By Gus Saltonstall
Construction has begun work on a major redesign that will add dedicated bus lanes to 96th Street, including the section on the Upper West Side, New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez announced on Monday.
The new design will stretch from West End Avenue to Second Avenue, and include new dedicated bus lanes traveling in both directions.
“Bus lanes are one of the best ways to speed up service, and the new bus lanes on 96th Street will reduce wait times and improve service for 15,500 weekday riders,” Rodriguez said in a news release. “These improvements will make commutes faster, more reliable, and safer for everyone.”
The redesign will convert one of the two vehicular lanes in each direction on 96th Street to buses-only traffic, leaving slightly narrower curbside parking lanes, and one lane for cars and trucks in each direction, as shown in the photo above.
Construction on the new bus lanes is expected to be completed by the end of this year, according to the DOT.
The new bus lanes will operate 24 hours a day, and the DOT will implement daytime “Neighborhood Loading Zones” to “better facilitate curb access for deliveries and service vehicles.” The city agency will also lengthen the bus stops for the M96 and M106 in an effort to reduce delays and improve accessibility.
Additionally, left turn bays will be added at intersections along 96th Street to help traffic move more smoothly.
The construction on the project began despite a protest at the beginning of September by a group of Upper West Side residents and Councilmember Gale Brewer, who pushed back against the plan to implement dedicated bus lanes along 96th Street, and requested alternatives to speeding up bus service.
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Good!
Josh P.
Do you take the M96?
Excellent news! Glad a vocal minority of vehicle owners did not overrule good transportation policy in our neighborhood. A win for the Upper West Side
Heck I love it! That bus is so slow and 96 is crowded by double-parkers unloading in front of apartment buildings. They should do all the crosstown routes
If you believe the root of the problem is double parked cars, what will the new bus lanes do that enforcement of the existing double parking laws will not?
The buses will likely have cameras for enforcement.
Exactly. As I understand it, cars will be allowed to stop, load/unload in the bus lane, but if two consecutive buses take a picture of the stopped car, a ticket will be issued…so legitimate loading/unloading will be permitted but the car can’t double park indefinitely.
So if two buses are bunched together and grandma is getting out of the car then ‘click’ $100 fine?
Buses are frequent enough that legitimate loading cannot be done. This is not about better service, but the weaponization of buses.
And taking out parking.
Some bus lanes speed up bus service while other spite drivers that are unwanted. This project is the latter.
Actually what is needed is increased bus frequency.
There are not enough buses to carry the volume of riders.
Moreover buses must still adhere to the speed limit and stop at red lights.
Instituting bus lanes to speed the ride by 5 minutes is not a ‘solution” to inadequate frequency and crowded buses.
Lengthening bus stops doesn’t help riders either.
And it is clearly absurd to have bus lanes 24/7.
Lastly it must be noted that the 96th corridor is unique as it is an access point to Mt. Sinai and to both the West Side Highway and FDR drive.
Bus lanes will create more chaos and congestion.
No – I don’t drive.
Excellent points. I cannot imagine how all this is going to work for those of us who depend on the 96th street cross-town busses daily for work and personal appointments. Things are already slow. How this will improve things? Not sure I can actually imagine.
Getting access for wheelchairs is already problematic due to parked cars, etc. Bus drivers try to pull over but often can’t and access ends up being denied.
And yes, we need more cross-town busses, not to mention more 104s. The worst is the timing when a full bus stops and the almost empty one just drives on by. Makes no sense.
You can wait a long time and still not get on. Especially in the afternoons when the schools let out and there are tons of kids, parents, strollers, etc.
Curious about the purpose for 24 hours?
When there are almost zero buses at let’s say 11pm?
Also bus cameras will be ticketing Access a Ride dropping off/picking up at buildings?
Ambulances responding to calls?
Will residents curtail e-commerce orders to reduce vehicle traffic?
Hmmm…..
Do you really think they will ticket an ambulance. Use common sense.
