The Bx6-SBS/LCL is one of the most critical bus routes in The Bronx. This route traverses 163rd/161st Sts in The Bronx before connecting to 155th St in Harlem via the Macombs Dam Br. Commercial areas served by the route include Concourse Village and the area surrounding the Hunts Point Av(6) station. In addition, the Bx6-SBS serves major destinations such as Yankee Stadium, the Hunts Point Terminal Market and Bronx County Courthouses. This route also provides connections to nine subway routes, two Metro-North lines and a plethora of bus routes. Overall, the route served over 6,300 riders on an average day in 2024.
Madison Avenue is one of New York City’s busiest and most famous streets. The roadway goes from 23rd St in Midtown to 135th St in Harlem. At its northern terminus, it connects with the Madison Avenue Bridge to The Bronx. The street is home to a plethora of businesses, residences and other major destinations. Points of interest along the corridor include One Vanderbilt, St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the Mt. Sinai Hospital. There are also a countless number of cultural institutions and other important places on the surrounding blocks. While Madison Ave has no subway lines, it is served by four local bus routes that traverse most of the corridor. Interborough and regional transit options include trains at Grand Central Terminal and express buses that connect Madison Avenue to each of the four outer boroughs.
The M15 Local/SBS is the busiest bus route in Manhattan and all of New York City. MTA statistics show that this route has ranked number 1 in ridership for five straight years. The M15 has also had at least three million more riders than the next busiest route in each of the last two years. This is no surprise as the M15 is the only form of transit serving the entirety of Second/First Avenues in Manhattan, which is considered by many to be due for a full length subway line. The route runs from East Harlem/125th St at its northern point, to South Ferry in the Financial District.
New York City has many bus routes that run beneath elevated subway lines in every borough except Staten Island. These bus routes often serve riders who do not use the trains due to disabilities, safety concerns or longer walks to train stations. They also sometimes serve places that the train doesn’t, often when the train diverges from the street the bus operates on.
Queens is New York City’s largest borough by land area and second largest by population. Like other parts of the city, many residents rely on public transportation to get around. According to data from the NYC Department of City Planning, 37% of Queens’ households do not have access to a vehicle. This does not reflect the thousands of teens who do not drive and also rely on mass transit to get to school and other activities.
3rd Avenue is one of if not the busiest northbound streets on the East Side of Manhattan. Running from the East Village to East Harlem, the street is home to a plethora of businesses, residences and attractions. Major destinations on and around 3rd Ave include Union Square, the Chrysler Building and the Roosevelt Island Tram. 3rd Avenue is also located one block away from the Lexington Ave Subway(4,5,6).
Hillside Avenue travels from east to west is among the busiest streets in Southern Queens. It’s western terminus is at Myrtle Ave, which provides access to Brooklyn and some if its busiest neighborhoods. From there, Hillside Ave travels east into Nassau County, where it connects to the Jericho Turnpike in Westbury. In Queens, a whopping 21 combined MTA and NICE bus routes run on the corridor, serving 194,000 riders daily. NICE is Nassau County’s public bus system. The ridership number for Hillside Ave buses is higher than that of the G Train, which served 70,453 riders in 2023.
Trolleys were once a widespread and reliable means of getting around New York City and many other cities in the United States. Trolley lines were once just as widespread as today’s bus routes across cities. Since most Americans in cities took mass transit to work, trolleys had plenty of riders and the companies that operated them often made large profits. Unfortunately for the companies, the rise of the automobile led to cars often blocking trolley tracks and creating congestion which caused delays. According to the Daily News, trolleys were also considered old-fashioned by many due to the noises they made, such as “screeching wheels and clanging bells,” along with their wheels losing traction on icy inclines during the winter. This led to many NYC companies converting their trolley services into bus services and most bus routes run by the MTA today are the semblance of a former trolley line.
While buses may have been better than trolleys in many ways, we are all too familiar with their shortcomings. New York City buses often have many issues, such as being stuck in traffic, showing up in pairs, and sometimes just being unreliable for their passengers. The NYCDOT often implements various strategies, such as bus lanes and transit signal priority to speed up buses with varying levels of success. Figuring out how to improve surface transit along routes without subway service has undoubtedly been one of the city’s most pressing transportation challenges.
