Good morning, I'm not sure where to post this topic...if it's in the wrong section I apologize to the admins.
Is there anyone who knows the super express QM8? I have to leave from the college point depot to Wall Street, make one pick up and then straight to queens to drop off...
I basically know the queens route for drop off...I work the QM5 so it's basically the same...I just don't how to get to wall street, then leave from there...
I think I use the midtown tunnel to the fdr then get off exit 2 then make a left on pearl? HELP!!!
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Super Express Route...HELP!
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Woman: MTA "useless" with perv on 3 train
Yet another man behaving badly on 
train, and woman says conductor appeared to take it less than serious:
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/mta-useless-helping-woman-subway-perv-victim-article-1.2354611
She did get some clear pictures of him, though.
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n19 or n72 last run 10:30pm or 10:45pm
Hey i was wondering why don't NICE operate the last n19 or n72 at 10:30pm or latest 10:45pm...the last s40 arrives at Babylon at 10:20pm good timing for a last n72 or n19 to get you to Hempstead or freeport. ..let's not forget thatby being in hempstead or Freeport one can breathe happily as the n6 or the n4 is 24 hours and it is a must for one to escape Babylon by latest 10:30pm...instead of running the n72 to farmingdale why not extend that routing to Babylon hey there are some of us who are late night owls
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G Train Derailment
http://www.mta.info/status/subway/G/24032360
Due to a derailment at Hoyt-Schermerhorn, the following service changes are in effect:
trains are running with delays in both directions.
There is no train service between Bergen St and Bedford-Nostrand Avs in both directions.
Allow additional travel time.
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Countdown clock question...
I often wonder with the countdown clocks on the numbered lines
How is it that it can track trains further down the line By skipping over the trains already further up the line closer to the posted station??? Hear me out....
(i.e) at 59 st/Lex (4,5) uptown Exp Lower Level the clock will show
1.4 Woodlawn 2 Min
2.5 Nereid Ave 5 min
3.4 Burnside Ave 17 min
How is it that the clocks can skip over the trains in between the neried 5 n burnside 4????A Gap of 12 Mins??? Clearly this is a fallacy... (barring any issues along the line) the frequency is every 2-5 minutes
between trains...
I See this evryday mon-fri headed home at 5pm..yet after the posted trains arrive more 4 n 5s appear on the clock outta nowhwere...With 2-5 minute arrival times...Acquiring minds wanna know! lol
Also they need to re syncronize the clocks at 59/Lex in particular becuase it will show on the clock at the turnstiles of a i.e "4" Bedford Pk Blvd...1 Minute.. When in actuality the train has ALREADY arrived with doors open THEN the lights flash orange...So its to the point where if I see a 5 due to arrive in " 1 minute" and Im just swiping, I Dont bother tryna make the mad Dash down the steps with the rest becuase I already know I missed it...Thanx And God Bless
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Suffolk marathon
How is SCT going to reroute the S40 Sunday with most of Montauk Hwy closed for the marathon? Also, the 54 & 66?
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NICE real-time bus info beginning to roll out.
Real-time info is available for NICE on the Transit app (at least).
I opened the Transit app today to see when the Jamaica bound n6 was coming and I saw that the real time icon was pulsing. It said 2 buses were 1 minute away, and 2 buses showed up 
. It seems to be working for most routes, but on the N6 it only seems to work for Jamaica bound buses at the moment.
Transit App: http://transitapp.com/
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MTA bus driver arrested for drunk driving
An off-duty 
employee was arrested for drunk driving Sunday after he took a city bus for a booze cruise on Long Island, police said. Bus operator Alexander Copeland, 52, was pulled over by state police about 2:20 p.m. after several worried commuters phoned authorities about an erratic NYC transit bus swerving along the Northern State Parkway in Westbury, according to state police. Copeland, who reeked of booze, was given a sobriety test that determined his blood-alcohol level was .20 percent, more than double the legal limit. In addition to a DWI, the blitzed bus driver was hit with charges of reckless endangerment and the unauthorized use of a vehicle without owner’s consent.
Source: http://nypost.com/2015/09/14/bus-driver-arrested-for-drunk-driving/
RTS bus picture:http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/mta-driver-bus-drunken-joyride-long-island-cops-article-1.2359258
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Metro-North delays after train hits bicycle in Bronx
A train headed to Grand Central Terminal from Westchester struck a bicycle thrown at it near the Fordham station late Monday morning, disabling the train and leading to delays on the Harlem and New Haven lines through the early afternoon.
