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Brand new Bee Line buses in full service
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shortlineMCI



Age: 54
Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 241

PostPosted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 11:00 pm    Post subject: Brand new Bee Line buses in full service Reply with quote

I've enjoyed seeing them on the RT BXM4C line hauling northbound on Madison. I'd say a much better choice than the big MCI 4500. In my opinion a more suitable bus for this application..

check here...

http://beelinebus.westchestergov.com/web_pdf_documents/new_buses_are_on_the_way_palm_card.pdf
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Waynejay



Age: 58
Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 196
Location: Silver Spring, MD

PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 10:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Agreed. I'm no big Orion fan, but I think all of these MCI OTR coaches doing NYCTA and MTAB express service is overkill.
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shortlineMCI



Age: 54
Joined: 07 May 2007
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 7:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Waynejay wrote:
Agreed. I'm no big Orion fan, but I think all of these MCI OTR coaches doing NYCTA and MTAB express service is overkill.


Total overkill. Well Said Wayne.

Sure, NYBS drivers all agree, they like the D4500s, but again, waaay too much bus. Even my brother who drove the NYBS Classics for ten years agrees.

I've seen stranger things happen, but maybe the'll purchase some of the Orions for the Easchester depot. Yonkers is replacing the their old MCIs with these already and not the D4500s, and for urban use, the single axels are better suited, I think.
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RailBus63
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Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 1063

PostPosted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 12:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

NYCT/MTA Bus will not change their collective mind until new management takes over - the current regime seems to be sold on the concept of using over-the-road cruisers for express runs.

Here in Syracuse, Centro has begun purchasing Gillig low-floor transit buses outfitted with high-back seats for express runs, but also including a rear door in the event that the bus must be used for local service. This seems to be a common-sense solution that offers a lot of flexibility. If the MTA finds itself facing serious budget deficits in the near future and has to cut express service, they are going to find themselves with lots full of MCI's that are useless for any other service. At least in the past, the RTS's and Orion V's bumped from express service were able to be used on other routes.
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Mr. Linsky
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 5071
Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.

PostPosted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 1:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Who knows? with the cost cuts that the industry in general will now face, it's probable that anything resembling a 4500 is way off the table for local commuter operation in the future!

My first thought when I saw the 'big jobs' picking up on Fifth Avenue was; 'Wow', the city must have gotten a good deal on them because retail wise they would have been a fortune, and the word 'overkill' also entered my mind.

On the plus side though, they make a great impression, and I get goose bumps when I see the name 'New York City Bus' on those power houses!

BTW; I get the same feeling when I see the Golden Gate Transit 4500's coming down off the bridge into San Francisco on their commuter runs!

Long live the 4500's, and let's hope they save one for the museum.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY


Golden Gate Transits #4 to Mill Valley seen on San Francisco's famous Imbarcadaro heading to the bridge
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Bill D




Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 332
Location: Waterbury, CT

PostPosted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 8:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

CT Transit operates several D4500's on Hartford based commuter runs. The passengers obvisously liked these buses, and when a regular transit bus was substituted on any of the runs, operators and the company received many complaints from commuters who were upset with the less luxurious accommodations.

As a result, CT Transit opted to buy suburban style New Flyer D40LF's, with a single door, as the latest addition to the commuter fleet. While these buses could be used on regular local routes, the single door would likely limit their use to those routes with lower ridership.

Bill
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Mr. Linsky
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 16 Apr 2007
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Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.

PostPosted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 2:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bill,

It sounds like a perfect job for a single door 'Classic'!

Too bad they can't revive them.

Picture courtesy of BusTalk Galleries.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY

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shortlineMCI



Age: 54
Joined: 07 May 2007
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 9:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

RailBus63 wrote:
MTA finds itself facing serious budget deficits in the near future and has to cut express service, they are going to find themselves with lots full of MCI's that are useless for any other service.


I tell ya, if that's the case, we at Shortline can certainly use them. We have pleny of aging D4500s that should probably be retired, and I think Suburban, and Community can certainly use a fleet upgrade. They/we have plenty of runs that are about one hour each way (no traffic). IE Nanuet, Central Valley, and Monroe

But one thing that is of extreme importance, the MTA MCIs are governed way down to 60 MPH. That won't work with us. The speed limits on 87 and the parkways are 65. We would need the speed on the buses to be bumped up to 70 at least to give us some passing power.Some of our Shortline buses have been mistakenly cut down to 62 or 63. As a result, we've been cut off pretty badly by truck drivers thinking we're just trying to piss them off. We're already in the right lane, standing on the accelerators, but to no avail, they pass these undergoverned buses with ease, cut in front of us pretty badly. It's not our fault.

Tell management? HA! Some of them don't even have CDL's Um, yes, well, just stay in the right lane and be safe!! Hardy har har.
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Dieseljim
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Joined: 26 Jun 2008
Posts: 548
Location: Perry, NY

PostPosted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 1:12 pm    Post subject: Management should be required to have CDL's Reply with quote

It seems to me that the management, to be any good at Shortline or any othr line haul bus company would all come with CDLs and having spent a number of years driving the lines rather than bring in a bunch of pea brained morons right from Wall Street who know absolutely nothing about the operational aspects of the services Shortline provides. Now if Shortline would only loosen up on sending out printed timetables when requested to do so. Each time I put in a request, even offering to pay the postage, I hear nothing from them.
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The Don of All Buses



Age: 36
Joined: 30 Aug 2007
Posts: 113
Location: Yonkers, NY

PostPosted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 9:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mr. Linsky wrote:
Bill,

It sounds like a perfect job for a single door 'Classic'!

