Vaccine Bus

[SubBus]

Good Afternoon, 

Has anyone rode or taken photos of the B98V or Q98V?

These are new bus routes to get people to Medgar Evers(from Pink Houses) and  York  Colleges (from Far Rock, I believe).

[Future ENY OP]

1 hour ago, SubBus said:

Good Afternoon, 

Has anyone rode or taken photos of the B98V or Q98V?

These are new bus routes to get people to Medgar Evers(from Pink Houses) and  York  Colleges (from Far Rock, I believe).

Yes, that is correct. Bus routes starting operating yesterday

Flatbush and Fresh Pond are doing the Medgar Evers Shuttle and JFK is doing the York College Shuttle.

[The TransitMan]

16 hours ago, Future ENY OP said:

Yes, that is correct. Bus routes starting operating yesterday

Flatbush and Fresh Pond are doing the Medgar Evers Shuttle and JFK is doing the York College Shuttle.

Yeah well add College Point onto that York College shuttle. #548 just left Edgemere.

[Eric B]

I saw one passing by Linden/Ave D. by the  yesterday. Had never even heard of the route.

[Future ENY OP]

4 hours ago, The TransitMan said:

Yeah well add College Point onto that York College shuttle. #548 just left Edgemere.

This one I find very strange to have College Point to do the shuttle. However, my only guess is that College Point has routes that go right outside York College so technically it makes sense. 
 

However, for the Q98v I’m looking at it from a deadhead perspective and since JFK is closest to Far Rockaway it totally makes sense. First 2 days of the shuttle was exclusive to JFK since they had 5-6 buses. Again, it’s good that College point is getting the work. 

[LegoBrickBreaker101]

40 minutes ago, Future ENY OP said:

This one I find very strange to have College Point to do the shuttle. However, my only guess is that College Point has routes that go right outside York College so technically it makes sense. 
 

However, for the Q98v I’m looking at it from a deadhead perspective and since JFK is closest to Far Rockaway it totally makes sense. First 2 days of the shuttle was exclusive to JFK since they had 5-6 buses. Again, it’s good that College point is getting the work. 

Actually, CP had one bus out on the route on the first day: #528. To my knowledge it did one round trip on the Q98V then went onto the Q25 / Q65 (I forgot exactly which one but it was one of the Limited routes).

[Future ENY OP]

1 hour ago, LegoBrickBreaker101 said:

Actually, CP had one bus out on the route on the first day: #528. To my knowledge it did one round trip on the Q98V then went onto the Q25 / Q65 (I forgot exactly which one but it was one of the Limited routes).

Appreciate the clarification. @LegoBrickBreaker101 from what u saw mostly on the first day was the JFK buses.  However, with CP it does make sense for them to do the shuttle since the 65 stops very near to York College. 

[EastFlatbushLarry]

to my understanding and according to people i spoke with, technically, the B98v & Q98v are internally "assigned" to FB & JK, respectively. however, any gaps will be plugged by other yards, which has already happened re: FP and GA (iinm)

in the case of JK, bus company yards will be called to plug service gaps, depending on spare availability and operator availability. that doesn't mean that this will be the only way they'll cover service on these lines. for example, today on the midday train shuttle from far rock, run 525 on the 53 sbs was temporarily assigned to do a trip (or trips). that philosophy will be implemented on these vaccine lines if need be, even with ½ hour headways. i think I've mentioned it here, that years ago, when i worked at 100 street, the SLD(s) at Cooper Union used to pull runs off the m101/2 to run 103 shuttles from Cooper union to city hall on weekends. my point being is that any odd-ball depots running on either line is definitely by design.. by hook or by crook, make service. 

Edited March 3, 2021 by EastFlatbushLarry

[SubBus]

On 3/2/2021 at 1:12 PM, SubBus said:

Good Afternoon, 

Has anyone rode or taken photos of the B98V or Q98V?

These are new bus routes to get people to Medgar Evers(from Pink Houses) and  York  Colleges (from Edgemere, I believe).

In addition,  the Q113 and Q114 LTD will make an extra stop at York  College in both directions...

[Cain]

There are videos of it on Youtube - most of them have been empty but it was only a few days since they started the service.

[FamousNYLover]

I do have shots of Vaccine Bus.

I took B98V bus round trip from Meagar Edgemere College & Pink House on March 9th

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10221382603407536

 

Edited April 9, 2021 by FamousNYLover

[Sylveon]

the q8v and b98v are discontinuing soon...

