Buses
Streetsblog Basics
Unless Albany Acts, NYC Bus Lanes Are About to Get Clogged With Cars
Five years ago, the state passed a bill allowing the city to install cameras that catch drivers who illegally use bus lanes on six Select Bus Service routes. Unless Albany acts soon, that legislation will expire and the cameras will have to be turned off at the end of this summer.
June 17, 2015
Ydanis Rodriguez: “We Should Leave the Right of Way Law As It Is”
Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez opposes an amendment to the Right of Way Law that would provide a special exemption for bus drivers.
June 16, 2015
Unions Agree: Let Bus Drivers Kill People With the Right of Way
Just about all of New York's major labor unions signed a Transport Workers Union letter demanding that MTA bus drivers be allowed to legally injure and kill people who are walking or biking with the right of way.
June 12, 2015
MTA Finds Replacement for Flashing Lights on Select Bus Service
When Select Bus Service launched in 2008, the front of each bus featured two flashing blue lights to help passengers distinguish between SBS and local buses. Years after Staten Island lawmakers exploited a legal technicality, forcing the MTA to shut the lights off, the agency has figured out a solution.
June 9, 2015
The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway
Just when you think you've seen everything in the transportation world, you encounter something different. That happened to me on an infrastructure tour in Cambridge, England, when my guides showed be this guided busway.
May 29, 2015
Fewer People Are Riding the Bus Because There Are Fewer Buses to Ride
Remember when the Great Recession decimated transit agency budgets, but the White House and Congress refused to step in and fund bus service while spending billions of dollars to subsidize car purchases? Well, the hangover continues to this day, leaving bus riders in the lurch.
May 29, 2015
Q44 Select Bus Service: Bus Lanes for Flushing and Jamaica, Not in Between
DOT and the MTA have released the plan for Select Bus Service on the Q44 linking Jamaica, Flushing, and the Bronx, which serves 44,000 passengers daily. The areas that need bus lanes most -- downtown Jamaica and Flushing -- are in line to get them, but not the rest of the route.
May 28, 2015
DOT and MTA Years Behind Schedule on Traffic Signal Tech to Speed Buses
Bus riders spend a lot of time stopped at red lights, but they don't have to. A technology called transit signal priority, or TSP, speeds up transit trips by adjusting signal timing so buses hit more green lights and fewer reds. TSP has a proven track record in New York, but on several routes, implementation is years behind schedule.
May 21, 2015
A Bus Design Flaw Is No Reason to Gut the Right of Way Law
As part of its campaign to make it legal for bus drivers to injure and kill people, the Transport Workers Union says flawed bus design is to blame for bus drivers hitting pedestrians while turning.
April 23, 2015