With new leaders in Albany and City Hall, it’s time to reignite the fight for #BetterBuses
We’re at a pivotal moment for New York City transit. We have a new Mayor, Governor, and DOT Commissioner who have all made promising gestures that give us hope that they’re serious about prioritizing the needs of bus riders. It’s with that hope that the Bus Turnaround Coalition is launching a revamped campaign for #BetterBuses with a new report and renewed calls for leaders to deliver real improvements for bus riders.
In 2016, the Bus Turnaround Coalition launched a campaign for #BetterBuses with the goal of reversing a decade-long decline in New York City bus speeds and ridership. Since then, a lot of progress has been made like setting record years for miles of bus lanes painted, passing the NYC Streets Plan to implement 150 new miles of bus lanes, winning the first-ever redesign of the city’s bus network, and securing commitments to improve service with all-door boarding and bus shelter improvements.
But even with all this great progress and solid evidence that the improvements implemented so far are working, most New York City bus riders are still stuck on the slowest buses in the nation and have yet to experience the true potential of our city’s bus network.
Now, we’re calling on our new Mayor, DOT Commissioner (both of whom attended the Bus Turnaround launch event in 2016 as Brooklyn Borough President and a NYC Council Member, respectively), and Governor to:
Restart the bus network redesigns, and do it right. Bringing our city’s outdated bus routes into the 21st century is foundational to ensuring buses aren’t only fast, but can reliably get people to the places they need to go. With the Queens redesign starting up again and Brooklyn soon to follow, there’s a great opportunity to deliver massive service improvements to riders by implementing ambitious route changes and increasing the operating budget to deliver six-minute buses on most routes. By streamlining our bus routes, increasing frequency, and actively engaging with riders to offer them a seat at the table throughout the process, the MTA can deliver huge wins for #BetterBuses.
Implement all-door boarding across the city. The less time people spend boarding and paying fares, the more time the bus can spend moving. With OMNY fare collection installed on buses citywide, this is the absolute easiest way for us to significantly increase bus speeds across the board.
Empower the DOT Commissioner to get stuff done. The most impactful improvements we can make to bus service start with reimagining the streets our buses are on to prioritize the movement of people, not cars. Central to that vision is NYC DOT developing and implementing a plan to significantly increase the miles of new bus lanes installed per year and aggressively expand the use of car-free transit corridors to duplicate the overwhelming success seen on 14th St – where the M14 saw a 65% speed increase. For that to happen, it’s imperative that Mayor Adams fully supports and empowers the NYC DOT Commissioner, even through the inevitable criticism from proponents of the status quo, to make the necessary changes to our city’s car-congested streetscape for bus service to thrive.
Prioritize bus riders in the city budget. Dedicated support for bus riders from city hall is needed construct high-quality bus lanes and expanded transit-only corridors, improved bus shelters, amenities, and pedestrian connections, and to fund enough NYC DOT staff to plan and implement these projects while conducting proper rider outreach and communication.
You can read more about exactly how far we’ve come and how Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul can step up and deliver more meaningful improvements to citywide bus service in the newest report from the Bus Turnaround Coalition!