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MT0603

By MT0603
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MiamiDRGuy

MiamiDRGuy

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, edison said:

5. Thanks for the information. Did not know. I wonder if this will also attract more UB riders. They have their own shuttle, but it is limited to weekdays and not as frequent. 

If you not aware, the UB Shuttle between North-South campus pretty much runs 24/7 everyday. I am not sure which route you are talking about though.

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map.man (Darrin)

map.man (Darrin)

Posted
Posted
10 hours ago, MiamiDRGuy said:

Questions:

1) If you ride on Metro Rail and once you pass Amherst Station and look out little further, there's other tunnel going other way, but no tracks. What was that? proposed new route or a storage or what?

2) Some new Metro Rail drivers now are in place and they are driving little crazy in the tunnel for instance, one night when we passed Utica and once we are at the deepest point before going up, the train stopped for minute then keeps going. I was like WTH?

3) Some Rail drivers stop too fast at the station cause the loud cluck, which you can feel it. Anyone notice that?

4) NFTA is in processing to get more new CNG buses in 2017, I'll find out more about it.

5) Anyone see the new proposed fare system NFTA is gonna move forward? If not, see it at http://metro.nfta.com/pdfs/nfta-fare-equity-title-vi-analysis-draftv3.pdf at page 8 and 9. I think they still need to remove the Enhanced Express service fares, it's useless. The new $25/mo rail pass is a good idea but $25 is too low since rail system is very frequently, it should be little higher to help cover the offset cost you think? I'm curious anyone opinions.

 

Any more updates, I'll post them here .... Cheers

Well, that is too low.  They have the price listed in the proposal as $50.00.  I think that's reasonable, and will attract some of the UB personnel to use the train instead of park down at the medical campus.  As of what I know now, the NFTA doesn't have a large contract for passes for their employees. 

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edison

edison

Posted
Posted
20 hours ago, MiamiDRGuy said:

If you not aware, the UB Shuttle between North-South campus pretty much runs 24/7 everyday. I am not sure which route you are talking about though.

To the Downtown Campus. That bus line (Blue Line I believe) does not run 24/7, or on weekends. Which there is small demand on the weekends but some riders would use it if they could. The only other alternative us Metro Rail or the 8-Main.

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map.man (Darrin)

map.man (Darrin)

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, MiamiDRGuy said:

Crazy alert came to my inbox today, see attachment:

nftaalerts.PNG

Not exactly sure what's "crazy" about it.  Two trips on the same block number were consecutively out of service.  The trips were given with more notice that they're normally given.  Driver may have been out sick, or there were actually no buses available to cover it.  Babcock (the division that operates the bus) does have a shortage of buses.

If you looked at other Babcock routes, route number 1-William (7:09am inbound from Goethe and 7:50am outbound from Carolina), 6-Sycamore (6:15am from Waterfront and 7:08am  from Galleria),  and 4-Broadway (6:49am  from Michael and 7:25am from Carolina) also had similar circumstances.  A little over ninety minutes later, Metro cleared the alerts like they normally do. 

Looks like they had a particularly bad day.

On that subject, one of my drivers from the #13 Kensington (Cold Spring) picked up an extra last week or the week before on the #19 Bailey (Babcock) on her day off.  Noticed her driving that particular trip and was sharp enough to catch her running a trip out of a different garage than she normally does.

1 hour ago, MiamiDRGuy said:

I am wondering, which routes you would want to see NFTA to restore and name which route and #?

 

I'd like to see either the route 34 (the East Aurora via Springbrook), 2 (BDF) or 15 © return service to East Aurora mid-days.  Unfortunately, not enough ridership to warrant that return.

At least there's the lone trip inbound from East Aurora at 11:45am and outbound from Downtown Transpo Center at 1:00pm on Coach USA-Erie.  And those buses have COMFORTABLE long-distance coach seating...all for $2.00/ow.

On 10/12/2016 at 6:46 PM, edison said:

To the Downtown Campus. That bus line (Blue Line I believe) does not run 24/7, or on weekends. Which there is small demand on the weekends but some riders would use it if they could. The only other alternative us Metro Rail or the 8-Main.

Note:  the services are supposed to be made available exclusively to University students, faculty and staff.  You *might* encounter an issue without a University at Buffalo affiliated reason or identification.  Virtually all the "First Transit" buses have pass readers at the front door, however, I don't know if that is the same case for the cutaways, operated directly by the University at Buffalo.

