NYC Bus Overhaul Needs Boost From De Blasio, Advocates Say

NEW YORK, NY — Transit activists say plans to overhaul New York City's bus system will get stalled — just like the buses themselves — without help from Mayor Bill de Blasio. A coalition of transit advocacy groups released a report Tuesday arguing city officials should accelerate efforts to help buses cruise through crowded streets if de Blasio is serious about making the city fairer.

"Without a firm commitment from the city and from the mayor to give buses priority on our city streets, we are still far from achieving our goal of quality bus service for all New Yorkers," said Jaqi Cohen of the Straphangers Campaign.

New York City Transit unveiled an ambitious plan in April to revamp the city's massive and snail-like bus system, which has hemorrhaged riders in recent years. The agency plans to redesign the entire bus network by 2021, allow passengers to board through any door and eventually roll out a zero-emissions fleet.

But the city's Department of Transportation has to work "hand in hand" with the MTA to make the plan work, Tuesday's Bus Turnaround Coalition report says.

Only the city, which controls the streets on which the MTA's buses run, can add bus lanes and keep them clear by enforcing traffic rules, activists argued. The city is also responsible for installing so-called transit signal priority technology, which helps buses get through traffic lights, advocates said.

The report says the city should add 100 new miles of bus lanes in the next five years, including 60 by the end of de Blasio's second term, and expand transit signal priority to every appropriate intersection by 2020. The latter goal would mean implementing the technology at about 1,000 intersections a year, which is four times the current planned pace, the report says.

The city should also compel the NYPD to step up enforcement of bus lane rules, end "bulk discounted ticketing" programs for big truck fleets that flout parking rules, and install bus shelters at every stop, the report says.

Fixing bus service is an equity issue, advocates said. The city's more than 2 million daily bus riders generally have lower incomes than subway riders and are more likely to be people of color and immigrants, according to the report.

"It's not fair that people relying on buses can barely be regarded as second-class commuters," said Ashley Pryce of TransitCenter. "If Mayor de Blasio wants to be known as the fairness mayor, he needs to get city buses moving."

Activists staged a skit outside City Hall on Tuesday to illustrate their point. "Passengers" on a cardboard bus got stuck behind a plastic toy car and at a prop red light before a red strip of "bus lane" helped them move along.

Mayoral spokesman Seth Stein pointed to the expansion of Select Bus Service, a bus rapid transit service that now serves 300,000 riders a day, to 15 lines. The city is also "rolling out more dedicated bus lanes and other features to make bus trips more reliable and faster," he said.

"The Mayor feels riders pain and agrees that bus service must get better," Stein said in a statement.

(Lead image: Transit advocates staged a skit outside City Hall on Tuesday to argue that New York City officials must step up to help improve bus service. Photo by Noah Manskar/Patch)