Bus lanes in New York City

Since 1963, New York City has been using a system of bus lanes that are intended to give priority to buses, which contain more occupants than passenger and commercial vehicles. Most of these lanes are restricted to buses only at certain days and times, but some bus lanes are restricted 24/7. , there are of bus lanes within New York City (with an additional 23 miles of high occupancy vehicle lanes on highways which also accommodate buses).

The lanes are generally used to speed up MTA bus routes on the city's public transport system, which would be otherwise held up by traffic congestion. Bus lanes are a key component of the Select Bus Service (SBS) bus rapid transit network, improving bus travel speeds and reliability by reducing delays caused by other traffic.

Since implementation, the lanes have generally helped to increase bus reliability citywide. However, there have been controversies on the benefits of the bus lanes due to the resulting increased traffic and the methods used to enforce bus lanes during their operating hours. In 2010 the city began enforcing the rule by placing cameras that take photos and videos of violators, leading to increased reports of bus-lane violations.

Types of bus lanes

A curbside bus lane runs along the curb. Vehicles are not allowed to park or stand this lane, but may briefly enter this lane to make right turns unless otherwise specified.

An offset bus lane is placed one lane away from the curb. In this setup, vehicles are able to park or stand at the curb, but are not allowed to double park or stop on the bus lane. Vehicles may briefly enter this lane to make right turns unless otherwise specified.

There are also median bus lanes, which are placed in the center of the road. This setup is used along East 161st Street in the Bronx, used by the Bx6 and Bx6 Select Bus Service routes, Woodhaven Blvd in Queens, Kings Highway in Brooklyn and EL Grant Highway in the Bronx.

A busway typically allows buses and trucks to travel along the corridor, while also permitting local access via side streets for all other vehicles. Traffic regulations on busways vary. This type of busway began with the 14th Street Busway, originally only a temporary measure when the L train was shut down in 2019. Additional busways have been installed, beginning with Jay Street in Brooklyn, Main Street in Flushing Queens, and 181st Street in Manhattan.

History

20th century

As early as 1959, the city wished to build exclusive bus lanes on Lafayette and DeKalb Avenues in Brooklyn. The lanes would be built on streets that were to be converted from two-way to one-way streets. They were intended to increase the speed of bus service on these avenues, since without the bus lanes, the routes were projected to lose riders. However, traffic commissioner T. T. Wiley disapproved of the proposal, since the city did not install exclusive bus lanes.

The first two bus-lane corridors implemented in New York City were installed on May 20, 1963. One set of bus lanes was placed on Victory Boulevard in Staten Island, at the approach to the Saint George Ferry Terminal. The other set was placed on Livingston Street in Downtown Brooklyn between Boerum Street and Flatbush Avenue. The same year, the city's first highway bus lane was installed on the Long Island Expressway in Long Island City, under the proposal of Traffic Commissioner Henry A. Barnes. The Brooklyn bus lane soon encountered frequent traffic slowdowns, leading officials to propose adding no-parking signs and more traffic agents to enforce the lane. Another bus lane was soon installed along Hillside Avenue in Queens, with the westbound bus lane extending to the subway station at 169th Street. In 1969, one of the most congested corridors, 42nd Street between Third Avenue and Eighth Avenue, received a rush-hour-only bus lane.

Crosstown bus service on 49th and 50th Streets in Manhattan had one of the slowest speeds of those on any crosstown street in Manhattan: (walking speed). As a result, on June 12, 1979, to speed travel, lanes were implemented to be dedicated for use by crosstown buses and taxis. Cars without a destination on this pair of streets were prohibited on weekdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. between Third Avenue and Seventh Avenue. A seven-minute reduction in travel time resulted from the change.

On May 26, 1981, the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) implemented Commissioner Sam Schwartz's plan for bus lanes on Madison Avenue. These were the first exclusive concurrent dual bus lanes on a city street. Two lanes along Madison between 42nd Street and 59th Street were reserved for buses between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m on weekdays in order to reduce congestion and increase mass transit usage. Twenty-nine traffic enforcement agents monitored the operation. This plan was one of three major transportation initiatives undertaken by the Koch Administration. The plan was put into place after the city took a study of traffic going down Madison Avenue: 24,000 people were moved by bus, while only 11,000 moved by car between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.. The maximum time to ride on a bus along the corridor was decreased from 36 minutes to 15 minutes. The Federal Urban Mass Transit Administration (now the Federal Transit Administration) provided a grant of $788,000 for the project. While intended to only last for a year, the plan was so successful that the bus lanes were maintained. Local bus speeds increased from to , a 65% increase. Express bus speeds increased from to , a 100% increase. While it was expected to decrease speeds for private cars and taxis, the overall speed of traffic on the remainder of the avenue increased by 10%.

