Nearly all of Manhattan’s notoriously pokey crosstown buses that run south of sixtieth Avenue have sped up — barely — within the weeks since congestion pricing took impact, MTA information exhibits.
January peak-hour bus speeds for east-west strains working throughout the congestion aid zone on weekdays reveals that 11 of the 13 native and Choose Bus Service routes analyzed by THE CITY picked up the tempo between 1 and 5% from the identical interval in 2024.
“There are fewer cars on the road at the time that I travel, it’s a little faster,” mentioned Tom Florey, 53, an M50 rider who often travels between Second and Sixth avenues. “Granted, my New York is a bit smaller than others probably, but it has helped reduce the time I spend to cross town.”
The M50, historically among the many slowest buses in all of Manhattan, noticed its common weekday velocity enhance by 4% in January in comparison with a 12 months earlier, when it was plodding alongside at 4.82 miles per hour. That velocity has now ticked as much as simply over 5 mph.
The positive aspects from congestion pricing have been much more pronounced for specific bus riders.
Commutes on Hudson River and East River crossings for a number of specific bus routes linking the boroughs with Manhattan have, on some strains, shaved greater than quarter-hour off commuting instances.
Riders on native crosstown routes mentioned they’re pleased with any progress.
“It really has improved and I think it’s noticeable,” Florey mentioned Thursday morning whereas ready for an eastbound bus on East forty ninth Avenue close to Second Avenue.
Tom Florey waits to board an M50 bus in Midtown, Feb. 20, 2025. Credit score: Jose Martinez/THE CITY
MTA officers and transit advocates have touted speedier service for metropolis buses — among the slowest within the nation — as among the many positive aspects from a vehicle-tolling program that’s helped unclog streets within the congestion aid zone. Nevertheless it now faces an existential disaster after President Trump declared “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD!” on Wednesday.
Trump’s try to derail a years-in-the-making program that was designed to chop congestion and lift billions for transit upgrades set off an immediate authorized problem from the MTA in Manhattan Federal Court docket.
“Crosstown buses have been the slowest in New York City since forever,” mentioned Jaqi Cohen, the Tri-State Transportation Marketing campaign’s director of local weather & fairness coverage. “And in one fell swoop, we were able to do the unthinkable and speed them up simply by flipping the switch on congestion pricing.”
However the MTA information additionally confirmed that almost all buses on Manhattan routes now transfer extra slowly throughout the week than they did 5 years earlier — with final month’s common bus speeds for routes within the borough at 5.9 mph, down from 6 mph in 2021.
That’s in marked distinction to Staten Island buses, that are the town’s quickest, with a mean of 13.9 mph in December, in keeping with a February report from the New York Metropolis Impartial Price range Workplace.
Janno Lieber, the MTA’s chairperson and chief government, on Wednesday likened Manhattan’s crosstown streets to a “death zone for drivers,” whereas discussing how speeds have elevated for the reason that Jan. 5 launch of congestion pricing.
Riders pack right into a crosstown M57 bus, Feb. 20, 2025. Credit score: Jose Martinez/THE CITY
“Canal Street, 34th Street, 57th Street — speeds are up, up, up,” Lieber mentioned after the pinnacle of the U.S. Division of Transportation wrote in a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul that the Federal Freeway Administration’s approval of congestion pricing “was not authorized by law.”
Lieber advised NY1 Thursday morning that the vehicle-tolling scanners usually are not being switched off but, whereas contending that the federal authorities “cannot unilaterally terminate the program.”
“The improvements to traffic and travel speeds were almost immediate, and New Yorkers get it, which is why you’re seeing people, you know, shift their views,” Lieber mentioned.
Aboard an eastbound M57 bus throughout the Thursday morning rush, Rajas Chordiya, 23, mentioned he’s seen a little bit of a velocity uptick throughout his every day crosstown commutes alongside 57th Avenue.
“It’s gotten like maybe five or so minutes quicker,” he mentioned. “It’s slightly noticeable.”
One other M57 rider, Yamilet Marquez, mentioned bus speeds can be extra pronounced if enforcement efforts had been extra according to these in her native Colombia.
“Drivers need to respect the bus lanes,” she mentioned. “If the buses were able to utilize the lane as it was meant to be, then that would maximize what a bus is supposed to do.”
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