Our Town, June 17, 2004
East Side Express – BRT Supported
Lauren Elkies

Community Board 6 passed a resolution June 9th in support of funding for a Bus Rapid Transit demonstration project for the M15 bus line that runs on First and Second Avenues.

State Senator Liz Krueger introduced the bill that would provide a test of BRT technology and transportation management on the East Side of Manhattan. BRT, as it functions in other cities, employs such methods as bus drivers’ control of traffic lights, delineated bus lanes, pre-paid boarding or another rapid payment system, and bus shelters that display the time of arrival electronically. Not all are considered feasible for New York.

This list of potential benefits provoked a cascade of snickers from meeting attendees and board members.

“It might work in Wisconsin,” on skeptic cracked.

According to Krueger’s June newsletter, New York City has the slowest bus service on the continent, with Manhattan buses averaging six miles per hour.

A 2003 study conducted by New York Public Interest Research Group’s Straphangers Campaign determined that weekday ridership on Manhattan’s bus lines increased 24% between September 1997 and September 2002. Service on those lines, however, increased only 11% during that same time.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority disputed any dire conclusions from these numbers, saying that the biggest increases occurred during off-peak hours when there is ample space to accommodate new riders.