Preliminary renderings of the planned East Side Select Service routes did not include physically separated bus lanes.

Good news about transit in New York has been hard to come by over the last few weeks. We’ve been inundated with stories about budget crises and know-nothing politicians who can’t seem to figure out that this whole mess is their fault. But today, we have some good news about a group of 19 New York representatives who seem to care about sensible transit solutions. These 19 have called up on the MTA and NYC DOT to develope physically separated bus and bike lanes along the planned route for the 1st and 2nd Ave. Select Bus Service.

The back story goes a little something like this: As part of a joint effort to improve bus service throughout the city while targeting areas not as well served by subway service as others, the MTA and the Department of Transportation have identified a series of corridors ripe for Select Bus Service, the New York City modification of a bus rapid transit plan. Last month, the two sides unveiled the plans for the 1st and 2nd Aves. bus routes, and most transit advocates were dismayed to see that the plans did not include physically separated lanes.

Over the next few weeks, the two agencies heard it from all sides. Business owners misguidedly hate any bus improvements improvements whatsoever, and transit advocates did not understand how DOT thought it can run a successful BRT line while still subjecting the buses to the problems inherent in lanes not physically separated from regular auto traffic. A few days later, DOT backtracked, saying that they might place barriers along some parts of the bus routes. It was hardly a ringing endorsement of a much-needed element of any effective BRT implementation.

Last week, 19 New York City representatives chimed in on the debate. As Streetsblog’s Ben Fried reported yesterday, Rep. Micah Kellner shared the letter a group of City Council members, U.S. House members, and State Senate and Assembly representatives sent to Janette Sadik-Kahn and Jay Walder. The letter — available here as a PDF — reads in part:

While we recognize and appreciate the Department of Transportation (DOT) plans to improve travel time and convenience through Select Bus Service (SBS) on First and Second Avenues, we urge you to take the project further. True BRT can be faster and more reliable than traditional bus service or SBS, and far less expensive than comparable subway system upgrades. While we unequivocally support the full-build Second Avenue Subway, we understand that trains are not scheduled to operate on the line until at least 2016 and extending the new line below East 63rd Street, as part of Phase III of the project, will take even longer. As such, the Second Avenue Subway project does not obviate the need for efficient BRT. This is especially true for disabled individuals who use buses more than any other form of transportation in the City. A strong BRT program could be in place inexpensively by 2011.

We call on DOT to take advantage of this rare opportunity to overhaul street-level transit in a progressive and innovative manner that reaches well beyond SBS. DOT should institute changes to the First and Second Avenue route that include not only prepaid off-board fare collection, signal priority, and a dedicated rush-hour bus lane (all present in the Fordham Road SBS), but also a physically separated busway, a physically separated bikeway, level boarding, safer crossings for pedestrians, and real-time arrival information. It is our understanding that buses running via a true BRT system on the current M15 route from beginning to end would be approximately thirty-three percent faster, on average, than SBS buses on the same route.

Such a plan would elevate the City to even greater national and international prominence for sustainable urban development initiatives that innovate and endure, and we believe there would be substantial public support for BRT — significantly greater support than we expect the SBS plan to generate. With a sensible “complete street” design that keeps cyclists and pedestrians out of harm’s way, this project would also save lives.

According to Streetsblog, DOT will release an updated plan for the 1st and 2nd Ave. Select Bus Service next month. In the meantime, the 19 signatories of this letter deserve some recognition and praise for their efforts. This is indicative of the kind of leadership on transit New York deserves and needs. Hopefully, some good — some physically separated bus lanes — will come of it.

A fancy new bus won’t held speed up the crosstown travel time.

One of the great aspects about New York City’s bus network is how extensive it is. Every major artery in the city and many minor ones have bus routes that run throughout most of the day. But for more trafficked routes — those that mirror subway lines along Manhattan’s, Queens’, Brooklyn’s and the Bronx’s major roads — speed is a problem. Because the city does not have dedicated bus lanes, because police do not enforce marked bus lanes and because cars unnecessarily fill the streets, buses simply are not a viable means of crosstown travel.

Every year, the Straphangers Campaign hands out its Pokey award to the city’s slowest bus, and this year, the M42 took home the honors. It achieved, they said, an average speed of 3.7 miles per hour at noon on a weekday. For many of us, that’s a brisk walking pace.

Last week, Pete Donohue tested that claim and found that the bus is, in reality, even slower. Due to cars, trucks and vans double parking or using the bus lane, what should be a convenient ride across the street is far from it. He writes:

On just one rush-hour ride last week, nearly two dozen vehicles were parked or idled in the bus-only lane, which stretches roughly from Ninth to Third Aves.

The entire trip, from First to 12th Aves., is just over 2 miles. The trip took 43 minutes, even on a day when traffic was much lighter than usual. The average speed: approximately 2.85 mph, slower than the average person walks…

“If the lanes were clear, it would make it a lot easier to go across town,” [M42 driver Vincent] Mashburn said. “No delays. No one blocking us. We could come in, pick up passengers and move.”

During Donohue’s crosstown experiment, he saw empty police vans and patrol cars blocking the bus lane. He witnessed a line of taxis and livery cabs parked in a bus lane outside of Port Authority, and he saw a U.S. Postal Service truck and other assorted delivery vans blocking the bus’s progress.

The police vans, while not a new problem, are particularly distressing. Who is going to follow the bus lane rules if police are openly flaunting them? The same holds true for the postal service as well.