Could a return to the trolley be part of the solution? Philadelphia, the second-largest city in the Northeast and the sixth-largest city in the country, is one of the only American cities to have a vast, functioning trolley system. Trolleys are prevalent across the city, from the bustling area of Center City, which can be compared to Midtown, to areas of Southwestern Philadelphia on the city’s outskirts. Some routes even run into suburban areas throughout Delaware County, located just outside of Philadelphia. Rather than running on the side of streets, most trolleys run in the center to avoid traffic along with obstructions such as double-parked vehicles. This setup also allows for other forms of infrastructure to be on the side of the road, such as bike lanes. In fact, several streets in Philadelphia and Delaware County have center-running trolley tracks and some streets also have bike lanes on the side, making for true multimodal streets.
SEPTA trolley on Woodland Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia.Woodland Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia with trolley tracks.
To see if trolleys could work in NYC, we need to consider how the trolley system works in Philadelphia and if can meet New York’s transportation needs. As stated earlier, trolleys in Philadelphia operate throughout neighborhoods with densities very similar to many areas of NYC. Trolleys do have several upsides such as offering the capacity to hold substantially more riders. For reference, a modern streetcar can hold 150-350 passengers while MTA articulated buses have a capacity of about 115 passengers. While SEPTA’s newest trolleys purchased in 2023 only have a capacity of 120, a five passenger difference could decide whether or not the rear doors close quickly or not when the bus is crowded, which substantially impacts reliability. Outside of capacity, trolleys tend to be more efficient with power delivered by overhead wires leading to no street-level exhaust.
Based on this alone, trolleys can help resolve much of NYC’s bus crowding issues particularly on major routes such as the Bx12-SBS(Pelham Pkwy/Fordham Rd) and M15-SBS(First/Second Avenues). Additionally, New Yorkers in areas with higher asthma rates such as the South Bronx and Northern Manhattan would especially benefit from less emissions caused by mass transit vehicles.
However, there are some downsides. For one, trolleys having center-running tracks in some spots does not always speed them up. A quick look at some commute times from the Southern and Western parts of Philly where trolleys are most prevalent into Center City is just about what you would expect for buses. In a city known for transit projects that are extremely expensive, New Yorkers may not really care for a new service without as clearly tangible benefits as reduced travel times.
Given trolleys’ upsides and downsides, whether or not it works in New York City is largely dependent on where trolleys run along with whether people want them. Trolleys clearly provide the most benefits, in the most densely populated areas of cities and when they can move at higher speeds. Trolleys like buses, can also benefit from numerous street design features, such as isolated lanes and transit-signal priority that help it move faster especially if operating in the center of the road. Hence, trolleys can definitely be a game changer for riders on New York’s busiest bus routes, such as the Bx12-SBS(Fordham Rd), M15-SBS(First/Second Aves), and B46-SBS(Utica Ave) should trolley service like this exists. Additionally, in Center City, SEPTA has an underground tunnel known as the Center City Tunnel where certain trolley routes converge to avoid heavy aboveground traffic in Philly’s Central Business District. If the MTA can build similar tunnels and run trolleys at major arteries such as Downtown Jamaica and Flushing in Queens, Fordham Rd in The Bronx, and near the Williamsburg Bus Terminal in Brooklyn, it could lead to much faster transit service for many.
However, some constraints would include whether or not residents and visitors in a certain community want a trolley. This could be in part due to the perceived noise of having a new type of transit vehicle on the streets. As trolleys do not make noise, this may be a misconception that the MTA has to ease the public about. In addition, many may be concerned about losing driving/parking space should the MTA designate trolley-only lanes. As you can see, much of New York’s enduring issues when it comes to dividing street space between transit and cars would remain. However, the transit could be more impactful than existing transit if implemented well in the correct places. Trolleys may not be for everywhere, as it would be a significant and expensive effort to build trolley infrastructure in a city without it. So, the MTA would likely need to be selective as to where trolleys would be most appropriate in NYC should it want to add them to its array of transit modes. While there are some trolleys in Philly’s suburbs, it is important to note that these lines as far back as at least 1902, when the mobility needs of the region were much different.
