BUS - Random Thoughts Thread

[RTSTdrive]

Why do SBS buses have that odd raised seat behind the driver?

Thats the design found only in all current NovaBus LFS since there's a considerably large amount of space between the axle and the driver. The SBS Xcelsiors dont have that.

[Kraps]

Thats the design found only in all current NovaBus LFS since there's a considerably large amount of space between the axle and the driver. The SBS Xcelsiors dont have that.

Thanks! Next question: I'm planning a trip and one site is telling that the B41 to downtown Brooklyn makes 5 stops and others are saying that it makes 14. Does that mean there are different schedule buses on the same route, and if yes how do I tell them apart?

[danielhg121]

The B41 has two branches, one from kings plaza and another from bergen beach. Also, maybe your looking at the wrong time, wkend vs wkday.

 

 

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[Around the Horn]

Thanks! Next question: I'm planning a trip and one site is telling that the B41 to downtown Brooklyn makes 5 stops and others are saying that it makes 14. Does that mean there are different schedule buses on the same route, and if yes how do I tell them apart?

 

The one that makes five stops is the B41 Limited and the one that makes 14 stops is the local. The route descriptions on the back of the Brooklyn Bus Map can help you out with that.

[Kraps]

Ah, I see the differentiation on the map. I have to look for LIMITED on the bus display thing then.

[checkmatechamp13]

Your problem is you're always trying to misconstrue what I state.  No, express buses AREN'T for the masses because if they were, the wouldn't strive to curtail usage and push people to less crowded lines when ridership gets too high and they have to run buses like they did on the X1.  They could advertise the service WAY more than they do.  They really don't do much advertising.  If they really wanted it used by the masses, they would advertise more, so I stand by my statement, which has NOTHING to do with being "elitist".  It's just stating the truth.  Running more service like they do the X1 is expensive so there comes a certain point in which I think they would rather shed some usage if they can.  Ideally, I think the prefers running most express buses no more than every 30 minutes.  Once they have to start running service every 20 minutes or less, that's when they become quite stingy in terms of lowering the frequencies between buses.

 

That's not striving to curtail overall usage. That's distributing the resources to more effectively move people where they need to go. If a certain number of people need to go to Midtown at a certain time, why would the MTA spend more money to run an X1 trip to have those people sit through the stops Downtown, when they can save money and get those people to Midtown quicker?

 

In the case of the Hylan Blvd routes, the MTA considers that as one corridor. So the X2 is basically a short-turn, super-express X1 branch to East Midtown as far as scheduling is concerned. Would you prefer that those people who take the X2 be forced to sit through all the stops on Church Street/6th Avenue (and then make their way over to the East Side), or transfer to the subway if they want a quick ride, instead of having a quick ride on the FDR? (And the same thing for X5 riders in the PM. The last bus used to be 7:10PM years ago, and now it's 7:50PM). The X17J used to end at 8:35AM, now it ends at 9:10AM. They shifted some trips around, but the net result was that they shifted an X17C trip to become an X17J trip to run that later service. Does that mean that they're implementing some sinister plan to keep people off the X17? 

 

As for the frequencies, it's simple math. Let's say you have one route that runs 4 buses per hour (15 minute headways), and another route that runs 1 bus per hour (60 minute headways). Now ridership increases and you need another bus. If you put it on the 4 BPH route, and give them 5 BPH, you only reduced the headway by 3 minutes (15 minutes to 12 minutes). If you put it on the 1 BPH route and give them 2 BPH, you reduced the headway from 60 minutes to 30 minutes.

 

Also, as you can see on page 27 their loading guidelines (during off-peak hours) are more generous with the low-frequency routes (so in other words, the lower-frequency routes are allowed to be less crowded before they receive a service increase. So if you have 20 passengers per hour taking a hypothetical Express Route A (which runs every 60 minutes), and 180 passengers per hour taking hypothetical Express Route B (which runs every 15 minutes), and you see an influx of 20 passengers per hour, it depends on which route those passengers are taking. If it's Route A, that route will see its headways drop from 60 minutes to 30 minutes. If it's Route B, that route will not see any service added.