[Gotham Bus Co.]

2 hours ago, Sylveon said:

the q8v and b98v are discontinuing soon...

Makes sense if nobody is riding them. 

[RapidoNewLook]

7 hours ago, Sylveon said:

the q8v and b98v are discontinuing soon...

Source?

[danielhg121]

5 minutes ago, RapidoNewLook said:

Source?

You can check their Twitter, they've posted signs on all the B98V and Q98V bus stops that they're discontinuing service come Monday.

[FamousNYLover]

This is my shots of B98V and Q98V.

Q98V in front of Access A Ride- (taken from Q22)

Q98V

 

[Sylveon]

4 hours ago, RapidoNewLook said:

Source?

 

[NewFlyer 230]

11 hours ago, Sylveon said:

 

Lol I love how they say in the tweet that it is still easy to go to the vaccine sites. If they knew it was so easy why did they even bother with these routes in the first place. Huge waste of money and resources smh. I think the LIRR is no longer stopping at Mets-Citi Field as well due to low ridership because the other day I saw trains bypassing the stop. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

44 minutes ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

Lol I love how they say in the tweet that it is still easy to go to the vaccine sites. If they knew it was so easy why did they even bother with these routes in the first place. Huge waste of money and resources smh. I think the LIRR is no longer stopping at Mets-Citi Field as well due to low ridership because the other day I saw trains bypassing the stop. 

This has been discussed before, and it was the right thing to do as a public transit agency. They were asked to by elected officials in neighborhoods with low vaccination rates to facilitate people getting their shots. The areas with high vaccination rates are generally more affluent, and people have the means to get to them by driving or taking an Uber. Poor people don't have that luxury. If you're unemployed and struggling to get by, every penny counts.

The only thing that was done poorly was them not advertising the routes before getting them up and running, otherwise there is nothing wasteful about this.  I guess you don't understand or don't care to understand, but it is elected officials that work to get the  funding, so when they ask the  for things like this it's in their best interest to work with elected officials. Not only that, but the City cannot re-open if tons of people remain unvaccinated, so it's in the 's interest again to have the City re-open and people using the system again.

Edited April 23, 2021 by Via Garibaldi 8

[NewFlyer 230]

1 hour ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

This has been discussed before, and it was the right thing to do as a public transit agency. They were asked to by elected officials in neighborhoods with low vaccination rates to facilitate people getting their shots. The areas with high vaccination rates are generally more affluent, and people have the means to get to them by driving or taking an Uber. Poor people don't have that luxury. If you're unemployed and struggling to get by, every penny counts.

The only thing that was done poorly was them not advertising the routes before getting them up and running, otherwise there is nothing wasteful about this.  I guess you don't understand or don't care to understand, but it is elected officials that work to get the  funding, so when they ask the  for things like this it's in their best interest to work with elected officials. Not only that, but the City cannot re-open if tons of people remain unvaccinated, so it's in the 's interest again to have the City re-open and people using the system again.

I get that the MTA is here to serve the public the best way possible but there were already existing routes that could take people to these sites if needed. They even added a stop in front of York College on both the Q113 and Q114 and those routes connect with the Q22 and the  which serves the Edgemere Projects. The intent was no doubt good, but the execution was done poorly which is the MTA’s fault. And even when they saw that ridership was poor they did nothing to raise awareness of these routes. I bet you can go to these neighborhoods where the B98 and Q98 are and ask the people there about those vaccine routes and probably half of them wouldn’t know. 
 

Don’t just assume that I don’t care to understand because I’m always trying to understand and learn something new. Life is full of learning and trust me I’ve learned a lot from a lot of people on this site. So I do appreciate the clarity. 

Are the B98 and Q98 free to use? 

[danielhg121]

5 minutes ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

Are the B98 and Q98 free to use? 

They are not.

[B35 via Church]

6 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

This has been discussed before, and it was the right thing to do as a public transit agency. They were asked to by elected officials in neighborhoods with low vaccination rates to facilitate people getting their shots. The areas with high vaccination rates are generally more affluent, and people have the means to get to them by driving or taking an Uber. Poor people don't have that luxury. If you're unemployed and struggling to get by, every penny counts.

