MTA Bus Driver Leads Passengers In Song (Video)

The broken coin box seen when boarding the crosstown bus—which means everyone rides for free—was the first sign this ride was going to be a better bus ride than normal.

The good feeling riding for free inspires, with a bus full of others who are beneficiaries, must be contagious because the bus driver started playing trivia over the intercom. Playfully prodding, he requested: "Give me ten body parts that only have three letters." A woman sitting nearby quickly rolled off three: "Eye, leg, lip." Someone near the front shouted out: "toe!" and the count got to eight pretty quickly. The last two came as well, but not so easily.

And the bus driver wasn't done entertaining the crowd. As you can hear in the video below, after he told a joke that was preempted by a passenger, he then led the bus in song, singing happy birthday to a birthday girl.

Offering some words of advice, the bus driver continued: "Lets look alive people, we only live once. Tomorrow's not promised." Afterward, as an elderly man disembarked, he told the driver: "You're the best bus driver I ever had." Listen in below:

UPDATED: Safety First: CVS Truck Parks In Bus Lane

Safety is the goal of CVS while making deliveries, but that consideration for safety does not, apparently, extend to New Yorkers riding the buses. As seen in the photo above, a CVS delivery truck was parked—engine off—in a south bound bus lane on 5th Avenue near 30th Street. Two buses came and went in the time I witnessed the truck there, which was no longer delivering anything, but simply parked in the bus lane. Passengers stepping onto and departing off the bus are now put in the potentially dangerous situation of having to step off the bus and into the road. Able bodied and alert passengers might be ok, but what of the elderly or disabled?

NYC The Blog has emailed CVS with these concerns, as well as inquiring about their protocol for making deliveries; specifically asking if CVS permits their trucks to park in bus lanes. I'll update the post with any information they provide. UPDATE: NYCT Buses responded to an inquiry made via Twitter and explained: "You can park in front of a stop but it depends on posted regulation. It could be right-turns only or reserved for deliveries." So the question remains, what were the regulations at this particular location? To be countinued...

» Follow NYC The Blog on Facebook and Twitter. Photo credits: Paolo Mastrangelo/NYC The Blog

New MTA Bus: DesignLine EcoSaver IV (2009)

DesignLine EcoSaver IV (2009) Idling on Houston

Last year, DesignLine USA announced "a test and evaluation contract" with the MTA for the ECO Saver IV, a hybrid electric 42-foot bus that is far quieter than others in the fleet and has lower emissions than other buses.

This contract will allow the initial delivery of 30 new DesignLine EcoSaver IV Hybrid Electric heavy duty transit buses to the agency with an option of an additional 60 buses. NYCT is expecting to deploy these new buses on multiple routes.

The unique propriety hybrid propulsion system used in DesignLine’s EcoSaver IV bus
sets itself above all of the current competition in the worldwide heavy duty vehicle marketplace. This system is quieter than other hybrid propulsion systems in operation and lowers harmful emissions.

When the bus photographed at top was idling on Houston St, the noise was so minimal as to be pleasant. Watch and listen to it roll by in the video posted by Caitsith810.