 

Ah, I see the differentiation on the map. I have to look for LIMITED on the bus display thing then.

 

Correct.

[paulrivera]

My mom saw her first XN40 with the new paint scheme today. She thought it was a Greyhound bus for a second with all that blue paint and the wi-fi decals  .

[FLX9304]

That's not striving to curtail overall usage. That's distributing the resources to more effectively move people where they need to go. If a certain number of people need to go to Midtown at a certain time, why would the MTA spend more money to run an X1 trip to have those people sit through the stops Downtown, when they can save money and get those people to Midtown quicker?

 

In the case of the Hylan Blvd routes, the MTA considers that as one corridor. So the X2 is basically a short-turn, super-express X1 branch to East Midtown as far as scheduling is concerned. Would you prefer that those people who take the X2 be forced to sit through all the stops on Church Street/6th Avenue (and then make their way over to the East Side), or transfer to the subway if they want a quick ride, instead of having a quick ride on the FDR? (And the same thing for X5 riders in the PM. The last bus used to be 7:10PM years ago, and now it's 7:50PM). The X17J used to end at 8:35AM, now it ends at 9:10AM. They shifted some trips around, but the net result was that they shifted an X17C trip to become an X17J trip to run that later service. Does that mean that they're implementing some sinister plan to keep people off the X17?

 

As for the frequencies, it's simple math. Let's say you have one route that runs 4 buses per hour (15 minute headways), and another route that runs 1 bus per hour (60 minute headways). Now ridership increases and you need another bus. If you put it on the 4 BPH route, and give them 5 BPH, you only reduced the headway by 3 minutes (15 minutes to 12 minutes). If you put it on the 1 BPH route and give them 2 BPH, you reduced the headway from 60 minutes to 30 minutes.

 

Also, as you can see on page 27 their loading guidelines (during off-peak hours) are more generous with the low-frequency routes (so in other words, the lower-frequency routes are allowed to be less crowded before they receive a service increase. So if you have 20 passengers per hour taking a hypothetical Express Route A (which runs every 60 minutes), and 180 passengers per hour taking hypothetical Express Route B (which runs every 15 minutes), and you see an influx of 20 passengers per hour, it depends on which route those passengers are taking. If it's Route A, that route will see its headways drop from 60 minutes to 30 minutes. If it's Route B, that route will not see any service added.

 

 

Correct.

The X2 is not a short turn. The X2 is the old X9 that ran one way in the morning from New Dorp to East Midtown until 1991. When the MTA renumbered the X9/11/13 aka the Hylan Blvd corridor into single digit express buses (X6 discontinued in 2010) they added two bi-directional services to the old Midtown X9 terminus. The East side, which is X2 & the west side which was X1SX, later resurfaced as X9. The old X9 pm peak to SI started from Park Place & Broadway, now the X3 alongside the old X13-Tysens Lane 1st Stop, now the X4.

 

 

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[FLX9304]

The X2 is not a short turn. The X2 is the old X9 that ran one way in the morning from New Dorp to East Midtown until 1991. When the MTA renumbered the X9/11/13 aka the Hylan Blvd corridor into single digit express buses (X6 discontinued in 2010) they added two bi-directional services to the old Midtown X9 terminus. The East side, which is X2 & the west side which was X1SX, later resurfaced as X9. The old X9 pm peak to SI started from Park Place & Broadway, now the X3 alongside the old X13-Tysens Lane 1st Stop, now the X4.

