R-42 Final Run Retirement - February 12th, 2020

[Trainmaster5]

2 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

Things are going back to normal, it won't take a year as originally suggested. As long as everyone continues to follow the guidelines, things should return to normal soon.

I think you are being very optimistic about the near future. Read the business section of the major newspapers, local, regional, and national, and the prospect of a return to the old economy in any form isn’t being mentioned. The new projection is for less businesses, needing less employees from what I’ve been reading. Look at the business closures already and the downsizing of employee count that’s gonna take place at the remaining companies. Online ordering and package delivery is going to be the new normal, IMO. I don’t believe that mass transit ridership is ever going to reach the recent level. Business is a bottom line first thing. I know the  is a reactive agency for the most part so I think the older buses, subway, and rail cars are history no matter how you look at it. There might be a farewell trip for some of the equipment but there’s no justification for spending money to maintain older equipment, period. The  , NJT, MARTA, DC Metro, Amtrak are all broke and counting on Congress for help. Mass transit and Amtrak don’t matter to most Americans in the best of times so I’m not sure running farewell trips is the smartest thing to do. Maybe a paid, private excursion would be the best way to proceed without stirring up opposition. Just my opinion. YMMV. Carry on.

[MHV9218]

One interesting note is that given social distancing guidelines and what we're seeing with the LIRR, it's extremely possible that the MTA will need to run 100% or 110% capacity in order to carry 50% or 60% of ridership guidelines. This is, obviously, a budget catastrophe, but it's not at all unlikely. The LIRR is already being forced to run extra cars despite vastly diminished ridership, and the subway may go something of the same route. Full-length on the is an aspect of that, but if the MTA has to dramatically increase capacity, we could see some unusual movements. Above ground that means artics, headway shifts, etc. Below ground? We'll have to see.

[GojiMet86]

Part of me is thinking this might push the MTA to start looking at OPTO and ATO again, even with that incident that burned a train and killed the worker. That incident can be seen two ways: 1) It's better to have personnel on board to prevent that sort of thing OR 2) with ATO or OPTO, that would have been a life saved.

Edited May 26, 2020 by GojiMet86

[Deucey]

3 hours ago, MHV9218 said:

One interesting note is that given social distancing guidelines and what we're seeing with the LIRR, it's extremely possible that the MTA will need to run 100% or 110% capacity in order to carry 50% or 60% of ridership guidelines. This is, obviously, a budget catastrophe, but it's not at all unlikely. The LIRR is already being forced to run extra cars despite vastly diminished ridership, and the subway may go something of the same route. Full-length on the is an aspect of that, but if the MTA has to dramatically increase capacity, we could see some unusual movements. Above ground that means artics, headway shifts, etc. Below ground? We'll have to see.

The interesting possibility I see is if the bailouts and looming transit cuts due to business rethinking operations (is how much office space is needed vs WFH; staying in NYC vs going to a decentralized model, etc), it might result in fewer conductors on railroads in exchange for some sort of paid fare zones at LIRR/MNRR/NJT stations.

Definitely won’t be “next week”, but if a depression ensues, I wouldn’t be surprised at it happening in the next few years - especially if that guy from Queens and his transport secretary’s spouse get re-elected and control at least one chamber.

 

Could even see “franchising” a la British Rail happen.

(All me reading tea leaves here.)

Edited May 26, 2020 by Deucey

[Trainmaster5]

3 hours ago, MHV9218 said:

One interesting note is that given social distancing guidelines and what we're seeing with the LIRR, it's extremely possible that the MTA will need to run 100% or 110% capacity in order to carry 50% or 60% of ridership guidelines. This is, obviously, a budget catastrophe, but it's not at all unlikely. The LIRR is already being forced to run extra cars despite vastly diminished ridership, and the subway may go something of the same route. Full-length on the is an aspect of that, but if the MTA has to dramatically increase capacity, we could see some unusual movements. Above ground that means artics, headway shifts, etc. Below ground? We'll have to see.