The only thing that was done poorly was them not advertising the routes before getting them up and running, otherwise there is nothing wasteful about this.  I guess you don't understand or don't care to understand, but it is elected officials that work to get the  funding, so when they ask the  for things like this it's in their best interest to work with elected officials. Not only that, but the City cannot re-open if tons of people remain unvaccinated, so it's in the 's interest again to have the City re-open and people using the system again.

By that logic, these two services should have been free.

Anyway, The road to hell is paved with good intentions; it is what it is, as far as how poorly utilized they were.... Hell, they were never intended to be permanent anyway, so I'm not at all moved by their discontinuation..... While driving home the other day, I saw the same notices at the bus stops (B98v) that @danielhg121 referenced & simply shrugged at them upon first glance....

4 hours ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

I get that the MTA is here to serve the public the best way possible but there were already existing routes that could take people to these sites if needed. They even added a stop in front of York College on both the Q113 and Q114 and those routes connect with the Q22 and the  which serves the Edgemere Projects. The intent was no doubt good, but the execution was done poorly which is the MTA’s fault. And even when they saw that ridership was poor they did nothing to raise awareness of these routes. I bet you can go to these neighborhoods where the B98 and Q98 are and ask the people there about those vaccine routes and probably half of them wouldn’t know.

Just like this vaccine, the services were too whimsical..... I'm not so sure better advertising (and/or making the things actually free) would've made a stark difference.

I would have been shocked to see more than a handful of people per trip consistently using the thing.... FWIW, at least some b/o's had work to do out there in operating both those routes, amidst what's being slated for regular/system-wide service in the future.....

Edited April 23, 2021 by B35 via Church

[Via Garibaldi 8]

6 hours ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

I get that the MTA is here to serve the public the best way possible but there were already existing routes that could take people to these sites if needed. They even added a stop in front of York College on both the Q113 and Q114 and those routes connect with the Q22 and the  which serves the Edgemere Projects. The intent was no doubt good, but the execution was done poorly which is the MTA’s fault. And even when they saw that ridership was poor they did nothing to raise awareness of these routes. I bet you can go to these neighborhoods where the B98 and Q98 are and ask the people there about those vaccine routes and probably half of them wouldn’t know. 
 

Don’t just assume that I don’t care to understand because I’m always trying to understand and learn something new. Life is full of learning and trust me I’ve learned a lot from a lot of people on this site. So I do appreciate the clarity. 

Are the B98 and Q98 free to use? 

This is one of these things where you say "OK" if you're the  , eat the costs and move on. If anything, they may be able to ask for more funding to cover these sorts of expenses, since they are COVID related, so keep that in mind. I don't believe this is the end of the funding they will be getting, not by a long shot. They have been asking for all sorts of funding to cover disinfecting and other things and they've been getting it. Truth to be told, they were very tense about what their funding situation would be and VERY fearful of layoffs. All of that has changed now that the new administration is in. 

1 hour ago, B35 via Church said:

By that logic, these two services should have been free.

Anyway, The road to hell is paved with good intentions; it is what it is, as far as how poorly utilized they were.... Hell, they were never intended to be permanent anyway, so I'm not at all moved by their discontinuation..... While driving home the other day, I saw the same notices at the bus stops (B98v) that @danielhg121 referenced & simply shrugged at them upon first glance....

I agree, but ultimately, the thinking was, elected officials wanted to see if they could get more people to the sites, and if running the buses helped, they felt it was worth it, so basically they talked the  into doing it. The media has been talking about it non-stop, that is people in poor areas not having reliable transit to reach the nearest sites and pointing out the inequality in that. In my neighborhood, outside of CVS, we did not have places in the area, but people didn't care. They signed up wherever and just drove to the site or took an Uber and that was that, so vaccination rates in my area are quite high, and our elected officials have worked on getting more sites in the neighborhood for those who want to be vaccinated in the area.

[Gotham Bus Co.]

On 3/2/2021 at 1:12 PM, SubBus said:

Good Afternoon, 

Has anyone rode or taken photos of the B98V or Q98V?

These are new bus routes to get people to Medgar Evers(from Pink Houses) and  York  Colleges (from Far Rock, I believe).

 

Those aren't the same Pink Houses that John Cougar Mellencamp sang about in 1983, right?

[B35 via Church]

11 minutes ago, Gotham Bus Co. said:

Those aren't the same Pink Houses that John Cougar Mellencamp sang about in 1983, right?

No, they're referring to the pink houses that Barbie & Ken did all that f***ing in & haven't reared one child in it from.