Bus Commutes Are Significantly Longer for Low-Income, Black, and Latino Bus Riders. Dedicated Space for Buses is the Solution.
New York City buses are the slowest in the nation, averaging less than eight miles per hour, thanks to abundant traffic congestion and a dearth of dedicated bus lanes. More than one in three New York City bus riders spends an hour or more commuting, the longest commute time of any mode, and are more likely to lack alternatives like subways or protected bike lanes. New Yorkers who rely on the bus are more likely than the average New Yorker to be foreign-born, low-income, and people of color. The average New Yorker earns 37% more than the average New Yorker who relies on the bus. Bus lanes can speed up buses by 50% and move more than six times as many people as the same space devoted to car traffic, but just 2% of New York City streets have them.
Spatial Equity Findings on Bus Speeds Analyzed By City Council District
Low-income New Yorkers ride the bus the most but receive the worst service. In the 10 lowest-income City Council districts, residents are 45% more likely to commute by bus than the average district. However, bus speeds in these districts are 10% slower, compared to the average district.
The most bus-dependent districts have fewer bus lanes, longer commutes, and more Black and Latino residents. In the 10 City Council districts with the most bus commuters, there are 53% more Latino residents and 34% more Black residents, and commutes are 14% longer, but there are 14% fewer streets with bus lanes, compared to the average district. Bus commuters in majority Black and majority Latino City Council districts have longer bus commutes than districts that are majority-white. Bus commuters in majority-Black districts spend an additional 70 minutes commuting every week than those in majority-white districts.
The communities where residents have the longest bus commutes also have fewer bus lanes and more bus commuters. In the 10 City Council districts where residents have the longest bus commutes, there are 40% fewer streets with a bus lane, compared to the average district, and twice as many bus commuters as those in the 10 districts with the shortest bus commutes. These districts also have more unpleasant conditions during bus waits — less sidewalk space, fewer benches, more extreme summer temperatures — and less safe access to alternative transportation — fewer protected bike lanes, less bicycle parking, and higher traffic fatality rates — compared to the average district.
Recommendations
Install car-free busways with a focus on the slowest bus routes, communities where commuters are most reliant on buses, and locations where traffic congestion is greatest, as part of fulfilling the legal obligations of the NYC Streets Plan and Mayor Adams’ pledge to build 150 miles of bus lanes in his first term. A car-free busway can move as many as 42 times more people per hour than a street for cars only. The 14th Street busway in Manhattan improved bus speeds by as much as 47% and increased ridership by 30%. While the Lincoln Tunnel’s car lane can only move 3,000 people per hour in each car lane, its bus lane moves 30,000 people per hour.
Build a connected “bus rapid transit” system through adjacent districts with slow bus speeds. Bus rapid transit systems — which use dedicated and protected bus-only lanes, off-board fare collection, bus priority intersections, and platform-level boarding — improve capacity, reliability and speed. Protected dedicated bus routes can reduce travel times by 30%, or an average of two minutes of time savings per mile. In New York City, this would translate to more than seven minutes in time savings on the average one-way bus trip. A recent poll found that New Yorkers wanted buses to be given 950 times more space on the street than is currently dedicated.
