NEW: Comptroller Lander Sounds Alarm on Crawling Bus Speeds & Pitches Proposals for Fast-Tracking Performance

New York, NY — New York Comptroller Brad Lander released a new report, Behind Schedule: How the New York City Bus System Slow Rolls Riders, on the performance of the City’s bus system, finding that bus riders traveled a mere 8.17 mph on average and faced delays in reaching their stops nearly a third of the time. Outcomes are worse for express bus rides with buses off-schedule nearly half of the time. The report highlights numerous missed opportunities to improve performance and boost ridership, which was down 40% between 2019 and 2024.

“1.1 million outerborough, working class, and disabled riders should not be stranded on their sluggish commutes,” said Comptroller Brad Lander. “Department of Transportation and MTA are abandoning riders at the wheel by installing fewer bus lanes, cancelling new Select Bus Service lines, and blocking all door boarding. Adams’ anemic transit roll outs have buses screeching to a halt. I am all-aboard for common sense solutions because New York is a world class city that deserves world class rapid transit.”

The New York City bus system serves 1.1 million daily bus riders, playing a central role in the daily lives of New Yorkers in the outer boroughs as well as disabled New Yorkers. Comptroller Lander’s analysis found that bus speeds are significantly slower than they were a decade ago and service is increasingly unreliable, while the Department of Transportation (DOT) and Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) canceled or downsized initiatives that would improve the bus system and commute times.

• Compared to the last decade, buses are now slower in every borough but Manhattan and fall far short of the City’s goal to improve bus speeds citywide by 25%.
  • In 2024, average bus speed citywide stood at just 8.17 mph, down 0.6% from 8.22 mph in 2015.
  • At 12.6 mph and 8.75 mph respectively, buses in Staten Island and Queens outpaced the city average in 2024, while speeds in the other boroughs ranged from 7.65 MPH in the Bronx and 7.37 MPH in Brooklyn to a low of 6.29 MPH in Manhattan.
  • With all but one of the city’s ten slowest bus routes in the Congestion Relief Zone, the City could take advantage of the reduced traffic to implement bus service improvements that could speed up buses.
• New York City buses fail to reach stops at their scheduled time 30% of the time, while express buses are off-schedule 37% of the time.
  • Queens boasts the four routes with the lowest on-time performances, with the QM5, QM6, QM31, and QM1 express buses arriving at stops five minutes after their scheduled time two-thirds of the time.
  • The S89 Limited bus and M79 SBS are the best performing routes with a 91% on-time performance rate.
  • Select Bus Service (SBS) buses–-which employs more reliable features seen on other municipal rapid bus systems-–have the best on-time performance at 75%.
• Over half of bus lines with headways under 10 minutes are delayed due to “bunching,” or being spaced too close together.
  • The least reliable bus lines citywide with high bunching rates are in Queens and Brooklyn, with the Q24 and B41 local buses bunched 23% of the time.
  • Although riders are supposed to wait no longer than 3.64 minutes on average for the Q24, due to bunching, the actual wait is more than double that at 9 minutes.

While MTA, DOT, and the City Council created actionable bus plans in recent years, Comptroller Lander charts how little DOT and the MTA enacted.

• Since 2022, DOT built only 23.1 miles of protected bus lanes, fulfilling less than the  mandated 80 miles in the NYC Streets Plan, and installed fewer bus lanes over the past three years than in the two preceding years.
• Meanwhile, MTA and DOT abandoned SBS implementation, completing only 16 out of 30 potential corridors.
• The MTA, citing concerns over fare evasion, never implemented plans for all-door boarding systemwide, a feature that boosted speeds on SBS routes by up to 19%.