Aaron Donovan, a spokesman for Metro-North, described it as an "unoccupied bicycle" that was thrown into the train's path from the 188th Street overpass. The train engineer applied the emergency brakes but was not able to stop in time, he said.
"There was minor damage to the third rail as a result of the collision," he wrote in an email at about 1:30 p.m. "It is being repaired as we speak and is not expected to impact the evening rush hour."
No one was injured. The train was evacuated and customers were transferred to the next southbound train.
Donovan said the train struck the bicycle at 11:44 a.m. The train had departed North White Plains at 11:06 and was due into Grand Central just before noon.
The impact wedged the bicycle beneath the wheels of the first car, he said.
Delays on both the Harlem and New Haven lines had resolved by shortly after 3 p.m., the railroad said.
Source: http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/2015/09/14/train-strikes-bicycle-fordham/72256378/
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Escalator out of service at brand new 7 train station
Welcome to the club!
The city’s newest subway station is already having mechanical problems.
An escalator from the lower part of the new 34th St-Hudson Yards station to the upper mezzanine went out of commission at 11:05 a.m. Monday, a day after the grand opening of the new $2.4 billion 7 line stop.
There are five high-rise escalators to get between the mezzanines. But the incredibly deep station — the lower mezzanine is 109 feet below street level — means escalators are even more in demand to avoid a long haul on the staircases.
The MTA's website says the escalator is expected to be back in service Wednesday at 10 a.m.
A rep for the MTA, Kevin Ortiz, said the problem started when one of the handrails went off the track at the lower level at 05:39 am. It was returned to service about an hour later, but a contractor then took it out of service again to make adjustments to the handrail tension.
“At this time the contractor is still working on the escalator. This tends to happen when new escalators are broken in,” Ortiz said.
That wasn't the only hiccup at the new city-funded station.
During Sunday’s grand opening, the FDNY was called in to the 34th St. and 11th Ave. station at noon to remove two stuck workers trapped in a malfunctioning elevator.
Link:
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/escalator-service-brand-new-7-train-station-article-1.2359978
The city’s newest subway station is already having mechanical problems.
An escalator from the lower part of the new 34th St-Hudson Yards station to the upper mezzanine went out of commission at 11:05 a.m. Monday, a day after the grand opening of the new $2.4 billion 7 line stop.
There are five high-rise escalators to get between the mezzanines. But the incredibly deep station — the lower mezzanine is 109 feet below street level — means escalators are even more in demand to avoid a long haul on the staircases.
The MTA's website says the escalator is expected to be back in service Wednesday at 10 a.m.
A rep for the MTA, Kevin Ortiz, said the problem started when one of the handrails went off the track at the lower level at 05:39 am. It was returned to service about an hour later, but a contractor then took it out of service again to make adjustments to the handrail tension.
“At this time the contractor is still working on the escalator. This tends to happen when new escalators are broken in,” Ortiz said.
That wasn't the only hiccup at the new city-funded station.
During Sunday’s grand opening, the FDNY was called in to the 34th St. and 11th Ave. station at noon to remove two stuck workers trapped in a malfunctioning elevator.
Link:
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/escalator-service-brand-new-7-train-station-article-1.2359978
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Repairs will shut seven (N) train stations for nearly two years
http://www.brooklyndaily.com/stories/2015/37/bn-n-train-closures-2015-09-11-bk.html Bensonhursters and Dyker Heights residents better start planning their 2016 commutes now.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will close seven of nine subway stations along the N-train line between the Coney Island terminus and Eighth Avenue on the Manhattan-bound side for 14 months starting in January, and then for another 14 months on the Coney Island-bound side in 2017.
The imminent closures are a necessary evil to repair the crumbling stations and replace aging tracks, a local leader said.
“One of the biggest complaints for many, many years was the condition of the N line,” said Community Board 11 district manager Marnee Elias-Pavia. “With any project, there are certain inconveniences, but hopefully we’ll have stations that are new and not leaking, and people who pay the fare wont feel like they’re being abused.”
Starting in January 2016, straphangers will be able to catch Manhattan-bound trains only at the Bay Parkway, Eight Avenue, and Coney Island stations — meaning folks in between those stops will have to take a train on the opposite direction before transferring to a Manhattan-bound train, an authority spokeswoman said. When work on that side of the tracks is done about 14 months later, the authority will close the same seven stations on the Coney Island-bound side, she said.
The Eight Avenue and Bay Parkway stations will remain open, but the authority is diverting trains to alternate tracks riders will access via temporary platforms, officials said.
The authority is closing the stations so it can conduct a $500-million renewal project as fast as possible, an engineer said.
