Why do Manhattan bus routes have the worst service out of all the boroughs?

[A Former New Yorker]

Routes like the M1 to M3,M7,M15,M20,M101 to M103 and the crosstown are notable for having mediocre to awful service but why is that exactly.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

The obvious... Traffic, traffic, traffic... Did I say mention traffic? There's also Vision Zero with the out of synch street light and all of the stupid bike lanes narrowing streets to where you have one lane for traffic, thus creating more needless congestion.

[Brillant93]

As via garibaldi 8 said traffic. But also the fact some of the routes go through very high pedestrian areas as well. If they can have protected bike lanes they could have protected bus lanes. I don’t understand why those big avenues that have like 6 lanes can’t have both protected bike and bus lanes? That would help solve the issue. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Just now, Brillant93 said:

As via garibaldi 8 said traffic. But also the fact some of the routes go through very high pedestrian areas as well. If they can have protected bike lanes they could have protected bus lanes. I don’t understand why those big avenues that have like 6 lanes can’t have both protected bike and bus lanes? That would help solve the issue. 

5th has two bus lanes but every single block where there's a right turn, cars and trucks clog up almost both bus lanes, rendering them useless.  They need to find a way to restrict right turns because that's another big problem.

[A Former New Yorker]

23 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

5th has two bus lanes but every single block where there's a right turn, cars and trucks clog up almost both bus lanes, rendering them useless.  They need to find a way to restrict right turns because that's another big problem.

Some cars atually park at the bus lane belive it or not

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Just now, A Former New Yorker said:

Some cars atually park at the bus lane belive it or not

Why not? There's no enforcement of the bus lanes...

[A Former New Yorker]

2 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Why not? There's no enforcement of the bus lanes...

LOL

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Just now, A Former New Yorker said:

LOL

You're laughing but these are all of the reasons why.  Stand on 34th street and see cabs running into the bus lane because they don't want to sit in their lane, and not one cop around to stop them.

[A Former New Yorker]

24 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

You're laughing but these are all of the reasons why.  Stand on 34th street and see cabs running into the bus lane because they don't want to sit in their lane, and not one cop around to stop them.

It seems the MTA doesn't even care about "efficient" service so that don't even tell the NYPD to enforce the bus lanes. I'm laughing because of how pathetic the enforcement of the bus lanes are

[Jdog14]

One reason why is because of traffic but there are routes in Manhattan without many traffic issues that still suffer. I believe another thing that seems to go on is any bus route in close proximity to the subway the MTA is ready with an ax to cut service to entice subway ridership (although I could be off with this theory)

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

IDK if it is viable, but for all the lanes which there isn't a right turn (I'm talking along 5th Avenue), they can put barriers between the bus lanes and the regular traffic lanes.

[NewFlyer 230]

Besides traffic a lot of the North and South Manhattan bus routes travel long distances. For example the M101 goes from the East Village to 193rd Street in Washington Heights. The longer a route the more reliability goes down the drain. 

[MHV9218]

3 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

The obvious... Traffic, traffic, traffic... Did I say mention traffic? There's also Vision Zero with the out of synch street light and all of the stupid bike lanes narrowing streets to where you have one lane for traffic, thus creating more needless congestion.

Vision Zero has involved syncing more of the traffic lights, not fewer of them. Bike lanes are generally proven to improve travel times, as slower-moving bikes are kept out of traffic lanes. Not sure where you're getting this information, but it's anecdotal. More real problems are congestion due to for-hire Ubers circling and loitering, double parked cars (incl. NYPD vehicles, constantly), and assorted traffic.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

10 minutes ago, MHV9218 said:

Vision Zero has involved syncing more of the traffic lights, not fewer of them. Bike lanes are generally proven to improve travel times, as slower-moving bikes are kept out of traffic lanes. Not sure where you're getting this information, but it's anecdotal. More real problems are congestion due to for-hire Ubers circling and loitering, double parked cars (incl. NYPD vehicles, constantly), and assorted traffic.

