34th St. Busway Will Be Done by End of Year, DOT Says

The 34th Street busway will reportedly be coming to Manhattan by the end of the year, DOT officials have told elected officials, transforming the crosstown street into a largely car-free zone.

As first reported by the Daily News, work on the project—which was proposed in May, before being paused and un-paused by the Adams administration over the course of the summer—will reportedly begin by the second week of October. It will be tied to a rezoning package called the Midtown South Mixed-Use Plan, which is oriented around creating 10,000 new homes across 42 Manhattan blocks.

The busway itself will be in effect from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week. It’s intended to speed up 34th Street’s notoriously slow M34/A bus route (and 22 other express-bus routes), which serve 28,000 riders on a daily basis. It will be modeled after the existing 14th Street busway, which is part of a broader “Connecting to the Core” system, which includes seven other busways spread across the city.

The DOT says that construction will reportedly take only a number of weeks, which means that the busway will go into effect by November or December.

According to the DOT, the bus routes crawl along at a pitiful average of 3 to 5 m.p.h. With the busway, between Third and Ninth avenues, car drivers will need to take the next available turn if they find themselves on 34th Street, or they’ll be hit with fines.

Signage and parking meters will inform drivers of the new rules, the DOT says, and intersections will be painted to “enhance visibility” along the busway for all commuters. If drivers need to stop locally, they will reportedly be able to conduct quick pickup or drop-off stops, although they will be prohibited from long-term parking.

“Most commuters in Midtown are traveling by transit, and they deserve world-class, fast, and reliable buses,” DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez told the press. “Busways bring dramatically faster and more reliable service, and we are excited to get started on this transformative project.”

The soon-to-be-implemented busway was only proposed to the wider public after three community boards that would encompass it—4, 5, and 6—had been consulted on the proposal. In a March 18 letter written to the DOT, representatives for the boards expressed unanimous support for the idea, undoubtedly giving it local political cover.

“Given the critical need to enhance public transportation infrastructure in this highly congested area of Manhattan, this project would significantly improve the efficiency and livability of 34th Street for both commuters and pedestrians,” they wrote. “The success of the 14th Street busway serves as a compelling precedent. After implementation, bus speeds on 14th Street increased by at least 24 percent, and bus ridership grew by 30 percent.”

The representatives also attempted to address the concerns of some locals, who believe that a 34th Street busway will divert car traffic onto their residential streets: “A study found that the [14th Street busway] did not result in significant congestion on nearby streets . . . demonstrating that dedicated busways can be both effective and non-disruptive to surrounding traffic,” they wrote.