“The condition of the existing structures is such that we cant just do parts and pieces and work around active service, so the thought was the only way to do this is bite the bullet and bypass of the platforms all at once,” said Tarek Hatab, an engineer working on the project.
The authority will clean up stations, restore historic decorative elements such as lighting and windows, shore up retaining walls and decaying I-beams on the platforms, and remove graffiti, Hatab said. Workers are also building a wheelchair ramp on the Manhattan-bound side of the Eight Avenue Station and an elevator connecting the N and D trains to the street at New Utrecht Avenue-62nd Street nexus, a ccording to Hatab.
Transit officials still plan to re-open the Seventh Avenue entrance to the Eight Avenue station, but it is still negotiating with a nearby landowner whose property workers would have to access to fix the old entrance, officials said. The entryway should be accessible by the time the entire N-line project is done in 2019, one official said.
“The goal is, by the time the project is finished, we’ll open Seventh Avenue,” said authority community relations director Melissa Farley.
Riders will get a preview of the closure when the authority temporarily diverts Manhattan-bound service at the seven stations for the weekends of Sept. 19 and Nov. 7, Hatab said. It will also shutdown all service at the stations on Oct. 3, he said
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7 Trains Temporarily Suspened at New Station Due to Signal Problems: MTA
The new 7 train stop closed briefly Wednesday morning, days after its grand opening.View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Gwynne Hogan
CHELSEA — Signal problems temporarily halted trains headed to the city's newest subway station at 34th Street-Hudson Yardsearly Wednesday morning, just days after its its ribbon cutting ceremony.
The disruption happened about 7:00 a.m., on the first full day of use by commuters. Service on the 7 line halted at Times Square and passengers were told that they could take a bus further west.
Trains were not running to the new station for about a half an hour and reopened at 7:20 a.m., due to an issue with a track circuit, MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said.
For More Info: https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20150916/chelsea/new-7-train-station-closed-briefly-due-signal-problems-mta-says
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Well it was luckily fixed quickly, although it was an inconvenience for some. I think that despite that this shoudn't be happening, the customers overreacted. I mean, they could've done what they've done since forever, IMO.
Spoiler
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Questioning the appearance of the Third Avenue El if it Survived today.
If the 3rd Avenue El in Manhattan, (not worrying about the portion in The Bronx) survived into today's time, how would the Stations differ from when they looked in 1955? Would the wooden platforms be kept? Would the stations be saved from the Aluminum siding and Windscreen Treatment where the fencing was? Or would they suffer the same fate as with the current Elevated stations in the system today?
Also, how would the El structure look? If it was rebuilt to allow heavier cars on the structure would it still look anything like it's appearance in the '50s, or look completely different like with most of Philadelphia's Market-Frankort line post-reconstruction.
Post your answers and thoughts below.
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The (5) and (B) trains worst in the city
http://m.nydailynews.com/new-york/no-5-b-subway-trains-worst-city-report-article-1.2364066?utm_content=bufferfee95&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=NYDNLocal+Twitter
![straphanger18n-1-web_zpsydmmctxe.jpg]()
Every New Yorker's got an opinion about which train line is the worst.
For the Straphangers Campaign, it's a tie between the No. 5 and the B trains.
In the transit group's annual State of the Subways report, released Thursday, train lines were evaluated for dependable service, how frequently trains arrive, breakdowns, chance of getting a seat and cleanliness.
The crowded No. 5 line had the most irregular service and frequent mechanical problems. Riders can forget about trying to get a seat on the train during rush hour, too.
The B line, meanwhile, had below-average service frequency, delays from breakdowns and garbled subway car announcements.
"The 5 and the B have been 'bottom feeders' for most of their modern careers," said Gene Russianoff of the Staphanger’s Campaign. The two lines have each been ranked the worst three times since 1997.
The best ride for a MetroCard swipe goes to the No. 7 line, coming out on top for the second year in a row.
No. 7 trains run more frequently than any other line, travel without a mechanical problem longer than the system average and have the cleanest cars, according to the report.
MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz defended the No. 5 and B lines' performance and criticized how the Straphangers Campaign's report ranked the trains.
The No. 5 train's spotty service is caused by extensive repair work in the Bronx, while there are fewer B trains running because it's a less-crowded line, Ortiz argued.
"The MTA has invested a lot of effort in communicating performance measures publicly and reporting in a transparent and timely manner, yet the Straphangers Campaign has not taken advantage of these innovations, new tools, and new data sources," Ortiz said.
Every New Yorker's got an opinion about which train line is the worst.
