Bus Battle: Some Local Activists Oppose Adding Offset Lanes on W. 96th St.
At a Sept. 5 rally, some locals asked for a two-block carve-out, siding with car-using constituents who want “alternatives” to a reduction in travel lanes used by cars. UWS City Council member Gale Brewer showed up to lend partial support, and later backtracked somewhat. Public transit advocates who want faster bus routes, meanwhile, are furious.
A group of Upper West Side locals oppose a NYC Department of Transportation plan to install offset bus lanes on their neighborhood’s portion of 96th St., stirring backlash from public transit advocates.
The road extends on either side of Central Park, and includes the M96 and M106 lines. Essentially, the agency–and transit riders–want to speed up what has been two notoriously slow crosstown routes, which crawl along at under 10 MPH for 15,000 daily riders.
If the agency’s proposal succeeds, the routes would see a new offset bus lane–meaning it would be removed from the curb, to allow for parking–extending from the the UES’s First Ave to the UWS’s West End Ave. It would replace one of the two traffic lanes, going in both directions, that are currently reserved for cars. Average speeds on these lines rarely top out above six to eight MPH at the fastest for UWS bus users, the DOT says, with four MPH being the most common average.
UWS City Council member Gale Brewer showed up at a September 5 press conference hosted by Ellen Harvey, a representative with the 96th Street Neighborhood Coalition, who is adamantly against installing new offset bus lanes on the West Side portion of the street. Her main opinion was that a “condensing” of traffic lanes for car users would be bad.
She also personally believes that by putting a bus lane between the parking lane and the remaining car lane, drivers and residents with disembarking passengers would be frustrated because they couldn’t stop in the lane closest to the curb anymore, and would ostensibly therefore have to find a parking spot. After discovering these comments, angry transit advocates pointed out that double-parking to pick up or drop people off is illegal.
To that end, the city recently announced that it will begin a crackdown by ticketing people that park in bus lanes up with fines that start at $50, and could reach up to $250 for repeat offenders. The aim of the crackdown, which will be implemented by cameras inside the buses that capture photos of parked cars, is to keep bus lanes open and thereby increase the speeds by which some notoriously slow MTA buses can travel.
Brewer partially echoed these particular car-driving constituents, by seeming to consider backing a two-block carve-out of the proposed lane for the stretch of 96th St. between Amsterdam Ave. and Central Park West. This would also leave the UES portion of the proposed lane, which falls outside of her district, untouched.
”In the past, I supported bike lanes, supported bus lanes on 14th Street, 34th Street, 181st Street,” Brewer said. “In this particular case, there are concerns that we have.”
At Harvey’s press conference, Brewer controversially added that a six MPH maximum is not as bad as four MPH for bus users. She said that she thought the DOT should find another way to speed up the bus routes on the two West Side blocks between Central Park West and Amsterdam Ave.
Some public transit proponents were enraged at Brewer’s decision to show up at the press conference. The group Riders Alliance slammed Brewer on X.com, posting: “’Bus lanes matter’ is what she told us. For years she’s been one of the strongest supporters of new bus lanes and has stood by riders to reassure us that she’s fighting to speed up the nation’s slowest buses. Deeply disappointing to see this from @galeabrewer of all people.”
Streetsblog, a digital outlet that pointedly advocates for and covers public transit improvements, summarized the tension—and took a side—in a post of their own. “The livable streets movement is in open warfare with Council Member and self-professed ‘data nerd’ @galebrewer for opposing a bus lane project on W. 96th St.—where 74 percent of households don’t have a car and data in fact shows that buses are slow,” they wrote, linking to their article on the subject.
In a statement provided to The Spirit a day after the event, Brewer appeared to backtrack slightly after taking such heat, while still somewhat agreeing with the activists that oppose the bus lane. She also specified what her envisioned alternative could be, a form of traffic modification that prioritizes buses at intersections.
“I respect the concerns of the neighbors and I want buses to be as speedy as possible,” said Brewer. “There may be other methods to keep busses moving on these two blocks such as transit signal priority.”
The Upper East Side’s Community Board 8 has given its stamp of approval to the bus lane project, but the Upper West Side’s Community Board 7 has echoed Brewer by holding off on an endorsement.