Additional bus lanes were added in the 1970s and 1980s. By 1981, Manhattan alone had of priority bus lanes along First, Second, Third, Sixth, and Eighth Avenues; Broadway in Lower Manhattan; and 42nd and 57th Streets. Another federal grant of $575,000 allowed the city to hire 22 traffic agents to enforce bus lane rules. In 1982, the city started a pilot project in which it installed red thermoplastic strips along 10 bus lanes in Manhattan. The strips were installed to remind motorists of heavy bus-lane penalties. In 1982, a curbside bus lane was implemented on Third Avenue between 36th Street and 56th Street.

21st century

The NYCDOT started painting bus lanes red in 2007-2008, with the introduction of Select Bus Service (SBS). The first bus lane that was painted red was installed on 57th Street in 2007, but the red paint was removed two years later. The NYCDOT chose an epoxy-based red paint for visibility reasons, but after extensive testing and review of said paint, found that the red paint was only durable when applied on newer asphalt surfaces. In 2010, the NYCDOT began studying other epoxy-based red paints for use on bus lanes. As a result of the study, three brands of red paint were determined to be suitable for use on New York City bus lanes. In 2017, the Bx6 became the first corridor to use bus lanes in the median of the street, as opposed to bus lanes on the curbside or one lane away from the curbside. The median bus lanes supposedly speed up traffic by going around double-parked cars.

In January 2019, mayor Bill de Blasio promised to add of bus lanes a year as part of a plan to speed up the city's bus system. On April 18, 2019, de Blasio unveiled the Better Buses Action Plan, which recommended 24 locations where changes to speed up bus service should be made. As part of the plan, twenty-four corridors would receive new, upgraded, or protected bus lanes, in addition to other strategic measures intended to speed up bus service. In addition to new bus lanes on fourteen corridors and bus stop improvements to six locations, bus lanes will be upgraded along four corridors. These are Lexington Avenue between 96th and 60th Streets, Madison Avenue between 60th and 42nd Streets, and 42nd Street between FDR Drive and 12th Avenue in Manhattan, as well as Livingston Street between Boerum Place and Flatbush Avenue (potentially protected bus lanes) in Brooklyn.

A busway on 14th Street was implemented in October 2019 on a trial basis. In June 2020, de Blasio announced that the city would test out busways on Main Street and Jamaica Avenue in Queens, 5th Avenue and 181st Street in Manhattan, and Jay Street in Brooklyn. The 14th Street busway would become permanent, and of new bus lanes would be added. While the Jay Street busway was implemented in September 2020, none of the other projects were completed by that October, which had been the deadline set by de Blasio. The third busway to open was the Main Street corridor in Downtown Flushing, which had its southbound lanes converted in 2017 and its northbound lanes in January 2021.

Notable corridors with bus lanes

, the city's bus lane network is about long, representing two percent of the city's of streets.

Manhattan

North–south corridors

For nearly their entire lengths, the northbound-only First Avenue between Houston and 125th Streets, and southbound-only Second Avenue between 125th and Houston Streets, form a directional pair of bus lanes used by the M15 corridor. The bus lanes are used by both the M15 local and SBS routes. Northbound-only Third Avenue between 36th and 58th Streets, and southbound-only Lexington Avenue (southbound, between 30th and 96th Streets), is another directional pair hosting the M101, M102, M103, and M98 bus routes.

The two bus lanes of southbound-only Fifth Avenue carry the M1, M2, M3, M4, and M5. In fall 2017, a second bus lane was added to Fifth Avenue. They form a directional pair with the two northbound-only Madison Avenue bus lanes between 42nd and 59th Streets, which carry the M1, M2, M3, and M4. In November 2012, the hours of the double bus lanes on Madison Avenue were extended from 2 to 7 p.m. to 24 hours. Northbound Sixth Avenue between 40th and 57th Streets, carrying the M5 and M7, is a directional pair with southbound Seventh Avenue, whose bus lane between 23rd and 42nd Streets) is used by the M7 and M20. For the M20, Seventh Avenue is also a directional pair with northbound Eighth Avenue between 42nd and 57th Streets.

In Lower Manhattan, there is one directional pair of bus lanes. Southbound Broadway contains a bus lane between Bowling Green and Houston Street, which carries the M55 and Staten Island express routes. Northbound Church Street, between Battery Place and Warren Street, carries these same routes one block west of Broadway. Other Lower Manhattan corridors where bus lanes have been installed or planned are the FDR Drive between the Brooklyn Bridge and Battery Park, for express buses; Allen Street between Houston Street and Grand Street, for the M15 and M15 SBS; and Battery Place between Broadway and West Street, for express buses.