 

 

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The renumbering was as follows:

X9: AM PEAK TO PARK PLACE, PM to Tysens La- X3

X9: AM only to E Midtown- X2, added PM service

X9: AM only to W Midtown- X1SX, later X9 added PM service

X11: AM to W Midtown, PM to Eltingville- X7

X11: AM to Pearl St, PM to Eltingville X8

X13: Eltingville to W Midtown- X1 (now 24/7)

X13: AM to W Midtown PM to Eltingville X6 (discontinued)

X13: AM to E Midtown PM to Eltingville X5

X13: AM to Park Place, PM to Eltingville X4 (relocated to the WFC along with X3)

 

 

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[B35 via Church]

The X2 is not a short turn. The X2 is the old X9 that ran one way in the morning from New Dorp to East Midtown until 1991. When the MTA renumbered the X9/11/13 aka the Hylan Blvd corridor into single digit express buses (X6 discontinued in 2010) they added two bi-directional services to the old Midtown X9 terminus. The East side, which is X2 & the west side which was X1SX, later resurfaced as X9. The old X9 pm peak to SI started from Park Place & Broadway, now the X3 alongside the old X13-Tysens Lane 1st Stop, now the X4.

The renumbering was as follows:

X9: AM PEAK TO PARK PLACE, PM to Tysens La- X3

X9: AM only to E Midtown- X2, added PM service

X9: AM only to W Midtown- X1SX, later X9 added PM service

X11: AM to W Midtown, PM to Eltingville- X7

X11: AM to Pearl St, PM to Eltingville X8

X13: Eltingville to W Midtown- X1 (now 24/7)

X13: AM to W Midtown PM to Eltingville X6 (discontinued)

X13: AM to E Midtown PM to Eltingville X5

X13: AM to Park Place, PM to Eltingville X4 (relocated to the WFC along with X3)

Always wondered what the history was with the x1-x9.... Good lookin out with that bit of info....

[danielhg121]

Asian girl just got on the Q44-SBS, didn't speak a word of english had earbuds on. The bus driver told her gotta get the receipt and she looked at him in confusion, proceeds to put the metrocard in the farebox. Then the bus driver repeats himself and she puts it in the farebox again. I'm done y'all[emoji23]

 

 

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[B35 via Church]

I'm trippin.. I thought that said "Asian girl just got got"..... Was just about to ask wth happened... LOL.

I have too many lights on in here....

 

Anyway, so wait, the b/o didn't attempt to block the farebox?

I know CS has quite a few Asian drivers, but I don't know if they put em on the Q44... (I) Usually notice them on them on the 12 & the 15....

[danielhg121]

Nope, the bus op didn't block the farebox

 

Also, does anybody know why 4140 has something written on the side of it something ...."champions"

 

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Edited May 6, 2017 by danielhg121

[MysteriousBtrain]

Nope, the bus op didn't block the farebox

 

Also, does anybody know why 4140 has something written on the side of it something ...."champions"

 

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Might be a bus preserved for a winner of the bus roadeo.

[RailRunRob]

I rode the Q50 about a month ago from Pelham Bay to Flushing. I forget the exact bus number I believe it was 4020 or 4021. That bus was pretty zippy. Seemed a little different from its counterparts that run on my local route B48. I believe this is an Orion bus did they do something to it at Eastchester?

 

 

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[danielhg121]

Nah. The route itself is basically a highway route but runs along the service route. So when bus operators haul ass they get going.

On an unrelated note, just rode the a train exp shuttle bus took like 10 min mad quick prob faster than the a train. Is this true?

 

 

They have these cute receipt things they give to people to transfer between shuttles and trains. If you don't have a paper receipt, you just swipe your metrocard in a bus farebox lolz.

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Edited May 6, 2017 by danielhg121

[FLX9304]

Always wondered what the history was with the x1-x9.... Good lookin out with that bit of info....

Thanks

 

 

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[B35 via Church]

On an unrelated note, just rode the a train exp shuttle bus took like 10 min mad quick prob faster than the a train. Is this true?

 

They have these cute receipt things they give to people to transfer between shuttles and trains. If you don't have a paper receipt, you just swipe your metrocard in a bus farebox lolz.

That sounds like the setup at Howard Beach back when they had shuttle buses running directly b/w Far Rockaway & Howard Beach (Manhattan bound platform)....

 

What subway station was this where they had a bus farebox? Lol.....

[danielhg121]

Howard Beach JFK

 

 

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[BM5 via Woodhaven]

Nah. The route itself is basically a highway route but runs along the service route. So when bus operators haul ass they get going.