So, what would it be like if NYC built a streetcar? Other American cities with less transit ridership such as Seattle, Atlanta and Washington, DC have all built trolley lines in recent years. These lines, branded as streetcars are larger than Philadelphia’s and look very similar to a light rail. The construction of streetcar lines in these cities has ranged from $13M-$200M for lines between 1 and 3 miles. Unfortunately, these lines are often considered to be slow and expensive for their marginal benefits. In the case of Atlanta’s streetcar, the streetcar moves at 5 mph which is not much faster than a human walking. In DC, a group known as Transit Enthuasists of DC ran an experiment that concluded that its streetcar was slower than an adjacent bus line, However, these streetcars are all similar in that they were not built with their own right of way or any other infrastructure designed to give them priority in mixed traffic.
Our city, however, had a different plan to avoid these mistakes. In 2016, former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed a streetcar line dubbed the Brooklyn-Queens Connector(BQX) to connect communities along the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront. The route would have connected Astoria to Sunset Park and served some of the most densely populated areas of the city outside of Manhattan. The areas this route would have served also had scarce and overcrowded transit options nearby to make the same trips. Unlike other streetcars in the U.S, this route would have operated in its own right of way for 90% of its route. Between the route selection and the right-of-way, the BQX truly had the potential to be a very successful line and a model to the rest of the country. Unfortunately, between cost overruns and the COVID-19 pandemic, the plan completely flopped. However, when seeing that many commutes woud have been substantially reduced under the BQX proposal, the planning of the BQX could still be seen as a model for what trolleys can one day look like in NYC.
As trolleys are prevalent in Philadelphia and across the country, it is interesting to think about how they could work here in New York City. Since surface transit is one of our biggest challenges, it is interesting to see how we could implement new and old technologies to address our surface transit deficits. Whether its trolleys or something else, it is intriguing to wonder what modes of travel New York can have in years to come.
Six Flags Great Adventure is by far one of the most popular amusement parks in the Northeast. Located about 70 miles from NYC, the park is known for its jaw-dropping roller coasters and fantasy-themed rides. In 2021 according to AECOM, Six Flags Great Adventure attracted more than 2.9 million visitors, making it a premier family recreation destination. As COVID-19 concerns have eased since then, the number of visitors in 2022 and 2023 was likely higher.
Given Six Flags’ location, it is no surprise that many of the park’s visitors come from New York City as well as from all corners of New Jersey. After all, Six Flags describes the park’s location as being “…conveniently located off I-195 in Jackson, NJ between New York and Philadelphia” on its website. Additionally, Great Adventure is on almost every list of top amusement parks near NYC including on popular sites such as TimeOut NYC and SecretNYC.
Six Flags Great Adventure’s famous “The Joker” rollercoaster as seen from gondola.
Unfortunately like many places in New Jersey, getting to the park from NYC or anywhere else is not exactly a “Great Adventure”, especially by public transportation. For many years, NJ Transit operated the 308 express bus from both Newark Penn Station and the Port Authority Bus Terminal(PABT) in Manhattan. The service even came with special theme park discounts as recently as last year where transit riders were able to save on tickets to either Great Adventure or Hurricane Harbor. To the likely dismay of riders, the service was discontinued this year with little explanation as to why from NJ Transit. While the agency is facing a nearly $1 billion deficit, the agency has not pursued any other major service cuts. The loss of Great Adventure service is almost certain to make it harder for guests to get to the park and make the most of what it has to offer.
As Great Adventure is located almost 2 hours from NYC in a lower-density suburban area, one may question the need for public transportation to the amusement park. However, it is important to note that 54% of NYC residents and 12.3% of NJ residents do not have a car. As Great Adventure is truly a regional destination, ensuring that everyone throughout the region can get there is critical to ensuring as many guests as possible have access to the park. Additionally, since Great Adventure and Hurricane Harbor are among the few theme parks of their kind near NYC, public transit can be the difference maker in which theme parks get customers. Outside of access, there is often congestion in Great Adventure’s parking lot due to the immense amount of cars traveling in and out of the facility. At closing time, congestion may worsen as many vehicles attempt to exit at the same time. This creates inconvenience for motorists and prevents them from making the most of their time since they often leave earlier to beat traffic.
