As far as public transit imagery goes, London’s buses are among the more iconic vehicles in the world. The red double-deckers just scream London, and the system is generally fast and efficient.
Here in New York, the buses are pretty much the exact opposite of that. They’re slow, unreliable and don’t enjoy any sort of preferential lane treatment. Commuters often see riding a bus as a chore rather than a convenience. But that will change if Jay Walder has his way.
The New Yorker-turned-Londoner-turned New York knows what an efficient and reliable bus system can do for surface transit. In fact, across the Atlantic, where Walder helped lead Transport for London, buses carry more passengers than the Tubes, and now Jay wants to improve New York’s bus system. He spoke at length with Times reporter Michael Grynbaum about our buses, and the takeaway is simple: “In London, you carry nearly twice as many people in the bus system as you do on the Underground,” he said. “We must close the gap and make more of the bus system.”
Grynbaum had more about Walder’s plans:
Mr. Walder’s plans include an expansion of dedicated bus lanes with stricter enforcement, aided by cameras mounted on street poles and on the buses themselves that can snap photos of offending cars. He wants to introduce the contactless fare cards — which can be quickly waved over a sensor — to the subways and buses, reducing boarding times. And he wants GPS devices on buses so passengers can tell when a bus is coming, even if the familiar bulky shape is not visible on the horizon.
“What I’d like you to think about is a train system with rubber-tire vehicles,” Mr. Walder said, peering out at the passing street. A single red car was parked in the bus-only lane on Flatbush Avenue, forcing the bus to merge into an adjacent lane and bringing traffic to a standstill.
“We’re on a bus right now where every seat is full,” he said. “How many people are on this bus? Seventy-five? But we haven’t prioritized this bus any differently than a car which has one person in it.”
That last line — prioritizing a full bus with 75 times as many people as most cars — proves to me that Walder gets it. Buses can be an effective tool used to get people out of their cars. Doing so, of course, requires enforcement, and the new MTA head is ready to go bat for his buses. “If I put train tracks down the street, you wouldn’t park your car on them. If I said this is a bus lane, somehow it becomes fair game,” he said to The Times. “One person’s use of a road impacts upon another person’s use of the road. My point is, if we have to make a choice, make the choice for the bus, not for the car.”
In his dubious transit plan for New York City, Michael Bloomberg has made improving the buses a top priority. With Walder, the MTA CEO and Chairman, fully on board, nothing is stopping the city from overhauling the bus lane system. Without securing approval from Albany, New York could install a series of dedicated bus lanes and preferential signaling. The NYPD could ramp up bus lane enforcement, and the MTA can implement pre-boarding fare payment systems as they research and develop a contactless fare card.
The buses are New York’s most underutilized resource. They show up sometimes and generally not with any correlation to the posted schedule. They slog through rush hour traffic at speeds often slower than a quick walk. We know the system needs work, and we know the city leaders are paying lip service to the improvements. Now let’s see some action.
25 comments
“and don’t enjoy any sort of preferential lane treatment”
That is not 100% true. They have an exclusive lane on a large portion of Broadway in Manhattan. And quite frankly, it is really annoying sitting in a single line of cars when the lane right next to you is completely free with maybe a bus or two in it. That bus lane does get clogged up by the usual city bullshit, but the cops do police the lanes, and ruin peoples day all the time for driving in an empty lane. I’m not sure where I stand this.
this is like complaining about a handicap parking spot or a fire hydrant and you’re looking for parking. who cares if its empty and you think you need it. its not all about you.
I agree. I personally don’t really take the bus system that often, or at all. So personally, more room for cabs and cars are better for me. On the other hand, I can see why buses should get a reserved lane. I said I’m not sure where I stand yet. I’m somewhere in the middle.
So personally, more room for cabs and cars are better for me.
I beg to differ, Mike. Because you breath the air in New York City, you benefit from having fewer cars on the road. Because you rely on the New York City economy, you too benefit from increased productivity brought about by less congestion. (And, yes, more bus lanes would result in less congestion because fewer people would be driving.) Plus, for you personally, faster buses may lead you to take the buses more often.
That is very fair, and I appreciate the insight into some of the factors I may have been overlooking. I also think you may be right here. Giving it some more thought, getting rid of the bus lane would really only be a small short term gain for me. In the long run, as you pointed out, the bus lane has a chance of having a far greater positive impact on my life. Plus, I guess it would help a bunch of people who already take the bus. I knew I was not sure where I stood on this for a reason! Now I know.
Also, you have just compared “people who prefer/need to take the bus instead of cab, walk, or a subway,” to handicap people and people/buildings on fire. I would say their is a difference.
there, not their.