West–east corridors

Bus lanes also exist on major crosstown streets in Midtown Manhattan. A bidirectional, restricted-access busway carrying the M14 SBS is located on the 14th Street corridor between Third and Ninth Avenues. Additional bus lanes on 14th Street would be added between Avenue C and First Avenue. The bidirectional bus lanes on 23rd Street, carrying the M23 SBS and various express routes, stretch across almost the entire length of the street, with the westbound lane running between 1st and 8th Avenues and the eastbound lane between 10th and 2nd Avenues. On 34th Street, both lanes run between 11th and 1st Avenues, serving the M34 and M34A SBS buses as well as westbound express routes. Eight blocks north, 42nd Street's lanes between 11th and 1st Avenues carry mainly the M42, though there are also some left-turn bus lanes on 42nd Street.See:
*
*
* 57th Street's bus lanes between 8th and 2nd Avenues are used by the M31, M57, and various eastbound express routes.

Uptown, the M79 SBS corridor employs short segments of " queue jump" bus lanes on parts of 79th and 81st Streets in order to enable buses to jump to the front of traffic at several signalized intersections. 86th Street also uses queue-jump lanes for the M86 SBS corridor. In Harlem and East Harlem, 125th Street's crosstown bus lanes between Lenox and 2nd Avenues carries the M60 SBS, M100, M101, and Bx15 routes at various points. In Washington Heights, 181st Street has bus lanes between Broadway and 9th Avenue to funnel Bronx bus routes into the George Washington Bridge Bus Station. The 181st Street lanes carry the Bx3, Bx11, Bx13, Bx35, and Bx36 routes. In Inwood, the 207th Street lanes between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue carry the Bx12 and Bx12 SBS routes. In addition, bus lanes for the M96 route have been proposed for 96th Street between Riverside Drive and the FDR Drive.

Short corridors

There are short bus lanes for various destinations around Manhattan. The southbound bus lane on 11th Avenue between 37th and 42nd Streets serves buses entering the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, as well as the M12 route. Bus lanes also exist at several major crossings, including 60th Street (for the Queensboro Bridge) and the Holland Tunnel.

There are two non-MTA bus lanes in Manhattan. One of them is the Holland Tunnel lane, which is used only by buses traveling to and from New Jersey. No MTA buses traveling through New Jersey use the Holland Tunnel. The other is in northern Harlem, along Convent Avenue between 135th and 145th Streets carry school buses, which headed for the City College of New York. No MTA buses use these lanes since the discontinuation of the M18 bus in 2010 eliminated MTA bus service on Convent Avenue.

The Bronx

Major corridors

The Bronx has several major sets of bus lanes, including three crosstown corridors. The crosstown lanes on Fordham Road and Pelham Parkway, between Sedgwick Avenue and Stilwell Avenue, are used by the Bx12 and Bx12 SBS. There is also a bus lane corridor on East 161st Street used by the Bx6 and Bx6 SBS, consisting of two main parts: an eastbound-only lane in the center roadway and tunnel from Yankee Stadium to Sheridan Avenue, and a center bus lane from Sheridan to Morris Avenues. Another major crosstown corridor with bus lanes is 149th Street between River Avenue and Southern Boulevard, used by the Bx19.

The north–south Webster Avenue lanes between 166th Street and Gun Hill Road, which serve the Bx41 and Bx41 SBS routes. A median busway has also been installed on the north–south Edward L. Grant Highway for the Bx11 and Bx35; it was completed in 2020. One major planned north–south bus lane is on University Avenue, between Washington Bridge and Kingsbridge Road, to be used by the Bx3 and Bx36.

Short corridors

Smaller bus lane corridors exist. There are bus lanes on East 163rd Street from Tiffany Street to Southern Boulevard and East 161st Street from Melrose Avenue to Third Avenue. A southbound left turn queue jump for the Bx5 is located at the intersection of Southern Boulevard and East 163rd Street. Bus lanes are also installed on Broadway between 218th Street and 231st Street, for the Bx7, Bx9, and Bx20 routes, and on Webster Avenue between 174th Street and 176th Street, for the Bx41 and Bx41 SBS routes.

Planned bus lanes include queue jumps and curbside bus lanes for the Bx35 along 168th and 169th Streets, queue jumps along Tremont Ave between Morris Avenue and Webster Avenue, and bus lanes on Washington Bridge. There are also new bus lanes planned on Story Avenue and White Plains Road for the Bx5, Bx36, and Bx39, as well as a contra-flow bus lane at Pelham Bay Park for the Bx12 SBS.