To improve mass transit to Great Adventure, NJ Transit could take numerous steps. One and the most clear would be to reinstate the 308 express bus service. If the reasoning was due to budget constraints, than NJ Transit will need to make other moves to balance its budget and obtain funding. This is an issue that is much larger than Great Adventure bus service. However, if the route were to be reinstated, NJ Transit would likely want to run the route more later in the day and make its scheduling less confusing. According to a Reddit Post from 2023, the 308 bus did not run to Great Adventure after 9:30AM. This eliminated the bus as a travel option for those who plan to get to the park later in the day. Additionally, the scheduling of bus trips was quirky to say the least. While buses were scheduled to leave at certain times, they could depart sooner if they were full or later if they were empty. This left park-goers unsure as to when they could get to the park, making it hard to plan stays and coordinate meeting others at the park. Also, if a bus filled up, travelers may have been forced to make alternate travel plans, causing them to lose valuable time at the park.
To remedy these issues, NJ Transit can simply run service solely based on daily ridership the way it does its other bus routes. NJ Transit likely used demand-based/fixed scheduling in an effort to get as many riders to the park as early as possible. Though this does have its benefits, the risk of unreliable service for many may outweigh the benefit of some people being able to leave to Great Adventure sooner. Solely having fixed-scheduling on the other hand, would have buses scheduled at times NJ Transit knows ridership warrants it the most, making service more accessible for more people. In addition, fixed-scheduling may make transit service more sustainable as it could be easier for NJ Transit to recoup more of the route’s operating cost in fare revenue.
Outside of scheduling, NJ Transit can look to offer bus service from more locations. Buses from Newark and the PABT do serve a substantial amount of riders in the region. However, as commuting into either Newark or Midtown Manhattan can be tedious, these locations are not accessible to everyone. To help mitigate this issue, NJ Transit can add service from other travel hubs such as the Eltingville Transit Center on Staten Island and the Journal Square Transportation Center in Jersey City. This could make Great Adventure transit service accessible to more riders and reduce congestion at the park. Transit service can also make the park more desirable to visit by providing people an alternative to driving on the NJ Turnpike and I-195, which are among New Jersey’s busiest highways. NJ Transit can also consider bus service from the Hamilton Rail Station, which is the closest NJ Transit train station to Great Adventure.
Besides providing transit service itself, there are several additions NJ Transit and Six Flags can pursue to make public transit more compelling to park-goers. One could be the ability to purchase tickets at the bus terminal via machines or kiosks, saving riders time at the park. Additionally, Great Adventure buses can include luggage racks for those staying at the soon-to-open Six Flags Savannah Sunset Resort and Spa on the theme park campus. Above all, NJ Transit could work with Six Flags for buses to stop closer to the entrance of the theme park. Currently, all buses arriving at the Great Adventure must park at the southwest corner of the parking lot and get there via a circuitous route on the Six Flags’ inner roadways. Couple with a long walk to the gate; it can be 15 minutes or more between when one sees signs for Six Flags and when they reach the entrance of the park. These changes would help to substantially reduce the time between when people arrive and can actually enter the theme park.
As Great Adventure is a premier destination in the country’s most transit-dependent region, it is only fitting that it is well connected to the NYC area by public transportation. Hopefully, NJ Transit can find a transit solution that works for everyone and ensures that a trip to Six Flags Great Adventure can truly be a “Great Adventure” for those who rely on mass transit.
Express buses are critical transportation assets for residents of the outer boroughs. In areas far from Manhattan, subway service, or both, express buses are often the only direct mass transit link between many communities and Manhattan. As congestion pricing nears, many may turn to express buses to avoid the even higher costs associated with driving in Manhattan. In February 2020, about 42,000 riders took express buses daily, according to the Gothamist.