That makes absolutely no sense.  The whole point of Vision Zero is to decrease speeds, and you can do that by ensuring that traffic lights aren't synced.  It isn't that difficult to notice either.  My trips on the express bus take at least 10 minutes longer even when there isn't traffic because of the lights, so I don't buy the stats that you're claiming.

Bike lanes aren't all evil, and I've never implied that they are, but they should only be implemented in areas where people are using them.  They've implemented them in Inwood and I have yet to see one bike in either bike lane along Dyckman Street.  Meanwhile there's only one lane in each direction creating unnecessary congestion.

I will agree with you about Uber and the for hire cars. Something needs to be done about them.  There's been more of them near my block as well, and I'm not happy about it.  They idle, make all sorts of u-turns and drive recklessly.  With that said, it's not like your mayor has done anything to curb the problem with Uber, and the City Council has been slow to do anything as well.  (There have been several hearings on the issue which have been on TV with little results). They also block bus stops constantly. I find myself always stepping into the curb to get on the express bus especially along 6th Avenue, going from 35th all the way up to 53rd street because of cars parked in the bus stop.  

[Lil 57]

3 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

5th has two bus lanes but every single block where there's a right turn, cars and trucks clog up almost both bus lanes, rendering them useless.  They need to find a way to restrict right turns because that's another big problem.

Why not put the bus lanes to the left and create Bus Bulbs for stops? 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

6 minutes ago, Lil 57 said:

Why not put the bus lanes to the left and create Bus Bulbs for stops? 

Because there's only so much space available.  

[A Former New Yorker]

Put small barriers that separate the bus lanes from regular traffic and start enforcing the law fiercely but the MTA will never do that 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

1 minute ago, A Former New Yorker said:

Put small barriers that separate the bus lanes from regular traffic and start enforcing the law fiercely but the MTA will never do that 

The MTA is not responsible for enforcing the law, nor do they have any control over traffic.  That falls on the DOT and the NYPD, not the  . The  can only advocate for more bus lanes and better law out for buses, which they've done a poor job of.

[A Former New Yorker]

Just now, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

The MTA is not responsible for enforcing the law, nor do they have any control over traffic.  That falls on the DOT and the NYPD, not the  . The  can only advocate for more bus lanes and better law out for buses, which they've done a poor job of.

Basically everyone is to blame for the bad service

[Statty]

Yeah, these Uber, Lyft and other livery vehicles are getting out of hand. Is there some sort of restriction of how many can be in service within NYC or some sort of other limitation? How many vehicles do you think is out there, driving aimlessly waiting for customers with no one in their vehicle. The amount of unnecessary traffic and pollution created is unimaginable to me.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

19 minutes ago, A Former New Yorker said:

Basically everyone is to blame for the bad service

No, I fault the  because they've had the attitude of we don't control traffic. While that is true, they haven't been aggressive in other areas that could improve bus service.  They've talked about signal priority now for years.  The rolling out of that program has been very slow and mainly tied to a handful of SBS lines at best, which simply isn't cutting it. When they've been audited by Comptroller's office, their response has been to elongate schedules further rather than finding a way to get buses running on time, which does nothing but makes trips longer, and pushes people away from using the buses even more.

6 minutes ago, Statty said:

Yeah, these Uber, Lyft and other livery vehicles are getting out of hand. Is there some sort of restriction of how many can be in service within NYC or some sort of other limitation? How many vehicles do you think is out there, driving aimlessly waiting for customers with no one in their vehicle. The amount of unnecessary traffic and pollution created is unimaginable to me.

There's no restriction on them and that's something that many people have been asking for, which this mayor and City Council have yet to address. They've been holding public hearings on the issue and yet we can't get a decision on putting a cap on these sorts of services. One has to wonder why and how much campaign contributions were made to these elected officials for them to look the other way... Uber and Lyft have VERY deep pockets, so the idea of them making campaign contributions to have people look the other way isn't that far fetched.