For the Straphangers Campaign, it's a tie between the No. 5 and the B trains.
In the transit group's annual State of the Subways report, released Thursday, train lines were evaluated for dependable service, how frequently trains arrive, breakdowns, chance of getting a seat and cleanliness.
The crowded No. 5 line had the most irregular service and frequent mechanical problems. Riders can forget about trying to get a seat on the train during rush hour, too.
The B line, meanwhile, had below-average service frequency, delays from breakdowns and garbled subway car announcements.
"The 5 and the B have been 'bottom feeders' for most of their modern careers," said Gene Russianoff of the Staphanger’s Campaign. The two lines have each been ranked the worst three times since 1997.
The best ride for a MetroCard swipe goes to the No. 7 line, coming out on top for the second year in a row.
No. 7 trains run more frequently than any other line, travel without a mechanical problem longer than the system average and have the cleanest cars, according to the report.
MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz defended the No. 5 and B lines' performance and criticized how the Straphangers Campaign's report ranked the trains.
The No. 5 train's spotty service is caused by extensive repair work in the Bronx, while there are fewer B trains running because it's a less-crowded line, Ortiz argued.
"The MTA has invested a lot of effort in communicating performance measures publicly and reporting in a transparent and timely manner, yet the Straphangers Campaign has not taken advantage of these innovations, new tools, and new data sources," Ortiz said.
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Additional late night rail cuts bypassed public hearing
(Bloomberg) -- New Jersey Transit is cutting late-night rail service from Manhattan beyond what it told riders at hearings in May, saying federal law didn’t require public notice.
Only 2 rail cuts were in the public hearings back in May
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Red light cameras
Some one told me that red light tickets are sent right away to the mta like the next day is that true or does it take like 3 weeks like regular ones
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Detroit DDOT gets Fed bailout, new buses
The old saying goes, "History repeats itself, especially if you're dumb enough to not learn from your mistakes." (Paraphrased, but you get the point.)
Detroit's media (which I'd say 95% of them have never actually used a DDOT bus) was having orgasms on Thursday when Joe Biden came to town, bringing Fed money to bail them out, yet again. The same, tired old promises were thrown about, and everyone was gleefully cheering, with the gleaming new artics in the DDOT HQ and tooling around the lot with "Detroit welcomes Joe Biden" on the destination signs. Yes, once again, all these new buses -- purchased with everyone's tax dollars -- are going to "miraculously" make all the routes run on-time, and riders will be on board chanting "Kumbaya" and smiling. (They didn't say that last part, but this utopian panacea being invoked just tests my gag-reflex to no end.)
Here's the glowing reports, all things that have been said over and over repeatedly for nearly 40 years:
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2015/09/17/biden/32551109/
But let's do some FLASHBACKS, shall we? Time is 1979, and this was right before GM "bailed-out" DDOT with brand-spankin'-new RTSes fresh off their Pontiac Truck and Bus assembly line. Detroit's population at this time was right around 1.2 million. Today, around 675,000.
Video 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEvAmoumrRY
Video 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jkyEXVyZXE
Video 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtCzUddmGj4
Video 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVrX9WQyDlY
History does repeat, eh?
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The extraordinary world of Soviet bus shelters
(CNN)It's universally acknowledged that the old Soviet Union had many faults, but creating weird and wonderful structures that celebrate the humble bus ride isn't one of them.
When it came to building roadside bus shelters, Moscow's former satellite states were streets, perhaps even highways, ahead of the rest of the world.
Before their 1990s independence, the Soviet states threw up hundreds of extravagant rest stops, giving tyro architects and artists unusually free rein to express their wilder ideas.
And so bus passengers from Estonia to Armenia have been able to pause beneath buildings resembling UFOs, majestic crowns and concrete eagles while waiting for the number 37 to come rumbling into view.
With many of these beautiful -- sometimes brutalist -- structures now crumbling away, it's a legacy that might have passed unnoticed if it wasn't for Canadian photographer Christopher Herwig.
Herwig, 40, first stumbled across them after setting himself the challenge of snapping an interesting photograph every hour while cycling from London to St. Petersburg in 2002.
"I was getting off my bike to photograph things I normally wouldn't photograph -- things like clothes lines, power lines, mail boxes and bus stops," he tells CNN. "And then as I got into the former Soviet Union, I saw these bus stops were actually worthy of me taking photographs."
Herwig has amassed photographs of at least 1,000 former Soviet bus shelters.
Middle of nowhere
That set in motion an odyssey lasting more than a decade as Herwig criss-crossed 14 countries or territories on various assignments, his eyes always on the side of the road on the lookout for suitable shelters.
