“Bus rapid transit” projects being contemplated by NYC Transit and the NYC DOT will apparently feature bus lanes running alongside parking lanes, with stops that bulb-out through parking lanes so that buses do not have to pull aside to make stops, according to a recent presentation by NYC Transit.  The projects may also create colored bus lanes, involve some form of bus-priority signals or intersections and involve special branding of the buses using the routes. 

    It is so far unclear, however, how much improvement these projects will represent. How will the new bus lanes be better protected from encroachment than existing NYC bus lanes?  Why can’t bus stops all over the city be extended into the parking lanes?

   The most thorough bus rapid transit projects transform the boulevards or avenues in question into true rapid transit lines that attract many passengers with exclusive lanes and stations that require passengers to pay fares before boarding. NYC’s apparent determination not to seek any change in fare payment mode for its rapid bus plans and its reliance on pairs of one-way avenues mean this effect is likely to be very limited.

    Part of the criteria for selecting avenues for the new treatments was low impact of the “BRT” project on general traffic flow.  NYC will obviously have a hard time significantly improving bus service or launching true bus rapid transit corridors as long as the NYC DOT is unwilling to make basic tradeoffs between world-class mass transit service and keeping cars happy.

  We urge the agencies to think a little more ambitiously and consider some high-passenger areas for pre-boarding fare collection, and identify some specific bottlenecks on candidate avenues for separated lane treatments.  

  Currently, New York City bus speeds are appallingly slow. The annual Pokey Awards by the Straphangers Campaign and Transportation Alternatives again found the M34 the slowest route in the city,  with average speeds of 3.4 miles per hour at noon. In the other boroughs, the B63, Bx19, Q58, S61 were slowest, with average speeds from 4.9 to 11.9 miles per hour.  The Federal Transit Administration found that NYC had the slowest urban buses in the United States several years ago.

   Most of the fifteen corridors being studied make sense for BRT, including areas in Queens far from subway service, Hylan Boulevard in Staten Island, and Flatbush and Flatlands Avenues in Brooklyn. Overall, six potential corridors are being studied in Queens, three in each the Bronx and Brooklyn, two in Manhattan and one in Staten Island. Five corridors will ultimately be selected for BRT implementation, with the final study done in 2007.  Improvements for city buses cannot come too soon — we hope a second set of projects is identified and worked up as the first are implemented.

mta.info/mta/planning/brt/.

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