BusTalk

[Hart Bus]

Last night while coming home from the Annual Meeting of the Shoreline Trolley Museum, I noticed flashing blue lights next to the destination sign on the front of two artics. The first one was facing n/b alongside of Co-Op City, or Freedomland for us old-timers. The second artic was crossing over I-95 just south of Westchester Avenue / Pelham Bay stop on the #6 train.

What are those lights for ?????


Thanks in advance for any answers.

[thehartfordboy]

[Mr. Linsky]

ECA,

Wikipedia comes up with the following;

Select Bus Service (SBS), the brand name for MTA bus rapid transit service, is a variant of Limited-Stop bus service that requires fare payment to be made before boarding the bus, at fare payment machines in shelters at designated "stations" (such a shelter is shown to the left). On these buses, the operator is only able to dispense transfers, and then only for customers who had to pay their fare in coins. Receipts given for payment of fare are "proof-of-payment" that must be shown to fare enforcement upon request. In the event of the fare machine failing to issue a receipt, the bus operator must be notified of the problem. The implementation of this new service is paired with new lane markings and traffic signs that reserve a lane for buses only between 7AM and 7PM.

SBS began on the Bx12 Fordham Road/Pelham Parkway line in the Bronx on 2008-06-29. The M15 First/Second Avenues line will see SBS implementation in fall 2009, and the S79 Hylan Boulevard/Richmond Avenue and B44 Nostrand Avenue lines will see implementation in 2011. Variants will also be implemented on 34th Street, 5 Avenue, and Madison Avenue in Manhattan.

Buses used in this service are identifiable with blue lights on the sides of the destination sign, a special wrap below the blue stripe, as shown on #5741 at the top of the article, a flashing blue light in the windshield, and "stations" be similar to those pictured to the right. Locations of stops (and in some cases, the local bus stops) were shifted or eliminated where possible to prevent mixing of local bus customers. SBS is offered in conjunction with the New York City and New York State Department of Transportation.

A side comment;

The New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law prohibits the use of blue lights except by volunteer firemen in the course of answering an alarm.

I suppose that the MTA being a state political subdivision can break or bend the rules to suit themselves!

Regards and Happy Thanksgiving

WCA

[Hart Bus]

To ECA and all.......

As Eddie Murphy said as the old man in the barber shop ( Coming to America) AHH CHAAA!!!!!

I have seen some of the artics on I-95 and thought it was a wrap for a product. At night the flashing blue lights are very distinguishable.

Since there are no volunteer FD's in NYC, I guess the MTA can use blue lights without confusion. Of course being an out of control state agency they probably can do what the heck they want to without answering to anyone.