[A Former New Yorker]

1 hour ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

No, I fault the  because they've had the attitude of we don't control traffic. While that is true, they haven't been aggressive in other areas that could improve bus service.  They've talked about signal priority now for years.  The rolling out of that program has been very slow and mainly tied to a handful of SBS lines at best, which simply isn't cutting it. When they've been audited by Comptroller's office, their response has been to elongate schedules further rather than finding a way to get buses running on time, which does nothing but makes trips longer, and pushes people away from using the buses even more.

There's no restriction on them and that's something that many people have been asking for, which this mayor and City Council have yet to address. They've been holding public hearings on the issue and yet we can't get a decision on putting a cap on these sorts of services. One has to wonder why and how much campaign contributions were made to these elected officials for them to look the other way... Uber and Lyft have VERY deep pockets, so the idea of them making campaign contributions to have people look the other way isn't that far fetched.

1). I mean by everyone I mean both the , NYDOT and DeBlasio 

2). Uber and Lyft are very popular and I assume they bribed the politicians into not enforcing them. Also There going to close off 14th St to cars during rush hours due to the whole L train shutdown thing so there might be a sight of hope.

[MHV9218]

2 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

That makes absolutely no sense.  The whole point of Vision Zero is to decrease speeds, and you can do that by ensuring that traffic lights aren't synced.  It isn't that difficult to notice either.  My trips on the express bus take at least 10 minutes longer even when there isn't traffic because of the lights, so I don't buy the stats that you're claiming.

Bike lanes aren't all evil, and I've never implied that they are, but they should only be implemented in areas where people are using them.  They've implemented them in Inwood and I have yet to see one bike in either bike lane along Dyckman Street.  Meanwhile there's only one lane in each direction creating unnecessary congestion.

I will agree with you about Uber and the for hire cars. Something needs to be done about them.  There's been more of them near my block as well, and I'm not happy about it.  They idle, make all sorts of u-turns and drive recklessly.  With that said, it's not like your mayor has done anything to curb the problem with Uber, and the City Council has been slow to do anything as well.  (There have been several hearings on the issue which have been on TV with little results). They also block bus stops constantly. I find myself always stepping into the curb to get on the express bus especially along 6th Avenue, going from 35th all the way up to 53rd street because of cars parked in the bus stop.  

No, the point is to increase safety. That means smoother, more consistent travel. You'll find that many of the streets where the limit is now 25mph are timed so that cars can cruise straight down them at 25, as opposed to driving at 30 but stopping and going. You can make every light on 5th from 110th to 8th if you time it right, same with Riverside, Park for the Upper East Side and Midtown, Lex, a bunch of streets. The problem is that traffic wrecks that timing, unfortunately.

The Uber problem is massive. The mayor did try to do something a while ago, but the multimillionaire PR waged against the city made them give up. I wish they hadn't. Blame the New York Times and other groups that defended their unchecked expansion! 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

2 minutes ago, MHV9218 said:

No, the point is to increase safety. That means smoother, more consistent travel. You'll find that many of the streets where the limit is now 25mph are timed so that cars can cruise straight down them at 25, as opposed to driving at 30 but stopping and going. You can make every light on 5th from 110th to 8th if you time it right, same with Riverside, Park for the Upper East Side and Midtown, Lex, a bunch of streets. The problem is that traffic wrecks that timing, unfortunately.

The Uber problem is massive. The mayor did try to do something a while ago, but the multimillionaire PR waged against the city made them give up. I wish they hadn't. Blame the New York Times and other groups that defended their unchecked expansion! 

I've been following the whole thing carefully.  I'm especially annoyed at how the City Council has been dragging their feet. They have a cap on yellow taxis, but they seem to be at a loss on capping Ubers and Lyfts. If they want to use the argument that isn't capitalist, well neither is capping yellow taxis, but we have to mitigate congestion long-term, otherwise it will continue to negatively impact our economy.  

[B35 via Church]

Not that Manhattan is anything to scoff at in this category, but Staten Island has the worst service out of all the boroughs....

You have to be exuding some real purposeful inattentiveness to not know what's plaguing Manhattan's bus routes in general..... Manhattan's crosstowns specifically have had the stigma for being notoriously slow for decades now....