State lawmakers have given a boost to New York City bus riders — but no one is getting a free ride.
The state budget passed last weekend allocates more than $12 million to increase service on bus routes across the five boroughs. Lawmakers said it was needed ahead of the rollout of congestion pricing later this year, which seeks to push more New Yorkers onto mass transit.
At the same time, the deal nixed funding for an MTA pilot that over the last year made one bus route in each of the five boroughs completely free to ride. The end of that program follows criticism from MTA Chair Janno Lieber that the free routes create confusion as the agency seeks to crackdown on fare-beating.
The new money is still a win for riders, said Queens Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani. It will go towards adding service on five express bus routes and 13 local routes that hit every borough in the city. They were chosen based on “ridership, crowding, equity priority areas, and bus priority lanes,” Mamdani said.
But he noted more frequent buses will only do so much if they’re stuck in traffic — and criticized Mayor Eric Adams for falling far short of his campaign promise of installing 150 miles of new bus lanes during his first four years.
“Our mayoral administration has refused to put bus riders first,” Mamdani said.
Legislation passed by the City Council in 2019 requires Adams to create 50 miles of new bus lanes during his first two years in office. Over that period, the city has installed just 23.2 miles of “new and improved bus lanes,” according to data from the Department of Transportation.
The money for the extra service in a sense replaces $15 million in last year’s budget that gave riders on five routes free rides for a year.
Lieber came out against the concept of free buses, and was doubtful the fare-free pilot of the past year helped increase ridership. The MTA hasn’t yet released a report on the impact of the free rides, but Lieber has insisted 90% of the people who took advantage of the program would pay to ride the bus anyway. He said during a Crain’s Power Breakfast last week the free service “is not necessarily benefitting the lowest income folks.”
Lieber also worried the free routes confused riders over whether fares are mandatory on all buses — even though the gratis routes have clear signage indicating they’re free.
“I am concerned that free buses send the wrong message at a moment when we are trying to push back on fare evasion,” Lieber said.
The MTA reports in 2022 it lost $315 million to fare evasion on buses. Since then the number of people not paying for buses has spiked. The most recent MTA data shows 54% of select bus riders didn’t pay the fare between October and December of last year, up from 46% during the same period in 2022.
Still, Mamdani says the increased service is a major win.The MTA had not previously planned to increase bus service when congestion pricing launched, as officials in cities like London had done prior to implementing congestion pricing schemes of their own.
The transit agency welcomed the new money.
“New Yorkers deserve better bus service, and the MTA continues to do everything in its power to do that,” MTA spokesperson Mike Cortez wrote in a statement. “We applaud [the] Governor and state Legislature for recognizing how essential good bus service is by providing $12.4 million that allow us to improve reliability, reduce wait times and further increase capacity.”
Transit advocates agreed.
“Frequency is freedom,” Danny Pearlstine, policy director for Riders Alliance, said. “And more frequent service gives people time back in our lives. Time we can use to get to work, to get to school, to get to medical appointments, to pick up our kids. And to get more out of life.”
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Did you know subway stations have bathrooms? Would you use one? Our Instagram followers have a lot of opinions on the matter.
Staten Island Councilmember Kamillah Hanks has introduced a resolution urging the MTA to ensure all five boroughs have at least 30 OMNY card vending machines, arguing that not all riders have the ability to pay by tapping their smartphone. Read more.
Cyclists are miffed that the bike lane on Centre Street, a typically busy connection off the Brooklyn Bridge, is completely blocked off due to former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Lower Manhattan — which is expected to last at least another six weeks. Read more.
Drivers in New York who obscure their license plates to avoid paying tolls will face steep penalties — including the potential loss of their car registration — under a new law included in the state budget deal. Read more.
A new state bill would allow the New York City sanitation department to mount enforcement cameras on street sweepers in order to ticket drivers who don’t move their cars during alternate-side parking. (Streetsblog)
New York Rep. Nicole Malliotakis and New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer have introduced a bipartisan bill in Congress to stop congestion pricing tolls from taking effect. (New York Post)
Curious commuter
“Why doesn’t WiFi work in the subway?”
- Arnold from yorkville, manhattan
What Clayton says:
The entire subway system used to be a dead zone for cell service, but that’s changed slightly over the past decade. Straphangers can access data on their phones at stations — though it may be noticeably spotty on some platforms. The tunnels, however, are a completely different story: between stops, riders are cut off from the internet, calls and text messages.
The MTA in 2022 announced a plan to add cell and data service throughout the system over the following 10 years. The installation is part of a deal with the company Transit Wireless, which agreed to cover the cost of the work. In the meantime, riders will still have to continue to load Gothamist articles and WNYC newscasts while their train is stopped at a station. A pro-tip: If you find your phone has trouble restoring cell service when it hits a station, quickly put it in and out of airplane mode. You’ll regain a connection more quickly.
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Service Tips
Friday night through early Monday morning:
Downtown 1 trains will skip 137 St-City College, 125 St, 116 St-Columbia University, Cathedral Pkwy (110 St), 103 St, Christopher St-Sheridan Sq, Houston St, Canal St and Franklin St.
There will be no 4 train service in Brooklyn — take the 2 or 3 train instead.
In the Bronx, D trains won't run between 161 St-Yankee Stadium and Norwood-205 St.
In Brooklyn, Q trains won't run between Kings Hwy and Coney Island-Stillwell Av.
In Brooklyn, Bay Ridge-bound R trains will skip Union St, 4 Av-9 St, Prospect Av, 25 St, 45 St and 53 St.
This week in NYC transit history
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Plan for Battery Park City unveiled
This week back in 1969, then-Gov. Nelson Rockefeller and Mayor John Lindsay unveiled a plan to expand Manhattan by 92 acres. The idea was to build Battery Park City, an extension of the island that would mark one of the largest expansions of street space in the city’s modern history. Today the neighborhood is home to more than 9,000 people — some of whom are suing the federal government in a bid to halt congestion pricing.
