Stretch Of 181st Street To Turn Into Dedicated Busway
The MTA wants the city to install 60 miles of bus lanes and busways in all five boroughs as the city approaches the first phase of economic reopening. New York City Transit Interim President Sarah Feinberg believes that busses will play an important role in reopening as New Yorkers return to work, both to improve the bus transportation system itself and to reduce crowding on the subway. There are indications that commuters are looking to ride the bus given the pandemic- daily bus ridership rose from 400,000 riders at the lowest ridership point of the pandemic to 715,000 riders on June 2. However, in order to make buses a more viable option for commuters, the bus system must be improved which means that busses have to be able to move more freely around the city. As such, Interim President Feinberg has asked Mayor de Blasio for better bus lanes in areas of the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Staten Island in addition to busways in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn.
Mayor de Blasio has said that he’ll create 20 miles of car-free busways and dedicated bus lanes across the city, starting this month — and make the successful 14th Street busway permanent. According to the Department of Transportation, the 14th Street busway has decreased bus travel times 36% (about 5.3 minutes) eastbound and 22% westbound during peak hours. It has also increased ridership during the weekdays by 24%. Now, the mileage approved by Mayor de Blasio is less than the 60 miles demanded earlier this month by the MTA as New York City begins its Phase 1 reopening, but it’s still a significant step forward for transit.
According to City hall, the first of the five busways will be on Main Street between Sanford and Northern Boulevard in Flushing, followed by car-free stretches of:
- Jamaica Avenue from Sutphin Boulevard to 168th Street
- Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, from 57th to 34th streets
- Jay Street in Brooklyn, from Fulton to Tillary streets
- W. 181st St. in Manhattan, from Amsterdam Avenue to Broadway
The stretches add up to 3.5 miles of car-free roadway. The Department of Transportation said it selected those stretches because they have exceptionally high bus use.
The proposed busway for the W 181st St Manhattan bus route would stretch from Amsterdam Avenue to Broadway and would significantly improve the transportation experience of its riders. Bus routes on Upper Manhattan streets like the W 181st one carry about five times as many passengers as on 14th Street, but are some of the slowest in the city. The nine routes have all been given either D or F grades by the Bus Turnaround Coalition, which is made up by members of transit advocacy groups such as the Riders Alliance, TransitCenter and the Straphanger's Campaign. It’ll be great to see how these changes positively impact the neighborhood and hard-working commuters!
As for when these changes will be made, the proposed lanes will roll out month-by-month through October. The Flushing busway and bus lanes along 14th St. and 149th St. will arrive in June, followed by the Jamaica Ave. and 5th Ave. busways and Hylan Boulevard bus lanes in July. August will see a busway enter service on Jay St. and bus lanes on Merrick Boulevard while the 181st St. busway isn’t due until October.