In the end, Donohue’s experience is not an isolated one. Buses are inefficient for crosstown travel and downright painful for long distances. His article underscores the need for camera enforcement and physically separated bus lanes. The MTA and NYC DOT are engaged in an extensive effort to bring bus rapid transit service to the city, and those planning would do well to read Donohue’s article and pay careful attention to the lessons in it.

A vintage bus at the Transit Museum’s Bus Festival in 2007. (Photo by Benjamin Kabak)

As part of a holiday celebration, New York City Transit is running vintage buses along 42nd St. this month. These buses, which began running last Monday, will run through December during the week. A series of 1950s buses will run the route of the M42 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., surprising midtown workers and tourists a like.

“These buses are a living, breathing part of the city’s history,” Joseph Smith, MTA Bus Company president and Senior Vice President of Buses for MTA NYC Transit, asid. “Riding on these buses is a fantastic counterpoint to the vehicles we operate currently. It’s obvious that we have come a long way since the 1950s and, despite the charm of the older equipment, our customers are benefiting from major advances in bus efficiency, design and accessibility.”

Currently, Transit keeps 19 historic buses on hand. The one shown above is a 1917 wood-bodied double decker operated by the now-defunct Fifth Ave. Coach Company. Although that 90-year-old vehicle will remain up on blocks, so to speak, the MTA will roll out Bus No. 3100, a 1956 GM model that was the first air conditioned bus in the city; Bus No. 9098, a 1958 General Motors specialty that was among the first to feature fiberglass seats; and Bus. No. 2969, a GM from 1948 and one of the city’s first 40-foot-long buses.

Despite the old school wheels, don’t worry about digging out some dimes and nickels to pay the fare. As Transit said, everything but the fare box is original, and these buses will take MetroCards.

Stayed tomorrow for an announcement about the Nostalgia Trains running throughout the month of December.

Old is new again on the B61. (Photo courtesy of Lost City’s Brooks of Sheffield)

Back in May, New York City Transit revealed a practical plan to restore a nostalgic aspect of bus riding to the city’s fleet. Pull cords, they announced, were coming back in style. Gone would be the hard-to-find and expensive-to-repair magnetic “Stop Requested” buttons. Instead, my youth would return to the buses.

According to the MTA, this move was a cost-saving measure pure and simple. The yellow strip-and-button system costs $1056 per bus while a bell cord costs $293 and is easier to repair. Technology, it seems, is not without its high price tag.

In May, approximately 270 buses had been retrofitted with pull cords, and that number is up to around 500 by now. Over the weekend, Brooks of Sheffield, the proprietor of the Lost City blog, found himself on a B61 with the new pull cords and snapped a few pictures. With the familiar sign urging passengers to “pull cord to signal for stop,” Brooks enjoyed the experience:

I liked it. It was possible to call for a stop anywhere you stood or sat. You didn’t have to go searching and reaching for those buttons and magnetic strips. And my son thought it was infinitely more fun. My friend, though, thought they were stupid, and an invitation for vandalism. I don’t know. Though cords looks pretty damn tough.

I have to wonder: If it the technology wasn’t broken in the first place, why did Transit, in the early 1990s, spend so much money to upgrade something that just worked and wasn’t expensive to install or repair?

Although Phase I of the Second Ave. Subway is still at least seven or eight years away from completion, residents of Manhattan’s East Side will be getting speedier north-south options within the next twelve months. The MTA and New York City’s Department of Transportation are hard at work planning the Select Bus Service — New York’s version of a bus rapid transit system — for the East Side, and earlier this week, the agencies informed Community Board 1 of the plans.

In general, as the above map shows, the Select Bus Service will follow a path similar to that of the current M15 Limited. Buses will travel north up 1st Ave., and south down 2nd Ave. with a northern turnaround at 125th St. and a southern terminal at the Staten Island Ferry building. The buses will stop approximately every 10 blocks with no stops at 72nd, 28th or 8th Sts. “Faster and more reliable” were the buzzwords city officials used this week, according to Downtown Express’ Leslie Picker.

With the route in place, the MTA and DOT are trying to figure out how to make this service effective, and with out major exception, the ideas are falling into place. As preliminary designs, below, indicate, the city will install bus bulbs on blocks with stops. These bus areas will feature pre-boarding systems similar to those in place along Fordham Road in the Bronx and will allow for loading or parking areas in front of the bus stop.

As you can see from the picture, though, the plans call for an off-set bus lane but not a physically separated bus lane. Businesses along 1st and 2nd Aves., oblivious to the fact that buses would be far more beneficial than road space or parking spots, are not too keen on separated lanes, and community leaders are concerned about increased traffic due to the potential elimination of road space for bus lanes. In turn, though, DOT and MTA officials warned that the city would push for increased bus lane enforcement. Whether the NYPD alone can enforce the contours of a non-separated dedicated bus lane remain to be seen.

If the MTA and DOT can adhere to their published schedules, Select Bus Service will come to the East Side by the summer of 2010. This early roll-out, though, will be missing a few features of the overall service. Phase 1 will include better service patterns and pre-board fare payment as well as what the agencies are calling “enhanced bus lanes. Phase 2, set to arrive in mid-2011, will feature the bus bulbs and, more importantly, a preferred signaling system for transit vehicles. In other words, buses will enjoy longer green lights and fewer red lights.

For now, with the Second Ave. Subway inching along, this East Side corridor needs its bus rapid transit service. Even after Phase I of the SAS opens, the MTA claims that “passenger demand on the M15 will remain high.” The problem though of dedicated lanes persists. Until the buses can lay claim to their own spaces, enforcement costs will be high and a lack of enforcement would not significantly speed up bus service along these crowded avenues.