BUS - Random Thoughts Thread

[Via Garibaldi 8]

2 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

Right, your going to tell me, who's been doing this for longer then you have in the driver's seat, that my logic is flawed.

You know I respect you, but sometimes you talk pure nonsense.

Why don't you get behind the wheel of a bus, do the BxM1 at night and tell me if you can safely stop if a pax waits until the last second to wave you down.

How long you've been driving a bus is irrelevant.  The MTA is the employer, not the union, so what they say doesn't just get disregarded just because the union supports their member. lol That's essentially your argument.

[BreeddekalbL]

I'd Like to insert my thoughts for @Lawrence St and @Via Garibaldi 8 regarding people pulling out to summon bus at last second  do these express buses including the new ones have front facing cameras? if new ones do the drivers can say pull the footage etc

[Jdog14]

12 minutes ago, BreeddekalbL said:

I'd Like to insert my thoughts for @Lawrence St and @Via Garibaldi 8 regarding people pulling out to summon bus at last second  do these express buses including the new ones have front facing cameras? if new ones do the drivers can say pull the footage etc

 

Might be wrong but all the prevost, and the 2013 MCIs have them. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

12 minutes ago, BreeddekalbL said:

I'd Like to insert my thoughts for @Lawrence St and @Via Garibaldi 8 regarding people pulling out to summon bus at last second  do these express buses including the new ones have front facing cameras? if new ones do the drivers can say pull the footage etc

Cameras have been pulled in the past to defend drivers against incorrect accusations. Had it with an X27 passenger in fact.

[BreeddekalbL]

8 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Cameras have been pulled in the past to defend drivers against incorrect accusations. Had it with an X27 passenger in fact.

good if passenger accuses driver of passing them up but driver says they pull at last second where they might be forced to do an unsafe manuver to try and service the stop that can help

[Kriston Lewis]

8 hours ago, Future ENY OP said:

All  and  service should serve Kensington. However, especially with the  it does a lot of work in Sheepshead Bay before getting into Kensington.

The only way you could really reduce the number of stops for people further out is to split up the service. Create a new peak service, let's call it the BM7 (3+4, get it) and run it between Avenue J & Ocean Avenue and Downtown/Midtown following the current 3/4 alignment. The BM1-4 could then run non-stop to Manhattan after their solo segments. This way, you don't lose the ridership from northern points.

Edited December 7, 2021 by Kriston Lewis

[paulrivera]

So, I just saw on the news that the Riders Alliance was holding this rally for better bus service this morning, and one of the people that showed up was Janno Lieber himself.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Just now, paulrivera said:

So, I just saw on the news that the Riders Alliance was holding this rally for better bus service this morning, and one of the people that showed up was Janno Lieber himself.

I saw that as well and also listened to his comments... Actions are louder than words... He talked about how important it is to provide reliable bus service in areas that are subway deserts... There's a novel concept. lol

[B35 via Church]

10 hours ago, FLX9304 said:

Say if the X29 was not hit back in 2010, would they have restructured that route to serve a express bus much needed area then added a super X39 to cover it, make it a 6 day service (no service on Sundays)

Not a chance.

5 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

TA can say what they want, but it's the unions say in the end. 

For example, if someone skips a stop because of the mentioned reasons and TA tries to penalize them, the union will side with the driver because it wasn't a safe stop. I've seen it happen before.

What is the union's say in the end?

You make that initial statement as if the unions literally hold rank over the MTA...

Edited December 8, 2021 by B35 via Church

[Future ENY OP]

5 minutes ago, Kriston Lewis said:

The only way you could really reduce the number of stops for people further out is to split up the service. Create a new peak service, let's call it the BM6 and run it between Avenue J & Ocean Avenue and Downtown/Midtown following the current 3/4 alignment. The BM1-4 could then run non-stop to Manhattan after their solo segments. This way, you don't lose the ridership from northern points.

This... I agree. I'd go a little further and extend it to Quentin Road/Ocean Ave. (Possibly)

For the most part Avenue J and Ocean is perfect start for the BM6. 

So for the and after Avenue K and Ocean, they can go express straight to Manhattan. 

right after Avenue L, head straight to Manhattan. right after Flatbush/Foster- head into the city.

 

[trainfan22]

Just saw on the news, NYC is the most congested city in the U.S and 5th overall in the world. This effects bus service if you wondering why I decided to post this in the bus random thoughts thread. 