How will the left turn lanes be built? Will th bus lane disappear for a short distance so there will be parking, travel, left turn? I’m assuming we can’t make the streets any wider
The more DOT improves things, the worse they get.
It may speed up the buses by a few minutes but will delay cars, trucks, deliveries for hours by only having a single lane on a major thoroughfare. Congestion and pollution will zoom.
The problem is double-parked cars, an illegal maneuver that isn’t ticketed or if it is, is ignored by commercial delivery vans/trucks that don’t care. How will this help?
Neighborhood Loading Zones are a citywide joke. The only ones who park there are placard holders.
NYC DOT says that bus riders deserve better bus transit and insists that the way to do that is to install bus lanes.
Yet NYC DOT is fine with hurting bus riders by forcing bus detours due to Open Streets.
Bus detours are an actual hardship for bus riders.
The hypocrisy and dishonesty is mind-boggling
I just need someone to explain: if you have to pick up/drop off an elderly or immobile person, or if you need to unload furniture or boxes, or if you’re packing the car to bring your kid to college or if you’re loading a bunch of suitcases onto a taxi to the airport or if you’re unloading a a bulk of groceries from Costco, if you live on 96th street you’re not allowed to do this in front of your residence? You need to carry in multiple trips up the long block to a designated loading space, and if someone is already occupying it, you’re just supposed to circle the block endlessly? And if you live on 95th street or 97th street you don’t have this restriction at all, only those unlucky enough to be living on 96th street? Too bad for you! And if you complain about the inequity of this circumstance you’re called names?
Thanks Phil – a fellow W 96 St apt owner
Yes, we all need more loading zones / less parking with much stricter enforcement. As some people have suggested, it may be worth contacting Gale Brewer.
80% of people living in UWS get deliveries at least once a week. 27% of UWS households own cars. We cannot cater to everyone and have got to make choices. Numbers seem to show that space for deliveries/loading/unloading benefits broader segments of population than street parking.
27% of households may own cars on the UWS, but the people parking on the street are not all UWS residents. Loading and unloading sometimes takes more time, sometimes you have to spend time, people who spend time are likely to spend in the area and contribute. Street parking is very important not only for residents but for visitors and workers who do not have easy commutes.
96th street is connected to multiple subway lines and bus routes.
The only people who might really *need* parking are those with disabilities and I strongly believe we should have several blue badge only parking spaces on each block. The rest of us should be able to use public transport (or drive to the nearest point of transit and take public transport from there). Of course, some people might still choose convenience (drive all the way to the 96th street) but it is only fair that they should be expected to pay for the privilege.
It is very easy to say when your whole life revolves around trendy neighborhoods in NYC of which the UWS is one. Would any of the people against parking or cars who are single on the UWS be willing to date someone who lived in a part of Queens without a subway? Or date someone who lives in an area you have to take Metro North, LIRR or NJ Transit to? Or date someone living in Richmond Hill off the J train or Ozone Park off the A train? I say this to illustrate that UWSers who tell others take the train or drive to the train are generally unwilling to do the same thing on a regular basis themselves and are also generally unwilling to fraternize with people who do not live in the same 20 or so socially acceptable neighborhoods. Therefore it becomes more than just about the curbside space, but turning the UWS into an exclusionary zone where people are supposed to know their place.
What type of disability gets you a parking spot? What if people have family members whom it is difficult to use transit? Why should I have to explain an invisible disability constantly to people? How good is the service where the nearest point of public transit is? If it is not good enough and people drive elsewhere, what about that other community not wanting outsiders? What will happen is that yes the UWS may have 5 subway lines, but in practice you are discouraging outsiders from coming here or doing business here and are discouraging UWSers who have substantial interests in the metro area outside Manhattan or trendy Brooklyn neighborhoods from living here.
Sounds like you want more loading zones.
I completely agree. I’ve contacted Gale Brewer’s office to lend my support for more, but her office just ignored me. Have you called or written her with your support?
More loading zones are beneficial in some spots, but maybe the real solution is keeping the street parking and if people need to double park, failure to leave a phone number to call to move will result in bigger consequences. Yes double parking is a problem but sometimes necessary.
