What would the week be without some type of news from the MTA? Over the past month they’ve come out with positive announcements such as, the proposal for all students to be eligible for full-fare MetroCards and the 2040 goal of an all-electric bus fleet. The latest memo, however, has already been met with criticism and backlash from NYC commuters.
The memo states that due to changes in the overall dynamic of the bus transportation system, certain changes need to be made to the summertime schedules. As you’ve read from the title of the article, there’s a total of 19 bus routes that might be affected. Although that number sounds daunting, a slight consolation is that 11 of them include reduced frequency and 6 of them only have minor changes in run times (B4 and B63 service will actually improve!). The affected routes we know of are: B3, B4, B24, B63, B74, M1, M2, M3, M4, M7, M55, B11 and S51.
Despite the news being an inconvenience to morning commuters, these are necessary changes based on current traffic and demand stats. The goal is for all available resources to be allocated efficiently, so as to tackle over-crowding and increase bus ridership as a whole. Riders of the M55 will face the worst consequences of the bunch as operating time will switch from every 15 minutes to 20 minutes during rush hour in the morning, afternoon and evening.
Good news is that the money saved from the changes (around $81,000) would go right back into further developing the most unreliable routes in the city.
featured image: commons.wikimedia.org