[Kriston Lewis]

7 minutes ago, Future ENY OP said:

This... I agree. I'd go a little further and extend it to Quentin Road/Ocean Ave. (Possibly)

For the most part Avenue J and Ocean is perfect start for the BM6. 

So for the and after Avenue K and Ocean, they can go express straight to Manhattan. 

right after Avenue L, head straight to Manhattan. right after Flatbush/Foster- head into the city.

 

So here's what I was thinking, the  and  would make that left on Avenue J, stop in the current B6 stop and then operate non-stop to Manhattan via Avenue J, Coney Island Avenue and then the current Park Circle route. That makes sense to me as a good midway point for ridership and also as a transfer point. The new service would have enough length to have it's own ridership. That and you don't have buses running down streets that don't have them already (though I would love if they can get a waiver to use Ocean Parkway).

The  could make the left onto Foster Avenue and zip across to Coney Island Avenue. Off peak, everything stays as is. Ridership is lighter and you'd cannibalize the service at that point. 

[Future ENY OP]

2 minutes ago, Kriston Lewis said:

So here's what I was thinking, the  and  would make that left on Avenue J, stop in the current B6 stop and then operate non-stop to Manhattan via Avenue J, Coney Island Avenue and then the current Park Circle route. That makes sense to me as a good midway point for ridership and also as a transfer point. The new service would have enough length to have it's own ridership. That and you don't have buses running down streets that don't have them already (though I would love if they can get a waiver to use Ocean Parkway).

The  could make the left onto Foster Avenue and zip across to Coney Island Avenue. Off peak, everything stays as is. Ridership is lighter and you'd cannibalize the service at that point. 

I believe there is a left turn restriction onto Foster Avenue from Flatbush. However, this should be an exception and have the turn there and stop at the current stop and head straight to Coney Island Ave.

[paulrivera]

1 hour ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I saw that as well and also listened to his comments... Actions are louder than words... He talked about how important it is to provide reliable bus service in areas that are subway deserts... There's a novel concept. lol

Hochul supposedly wants to take the interim tag off of him and let him stay on (she's up for re-election next year tho), so let's see if he can walk the walk...

[Via Garibaldi 8]

28 minutes ago, paulrivera said:

Hochul supposedly wants to take the interim tag off of him and let him stay on (she's up for re-election next year tho), so let's see if he can walk the walk...

Well she's the favorite at the moment and she's raised a ****load of money for what it's worth.

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

1 hour ago, Kriston Lewis said:

So here's what I was thinking, the  and  would make that left on Avenue J, stop in the current B6 stop and then operate non-stop to Manhattan via Avenue J, Coney Island Avenue and then the current Park Circle route. That makes sense to me as a good midway point for ridership and also as a transfer point. The new service would have enough length to have it's own ridership. That and you don't have buses running down streets that don't have them already (though I would love if they can get a waiver to use Ocean Parkway).

The  could make the left onto Foster Avenue and zip across to Coney Island Avenue. Off peak, everything stays as is. Ridership is lighter and you'd cannibalize the service at that point. 

Additionally Avenue J is the only underpass that buses could make, as the other clearances are too low. I posted a somewhat similar plan in the Brooklyn proposal thread too, except I didn't include the BM4 in it, and i had some off-peak route modifications on the BM1 & BM2. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

1 hour ago, Kriston Lewis said:

So here's what I was thinking, the  and  would make that left on Avenue J, stop in the current B6 stop and then operate non-stop to Manhattan via Avenue J, Coney Island Avenue and then the current Park Circle route. That makes sense to me as a good midway point for ridership and also as a transfer point. The new service would have enough length to have it's own ridership. That and you don't have buses running down streets that don't have them already (though I would love if they can get a waiver to use Ocean Parkway).

The  could make the left onto Foster Avenue and zip across to Coney Island Avenue. Off peak, everything stays as is. Ridership is lighter and you'd cannibalize the service at that point. 

That would leave Kensington without service and folks would go crazy. The  and  can make the stops up to East 7th and with stop consolidations, you can get the pick-up times under 30 minutes.

[Future ENY OP]

5 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

That would leave Kensington without service and folks would go crazy. The  and  can make the stops up to East 7th and with stop consolidations, you can get the pick-up times under 30 minutes.

My guess is to what he is saying is create the BM6 route to service the Kensington customers.. In addition to that have the and provide coverage for Kensington.

Have the turn off on Avenue J to Ocean Parkway for streamlined service to the city. Return trip via Avenue J to Ocean. First stop. Ocean and Ave K.