While express buses are important citywide, they are especially critical in The Bronx. Here, express buses serve many riders across the borough who live far from the subway, particularly in the East Bronx. Even in places with nearby subway service, many use express buses to get where their subway route may not take them. For example, a Parkchester resident commuting to work on the West Side of Manhattan may ride the BxM6 instead of the 6 train as the 6 train only serves Lexington Av while the bus serves 5th Avenue. In addition, only 45-66% of households in Bronx Community Districts with express bus routes have a car. Hence, express buses serve as one of the few transportation options for many residents, particularly those without access to subway service.
Outside of commuting into Manhattan, many people in Manhattan use express buses to reverse commute to destinations in The Bronx. For instance, the BxM10 stop adjacent to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Morris Park neighborhood is always bustling with commuters every morning. In 2019, according to the site Pedestrian Observations, almost 32,000 people commuted from Manhattan to The Bronx for work. Additionally, many tourists likely ride the BxM11 to visit the iconic Bronx Zoo and New York Botanical Gardens.
Given the systems’ use and growth over the years, one would have expected substantial improvements to the express bus network as part of the recent Bronx Bus Network Redesign. The MTA did propose a plethora of changes to express bus routes. The most notable included a new route between Co-Op City and Lower Manhattan and more direct service on many routes. However, many Bronxites were furious at some proposed changes, which reduced operating hours and service frequency on almost all express bus routes. This led to all proposed express bus changes being revoked before the implementation of the bus network redesign.
Despite this, the MTA has made some small but considerable express bus improvements for Bronx Express Buses within the last few months. On several routes, the MTA has added a new stop at 96th St in both directions for riders on the BxM10. This provides riders with new connections to parts of the Upper East Side as the next closest stop was at 5 Av/E 85th St. Additionally, the MTA added a new stop at 125th St on the BxM2, which did not have a stop in Harlem, providing new connections there as well. For reverse commuters, the MTA added a stop at Morris Park Ave/1300 Morris Park Ave on the BxM10 to better serve commuters headed to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Signage indicating bus stop changes on BxM2 at the intersection of W 230th St/Tibbett Av.
With these small improvements, should we see more significant changes to the express bus system? If so, what changes should those be? To answer these questions, we have to look at the things express bus riders want from the system. There have been few major calls for specific express bus improvements during the bus network redesign process beyond what already exists. However, one can think about what the subway system provides(connections to different places, frequent service) and infer that express bus riders would the same.
Hence, express bus service improvements could include more service to Lower Manhattan, which only one peak-hours-only route provides. Also, since many are concerned about crime in the subways and the subway is the primary way to get to Lower Manhattan via a transfer, this may encourage more Lower Manhattan trips. Additionally, more bus routes could have stops on 96th St on the Upper East Side(UES) due to the noticeable service gap on the UES and in East Harlem. On most express bus routes, the only stops on the UES are at 5th Ave/85th St and below, making trips between 90th and 116th Sts more difficult. Both of these proposals were pursued to an extent in the Bronx Bus Network Redesign Draft Plan. There, the MTA proposed that almost all routes have a stop at E 96th St in both directions. The MTA also proposed a new route, the BxM17, to connect one of the most densely populated sections of the East Bronx, Co-Op City, with Lower Manhattan.
Another significant addition Bronx Express bus riders would love to see is more frequent service. Currently, most express bus routes only run every 30-60 min, leaving riders little flexibility when it comes to travel times. Between this and how often buses get stuck in Manhattan/Bruckner Expwy traffic, this leads to express bus riders having some of the longest and most stressful commutes out of all transit riders. In addition, many express bus riders are deterred from taking the subway due to fears of subway crime and still want to take the subway into Manhattan. At the final hearing for the Bronx Bus Network Redesign in November 2021, several Bronxites expressed this concern despite it already being announced that express bus changes were canceled. Karina Hammer of University Heights told MTA officials, “I refuse to take the subways due to the high crime we are facing with people getting attacked and mugged. I feel so much safer when I use the express bus.” Another bus rider, Patricia Nunez from Riverdale, also shared concerns, saying, “It’s been a horrible year on the subway with violent crime increases, mentally ill people pushing people onto the subway tracks, we cannot take the subway, we really need the BxM1 and the BxM2.
