DOT “Bus Forward” report targets more than 21 new bus corridors, will almost triple the number of commuters served by faster SBS, commits to expanding bus-priority treatments to local routes across the city
Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced that New York City would dramatically expand Select Bus Service (SBS), pursuing upgrades on more than 21 new routes over the next ten years, reaching a half-million more bus riders each day. The City and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) will also expand bus-priority improvements to make buses faster on key non-SBS corridors in all five boroughs. The Mayor made the announcement after riding an MTA M23 SBS bus to Chelsea Piers in Manhattan.
The DOT report on the planned expansion, Bus Forward, is available here.
“Bus riders deserve faster, more reliable service -- and the growing number of riders on SBS buses has found that they are getting to work on-time, and getting home to family faster,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “With even more Select Bus Service routes coming on-line in the years ahead and a commitment to bring SBS-style treatments to other routes, more communities in every borough will see their bus service improve. These improvements have been proven effective, by reducing travel time, increasing bus reliability and helping us meet the goals of major initiatives – both for a safer city under Vision Zero and a more equitable one under OneNYC.”
“Select Bus Service has been a truly great partnership for the DOT and the MTA, as hundreds of thousands of daily riders citywide enjoy its real benefits that make buses faster, more reliable, and more convenient,” said DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg. “But as the Mayor notes, our success means we now have much more to do, and so we will now tackle other corridors in neighborhoods around New York City where we believe the addition of SBS and the expansion of our bus-priority treatments on local bus routes could make a major difference. Whether it’s all-door boarding, dedicated bus lanes, or bus countdown clocks, hundreds of thousands of riders have come to rely on the innovations of SBS that we want to bring to even more routes.”
A joint initiative of New York City DOT and MTA New York City Transit, SBS has expanded dramatically over the last four years, increasing ridership as travel times on those routes have improved by as much as 30 percent. Right now, 12 percent of bus rides are taken on an SBS route, and with the Mayor’s commitment that number will rise to 30 percent -- nearly one in three bus riders. The Mayor has provided $270 million for Select Bus Service, and in 2014, the Administration introduced the first-ever baselined funding to deliver SBS upgrades, support that will now enable SBS on the following targeted corridors and areas, where DOT expects to work with the MTA:
Select Bus Service began in 2008 on the Bx12 route along Fordham Road in the Bronx, bringing bus rapid transit to New York City for the first time. According to data collected by DOT on each of the established routes, Select Bus Service’s signature features – all-door boarding, dedicated bus lanes, and signal priority -- have led to faster travel times, increased ridership, more reliable service, and safer streets. The rate of SBS expansion has grown dramatically under Mayor de Blasio -- from 6 routes at the start of 2014 to 14 currently. In the next year, Select Bus Service is expected to arrive on at least two more corridors that serve nearly 50,000 daily bus riders: Woodhaven/Cross Bay Boulevard in Queens and Flatlands Avenue/Kings Highway in Brooklyn.
Additionally, the City and the MTA have worked together using MTA Bus Time GPS data to identify locations around the city where bus routes are slow and unreliable. The agencies will work together to create a new program focused on improving local bus speed and reliability -- applying treatments in the SBS toolbox that include dedicated bus lanes, transit signal priority, better bus stop spacing, fare-collection improvements, and other tools to improve bus service for the majority of MTA bus riders who ride local buses. Over the next decade, two or three major corridors will be tackled per year. New bus-priority projects have been and will be undertaken this year on Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan, Fulton Street in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and along Main Street in Flushing, Queens – targeted improvements that will speed rides for more than 130,000 daily bus riders.
SBS Routes are currently active along the following corridors:
Fordham Road/Pelham Parkway (Bx12)
First/Second Avenues (M15)
34th Street (M34/M34A)
Hylan Boulevard (S79)
Webster Avenue (Bx41)
Nostrand Avenue (B44)
125th Street-LGA (M60)
86th Street (M86)
Bronx-Flushing-Jamaica (Q44)
Woodside-Jackson Heights Airport Connector, LaGuardia Link (Q70)
Utica Avenue (B46)
23rd Street (M23)
79th Street (M79)
Washington Hgts-Crosstown Bronx (Bx6)
For more information about Select Bus Service, please visit www.nyc.gov//brt
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