Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday promised a faster commute for 600,000 New Yorkers who ride buses by adding new dedicated lanes that will increase average travel speeds from 7.5 to 9 mph.
“We know that people’s lives get disrupted all the time and it shouldn’t be that way,” the mayor said at a Manhattan press conference announcing the $292 million plan.
He said the changes will result in a 25 percent increase in average bus speeds by the end of 2020.
He also said that 432 cars have been towed from the reserved lanes and 16,000 drivers ticketed since a January crackdown.
The Big Apple has the dubious distinction of running the nation’s slowest public buses.
For instance, the oft-jammed 42nd Street is slated for upgrades that will cut the road’s six lanes down to five in a bid to expand and better protect the existing bus lanes from traffic.
Buses average just 2.9 miles per hour along the key crosstown route during the afternoon, city data shows.
Additional reporting from Nolan Hicks