I see your point of view and I think that you're on the right track.  Thing is that most people overlook the obvious. Anyone from the board or the Governor's office can limit the amount of subway ridership (if they really wanted to ) by declaring a health emergency and deactivating the Metrocard/ OMNY system for a certain amount of time to avoid overcrowding conditions. Extremely far fetched, IMO, but a Clerk/ Station Agent brought up that scenario almost 40 years ago in the crew room at East 180th station. Flip a switch and stop localized overcrowding at a particular location until conditions improve. We were talking about the power we, Local 100, had over the system when this veteran Station Department employee added his perspective to the conversation. I've never forgotten that thought. I live in Suffolk county these days and I'm well aware of the LIRR situation. My wife is an essential worker out here and I cross the LIE twice a day. Traffic is still light but most of the people I know are worried about the future. How do we balance the reopening of business with the school situation in the area ? Many childless people are itching to get back to work but maybe their jobs have changed or shut down forever. I can pretty much guess the age of many forum members by their posting history.  I guess that many transportation workers see the bigger problem that awaits us. SCHOOL . What do you think the and the local politicians can/will  do if things open up quicker or more widespread than anticipated ? Social Distance that.  I think there's going to be a lot of reshuffling of the deck for the next 6 months or so.  I just hope we can find some happy medium.  Carry on.

[bobtehpanda]

1 hour ago, Deucey said:

The interesting possibility I see is if the bailouts and looming transit cuts due to business rethinking operations (is how much office space is needed vs WFH; staying in NYC vs going to a decentralized model, etc), it might result in fewer conductors on railroads in exchange for some sort of paid fare zones at LIRR/MNRR/NJT stations.

Definitely won’t be “next week”, but if a depression ensues, I wouldn’t be surprised at it happening in the next few years - especially if that guy from Queens and his transport secretary’s spouse get re-elected and control at least one chamber.

Could even see “franchising” a la British Rail happen.

(All me reading tea leaves here.)

OMNY is the same as Oyster and Overground is POP, with only tap ticket readers at some stations. The MTA has alluded to this being possible, but has obviously not made any large noise about it.

Generally speaking, on POP systems the train itself is the "fare paid zone" and you get inspected the same way a conductor would, with two main things changing:

• the system is designed to check a certain percentage of ridership a month, so that a tolerable amount of people slip through the net but also people will get checked at least once a month
• rather than just say "aw shucks" and pay a top-up fare with the conductor, you get written a ticket that is a multiple of the monthly ticket

Edited May 27, 2020 by bobtehpanda

[Trainmaster5]

1 hour ago, Trainmaster5 said:

I see your point of view and I think that you're on the right track.  Thing is that most people overlook the obvious. Anyone from the board or the Governor's office can limit the amount of subway ridership (if they really wanted to ) by declaring a health emergency and deactivating the Metrocard/ OMNY system for a certain amount of time to avoid overcrowding conditions. Extremely far fetched, IMO, but a Clerk/ Station Agent brought up that scenario almost 30 years ago in the crew room at East 180th station. Flip a switch and stop localized overcrowding at a particular location until conditions improve. We were talking about the power we, Local 100, had over the system when this veteran Station Department employee added his perspective to the conversation. I've never forgotten that thought. I live in Suffolk county these days and I'm well aware of the LIRR situation. My wife is an essential worker out here and I cross the LIE twice a day. Traffic is still light but most of the people I know are worried about the future. How do we balance the reopening of business with the school situation in the area ? Many childless people are itching to get back to work but maybe their jobs have changed or shut down forever. I can pretty much guess the age of many forum members by their posting history.  I guess that many transportation workers see the bigger problem that awaits us. SCHOOL . What do you think the and the local politicians can/will  do if things open up quicker or more widespread than anticipated ? Social Distance that.  I think there's going to be a lot of reshuffling of the deck for the next 6 months or so.  I just hope we can find some happy medium.  Carry on.

Maybe this belongs in the Random Thoughts Thread ? You can move it  Mods

Edited May 27, 2020 by Trainmaster5
Can't count years anymore 1990 is 30 years ago

[happy283]

Now that the R179s have been removed from service again, whats happening with the R32 and R42?

[R42Ztrain4795]

Question about the R42s, if they're scrapping them, I would really want a car number plate from one of them. Anybody have any ideas on how I could get one from the MTA?

[R68OnBroadway]

8 minutes ago, R42Ztrain4795 said:

Question about the R42s, if they're scrapping them, I would really want a car number plate from one of them. Anybody have any ideas on how I could get one from the MTA?

They have a memorabilia store on their website.

http://web.mta.info/nyct/materiel/collectsales/index.html

Edited June 7, 2020 by R68OnBroadway
added link