The fruits of his travels have been collected into a book, "Soviet Bus Stops" -- a now sold-out KickStarter project that's being republished by Fuel in September with a foreword by renowned criticJonathan Meades.
Herwig says his obsession with Soviet shelters wasn't always appreciated by the locals who they were built to serve.
"A lot of the bus stops that were intriguing weren't in cities or villages. They were often in the middle of nowhere, particularly in Kazakhstan -- there was often no one around," he adds.
"But when there were people around, for the most part they would not get it. They would not see that the bus stop was worth photographing and they thought I was doing something that was making fun of them.
"A lot of people thought the bus stops were kind of disgusting because some were used just to dump garbage or go to the bathroom, and most of them are in quite rough condition.
"I would try to explain that my motives were actually quite genuine and that I thought this was a fairly positive part of history and quite fun, and quite beautiful and quite creative.
"Most people wouldn't quite see it right away."
Herwig says some of his favorite shelters are found in the disputed region of Abkhazia.
Octopus, waves and UFOs
Some did though, most notably taxi drivers he hired along the way to help him track down his targets.
"A couple of the taxi drivers really got into the game as well, and they could really spot them. There was one driver, even though it was getting late when we're searching for one bus shelter and couldn't find it, he just wouldn't give up."
Herwig also credits his bus stop quest for taking him to destinations that wouldn't otherwise have been on his radar.
"I probably wouldn't have gone to Armenia, or Belarus or Ukraine or Moldova or the region of Abkhazia," he says.
"At that point I really didn't have any other reason for traveling apart from the project. It was really fun and I got to places I wouldn't have normally gone to because of the bus stops."
His favorite stops, he says, include some found in Abkhazia, a breakaway region still claimed by Georgia, that were created by Zurab Tsereteli, an artist who went on to become president of the Russian Academy of Arts.
"He was one of the pioneers who really pushed it to the limit. His were more like sculptures, much more animated -- there was one like an octopus, one like a wave, one like a shell, one like a UFO.
"He was really out there in terms of the design, they were heavily painted and a lot of fun."
MORE: Photographing Europe's invisible borders
"Soviet Bus Stops" by Christopher Herwig is published in September 2015.
Free expression
Herwig believes that creating bus stops was one of the few opportunities that artists and architects had under restrictive Soviet regimes to fully express themselves.
"I think a lot of people didn't judge or restrict the artists at the time on these bus stops because they're quite a minor architectural form.
"They weren't something that was going to clash ideologically with the Soviet Union and they're seen as a way of bringing art to the people."
Herwig, originally from Vancouver but currently living in Amman, Jordan, says that having photographed at least 1,000, his bus shelter project is over for the time being.
But he doesn't rule out reviving it.
"I've restarted it four times now," he says. "I think I'm done, but I wouldn't be surprised that if I get the option to travel somewhere else I'll pick up some more.
"I haven't completely shut the book on it. There are actually no pictures from Russia in there, so maybe..."
"Soviet Bus Stops" is available for order via the Fuel website.
Link: http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/17/travel/soviet-bus-shelters/
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LIRR Railfanning
I have a few questions to ask about this, just to make sure...
1. Can I take non commercial filming on the LIRR? (I know there is no ban on photography)
2. I'm not using the system for travel. Can I still railfan though?
3. It is okay to do a RFW (railfan window) on the LIRR?
1. Can I take non commercial filming on the LIRR? (I know there is no ban on photography)
2. I'm not using the system for travel. Can I still railfan though?
3. It is okay to do a RFW (railfan window) on the LIRR?
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Alstom Wins Acela II EMU (HST) Contract
U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today visited Steuben County to announce that tomorrow the Amtrak Board of Directors is expected to select Alstom as the train provider for a $2.5 billion program to build the Next Generation High-Speed trains that will create over 750 jobs, including 400 jobs directly at Alstom in Hornell. During Schumer’s visit, he explained that while the final details of the contract still need to be negotiated, the Amtrak Board of Directors is expected to give the green light needed to move forward with those final negotiations exclusively with Alstom. This impending decision by the board paves the way for Alstom to build the next generation high-speed trains that will operate on the Northeast Corridor and is a monumental victory for upstate manufacturing. According to company executives, Alstom anticipates such a contract would create approximately 400 jobs in Hornell and potentially an additional 350 or more across the rest of New York. With more than 750 jobs expected between the Alstom’s Hornell facility and the ripple effect this massive contract would have throughout Upstate NY, Schumer said it would be a win for the entire Upstate NY economy.
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