Once more unto the buses we go. Today’s bus story comes to us via the old reliable Straphangers Campaign. The transit advocacy group has released a report accusing bus service of lagging behind ridership demands, and the MTA isn’t happy about it.

In short, the Straphangers believe that bus riders are getting short-shrifted. “Crushed by crowds? Have to wait for more than one bus to go by? It’s not your imagination, transit officials have never caught up to the waves of new bus riders,” Gene Russianoff, Straphangers Campaign lawyer, said.

Their findings — with raw data available as a PDF table and map — were as follows:

Gains in service lagged behind increases in ridership in three boroughs, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens: In Brooklyn, the gap was more than triple, with ridership increasing 26% since 1997, but service only 8%. In Queens and the Bronx, the gap was 10 percentage points. Ridership was up 24% in the Bronx, but service only 14%. In Queens, ridership increased 30%, but service only 20%.

Gains in service outpaced increases in ridership in two boroughs: In Manhattan, gains in service were slightly more than increases in ridership (15% to 13%). On Staten Island, gains in service outpaced increases in ridership overall (23% to 18%).

Russianoff used the Straphangers’ findings to warn against the possible service cuts the MTA faces in light of budgetary issues. “It makes no sense to cut service that’s already lagging behind ridership and new riders are flocking to transit service as the price of gasoline heads toward $5 a gallon,” he said.

But while the Straphangers leveled their criticisms, New York City Transit swung back. Says their press office:

The Straphangers assertion that our bus customers are being “crushed by crowds” or that customers are “having to wait for more than one bus to go by” does not systemically occur on NYC Transit bus routes. It is equally untrue that NYC Transit has not kept pace with the increase in ridership which resulted from free bus-to-subway transfers and discounted fares. The fact of the matter is that the increase in bus ridership, most of which occurred by the end of 2001, was met with unprecedented increases in bus service.

At the heart of the matter is an assertion by the MTA that bus ridership levels are well within Board-adopted loading guidelines. While NYC Transit stresses this claim, the Straphangers claim that the MTA has long kept these numbers a secret and that their independent research doesn’t jibe with the MTA’s claims. “If New York City Transit’s own checks of ridership show it is providing enough matching levels of bus service, it should publicly release the crowding information on a regular basis,” Russianoff said.

The truth, much like the next bus, is out there somewhere.

The New York buses are, for better or worse, a begrudgingly accepted part of the transit landscape. Their schedules are unreliable and service is painfully slow on a good day. But as buses go, the last few weeks have been rather momentous.

First, we saw the roll-out of the MTA’s new Select Bus Service. With pre-boarding fare-payment schemes and dedicated bus lanes, New York’s form of bus rapid transit could revitalize a much-maligned mode of transit. The early returns are promising.

Last week, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign’s Mobilizing the Region blog featured an early test-run of the BRT system. Veronica Vanterpool, TSTC’s associate director, noted that the BRT measures shaved 17 minutes off of her cross-Bronx commute. While enforcement efforts and pre-boarding confusion plagued the ride, Vanterpool believes that, as the system matures, it will become even more efficient. Score one for the good news.

Concurrently, Streetblog’s Brad Aaron pondered how New York City should beef up BRT enforcement. While we have blamed David Gantt for shooting down camera-enforced lanes, Aaron argues that New York should follow Europe’s lead and implement dedicated lines by way of concrete dividers. As these dividers have done with the 9th Ave. bike lane, permanent concrete structures will keep drivers out for good, cameras or not. Sign me up.

And then, on Friday, New York City Transit sneaked out another bus-related story while no one was paying attention. The agency released the Express Bus Rider Report Cards, and as riders were wont to do with the subways, bus service received a C grade. As you might expect, bus riders were most critical of the wait times between buses, the accuracy of schedules and seat availability. If you’re interested in the nitty-gritty, all the details are availabe here as a PDF.

I don’t believe these bus grades can come as a surprise. Bus service across the board is unreliable in the city at best. Buses run at the whim of traffic, and the posted schedules are reliable only as a tool to help potential riders determine how long it should be between buses. The Express Bus service is supposed to be more reliable than the local service, and when the regular bus line report cards hit, I’m sure riders will have similar complaints.

Right now, New Yorkers could use a good bus service, but it seems that buses are viewed as a measure of last resort. If it’s raining, take the bus but only if it’s there. Friends of mine who are new to the city never really learn the bus system, and even life-long New Yorkers use the buses reluctantly. The Select Bus Service is a start, but as the rider report card results show, MTA Bus, now under the umbrella of NYC Transit, has a long way to go.