Have the turn off on Coney Island Ave for the Prospect expwy. On the return turns off on Foster Ave to Flatbush

[Via Garibaldi 8]

3 minutes ago, Future ENY OP said:

My guess is to what he is saying is create the BM6 route to service the Kensington customers.. In addition to that have the and provide coverage for Kensington.

Have the turn off on Avenue J to Ocean Parkway for streamlined service to the city. Return trip via Avenue J to Ocean. First stop. Ocean and Ave K.

Have the turn off on Coney Island Ave for the Prospect expwy. On the return turns off on Foster Ave to Flatbush

I don't know about that. They already have enough service issues as it is, and I don't see enough ridership in that area for it to have its own route.

[B35 via Church]

47 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

That would leave Kensington without service and folks would go crazy. The  and  can make the stops up to East 7th and with stop consolidations, you can get the pick-up times under 30 minutes.

24 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I don't know about that. They already have enough service issues as it is, and I don't see enough ridership in that area for it to have its own route.

Those were the same sentiments I had upon reading that bit about a route starting from Av. J/Ocean, up towards Manhattan... I don't see why a new route should be created, for the purpose of going about reducing stops for those deeper down/out in Brooklyn.... Perfect opportunity for the BM4 to have more purpose/importance in the network.... How many times over the years we've done seen someone on these parts (for example) propose putting the BM4 on the chopping block....

 

 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

5 minutes ago, B35 via Church said:

Those were the same sentiments I had upon reading that bit about a route starting from Av. J/Ocean, up towards Manhattan... I don't see why a new route should be created, for the purpose of going about reducing stops for those deeper down/out in Brooklyn.... Perfect opportunity for the BM4 to have more purpose/importance in the network.... How many times over the years we've done seen someone on these parts (for example) propose putting the BM4 on the chopping block....

 

 

Yeah, out of the the four routes, the  is pretty direct. Gerritsen Av is direct, then into Nostrand from Gerritsen. Turn onto Avenue K which is straightforward, then Ocean and then onto Cortelyou. It's probably the quickest of the routes, esp. if stops were consolidated. The pick-up could be done in about 25 minutes.  The  on the other hand... The  tries to serve the Manhattan Beach folks on the border (there are some that get on at the first stop) without going into Manhattan Beach and then has to serve the folks away from the  and you can't do much about that aside from how they streamlined it, but you can consolidate stops, esp. on Ocean Av to get runtimes down. The Manhattan side of things, I would eliminate about two stops. I think the Manhattan side overall isn't the real issue.

I've been a BM rider for over 12 years, at various times. Rush hour, off-peak, Saturdays. I've done it all.

[SevenEleven]

12 hours ago, DaPr03 said:

I don't know what's with these unreliable sources, but I can just say some rumors are spreading

Well what did people think was gonna happen vandalizing the government’s property?

[Kriston Lewis]

1 hour ago, Future ENY OP said:

My guess is to what he is saying is create the BM6 route to service the Kensington customers.. In addition to that have the and provide coverage for Kensington.

Not quite. The BM6 (or 7) would serve Flatbush and Kensington alone. The 3 and 4 would go directly to Manhattan after Avenue J. A short turn service basically.

[trainfan22]

12 hours ago, DaPr03 said:

I don't know what's with these unreliable sources, but I can just say some rumors are spreading

If the whole Hudson Pier sticker ordeal caused this, surprised to see the TA take depot sticker tampering seriously, I thought management would hear about it and say, foamers gonna foam and just shrug it off.

 

 

 

[paulrivera]

11 minutes ago, trainfan22 said:

If the whole Hudson Pier sticker ordeal caused this, surprised to see the TA take depot sticker tampering seriously, I thought management would hear about it and say, foamers gonna foam and just shrug it off.

 

 

 

I guess it depends on the neighborhood.

A few years ago, some smart aleck took the “Y” and the “k” off the “New York City Bus” stickers off all of Kingsbridge’s NG’s and the sky didn’t fall.

Those buses all read “New  or  City Bus” until they were either swapped out or due for their next repaint. I think it took a couple of years for KB to finally get all the bus labels corrected.

No, I’m not condoning any of this. It was vandalism then and it’s vandalism now. But I was assuming the depot stickers were gonna be some retro holiday gimmick to make up for not running the vintage holiday buses or something…

Edited December 8, 2021 by paulrivera