On an unrelated note, just rode the a train exp shuttle bus took like 10 min mad quick prob faster than the a train. Is this true?

 

 

They have these cute receipt things they give to people to transfer between shuttles and trains. If you don't have a paper receipt, you just swipe your metrocard in a bus farebox lolz.

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The express shuttle buses take around 20-25 minutes when I took it last week, and that was during the early evening. 10 minutes is stretching it, especially considering it goes to Lefferts Boulevard to get on the Conduit. There must've been absolutely no traffic whatsoever on the entire portion in addition to the B/O hauling ass. 

 

The confusion on those local buses is real though. So many people didn't understand that the locals were serving the Lefferts Boulevard Branch stations first, then going to Aqueduct, and then the Howard Beach station (and quite a few got off at Rockaway Boulevard looking for that bus to Howard Beach). 

[danielhg121]

My express shuttle bus took 10-15 min both directions. We pulled out onto aqueduct rd and left on lefferts. Made a left on north conduit and floored it down to the racetrack stop. Picked up a person and got to pitkin avenue. Made a left and bam euclid avenue. All in approx 12 min.

 

Followed same route essentially in reverse except for hopping onto the nassau expwy for a minute towards the end.

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Edited May 6, 2017 by danielhg121

[paulrivera]

Howard Beach JFK

 

 

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Did they have Port Authority people manning the back (free) entrance of the Airtrain?

 

They usually have people block that entrance so that the people coming from the shuttle bus pay the $5 ($7.75?) fee.

[danielhg121]

Nah no one was manning it. I don't think.

 

 

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[Via Garibaldi 8]

That's not striving to curtail overall usage. That's distributing the resources to more effectively move people where they need to go. If a certain number of people need to go to Midtown at a certain time, why would the MTA spend more money to run an X1 trip to have those people sit through the stops Downtown, when they can save money and get those people to Midtown quicker?

 

In the case of the Hylan Blvd routes, the MTA considers that as one corridor. So the X2 is basically a short-turn, super-express X1 branch to East Midtown as far as scheduling is concerned. Would you prefer that those people who take the X2 be forced to sit through all the stops on Church Street/6th Avenue (and then make their way over to the East Side), or transfer to the subway if they want a quick ride, instead of having a quick ride on the FDR? (And the same thing for X5 riders in the PM. The last bus used to be 7:10PM years ago, and now it's 7:50PM). The X17J used to end at 8:35AM, now it ends at 9:10AM. They shifted some trips around, but the net result was that they shifted an X17C trip to become an X17J trip to run that later service. Does that mean that they're implementing some sinister plan to keep people off the X17? 

 

As for the frequencies, it's simple math. Let's say you have one route that runs 4 buses per hour (15 minute headways), and another route that runs 1 bus per hour (60 minute headways). Now ridership increases and you need another bus. If you put it on the 4 BPH route, and give them 5 BPH, you only reduced the headway by 3 minutes (15 minutes to 12 minutes). If you put it on the 1 BPH route and give them 2 BPH, you reduced the headway from 60 minutes to 30 minutes.

 

Also, as you can see on page 27 their loading guidelines (during off-peak hours) are more generous with the low-frequency routes (so in other words, the lower-frequency routes are allowed to be less crowded before they receive a service increase. So if you have 20 passengers per hour taking a hypothetical Express Route A (which runs every 60 minutes), and 180 passengers per hour taking hypothetical Express Route B (which runs every 15 minutes), and you see an influx of 20 passengers per hour, it depends on which route those passengers are taking. If it's Route A, that route will see its headways drop from 60 minutes to 30 minutes. If it's Route B, that route will not see any service added.

Sure it is.  That's why they were trying to force those other branches down riders' throats even though folks needed the X1.  They added an X2 and not that many people would get on?  Why? Because they neeeded the X1. Aside from that as much as they tried to curtail usage on the X1, they eventually had to expand service because that is still the line that people need.

[danielhg121]

Are B82 Limited buses running today cuz I just saw one?

 

 

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