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Could this be the longest MBTA bus route?
By adamg on Sun, 10/16/2016 - 5:41pm
We thought the 34E between Forest Hills and Walpole was a long route, but Jason Rabinowitz reports today that he saw a yellow-and-white bus with a destination sign of "Harvard" in Valley Stream, NY (it borders Queens - which also has a Forest Hills). So the T is testing out a really long new route, the driver got horribly lost, somebody stole a T bus and drove it 200+ miles or the T has sent buses down there for repairs.
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Comments
I always thought the 62 edged
I always thought the 62 edged out the 34E for longest MBTA route, albeit barely.
Perhaps new buses coming in?
The MBTA is receiving 325 buses from New Flyer, but they have two different facilities. The CNG buses are being delivered from Alabama, while the diesel-electric buses are being delivered from Minnesota. My guess is that the bus was coming in from Alabama, and likely had to refuel at other facilities.
I'm figuring there's a facility in Valley Stream (Nassau Intercounty Express, formerly MTA Long Island bus) that does inspection/refueling before they head up I-95.
(Anyone in the MBTA universe is free to refute or respond.)
Yeah, I had a similar
Yeah, I had a similar experience.
One day several years ago, when the boxy buses were new, I was greatly amused to find myself driving behind one on I-84 EB in Danbury, CT. It had a route 23 or 19 sign up, can't remember which.
North East Bus Rebuilders of
North East Bus Rebuilders of Ronkonkama NY has the contract with the builder of the new buses (New Flyer) to set them up/inspect them before delivery to the MBTA. They also have facility in Readville MA.
Correct
They will likely check to see if the buses have held up from the New Flyer facility, give them a look by mechanics, and send them to Readville. By then, they've had about 1000 miles of zero weight, and then they're turned over to the MBTA for further testing. Rumor has it that they will begin to replace the older NABI buses by the end of this month.
They drive the buses from Alabama?
Why not park dozens of them on a boat and float them up?
Testing
I'm sure cost has alot to do with it. However, I'm sure its for road testing. I think a bus needs to have certain number of miles on it before it can be put into service. Its so any kinks/bugs can be worked out before passengers use it.
I'd rather have a bus be driving a few 100's of miles with no passengers, than to have one with virtually none have an issue with a bus full of them!
Personally, I'd think putting
Personally, I'd think putting them on flatbed rail cars was more practical than a boat. Of course, besides convenient location to a freight line, I don't know how the width of the buses compared to the width of the flatbeds.
The thing that interests me (probably because I'm sometimes an out-of-touch-with-technological-state-of-the-art) is the old-timey notion of "running-in". As they ferry these new buses hundreds of miles, are they carefully and gently running them at a very even 50-55 mph with a minimum of heavy acceleration, high rpms, high speeds? ...or does that even matter anymore?
I'm Guessing It Was Option 3 — A Stolen Bus
If I know my MBTA
It's a 66 bus that took a series of wrong turns
1000 miles
About 8 or 9 years ago, my wife and I were in Northern Indiana for my grandparents' anniversary party. We had just gotten on the highway to head back home to Boston when we were startled to see an MBTA bus alongside us, heading east as we were. I was hoping we'd run into it stopped at a rest stop or gas station along the way so I could attempt to scan my CharlieCard and board.
The NYC area also has train
The NYC area also has train stations called Stony Brook, Auburndale, Wakefield, Hastings, and Melrose.
Sloatsburg and Braintree have no equals.
And of course, Forest Hills
And of course, Forest Hills