We all know about the announcements that remind you of the fare and giving the disabled a seat, but I'm wondering what it would be like if a bus had automated announcements for stops. For instance, you are on the M15 SBS, and when the bus is ready to leave, it says, "This is a Harlem -125 Street bound M15 Select Bus route via 1 Avenue. The next stop will be 116 Street." and when it is near a stop it says something like "This stop is 116 Street. Transfer here for the M116."
Any favorite bus memories you have recently or when you was younger? My favorite memories are when before the 
took over other bus companies like Jamaica Bus Inc., Green Bus Lines Inc, Command Bus Company Inc., Triboro Coach Inc., etc. I remember seeing a lot of RTS's, Orion V's(CNG's). Remember those pull cord string that people have to pull to ring the bell or push the strips? I think you can ring the bell multiple times after pressing it once. I remember being on the Q113 with my mom from Far Rockaway to Jamaica Av and It took us almost an hour and 30 minutes to get there, because the bus had to make all stops every other block. Sometimes my mom and I waited for the Q113 "Express", which only goes on Nassau Expressway after driving on Sheridan Blvd, then joined on Rockaway Turnpike before turning on Brookville Blvd. When the took over the bus companies, I was happy. I saw the new Orion Vll's being tested along the Q113. The Q113 introduced "Limited" serivce. I do remember the Q113 used to have the D60HF's before NYC took it back and I still to this day call the articulated bus "snake bus" because they move like a snake when they turn. Im still mad RTS buses are gone from Baisley Bus Depot and they still are my favorite. I used to hate the Orion Vll's when they first became in service because the buses are low and I like to be high up like the RTS or Orion V or any buses that are not low floor. But I got over with it and I got used to it. Remember the RTS and Orion V buses, how wheelchair people used to get on the bus from the back and the driver had to get up? After that, the driver had to restart the engine a couple of times. Sometimes the machine that lifted the wheelchair got stuck, Now, since the buses are low, they go from the front and easy to get on. I used to see bus ad "BusTalk" and now its "Improving Non-stop" ad. I want to here your memories. Does not have to be short or long. Think and type what you can remember.
this was on FB so i will share with you.
The more travelling I've done, the more I seem to appreciate NYC's existing subway system. Las Vegas, for example, has one hell of a useless monorail that can't even be called mass transportation.
So a lot of people have bemoaned the loss of a third track at 2 Avenue and 72 Street and the fact that pretty much all new subway construction will be double-tracked due to cost considerations. But after looking through track maps of different metros in the US and abroad, I've come to the conclusion that anything more has always been the exception and not the rule. Far more metro systems around the world are predominantly double-tracked, and most lack the luxury of extra tracks to orchestrate merging or redundant tracks for reroutes like the NYC subway does. And more likely than not, where a metro features interlining, the junctions are exactly like that at the 2 Avenue 72 Street station being built now.
Here are links to track maps of various metros for reference:
With the threat that a soaking nor’easter could dump up to three inches of rain early this week and send winds of 40 to 50 mph gusting across the region, MTA New York City Transit has already canvassed the system cleaning drains, removing trash and making repairs.
New York City Transit has dispatched additional cleaning crews to keep the track areas free and clear of any debris that could clog drains and allow a build-up of water significant enough to stop service.
“We depend on forecasting services to give us a heads up when inclement weather is heading our way and then we are able to effectively deploy the personnel and equipment needed to keep service moving,” said Senior Vice President of Subways Joseph Leader.
Even without rainfall, NYC Transit pumps more than 13 million gallons of water from the underground portions of the system.
For the times when weather conditions or a tapped out water main adversely affect the system, NYC Transit maintains a trio of pump trains capable of evacuating 300 gallons of water from the system every minute. The Track and Infrastructure Division also has a fleet of portable pumps, some with a pumping capacity of 600 gallons per minute.
Why brave the madness of Black Friday?
It’s a question thousands of subway riders may ask themselves this weekend when they realize they can avoid the crowds by starting their holiday shopping at On The Go Travel Station kiosks programed by Control Group for NYC Transit.
The kiosks showcase Amazon’s Consumer Electronics Holiday Gift Guide featuring transactional ads from the online retail giant. The campaign will create the first network of Digital Out Of Home (DOOH) storefronts in the nation’s busiest transit system. The digital interactive screens will greet straphangers with curated content from Amazon’s Consumer Electronics Holiday Gift Guide, showcasing select products to up to 1.2 million riders per day at stations in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan through December 24th.
With the swipe of a finger, users interacting with the kiosk can easily browse the latest in gaming, wearables, headphones and cameras while pushing a selected product to their smartphone to complete the purchase – all while waiting for their train. The On The Go user interface for the Holiday Gift Guide was designed by Amazon and by Control Group, a technology and design company based in Manhattan.
“This new platform was born out of a belief that the future of advertising should be aligned, targeted, helpful and more importantly transactional, creating an urban retail experience,” said Damian Gutierrez, associate partner at Control Group. “This is the evolution of the pop-up store where customers can make a purchase whenever and wherever they want.”