Too bad they can't revive them.

Picture courtesy of BusTalk Galleries.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY



It would be nice to see a Classic in the Bee-Line paint scheme.
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shortlineMCI



Age: 54
Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 241

PostPosted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 10:35 pm    Post subject: Re: Management should be required to have CDL's Reply with quote

Dieseljim wrote:
It seems to me that the management, to be any good at Shortline or any othr line haul bus company would all come with CDLs and having spent a number of years driving the lines rather than bring in a bunch of pea brained morons right from Wall Street who know absolutely nothing about the operational aspects of the services Shortline provides. Now if Shortline would only loosen up on sending out printed timetables when requested to do so. Each time I put in a request, even offering to pay the postage, I hear nothing from them.


Litterally no one in Shortline management posses a CDL. But however all but some of our dispatchers did start off as drivers. They've been with Shortline between 25 and 30 years. If managment just leaves the dispatchers alone, believe me, things work out so much more smoothly.

For the most part, Shortline runs actually pretty smoothly, as the drivers run the show, it pretty much runs itself really, and the operations manager really only gets involved when things go very wrong. Passenger complaints, drivers stealing money, selling tickets, union hearings... things of this nature.

There are a few times when the operations director gets involved and that's when things start to go haywire and that pisses off the dispatchers and they get nasty with us, the drivers. Here's one big reason. Our current Op. manager came over from Community Coach in Paramus. Community coach is much, much smaller operation than us. They are primarily a Charter bus company, save for some commuter runs. Shortline is a much bigger company probably 2 or 3 fold. We have steady charter work during the summer and massive amounts of commuter runs that stretch from the PABT to Alfred, New York, and we are a 7/24/365 day a year operation. Shortline buses never, ever stop running. Can you imagine the type of management that's involved with and operation like this? So it's not that our current operations manager came from Wall St., it's just that he's inexperienced mainly.

Sorry to be so long winded but interesting, none the less.

P.S. Jim, if you need a real printed schedule, please PM me or something with a mailing address and I will personally get that out to you.
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shortlineMCI



Age: 54
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 01, 2008 2:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote



You know Mr. Linsky..I almost forgot to mention that on my trip to DC, their transit buses were D4000s. I guess it's really pretty common. Sheesh. A 40 foot MCI cruiser on local runs!
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JA




Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 30
Location: Brooklyn, NY

PostPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 10:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Why does management need a CDL?

I agree that the Wall Street types don't run bus companies very well, but the ex-drivers don't always do a better job. Hint: the ex-drivers have a very difficult time picking up work that the Coach USAs and Academys get because many prefer to wait for the phone to ring. Most bus companies are run by the drivers/ex-drivers and most of them are struggling.

A management team needs a combination of bus guys and non-bus guys. Bus guys tend not to think out of the box. That is why companies like Hampton Luxury Liner are formed by non-bus guys. I do not consider myself a bus guy. I can do the same thing with buses, trains, or airplanes (and may eventually do so).
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shortlineMCI



Age: 54
Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 241

PostPosted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 10:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

JA wrote:
Why does management need a CDL?

I agree that the Wall Street types don't run bus companies very well, but the ex-drivers don't always do a better job. Hint: the ex-drivers have a very difficult time picking up work that the Coach USAs and Academys get because many prefer to wait for the phone to ring. Most bus companies are run by the drivers/ex-drivers and most of them are struggling.

A management team needs a combination of bus guys and non-bus guys. Bus guys tend not to think out of the box. That is why companies like Hampton Luxury Liner are formed by non-bus guys. I do not consider myself a bus guy. I can do the same thing with buses, trains, or airplanes (and may eventually do so).


Aside from working your way up the latter from the most junior man, sitting as an extra man in the driver's room for a year and a half (and believe me, you don't want to be an extraman for Shortline) driving for 20 years, you have a real good idea of how the schedules work, how the schedules don't and won't work, what's simply too much to ask of the drivers, and what's not, this is the only way to be an effective manager for this company. Ok. you need to mix SOME real businessmen with managerial business experience.

The very fact that our operations manager had the shop govern down our buses to 65 was a lousy thing to do. He does not have a CDL, has no clue what we have to put up with being governed down to 65. It's dangerous. It's dangerous being stuck at 65 driving through the Wurtzboro mountains on up to Binghamton with no passing power.

If he had a CDL and experience driving buses for 20 years such as our dispatchers he would have gave us at least 70 MPH. As a manager, he sees numbers. a bus governed down to 65 MPH saves fuel.

Yes. at Shortline, the ex drivers do make better managers
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RailBus63
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 9:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Having a current CDL shouldn't be a big deal, but certainly the operations and maintenance managers would benefit from having frontline experience, and ideally the top managers would be those who have worked their way up as well (at another company or agency if necessary). For other positions (finance, human resources, etc.) it's more important to find people who are good at the job you're hiring them to do.

Good organizations also find ways to build teamwork by having employees from different departments cross-train in various jobs, if for no other reason than to gain a greater appreciation of what their co-workers go through. At a minimum, the operations and scheduling personnel should spend time driving or riding routes to understand what is actually happening out on the streets.
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