“really annoying sitting in a single line of cars when…”
That’s Walder’s point exactly. This line of, say, 15 cars has maybe a total of 25 people in it. The bus has 75. Shouldn’t the bus get priority?
I get it, and I’m saying I’m not sure. I guess you gotta give the bus its lane, but that does not mean it can’t bother me a little bit
Sorry if we’re being too aggressive on you Mike — we’re not trying to start an all-out assault on you! And in similar situations throughout the northeast, I’ve been stuck in traffic in a “regular” lane while the HOV lane sits next to me empty. That’s frustrating, too.
Yes. I am in that HOV situation all the time as well. I guess that is the point of these things though. To encourage people who take their own car, or take cabs, like me, to take public transportation or car pool. I do understand the need for this type of stuff, but at this point in my life, they are quite frustrating in the short term.
Mike, I am ever so sorry you have got a ticket when you broke the law. You must think that’s awfully unfair when people do exactly the opposite of what the signs clearly say and then get punished for it. If you want to use the bus lanes, get in a bus.
Even if there were only one bus using the lane every few blocks, that’s way more people in the lane than if it’s full of cars, not to mention way better for the environment and peoples’ lungs. What’s really annoying is that there are people who seem to think they have the right to use the most pulluting, inefficient method of using public roadways and then get upset when space is reserved for the cleanest, most efficient method.
I know exactly where I stand on this.
But as Ben noted, the bus lane gets filled by “people like me” and other trucks and the like. So if I pick to take the bus, I am in traffic, and if I take a cab I am in traffic. So instead of just having two lanes for everyone, you have one inefficient lane for each. I’m not saying it is not possible to fix the problem and still have separate lanes, but in practice, it is really not working out.
I have never gotten a ticket myself by the way. I just see the cars lined up in the shoulder waiting for the cops to give them their ticket.
I just see the cars lined up in the shoulder waiting for the cops to give them their ticket, which oddly enough, causes more congestion in bus lane. Come to think of it, on Broadway, cop cars, cop vans and cop buses take up more bus space lane than anything. Just preventing a nypd vehicle from causing congestion in the bus lane would take care of like 60 % of the problem on that one stretch.
Today I rode my bike — in the bus lane — on 34th St between Broadway and 8th Avenue. The bus (and I behind it) had to get into the car lanes to avoid the three (3) police cars and two (2) police vans parked in just two blocks of the red lane.
Another suggestion for north-south bus routes is to eliminate the every-two-blocks stops. There is no logical reason to have buses stop so often. Whenever I am riding on a bus, the bus stops either at the bus stop or at a red light, thereby increasing travel time exponentially. Walder should change all bus routes so that buses stop at least every four blocks. Under that system, the most a person would have to walk would be two blocks. Makes perfect sense to me.
I once heard–perhaps apocryphally–that the frequency of the stops has at least something to do with lobbying from senior citizens’ groups and disabled-rights activists. I would be really interested to hear whether this is in fact the case, or if stops have in fact always been so frequent.
In Bay Ridge senior citizens make up a large chunk of the community and the bus stops were redrawn a few years back to go from every two blocks to every three to make room for more legal means of parking.
It actually makes the bus routes run quicker even though I now have to walk that extra block.
Going north-south, if you are in a hurry you can take a subway. If you are old and arthritic like me, you may prefer bus stops within easy walking distance.
Of course, another way to get the buses moving would be to reduce auto traffic with congestion charges or bridge tolls. Oh wait, we can’t do that. The suburbs rule!
there are lots of seniors here in yorkville, but for my whole life the stops on the east side have been 2 blocks apart (viz, since before the time of rights activists)
It’s not just disability rights activists. American transit agencies are used to placing stops every 200 meters for institutional reasons; elsewhere, 400 is more common.
+ 1.
I walk faster than north-south buses in the city; it’s really a shame.
A bus stop every 2-blocks? Come on! In where I live in Westchester there’s a stop every 3-5 blocks. Luckily it is usually easy walking.
To keep cars out of the bus lanes deviders with rumblestrips need to be installed.
Well, until I see some real action, Walder is just painting a dream (not that he isn’t instilling some more optimism for transit here.)
In his dubious transit plan for New York City, Michael Bloomberg has made improving the buses a top priority. With Walder, the MTA CEO and Chairman, fully on board, nothing is stopping the city from overhauling the bus lane system.
If Thompson wins the mayoral race, you can say goodbye to any dream of Walder’s.
in the last six months the frequency of police ticketing on broadway and prince/spring street has gone down. as a result the number of drivers in the bus lane has gone up. this is just from my observations.