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map.man (Darrin)

map.man (Darrin)

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Quartzquiz said:

I'm nostalgic for the old 9-Parkside route that went by the zoo...although that route would be impossible to do nowadays because of the ridiculously low bridge on Parkside that would prohibit hybrids, trolleys and CNG buses to go under it. 

I so wanted to say the same thing, but considered not, due to the same reasons.  Haha.

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edison

edison

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, Quartzquiz said:

I'm nostalgic for the old 9-Parkside route that went by the zoo...although that route would be impossible to do nowadays because of the ridiculously low bridge on Parkside that would prohibit hybrids, trolleys and CNG buses to go under it. 

They had a City Honors school special go under it for a while till about 2011. Now that route travels Main St. to Hertel, then turns onto Parkside. 

May be a possibility that bus 2001 might make it out on a run this afternoon.  Have to keep an eye out.

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map.man (Darrin)

map.man (Darrin)

Posted
Posted
11 hours ago, Quartzquiz said:

I'm nostalgic for the old 9-Parkside route that went by the zoo...although that route would be impossible to do nowadays because of the ridiculously low bridge on Parkside that would prohibit hybrids, trolleys and CNG buses to go under it. 

Went walking through the Zoo area last night and am surprised that the old shelter on the corner of Parkside at Amherst is still standing after all these years.  Only thing wrong with it is that it has no roof...and passengers to use it.

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edison

edison

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, map.man (Darrin) said:

Went walking through the Zoo area last night and am surprised that the old shelter on the corner of Parkside at Amherst is still standing after all these years.  Only thing wrong with it is that it has no roof...and passengers to use it.

Isn't it fenced off still? Or can people go in it?

2 hours ago, Quartzquiz said:

2001 on a Saturday?! That I'd like to see! 

I've noticed a couple of the dead Gillis (2109 and 2119) are at the back of Cold Spring after being harvested. Also saw one of the CNG buses there. 

2111 is back from wherever. Find out after 1pm if 2001 is used.

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edison

edison

Posted
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2001 had a problem, so they didn't use it. Nor did they need it, they were not short buses. It is parked in front of Frontier. It will supposedly be there for part of next week for the operators to sit in to compare the operators area with the newer models. 

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map.man (Darrin)

map.man (Darrin)

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, MiamiDRGuy said:

I checked the Wiki at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Frontier_Transportation_Authority, it states it now has 400 bus in fleet but can anyone confirm that?

 

Thanks

I'm looking at the same page, and quote:

 

Quote

 

Current fleet

The NFTA operates a fleet of approximately 310 transit buses (all of which are wheelchair-accessible and ADA compliant), 64 paratransit and Metrolink cutaway vans and 27 light rail cars, all operating up to 22 hours daily on 78 distinct routes.[7] The bus fleet contains buses purchased from manufacturers such as Nova Bus in their Classic series and LFS transit bus and Gillig in their Advantage transit bus (later recognized as their low floor T40 series, in standard diesel and diesel/electric hybrid options). The distribution of buses are split between three bus depots; Gisel-Wolford (also known as Babcock-William), located at 721 New Babcock Street (at Howard Street), Cold Spring (also known as Main-Michigan), located at 1581 Michigan Avenue (at Main Street), both on the east side of Buffalo and Frontier (also known as Kenmore-Military), located at 1000 Military Road (at Kenmore Avenue) on the Buffalo-Kenmore border. The light rail fleet operates from the DL&W terminal on South Park Avenue behind the First Niagara Center in Buffalo's Cobblestone District.

 

 

Don't know where you're getting the number 400.  If you're just adding each series (1100's, 1200's, 1300's...etc..) you're not taking into consideration the buses that may have been retired from service.  This is particularly important with the 2100 and 2200 series, which are in the process of retirement.

I don't think it's a wise idea to ever refer to an exact number, since the number can actually go down or up in frequent circumstances.  "Approximately" gives a little leeway if there are sudden changes that are not known at that moment it's referred to.

Hope that answers.

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MiamiDRGuy

MiamiDRGuy

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, map.man (Darrin) said:

I'm looking at the same page, and quote:

 

 

Don't know where you're getting the number 400.  If you're just adding each series (1100's, 1200's, 1300's...etc..) you're not taking into consideration the buses that may have been retired from service.  This is particularly important with the 2100 and 2200 series, which are in the process of retirement.

I don't think it's a wise idea to ever refer to an exact number, since the number can actually go down or up in frequent circumstances.  "Approximately" gives a little leeway if there are sudden changes that are not known at that moment it's referred to.

Hope that answers.

I saw the 400 listed under the info box, that needs to be corrected as well, that is why I asked.

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