Did you know adding an extra subway stop to New York City's 7 train is going to cost $2 billion? In the middle of this big ol' recession, that's a big reason why transit geeks are freaking out about
buses - they can be orders of magnitude cheaper than subways. It turns out in New York City (home of America's slowest buses at an average 7.5 MPH) they're jamming out on some serious tech to dispel the traditional associations commuters have with above-ground mass transit. The
MTA's new Select Bus Service offers street-based payment kiosks (1 in the image above), low-riding rear entrances for quicker boarding (2), a "signal prioritization" system that will hold the light green for fast buses (3), and a separate terra cotta-colored lane with constant camera surveillance to keep stray cars and trucks out of the way (4). We've seen cabbies not get scared of things more serious things than painted lanes - personally, we'd install piranha-infested moats to protect our Select Bus System - but we'll have to trust the MTA on that one.
The faster, funner new buses are already showing up in the Bronx, and If they're able to get through all the red tape associated with making things easier and more efficient for everybody, you can expect to see them on First and Second Avenues this fall and on 34th Street in 2012... provided we make it through the apocalypse.
posted July 8th 2010 7:11PM
Wow...... I thought the buses in Sydney were slow
@oringal
In New York, you can walk faster than a bus most of the time, so depending on your physical ability and how far you are going, it is often not worth getting on a bus
@JeremyBenthem
That's kind of stretching it there, pal.
Depending on the time of day, and distance, walking may be quicker than taking the bus, in Manhattan.
@oringal Bus drivers don't give a shit about anything in Chicago; when they pull away from a curb you best let them in because they will NOT be stopping.
@JeremyBenthem Correction only in Manhattan can you out walk the bus. The rate them buses move if you 5 minutes away from you job walking and you gotta punch in at 9 however your on the bus you will get there at 9:30 .... Dam shame and now they want to raise the fare even more smh
@chosenone1
well works in Brooklyn too if you account for the time it takes waiting for the bus
@oringal "We've seen cabbies not get scared of things more serious things than painted lanes - personally, we'd install piranha-infested moats to protect our Select Bus System - but we'll have to trust the MTA on that one."
engadget you never cease to humor me well. thank you!
@chosenone1 I don't know man, I live in brooklyn, and often times unless your bus is among the more vital lines (B46, B44, etc.) You can often get to your destination faster by walking rather than waiting for a bus to arrive and drive you there, especially if your only traveling a half mile.
@jstevens
thank you so much for kind of clarifying. there is a world of difference between "may" and "often not".
@oringal look closer they have citroen in usa
citroen.fr for those who dont know what it is
NYC
@mbg19
Represent!!
Is that a Citroen in the right lane? Didn't think any of their cars made it to the States...
@scoobydooby A Citroen followed by a Euro-spec Focus, I believe. Both with NY plates!
@Chris Ziegler You are correct, sir. That's really strange... (the cars, not your being correct)
@brett123 So strange... I do so miss driving the Citroen Xsara :(
Damn you importers!! bring us some quality cars!
@scoobydooby
Mondeo, not a Focus... odd indeed as neither of these cars are on sale in the US.
@Mike Maybe it's a sign of things to come? Are Americans gonna get the Mondeo instead of the Taurus? :)
@Mike
No, that's an EU Focus. You can tell from the headlights and grill.
"low-riding rear entrances for quicker boarding"
Finally!
@who said what There has always been rear boarding on NYC buses. Usually at a substantial discount to using the front entrance where the official greeter sits. I guess the savings is because of the lack of personal service.
MTA SCREWING YOUR WAY!!!! The mat always coming with ideas to leech our pockets no matter if it's a great idea. This will be implemented and when is half way done, here comes the magical delays so they can jackmup the fare. Coincidence? LoL
@Eddy120876
The MTA is full of shit. Earlier in the year, they even had the audacity to suggest that the Student Metro Cards be cancelled.
I go to Stuyvesant High School downtown, and to get there I take the LIRR to Penn Station, where I transfer to the 2 downtown (I live in Queens!). Cancelling the Metro Cards would deal a great impact to several families in their commute.
And on top of that, the damn Q79 got cancelled last week, which I take to get home everyday.
sadface :(
@Joseph9307 Dam that sucks .. Best be buying a good pair of walking shoes ...lol .. but yea MTA got the whole thing monopolized so we are damned if we do damned if we don't .. In either case they still win
@Joseph9307
I know your pain bro . The MTA sucks they only care about making more money than they can over spend
@Eddy120876
the NYC public transportation is rather cheap. Comparing a Metro Card with a net-wide-ticket here in Southwest Germany - you guys can feel really lucky.