Queens

Major corridors

In Jamaica, Archer Avenue between Sutphin and Merrick Boulevards carries routes leading to Jamaica Center or 165th Street Bus Terminal. The vast majority of routes run eastbound along Archer Avenue, but bus lanes run in both directions along the avenue. One block north, Jamaica Avenue's lanes between Sutphin Boulevard and 168th Street carry bidirectional bus traffic, but about half of routes use only the westbound bus lane. A longer set of bus lanes in northern Jamaica, on Hillside Avenue between Merrick and Francis Lewis Boulevards, carry the Q1, Q36, and Q43. Merrick Boulevard is also slated to get bus lanes from Hillside Avenue to Springfield Boulevard.

North–south lanes in Queens run along Main Street between Northern Boulevard and Horace Harding Expressway, hosting the Q20A/B and Q44 SBS as well as numerous routes terminating or passing through Downtown Flushing. Within Downtown Flushing, southbound traffic on Main Street between 37th Avenue and 40th Road is restricted to buses and local deliveries. A similar restriction exists on the northbound lanes from Sanford Avenue to Northern Boulevard. A northbound bus lane was planned between the Grand Central Parkway and Union Turnpike.

Further to the west, the north–south Woodhaven Boulevard corridor, carrying the Q11, Q21, Q52 SBS, and Q53 SBS, contains bus lanes between Queens Boulevard and Metropolitan Avenue, as well as between Union Turnpike and North Conduit Ave. Future projects will upgrade the bus lanes on Main Street and Woodhaven Boulevard. In Astoria, there are bus lanes on 21st Street for the Q66, Q69, and Q100 between Queens Plaza and Hoyt Avenue North, which were completed in 2022.

In addition, there is a southbound bus lane on Fresh Pond Road between Metropolitan and Putnam Avenues. The corridor carries the Q58 and three express bus routes and is also used by buses deadheading to Fresh Pond Depot.

Short corridors

Several short east-west bus lanes were installed in Queens as well. In March 2018, the NYCDOT announced that a short bus lane for the Q60 would be installed as part of the capital reconstruction of Queens Boulevard for Vision Zero's Great Streets program. As part of the plan, the Q60 would be moved to the median of Queens Boulevard between Roosevelt Avenue and 73rd Street, and a bus lane would be located in the median at 69th Street heading eastbound. In addition, bus-only queue-jump bus stops with boarding islands would be added at 65th Place.

In April 2019, the NYCDOT announced that eight queue-jump lanes would be added along Broadway: at Grand Avenue, Whitney Avenue and 78th Street in both directions, and at 75th Street northbound and Corona Avenue southbound. These lanes would speed up bus service on the Q53 SBS and Q58. A third corridor, Rockaway Beach Boulevard from Beach 116th to Beach 73rd Street, carrying the Q22 and Q52/Q53 SBS, also received bus lanes on parts of the corridor.

Express lane

Queens also has one combined bus/ HOV lane in the Manhattan-bound direction. during morning rush hours only. The lane exists on the Long Island Expressway west of Calvary Cemetery. The bus lane extends to the Manhattan portal of the Queens–Midtown Tunnel. It serves most Queens-to-Manhattan express buses.

Brooklyn

Major corridors

In Downtown Brooklyn, there are two major corridors with bus lanes. Fulton Mall and Fulton Street contain a bus lane in each direction between Boerum Place and South Oxford Street, with buses having exclusive use of the Fulton Mall west of the Flatbush Avenue Extension. The Fulton corridor is used by the B25, B26, B38, and B52. One block south of Fulton are the Livingston Street bus lanes, which run between Boerum Place and Flatbush Avenue. These are served by the B41, B45, B67, and B103. There is also a busway on Jay Street, served by the .

Three major corridors also contain bus lanes to facilitate SBS operations. Southbound Nostrand Avenue contains one bus lane between Flushing Avenue and Flatbush Avenue, carrying B44 and B44 SBS. Rogers Avenue between Flatbush and Flushing Avenues was also retrofitted with a northbound bus lane, serving the B44 SBS and B49 in that direction. Bus lanes were also installed on the extreme south end of Nostrand Avenue between Avenue X and Emmons Avenue. Additionally, the Utica Avenue corridor had bus lanes between Carroll Street and Eastern Parkway prior to the implementation of Select Bus Service on the B46 in 2016. The avenue also gained lanes from St. Johns Place and Church Avenue in 2014, which were extended to Fillmore Avenue in 2015. In 2018, as part of the implementation of B82 Limited route to Select Bus Service, a section of Kings Highway between East 23rd Street and Avenue K was equipped with two bus lanes.

Short corridors

The borough also has shorter bus lanes to facilitate operations at key destinations. On eastbound Oriental Boulevard between Jaffrey and Norfolk Streets in Sheepshead Bay, a bus lane for Kingsborough Community College

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