New Yorkers across the boroughs should be able to expect an efficient, accessible, and reliable bus system – one they can depend on each day to get them where they need to go. Comptroller Lander proposes 11 recommendations across four key priority areas:

Plan, design, and build a world-class bus rapid transit (BRT) network for New York City, building on the success of existing initiatives:

1. MTA and NYCDOT should collaborate to revive and implement all 20 SBS routes originally proposed in 2009 and create new interborough connections, including a new SBS route along the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront, connecting Manhattan to the South Bronx by combining the M15 and Bx6 SBS routes, and upgrading the B55 to an SBS route between Kensington and JFK Airport.
2. Take advantage of congestion pricing to implement new, large-scale busways throughout Manhattan’s Central Business District, modeled off the successful 14th Street Busway. With 30,000 fewer cars in lower Manhattan each day thanks to congestion pricing, NYC DOT should swiftly implement new busways going across 34th Street and 42nd Street, where buses are currently slower than anywhere else in the city.
3. Implement more high-quality busways and center-running bus lanes, which improve bus speeds and reduce time spent in traffic.

Maximize the effectiveness of existing bus service and priority tools through better enforcement, payment, and accessibility measures:

1. Improve automated enforcement to protect bus routes by standardizing bus lane operating hours across the city, restricting the legal reasons for private vehicles to enter a bus lane, and enforcing the use of loading zones to prevent delivery vehicles from blocking bus lanes.
2. Enable all-door boarding by refining the OMNY proof-of-payment system enabled and install tap-to-pay devices at a height and distance accessible to all riders.
3. Enhance fare enforcement by deploying civilian EAGLE teams on more local routes with currently limited operations.
4. Ensure all buses are accessible to disabled riders by retraining bus operators on using wheelchair lifts, piloting additional low-floor buses on express bus routes, and directly engaging riders with disabilities in efforts to improve bus service. Read the Comptroller’s latest audit on Express Bus Accessibility.

Strengthen agency management over bus priority initiatives:

1. MTA and DOT should set performance-based targets to meet, such as increasing average bus speeds by 25% citywide, cutting wait times in half on the 20 worst-performing bus routes, and reducing the rate of bunching on high-frequency routes from 14% to 5%.
2. The City and OMB should empower and resource DOT to hire and retain the qualified staff needed to meet performance targets and boost efforts stymied by staffing challenges.

Make buses more affordable:

1. Expand Fair Fares to CUNY students and New Yorkers with incomes at 200% of the federal poverty level to reach more regular commuters and transit users.
2. Expand fare discount programs for express bus riders, so they can receive a 50% discount under the Fair Fares and Reduced-Fare programs at all times of day.

“I represent a district that relies heavily on bus service, yet only benefits from one Select Bus Service route. Many areas in my district lack subway access, making it even harder for my constituents to travel efficiently. We need a bus system that reaches more people, and most importantly, reaches them on time. This report highlights the long-overdue need to transform our transit infrastructure to meet the needs of New Yorkers—people who depend on timely, reliable service to get to work, support their families, and live their lives in this ever-growing city. New Yorkers deserve a bus system that is fast, reliable, and accessible to all, and it’s time to make that a reality, said Council Member, Chair of the Committee on Public Housing, Chris Banks.

“Bus service is a lifeline for working New Yorkers—especially in outer-borough communities like Southeast Queens, where options are limited and commutes are long,” said New York City Council Majority Whip, Transportation Committee Chair Selvena N. Brooks-Powers. “Comptroller Lander’s report makes clear that we are not moving fast enough to deliver the reliable, efficient bus system our city deserves. We need urgent investment in bus priority infrastructure and targeted service improvements that meet the needs of riders. As Chair of the Council’s Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, I remain committed to holding the Administration accountable to the NYC Streets Plan and fighting for a transit system that works for all New Yorkers.”

“As an elected official, I rely on the buses every day, and as a person with disabilities, I depend on them even more.” said Council Member Shahana Hanif. “I’m all too familiar with unreliable schedules, endless delays, and agonizingly slow speeds. New Yorkers deserve fast, affordable, and reliable bus service. I’m grateful to Comptroller Lander for authoring this report and advocating for transit policies that will get New York City moving.”

