: iman.mamdouh05@myhunter.cuny.edu

I mainly use the Bx12 SBS and during off peak hours the route is impressively quick. I've been on it where the bus made it from Bartow/Edson to Inwood in half an hour (this was in the morning on a Saturday). During rush hour when you get traffic all hell breaks loose as far as spacing is concerned. The headways are pretty good but could be better in response to overcrowding (3 minute headways during the AM rush and 4 mins during the PM rush is what the MTA should shoot for). The main thing that I and others post about when it comes to the Bx12 SBS is overcrowding resulting from high ridership and it's not just during rush hour. Given the huge crowding off-board payment is a big time saver (try having 30-40 people line up at nearly every stop to pay at the front).  While SBS is an improvement for the routes it is run on, I feel it's a half-assed one that could have been shelved for more comprehensive ideas like systemwide all-door boarding, stop consolidation and countdown clock rollouts. The latter should be at every Bx12 +SBS stop yesterday but who am I kidding. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

5 hours ago, bobtehpanda said:

The lights in Queens are synced to give priority to east-west traffic, so crosstown routes like the Q44 tend to get shafted. I'm surprised it doesn't have TSP.

Are you not allowed to use SBS receipts on the Q20, though? The driver told me when I was back that it was for a different route so I couldn't use the slip.

Why would I use the Q20 when it's local and uses 40 footers? I only use that bus when I'm leaving the shopping center with bags and I don't feel like schlepping up the hill to reach the QM2 by Parsons and 20th.

[bobtehpanda]

8 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Why would I use the Q20 when it's local and uses 40 footers? I only use that bus when I'm leaving the shopping center with bags and I don't feel like schlepping up the hill to reach the QM2 by Parsons and 20th.

I was trying to get from Booth Memorial to Main St, which is a pretty long, hilly walk, but an easy ten minutes on the bus. The 4 minute gap between the Q20 I got on and the Q44 I would've gotten instead was not short enough to make the trip shorter.

[IAlam]

On 11/28/2017 at 11:38 AM, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I've used it a few times, most recently from Union Turnpike and Main Street because I had missed my QM2 express bus from Manhattan to do shopping up in Whitestone and didn't feel like waiting an hour, so I took the QM6 in and transferred to the Q44.  My previous Q44 trips have always been relatively short within Whitestone, but this one was just slow and annoying.  It seemed as if it took forever to go from Union Turnpike and Main up to Parsons and 20th Avenue.  I'll NEVER do that trip again. Too many damn people, and the buses are too slow, even with the SBS features. The lights aren't synced either (due to that stupid Vision Zero), so you're constantly stopping and going. I don't see how those buses can gather any speed.  This particular trip we had two Q44s back-to-back and neither made any real headways in terms of time.  That's another thing. From my observations, I know that the line is pretty frequent, but bus bunching is still a big problem.

The Q20 on most days is just as fast if nit faster than the Q44 With everyone waiting at Q44 stops the Q20 will just keep driving w/o picking up passengers. from my experience, excluding major stops, the Q20 serves people going from one Q20 local stop to another Q20 local stop while the Q44 serves pretty much every stop it has. With so many passengers waiting for the Q44 they sometimes the Q20 just skips the Q44 stops as long as Q44 is there.   

[Via Garibaldi 8]

3 hours ago, IAlam said:

The Q20 on most days is just as fast if nit faster than the Q44 With everyone waiting at Q44 stops the Q20 will just keep driving w/o picking up passengers. from my experience, excluding major stops, the Q20 serves people going from one Q20 local stop to another Q20 local stop while the Q44 serves pretty much every stop it has. With so many passengers waiting for the Q44 they sometimes the Q20 just skips the Q44 stops as long as Q44 is there.   

When I get the Q20 there is always someone riding. I prefer the Q76 since it puts me closer to the QM2.

[checkmatechamp13]

On 11/28/2017 at 10:54 PM, bobtehpanda said:

The lights in Queens are synced to give priority to east-west traffic, so crosstown routes like the Q44 tend to get shafted. I'm surprised it doesn't have TSP.

Are you not allowed to use SBS receipts on the Q20, though? The driver told me when I was back that it was for a different route so I couldn't use the slip.

Officially yes, but some B/Os make up their own rules.

Can I use my SBS ticket to ride on other bus routes?

Your SBS ticket is your proof of payment for SBS service.  However, should another bus (local or limited) arrive at your stop before your SBS bus, you may board at the front door and give your ticket to the bus operator. 

Customers may check MTA Bus Time to learn when the next buses are expected to arrive at their stop.  Simply enter the bus stop code (which can be found in the Guide-A-Ride box on the bus stop pole), or the bus stop intersection (e.g. 2 Av/E 42) into the search function.  Learn more about MTA Bus Time, available on desktop and as an app, here.

[BreeddekalbL]

I saw that lga is doing a big terminal switch

Supposedly i saw they are adding terminal A back to the m60

[IAlam]

aren't there supposed to be more flights departing from Terminal A now or now or something? 

[MysteriousBtrain]

18 minutes ago, IAlam said:

aren't there supposed to be more flights departing from Terminal A now or now or something? 

I think JetBlue or another company is based out of there now.

[XBht26]

1 hour ago, MysteriousBtrain said:

I think JetBlue or another company is based out of there now.

JetBlue airways and Alaskan airlines moved to terminal A