NJ commuter coach: Lyons and Warren to NYC, MCI D4500CT

[@bus213]

Nice video! 20:40 hey look a Kensington bus, my old high school used to use their buses

[@gregoryross2024]

The MTA would put you out of service in the quickness if they see on the phone behind the steering wheel.

[@843Reboot]

Zerega would put anyone out of service if they even breathed incorrectly

[@Pa_school_bus_enthusiast]

You should mount another camera in the rear so we can hear the engine brake

[@yitznewton]

Yeah I've been thinking about other camera angles, especially the rear. I was thinking about outside the bus, but I lost my last GoPro that way. Maybe I can mount in the back while empty similar to @BottomLin3Op

[@WayneTesta4444]

What do you like driving better the commuter bus route or school bus route

[@yitznewton]

I like the variety of being able to do both... the commuter passengers don't require any management, but the traffic can be a grind especially in the afternoon. It's nice being able to drive the bigger and more refined coaches. And with my school bus company, there are a ton of different routes I might drive as a spare driver.

[@okboi2513]

wow didnt know lakeland buses could go into meadowlands garage. Did yall return there to make getting into port authority easier for PM rush hour?

[@yitznewton]

Deadheading back to their garage would waste fuel and put extra miles on the bus. I assume it works out better for the company to park 4-5 peak hour buses there and have the drivers ride back in one bus that picks us up.

[@hunterpaksi1207]

Love the video. Also, was this channel called yiznewton or something like that before? I swear it was, but maybe I'm going crazy haha. I can't find that channel and this one seems liek it was by looking at the school bus POV videos.

[@yitznewton]

Yep, that's this channel!

[@hunterpaksi1207]

@@yitznewton Oh nice! Glad I wasn't going crazy haha. I like the new channel name, good content also.

[@843Reboot]

do you operate any buses into GWB Terminal?

[@yitznewton]

No, only PABT and the downtown line

[@me-it9jn]

How full do the commuter buses get usually

[@yitznewton]

I usually have 30-45 on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday mornings, which is when I generally drive. There are 57 seats. My runs are overflow runs; sometimes the primary buses do get to capacity or standees.

[@christiansandoval8517]

Is that the morning Rush Hour you do

[@yitznewton]

Yes!

[@ntrains21]

Would like to see PM run video one day

[@yitznewton]

I don't do many PM runs, but I will put it on the list!

[@ntrains21]

I understand but if you get one that would be nice 👍

[@paulkowald4057]

What did that mean when you said you were bus route number and then it sounded like you said 14

[@yitznewton]

339 is the call sign for dispatch, and 14 was the passenger count

[@paulkowald4057]

@@yitznewton so does that mean later you had 28 passengers?

[@yitznewton]

yep!

[@paulkowald4057]

@@yitznewton why do you always have to tell the number of your passengers?

[@yitznewton]

I don't know all the details of how the data is used, but the general idea is that this is the main way the dispatchers track supply and demand. So in real-time, they can send standby drivers to under-supplied routes if there happens to be a surge of passengers that day, and over time they can identify routes that are generally under- or over-served, and adjust the schedule and the number of buses we run.

[@nickhiscock8948]

That bus lane doesn't seem very efficient as it gets very choked up. Whats delaying the buses?

[@yitznewton]

There is only so much room for all the traffic to go once it gets into Manhattan, so it backs up through the tunnel. Buses don't have a dedicated lane in the tunnel so the advantage of the bus lane ends at the toll plaza. The bus lane still allows the buses to bypass additional congestion in the NJ-3 approach to NJ-495 and the tunnel. As you see at the end of the video, there is also a limited amount of space in the Port Authority terminal for unloading, so if the buses move "too fast" through the tunnel, we end up lining up and waiting to unload.

[@nickhiscock8948]

@yitznewton I did notice the tunnel really needs to be bus only with one lane for each level of the bus terminal. But yes the bus terminal itself does seem to back up quite a bit. It probably needs a second unloading road on each level. Here in Brisbane Australia they have totally separate underground busways that run right into city centre but they use low floor articulated buses with 3 doors per vehicle for fast loading and unloading. Regional long distance coaches go to a separate much smaller terminal at the back of the main railway station.

[@casmatori]

Don't give the city any ideas. They already destroyed most of Midtown Manhattan with bus and bicycle lanes that have made traffic worse than it was thirty years ago@@nickhiscock8948