Double parking slows down traffic for everyone (plus it’s illegal). It is not necessary at all with adequate loading zones.
I look forward to automated double parking enforcement on the buses since the police have stopped enforcing any laws.
Adequate loading zones? You would never have the correct balance. With the growth of outdoor dining, microhubs, containerization of garbage and so on so forth and the need for commercial parking, you would need to take so many parking spots that there would be no residential street parking for residents, visitors and workers at all. The fact that garages are closing down does not help. But people do need to park on the street who are not commercial vehicles.
There’s over 75 miles of free parking, plus several more miles of paid parking on the UWS.
Pretty sure that there is plenty of room for additional loading zones, even with the tiny fraction of that 75 miles being used for functions other than the storage of a few people’s personal property in public space.
It will be more than a tiny fraction for containerized garbage and the amount of loading zones that actually will be needed to prevent all double parking. It is not storage of personal property in public space, it is transportation that facilitates commerce and connections that would be more cumbersome to do so otherwise. You cannot complain about car storage then complain about subsidies for transit that you do not like.
Regardless, the reason why MTA exists is to make hard decisions no one wants to be directly accountable for. You cannot have an anti car agenda where transit entities are not overly sensitive to political concerns and to every concern to the point where hard decisions have to be avoided
Don’t forget the most important reason to double park, to eat a sandwich while waiting for alternate side to end so that you can enjoy free parking on the upper west side. This practice is unfair, dangerous (because what if an ambulance needed to get by), and needs to end. If a car is in the middle of the street, whether occupied or not, or whether trying to avoid a street sweeper or not, ticket it.
Similarly if you are loading a vehicle to drive donations of diapers to a homeless shelter or food for a food bank – tough luck.
Or you are a gig worker delivering ecommerce like Instacart to a building using a car (even if you are delivering ecommerce to bicycle lobby folks LOL)
Everyone has their own good reason to double-park. The benefits of bus lanes get diluted when you start making unique exceptions.
All of those things are important! But the lane closest to the curb where you would want to do all those things is being taken up by parking, not the bus lane. I think your complaints about inequality are being directed in the wrong direction.
Street parking is important, especially when parking garage are being closed.
anything to cause us to want to leave this city
we can no longer function here this will help block anywone from getting anywhere
how awful no end to ruining t his city
As an actual bus rider, I’d prefer an uncrowded bus that comes frequently even if it takes 7 minutes longer rather than waiting 15 minutes for a packed bus that is 7 minutes “faster”
For example, the M5 route used to span upper Manhattan to South Ferry.
Then it was split into two segments (M5 and M55) so it was “faster”.
So the MTA metric now shows “faster” buses – but as a rider, the trip is now at least 15 minutes longer (and usually much more) because now it is necessary to transfer buses and wait…..
There are bus lanes on 34th for the M34 – and bus stops have been cut.
For example, the bus stop at 34th and Lexington (westbound) has been removed – so necessary to walk further to a bus stop.
Not a “faster” trip and definitely much more of a hassle.
And a hardship if you have mobility issues
The MTA cares about reducing run time and thus operating expenses. Especially to balance out the increased traffic due to vision zero. It has nothing to do with better service for customers.
Bus running times today even with all these lanes and busways are higher than they were in the 1990s. So are bus lanes the problem? Or is the problem vision zero and rideshare which are being pushed by the same interest groups.
Can we please ban amazon from eating up a whole lane of traffic for deliveries and paying ZERO fines? It’s obsene
Progress happens too slowly in NYC, but it is nice to see good things eventually happen for our neighborhood despite the objections from a loud minority of NIMBYs.
UWS Dad,
Do you use the M96?
Aren’t you frequently upset with once a week bus rerouting for open streets? Surely you should be thrilled that DoT is prioritizing bus transit.
I am number 15 on UWS Dad’s comment, am in my late 70’s, and I most certainly do take the 96 crosstown and other crosstown buses, as well as the subway.
