These NYC Bus Stops Are Less Than 1 Block Apart

NEW YORK — These stops are snug as a bug on a crowded bus. More than two dozen pairs of New York City bus stops are so close together that they slow down commutes and make service less reliable, according to a leading transit advocacy group.

The Tri-State Transportation Campaign doled out its inaugural "Cozy Awards" Monday to 27 sets of stops located 80 or fewer meters apart. That's about 260 feet, or slightly less than the length of a Manhattan block — a far shorter distance than the MTA's bus stop spacing goal of 750 feet, the group says.

Such close proximity forces buses to spend more time stopping and merging back into traffic instead of getting riders to their destination, the campaign argues.

"In a city where so many residents rely on public transit, close stops are detrimental to a functioning bus system that truly serves the city," the organization wrote in its report.

Brooklyn has 11 smushed stop pairs along 10 routes, earning it the dubious distinction of being the "Coziest Borough," the report says. Queens is home to six cozy couplings, while The Bronx has five, Manhattan has three and Staten Island has two.

The closest pair of stops sit just 63 meters apart along Gun Hill Road on The Bronx's Bx26 route, which has an average speed of just 6.6 MPH, according to the campaign. Brooklyn's B54 route isn't far behind with two stops along Myrtle Avenue in Clinton Hill just 64 meters apart, the group says. The route — which the MTA has threatened with service cuts — has an even more sluggish average speed of 5.2 MPH.

Two pairs of stops on the B60 and Q33 routes received "Cozies Honorable Mentions" but were not on the award list because of extenuating circumstances. One of the B60 stops is only used during school hours, while one of the Q33 stops is a turnaround point for the route, the report says.

The Tri-State Transportation Campaign contends the MTA should rebalance stop locations as it redesigns bus routes in all five boroughs — a goal toward which the agency said it is already working.

"New York has closer bus stop spacing than most cities around the world, which together with congested city streets contribute to extremely slow bus speeds," Craig Cipriano, New York City Transit's acting senior vice president of buses, said in a statement. "Our borough bus network redesigns are examining this issue so that we can reduce customer wait and trip times while still allowing convenient access to nearby stops."

About half the city's bus stops are closer together than the MTA's 30-year-old spacing guideline of 750 feet, which actually falls short of the standard of 1,000 to 1,680 feet used by international transit systems, the agency said.

Bronx commuters showed a preference for fewer stops as transit officials revamped the borough's bus routes, transit officials say. Moreover, a rebalancing of Staten Island express bus stops helped improve average speeds by 1.2 MPH from July 2018 to August 2019, the MTA said.

But the agency said riders appreciate some of the cozy stops that the Tri-State Transportation Campaign called out. The pair along Brooklyn's B1 route, for example, serves nearby medical facilities and is heavily used, according to the MTA.

Here are the 27 pairs of stops located less than one Manhattan block apart, according to the Tri-State Transportation Campaign's "Cozy Awards."

Brooklyn

Queens

The Bronx

Note: The Bx18 and Bx11 pairings were fixed in the Bronx bus network redesign, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign says.

Manhattan

Staten Island