And with the buses being slow and delayed - well no wonder when I look at Manhattan traffic. It's about as worse as traffic in France or Italy. Lanes? Those stripes on the ground are centerline markings, right? Signals? Only vague suggestions, nothing compulsory...
@who said what
Trust me it's going to be another nightmare
@Eddy120876
Judging from the thoughtful analysis in your comments, I am absolutely shocked that you lack the capacity to properly reply to other comments.
@Fritz
Dear Fritz do you live,work and commute in Nyc? If your answer is no then keep your mouth shut. But if you do then do you work for the Mta because no straphanger in NYC is happy with the MTA...Same crappy service,policies and unfair fare hike..so suck on that pipe buddy
I don't mind catching the bus, but I can't wait until I get my own car. Waiting for the bus, can make you late though, when u need to be early.
The Subway tickets are far more expensive than tickets on the London Underground too, so I'd imagine bus tickets are similarly more expensive than London transport. Why does America have to be like this?
@kitface Because if you knew anything about mass transit, you'd understand how it's funded.
Why is gasoline so expensive in Europe? Because there are much higher taxes on it than in the U.S., to cover the losses of running a mass transit system. So the MTA charges $2.25 a ride. You're saying that a ride in London is less?
@Parry a single has a flat fare of £1.20, which according to Google is 1.81836 U.S. dollars. So, yes.
@Parry
Hey bud he has a point. No matter how you slice it the corporate greed is the cause for the amazing fare hikes. If you ever heard the MTA in a public hearing you would get up and leave because your plea,solutions will never get heard. Those fat cats at the mta head don't use the service they have their limo drivers so they don't care
@kitface
And considering you're paying 10x the amount we do in taxes, your ride is actually more expensive.
@Eddy120876
Considering the MTA is a public agency, I think you need to look up the definition of "corporate."
That being said, most public transit authorities are like that, or worse. Being originally from outside NYC, I can tell you that the MTA is nowhere near as bad as say SEPTA or Metro in DC. Add in that Metro covers a lot more area with differing governments, they refuse to really listen to anyone, even local governments.
@Parry
Bus only costs from 1 - 3rmb here in Shanghai, subway is 3rmb on up to something like 6. So that's something like 13 cents to like 40 something cents and 40 something cents up to about 90 cents.
Other cities in China are even cheaper than this.
@Parry
Parry the problem is that the mta still is not completely public. The board of the mta gets pay an insane amount of money(corporation type payments check the NY daily news website it had a report of that ) so it falls under corporate greed because they never cared for the raiders.
I think both the subway and bus is slow!!! I can get to most places faster on my bicycle, if not faster, just as fast.
This might work ....I normally say buses are great idea but can't be implemented effectively but this has serious promise
@dagetz
That's the problem: implementing it since most people in the states don't use the honor system to the letter. If you want some proof take the Bronx 12 express Bus, you put your metrocard in the automated fair box,get a receipt and when the bus arrives you are supost to show your ticket and metrocard; but usually is crowded and the drivers are either late or piss so they never check the receipt.
i drive those buses in the bronx are their good and fast when loading and unloading ppl
@stormrider
Really because every straphanger is hating the 12 bus..never an empty seat,annoying high schoolers,long waits ...
@stormrider
When did you last drive one? cause they take the same old time to load and unload. What ever happened to the red tape cause it never made it to fordham road. Anyone that has ever taken the bx12 knows this to be true even after the supposedly faster new system.
@Frohikie
And frohikie they have a ticket police in some places ..
Hey Engadget the 12 bus is not fun ok. The damn thing compare to the old buses is thinner and is more crowded ok.for the rest of the poster in here the 12 bus was one of the first buses to implement the dual body buses in the city,but not the first in the state. That honor belongs to our neighbors in westchester(the Bee line)
What they SHOULD do is to put cameras behind the front windshield of the buses that will take pictures of cars that move into the lane. The cameras will be able to take photos of the license plate for ticketing.
The bus driver should have a separate horn that will play a message that says,"move out of this lane or you will be ticketed!" The message should then be followed after10 seconds with a picture. Any cars caught in the photo still in the lane after those 10 seconds gets a ticket.
@NoobsRUs
That's a great idea. Has to work better than the redlight cameras that are being eliminated in other areas of the country.
Excuse my ignorance of New York stations .. but two BILLION dollars for a single new stop? Are they making the entire station out of solid gold?
@Devar
No, it's about the cost of building underground in NYC.