The gift guide can be found on more than 90 On The Go Travel Station kiosks at 42nd St – Grand Central 
, 14th St – Union Square 
, 14th St – 7th Ave 
, 149th St – Grand Concourse , Atlantic Av – Barclays Ctr , Bedford Ave , West 4th St 
and other locations.
“The Amazon Holiday Gift Guide’s inclusion on the On The Go Travel Station platform will create an engaging experience between brands and consumers while they’re on the go during their daily commute,” said Paul Fleuranges, Sr. Director of Corporate Communications, MTA NYC Transit. “It’s exactly the kind of creative campaign we had in mind when we first began thinking about including interactive digital screens in system and it’s also what we’d like to see more of in the future using either digital signage or other technologies in some of our vacant retail space.”
Launched in February 2014, the Control Group designed On The Go kiosks are part of a unique public-private partnership with MTA NYC Transit. Designed to deliver the most relevant information to the greatest number of riders, Control Group’s kiosks provide countdown to arrival, one-touch visual directions based on real time train status, neighborhood maps and dynamic advertising opportunities.
While most display kiosks only offer traditional DOOH, Control Group has lined up programmatic, TV/Video and transactional advertising, which will be piloted during the Amazon holiday campaign.
Is it possible to have different types of subway cars link to each other & can it be operate? For example, it is possible to have a mix car set of R32, R38, R40, R46 & R68 to link each other like the "Train of Many Colors"?
JERSEY CITY — Regular weekend PATH service between Exchange Place and the World Trade Center will resume a week from Saturday, after a 10-month suspension to install a new signal system and repair damage from Hurricane Sandy, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said.
Read More: Source
Out of curiosity, what is the most unreliable bus within the 5 boroughs in your opinion.
I would say the Bx15, Bx17, M1, M3, M5.
Nathan Johnson developed an app to analyze departure data from MTA Bus Time to measure earliness, lateness, and on-time statistics for buses using MTA Bus Time. The data used is from October and September, and measures the timeliness of each bus route on each stop every time it leaves a stop. There's also data showing bus departures from midnight to 6 am only for those months.
I compiled the buses that were late the most in October leaving stops (I only included bus routes where at least 33%, or one-third of buses were late leaving stops. You can check out the link to see September's stats, and for the rest of the buses in October. Remember that a bus is only considered "late" if it reaches a stop more than 5 minutes after the scheduled time for that stop.)
Oh yeah, apparently SBS routes were not included.
Bus routes that were most late according to MTA Bus Time - October 2014
October 2014 Daytime
Brooklyn Local Bus
B41 – 43%
B69/B103 – 38%
B25 – 37%
B15 – 35%
B47 – 34%
B24/B44 Local – 33%
Brooklyn Express Bus
BM3 – 48%
BM2 – 45%
BM5 – 42%
BM1/BM4 – 38%
Bronx Local Bus
Bx15 - 36%
Bx20 – 35%
Bronx Express Bus – None
Manhattan Local Bus
M4 – 60%
M5 – 56%
M3 – 55%
M2 – 53%
M103 – 51%
M1/M7/M101 – 50%
M102 – 47%
M11 – 45%
M9 – 43%
M31 – 41%
M104 – 40%
M57 – 38%
M20 – 36%
M14A/M15 Local/M98 LTD – 35%
M100 – 34%
Queens Local Bus
Q41 – 50%
Q112 – 48%
Q7/Q8 /Q60 – 44%
Q32/Q113 LTD – 41%
Q114 – 39%
Q53 LTD – 38%
Q19/Q72/Q110 – 36%
Q56 – 35%
Q111 – 34%
Q39 – 33%
Queens Express Bus
QM18 – 48%
QM15 – 42%
QM20 – 36%
QM6 – 35%
QM5 – 34%
Staten Island Local Bus
S86 LTD – 51%
S84 LTD – 49%
S92 LTD – 40%
S66 – 37%
S57/S74/S78/S94 LTD – 34%
S76/S91 LTD – 33%
Staten Island Express Bus
X10 – 43%
X4 – 38%
X7 – 35%
X10B – 34%
October 2014 (Midnight – 6 AM)
M2 – 36%
M3 – 47%
S57 – 41%
M5 – 39%
M103/Q41 – 37%
QM20 – 36%
Q32 – 35%
December 09th, 2014
Rendering of the eastbound side of the bridge showing all three reconstructed ramps, the new lower level connector ramp and the toll plaza area minus the 11 unused toll booths.The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge Staten Island toll plaza project is complete. Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has announced that MTA Bridges and Tunnels has completed the $50 million project, improving traffic flow from Staten Island approaches onto the bridge. The three-year project was completed on budget and seven months ahead of schedule.
“These toll plaza modifications are major improvements that will alleviate congestion and improve travel for everyone who uses the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge,” Governor Cuomo said. “This project represented the most significant upgrades to the bridge’s physical design in more than 40 years – and I am proud to see it completed not only on-budget, but well ahead of schedule.”