“The findings of this bus report highlight what too many New Yorkers with disabilities already know: our bus system is unreliable and inaccessible. We are glad to see a recommendation to consult the disability community and apply disability travel standards when considering service changes like bus stop consolidation. Many people with disabilities rely on buses as a primary mode of transit, and we need a system that is faster, more frequent, and fully accessible. CIDNY urges the MTA and the City to commit to implementing these recommendations with urgency—including updating bus operator training and expanded Fair Fares access—so all New Yorkers can count on safe and affordable transportation,” said Anna Humphrey, Transportation & Voting Community Organizer at the Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York.

“New York City’s bus system plays a vital role in providing affordable and accessible transportation to millions of New Yorkers, yet it continues to be plagued by delays, overcrowding, and inefficiency,” said Damien Andrade, Project Coordinator at NYPIRG. “As college students rely on public transit to get to class every day, I know firsthand the challenges of unreliable service. Long wait times and overcrowded buses often make it difficult for students to get to school on time, and missed classes can affect our education and future opportunities. We applaud the Comptroller’s office for this report along with these important recommendations, which will help create a more reliable, equitable, and sustainable transit system.”

“Every New Yorker who rides a bus knows that our bus service could be so much better. This report highlights key ways to achieve that. How we use our streets matters, and simple tools like busways and loading zones have a huge impact on bus speeds and the ability of New Yorkers to get to school and work on time, to visit friends quickly, and to get on with their lives wherever they’re trying to go. We applaud this report and call on the city to implement these recommendations,” said Sara Lind, Co-Executive Director of Open Plans.

“Bus service is the unsung hero of New York City Transit, connecting neighborhoods from City Island to Tottenville to Far Rockway. Yet, with some of the slowest buses in the nation and limited priority on city streets, there is considerable room for improvement. PCAC thanks Comptroller Lander for these thoughtful recommendations to make service faster, safer, and more reliable for the 1,250,000 daily riders who depend on it,” said Brian Fritsch, Associate Director for the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA.

“Slow, unreliable buses are the shame of our city while the success of congestion relief proves that better service is possible with political will,” said Danny Pearlstein, Policy & Communications Director at Riders Alliance. “Riders need leaders who put our needs first from public budgets to city streets. The Streets Plan should be a floor not a ceiling on fast, reliable service. From Fordham to Fifth Avenue to Flatbush, better buses have a transformative potential but have yet to meet with reality. It’s time to go big, not concede defeat, and deliver rapid, high capacity service to communities far from the subway and from Staten Island up to the Bronx.”

“New Yorkers deserve a world-class bus system that puts riders first and delivers fast and reliable service, but the reality is that our buses are the poor stepchildren of our transportation network. We’re grateful to Comptroller Lander and his team for this important report, and especially for his recommendations for significantly improving bus service. From quickly rolling out more miles of dedicated busways to broad implementation of all-door boarding to real investment in true bus rapid transit, there’s so much more we can be doing for bus passengers, and we hope the Comptroller’s report will help spur much needed action,” said Eric McClure, Executive Director of StreetsPAC.

“Service Delayed gets right to the core of the problems with buses in NYC. People-Oriented Cities’ independent appraisal corroborates many of the report’s primary conclusions and recommendations. It is time to build a world-class bus rapid transit (BRT) network for New York City,” said Annie Weinstock, People-Oriented Cities.

“The elimination of so many bus stops is not only highly detrimental to people with disabilities and senior citizens but in fact, is dangerous for them and disadvantages all bus riders. The false equivalency between the shaving off of several minutes on the entire route versus any time savings to the rider is a fallacy. If a disabled rider, senior citizen or even a non-disabled rider misses a bus because of the distance between the stops, the door-to-door trip time actually exceeds 10 to 15 minutes more. Now add to that, the dangers faced by disabled riders with mobility impairments as they travel further in inclement weather and there is little to no justification for the elimination of bus stops. 1st and 2nd Avenues in Manhattan very effectively use both local and Select bus services and that is the only model that should be utilized,” said Michael J Schweinsburg, President of the 504 Democratic Club.

Read the full report here.

###