Outside of more frequent service, the MTA can also tweak routes to avoid highly trafficked areas in its nonstop segments. As many still work from home, Manhattan car traffic is less than it was prepandemic. Now, the primary source of express bus trip delays comes from nonstop segments on highways. The most substantial of such is on the BxM6, 7, 8,9, and 10 during the PM peak on the eastbound Bruckner Expwy. Here, buses have been dealing with congestion due to the recent construction projects on the highway. In this case, the MTA can consider rerouting express buses to run on Bruckner Blvd underneath the expressway instead during certain times. This will lead to faster and more reliable service for a substantial number of riders.
In addition, routes could also be adjusted to provide more reliable service and service to areas that do not currently have it. Before express bus service changes were paused, the MTA proposed to shorten the BxM4 only to serve the Grand Concourse and Bedford Park and create a new BxM5 to directly serve Woodlawn, Wakefield, and the city of Mt Vernon. This proposal would have substantially reduced travel time for Woodlawn riders as their routes would not have to spend 5 miles on the oft-congested Grand Concourse. The new routing alignment will also provide a more direct bus option for Wakefield riders and provide service for Mt Vernon riders who do not have express bus service. However, in addition to the alignment the MTA initially proposed, the MTA can also consider extending the proposed BxM5 further down 3rd St and to the Mt.Vernon East MNR station. The MTA could also provide weekend service at a reasonable frequency for both routes, which was not proposed in the redesign plan.
The extension of the BxM5 would provide direct transit service to Manhattan for a densely populated community that lacks quality transit options. Despite being denser than many Bronx neighborhoods, routes run only a few times a day during rush hours to Bronx subway stations. This is despite Mt Vernon being directly adjacent to The Bronx and not far from subway stations in comparison to other Bronx neighborhoods that are well served by subway-connecting bus routes. The only other transit service to Manhattan is the Metro-North at Mt Vernon East, which is infrequent and expensive. According to a city document, the Southern side of Mt Vernon, where the rail station is located, has many census tracts with a median income of $39,999 or less and a poverty rate above 25%. Hence, a lower-cost express bus route can be a significant mobility improvement for Mt Vernon residents.
While these improvements could be huge for riders, there are significant barriers to implementing any of them. The most considerable constraint is undoubtedly cost. According to data from the Gothamist, express buses receive a public subsidy of $11.79 per person, higher than the next highest subsidy of $6.07 per person for the LIRR. Given how these buses get fewer riders than other modes, it may be hard for the MTA to justify increasing service. This is likely a large part of why they initially planned to cut service on express bus routes during the Bronx Bus Network Redesign.
Nonetheless, increasing service and making routing adjustments could benefit MTA finances in the long run if it encourages more ridership. In much of the U.S., a significant issue with public transit is when there is less ridership due to infrequent service, leading to even more reduced service. This is often known as the transit “death spiral.” It is unknown whether this is precisely what’s happening to Bronx express buses as most commuters going into Manhattan go via mass transit regardless of whether or not they own a car. However, it is also worth noting that many are avoiding the subway and even working in person due to crime concerns. Additionally, $15 congestion pricing tolls for Manhattan drivers below 60th St is on the horizon. Hence, better express bus service may generate more trips into Manhattan, making the costs of operating buses more practical while improving the transit experience for many riders.
As the redesign of Bronx Express bus routes was stopped suddenly, people may wonder when and if any changes will come to the network. The MTA has not said much about express bus redesign except that “There are currently no changes to express routes at this time.” in the Bronx Bus Network Redesign Final Plan Addendum. Hopefully, any changes made to the express bus network can improve connections to Manhattan for Bronx commuters for years to come.
Works Cited
Howard, Shawyn Patterson, and Dr. Darren Morton. “Draft 2020-24-Analysis of Impediments To Fair Housing Choice Plan.” City of Mount Vernon, 10 February 2020, https://cmvny.com/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/114. Accessed 7 April 2024.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “The Bronx Bus Network Redesign Final Plan Addendum.” MTA, November 2021, https://new.mta.info/document/63526. Accessed 7 April 2024.
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