The MTA began this comprehensive project to improve Staten Island’s bridge approaches in 2011. This included removing the last three unused Brooklyn-bound toll booths, which had required drivers to reduce speed even though they had not been used since the federal government mandated one-way tolling in 1986. With the booths removed, roadways that had been designed for stop-and-go traffic were rebuilt to accommodate vehicles traveling at highway speeds.
The project also constructed a new connector ramp for the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, providing an easier two-lane path for traffic to move directly onto the lower level and ensuring a more even distribution of traffic between the bridge’s two levels.
The ramps leading to the bridge from Narrows Road South and Lily Pond Avenue in Staten Island were reconstructed with elevated fly-over ramps, resulting in markedly improved access to the upper level of the bridge for motorists, trucks and commuter buses. The ramp from Father Capodanno Boulevard was also completely rebuilt. All three ramps now meet current design standards, including having safety shoulders for the first time.
“Through careful planning and design, we were able to maintain the same number of lanes for vehicles throughout the project with no impact on traffic,” said Verrazano-Narrows Facility Engineer David Riggs. “The improved traffic flow will be a benefit for all motorists heading to the bridge from across Staten Island.”
The final roadway lane configuration was put in place on November 25th by contractor Restani Construction Corp., of Queens. While some minor roadway and electrical work remains, all of the major construction work is finished.
The MTA Bridges and Tunnels project was overseen by Verrazano-Narrows Project Engineer Piv Lim. It was also closely designed and coordinated with New York State Department of Transportation’s Staten Island Expressway Access Improvement project, which will ultimately ensure greater mobility along the entire I-278 corridor.
The project met all minority- and women-owned business goal requirements, with significant electrical work performed by Windsor Electrical Co., a certified minority-owned business based in Jamaica, Queens.
The MTA has committed $887 million to improvements on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge since Bridges and Tunnels’ first Capital Program in 1992, including $783 million for capital work and $104 million for security improvements.
The MTA’s proposed 2015-2019 Capital Program includes $431 million to improve the bridge’s structures, roadways and bridge decks, as well as painting the structure and rehabilitating the anchorages. The largest single element of that work is a $132.5 million project to replace the upper-level approach and anchorage deck.
The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, is the longest suspension bridge in North America and carries approximately 183,000 vehicles on an average weekday.
after last year's debacle on local trains were overcrowded around midday during major winter storms...
this is the early getaway schedule on moving outbound PM rush express trains to midday and its only in effect on Xmas eve and winter storms depending on the timing of it... similar to NJT rail Winter weather plan
Officials want more buses
Elected officials in the northwest Bronx are calling on the MTA to improve Bx7 and Bx10 bus service in the neighborhood.
State Senator Jeff Klein, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz and Councilman Andrew Cohen renewed calls for more buses, among other measures, after the MTA took several steps to alleviate overcrowding and long waits that are particularly noticeable at the stops by Broadway and West 231st Street.
After Mr. Dinowitz and Mr. Klein held a press conference there in August, the MTA added three buses to the Bx7 line to augment service between West 231st and West 263rd streets, according to a spokesman for the authority. Kevin Ortiz said in an e-mail the MTA also has increased dispatching efforts, adding that the problem is “traffic at several chokepoints along the route such as 168th Street (Columbia Presbyterian Hospital), 179th Street (George Washington Bridge and Bus Terminal) and 225th Street (shopping mall).”
“We will be reaching out to [the Department of Transportation] to see if anything can be done to ameliorate traffic at those chokepoints,” Mr. Ortiz said on Tuesday.
Still, Mr. Dinowitz and his colleagues are calling for permanent additions to the Bx7 and Bx10, extension of the Bx3 route to West 238th Street and extension of Manhattan’s M100 line into the Bronx.
In a phone interview, Mr. Dinowitz called the MTA’s recent additions to the Bx7 line “good, but only sort of a stop-gap, temporary help.”
“We simply need increased service,” he continued. “We want to encourage people to take mass transit. We need to provide good service.”
With the MTA facing perennial budget problems, adding more buses to one part of the city would be a difficult process. But Mr. Cohen, Mr. Dinowitz and Mr. Klein, who recently released a statement on the matter with Community Board 8’s Traffic Committee Chairman Michael Heller, seem determined to maintain pressure on the MTA.
http://riverdalepress.com/stories/Former-Council-members-fight-over-Indian-Pond,55954?page=3&
. But is it really worth it to make the 
is always lagging behind and it takes 14 minutes for the next train to come.
station in Brooklyn, will be on view for one year. Lyon has had a storied career as a photographer and filmmaker who documented, as both an observer and participant, the civil rights movement in 1962 in the South and motorcycle gangs in Chicago. He injects the medium with a decisive point of view that directs attention to those often unseen. His later work took him to prisons to explore conditions there. Lyon returned to New York City in late 1966, when he took his mother’s advice: “If you're bored, just talk to someone on the subway.” He used a Rolleiflex camera and color transparency film to photograph the subway in Brooklyn. The images in “Underground: 1966” have never been publicly exhibited.
runs 38 trains during rush hours so how many trains are ran during normal head ways ? Any ideas
