NEW YORK—Ever sit on a bus in traffic and watch people walk down the street thinking you would get where you’re going quicker on foot? You might be right.
Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Kahn cited a study in which a tricycle raced a bus across Manhattan and won. She spoke about the city’s slow buses at a transportation conference earlier this month.
“The transit authority runs the largest bus fleet in North America and it has the slowest bus speed,” said Sadik-Kahn.
The NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign and Transportation Alternatives followed the buses they expected to be the slowest in all five boroughs. They awarded the routes with the slowest and least reliable buses the Pokey and Schleppie Awards respectively on Thursday.
The M50 won the uncoveted Pokey, a golden snail on a pedestal. It travels at an average 3.5 mph. The M101/2/3 which runs along Lexington Avenue won the uncoveted Schleppie, golden elephants on a pedestal. It is unreliable 27.3 percent of the time, meaning it often leaves off schedule and the buses come in clumps with large gaps of time in between.
“The 101 is unreliable,” said Levon Hughey as he waited for the bus on 58h Street and Lexington Avenue on Thursday. “Sometimes you don’t see one for like 10 minutes and then you see three or four at one time,” said Hughey.
Vinny Ancona disagreed.
“The 101 limited, I think it’s fantastic,” said Ancona, also waiting for the bus. “Certain times of the day you‘ll have a lot of traffic and you’ll have different buses: 101, 102, 103.”
With additional reporting by Benjamin Chasteen and Amal Chen.
