City officials and transit advocates will call Thursday for speedier bus service on more routes.
They would like to see Select Bus Service, which includes paying the fare before getting on and boarding through any door, added on 10 lines. It was introduced Monday to the crosstown M86.
The group includes Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who heads the council’s Transportation Committee, and the Riders Alliance. The areas include Co-Op City in the Bronx and Maspeth, Queens.
“By installing 10 new Select Bus Service lines we can identify and aid New Yorkers who live in these transportation deserts to empower them and their communities to succeed,” Rodriguez said in a statement. The officials will also call for a dedicated bus lane along 125th Street to speed up trips for Harlem commuters.
The MTA said it always planned for the dedicated lane, but it met political opposition. Mayor de Blasio’s administration has said they want to reach 20 select bus service routes by the end of his first term.
The DOT said it plans to extend the bus lane on 125th Street from Lenox Avenue to Morningside Avenue in August. It has found that select bus trips on sections of 125th Street with existing bus lanes go between 32 and 34% faster. Streets without bus lanes range from 27 to 35% faster on that route.
The DOT is also currently looking at speeding up the B46 in Crown Heights and the Q44 in Jamaica, Queens, as well as Select Bus Service for Woodhaven Boulevard.