Great. Now let’s do 72nd Street, which has the M57, M5 and M72.
Love it! My colleagues and I regularly travel across the park between West 88th and East 93rd so this will come in handy during high-congestion hours.
I think this is great. We will learn to adjust and I believe this will improve traveling cross town. Of course there will be issues rising that will be addressed but in the end this is going to put people who use mass transit first.
I have lived on both East and West 96th Street and have long depended on the M96. I know I stand to benefit from the bus lane and look forward to it.
At the same time, I know that it will be a pain to load and unload on the rare occasions when I rent a car or take a cab or — God forbid — move. The obvious solution to this is to eliminate street parking. Only slightly more than a quarter of households on the UWS own a car. That they should get two full lanes of 96th Street for free storage is astonishing.
This often-repeated obsession with referring to parking lanes as free storage is mind numbing. Even more loopy is using the UWS’ car ownership rate to pass judgement on how many lanes there should be. How about taking account of the number of vehicles not having anything to do with UWS residency that need to park their cars on 96th St?
The city quite literally gives away free storage for private cars though? Manhattan real estate is very expensive unless you are parking a car in which case it’s given away for free! Why not have paid parking? If people truly ‘need’ to park their cars on the UWS surely it will be worth it for those car owners to pay for it.
Yes there are a lot of workers and visitors not all who have decent transit. The UWS is also not midtown. The percentage of residents who own cars do not tell the complete story, especially in an in demand area like this.
This plan definitely will choke up traffic on 96th Street by reducing non-bus traffic to one lane each way. I wish they would consider eliminating parking on 96th Street so that it can be a genuine thoroughfare with 2 lanes of traffic going each way while maintaining a dedicated bus lane.
Glad they’re doing it.
I’d appreciate knowing why the bus lanes will be 24 hours?
Also extending bus stops is not needed nor helpful – it is a waste of money.
DOT has already been extending bus stops around Manhattan especially on the East Side M79 route.
The signs are moved and yellow line extended – but the bus shelter remains as is.
Depending on the configuration of the bus stop, buses sometimes pull up to the extended sign – and everyone at the shelter has to run.
And yes – what hypocrisy that DOT says it cares about “improving” buses – but DOT forces bus detours implementing open streets for brunch and bicyclists.
Please!! Eliminate parking on 96th Street. This might help. AND, please try to divert traffic away from 96th st so it isn’t such a highway!!
The reality is that 96th Street is the only street that connects the west side highway and the FDR drive and is relatively quick.
While DOT installs bus lanes ostensibly to improve bus transportation, the weekend of October 5-6 illustrates that the City – DOT included – keep making bus tranportation harder and worse by continuing to shut more streets and force more bus detours.
Check out the DOT website listing parades this weekend forcing bus detours.
And DOT does not even bother to list open streets forcing bus detours.
I wish they’d explain a little more about how it is supposed to work (especially the turns) and why it is a great idea (if it is). I have been both a frequent driver across 96th and a daily bus rider on 96th. Seems like everyone knows the biggest problem with the buses isn’t the traffic, but that not enough operate at peak times (and maybe they need some express buses that don’t stop on EVERY block). As for cars, maybe it’ll improve the drive by making it less necessary to aggressively change lanes to avoid double parked and turning cars? Maybe the “bus lane” really just frees up a lot of space to create extended turn lanes and drop zones (so that only the buses have to zig zag around double parked cars/delivery vans?) I want to believe this is meant to be a good thing, but it’s NYC, so I worry “bus lane” is a deliberate misnomer.
If you are going to provide bus lanes, busses should be prohibited from traveling in car lanes.
Bus lanes for busses, car lanes for cars.
we just ended our program to deliver free home made meals to home bound lonely citizens
this city is ending all volunteer driving services to drs and hospitals our local services are now
closing down, due to this city , we drove seniours and sick patients to mt sinai , to all the hosptitals thru the 96 th street thruway.
It si no longer possible , hope you are all proud of your making city the worst place to live
for a lonely or sick person who needed services