Port Authority Bus Terminal

Port Authority Bus Terminal
Corner of 8th Avenue and W 42nd Street in 2006. Corner has subsequently become site of the world's largest LED mediamesh facade.
Station statistics
Address	625 8th Avenue New York, NY USA
Coordinates	40°45′24″N 73°59′26″W / 40.75667°N 73.99056°W / 40.75667; -73.99056Coordinates: 40°45′24″N 73°59′26″W / 40.75667°N 73.99056°W / 40.75667; -73.99056
Connections	New York City Subway: A C E trains at 42nd St. – PABT station 1 2 3 7 <7> N Q R S trains at Times Sq. – 42nd St. station
Levels	3
Platforms	South Terminal: Gates 1-56 North Terminal: Gates 60-85
Parking	1000 spaces
Baggage check	none
Other information
Opened	December 15, 1950
Rebuilt	1979
Owned by	The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Website	PABT

The Port Authority Bus Terminal (PABT) is the main gateway for interstate buses into Manhattan in New York City. It is owned and operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Colloquially called the Port Authority, the bus terminal is located in Midtown between 8th and 9th Avenues and 40th and 42nd Street at 625 8th Avenue, situated one block east of the Lincoln Tunnel and one block west of Times Square.

PABT serves as a terminus and departure point for both commuter routes as well as for long-distance intercity routes, and is a major hub for commuters from New Jersey. The terminal is the largest in the United States and the busiest in the world by volume of traffic,^[1] serving 7,200 buses and about 200,000 people on an average weekday.

The PABT was built in 1950 to consolidate the many different private terminals spread across Midtown Manhattan, and was expanded with a second wing in 1979. The terminal has reached peak hour capacity leading to congestion and overflow on local streets. Attempts since 2000 to add capacity at the facility through public private partnership have been unsuccessful. The facility does not allow for lay-over parking for buses requiring that they use local streets or parking lots or return through the tunnel empty.

History

Architecture

The Port Authority Bus Terminal began operation on December 15, 1950 for passengers, originally occupying only the block between 40th and 41st Streets. The terminal was intended as a solution for an array of various terminals spread throughout Midtown Manhattan. The goal was to centralize the flow of buses and create a user-friendly building.

The building has seen expansions and revitalizations over the years, most notably the addition of the North Wing in 1979.^[2] While this expansion increased capacity by 50%, the accompanying renovation replaced the art deco styling of the original terminal with a "modern" steel-and-glass look of the sort fashionable during the late 1970s and early 1980s for institutional buildings.

On November 14, 2008, Reuters reported that Virtualtourist listed the PABT as one of the "World's Top 10 Ugliest Buildings and Monuments."^[3]

During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the area in and around the Port Authority Terminal was once considered dangerous even by the standards of pre-gentrified Times Square, especially after dark, but this is no longer the case. During 1997, the terminal was the subject of a study, co-ordinated by Prof. Marcus Felson of Rutgers University, which identified strategic changes to the design with a view to reducing crime.^[4] This is one of the world's leading examples of successful situational crime prevention efforts.^{[citation needed]}

Art and advertising

George Rhoads rolling ball sculpture 42nd Street Ballroom (1983)

Three sculptures of note are found at the terminal. The Commuters, a scupture of three weary bus passengers and a clock salvaged from original terminal by George Segal was unveiled in the main ticket area in 1982.^[5] 42nd Street Ballroom, a rolling ball sculpture, by George Rhoads on the main floor of the North Wing was installed in 1983.^[6] A statue of Jackie Gleason in the guise of one of his most famous characters, the bus driver Ralph Kramden, stands in front of the main entrance to the original South Wing. The plaque reads, "Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden - Bus Driver - Raccoon Lodge Treasurer - Dreamer - Presented by the People of TV Land."^[7]

In July 2011, the PABT became home to the world's largest mediamesh. The LED advertising facade covers 6,000 square feet radiating from the corner of 42nd and 8th.^[8][9]

Companies

Airport buses

• NY Airport Service to Kennedy Airport and LaGuardia Airport^[10][11]
• Olympia Trails to Newark Airport^[12]

Commuter lines

PABT to New Jersey, Rockland County and Orange County in the Hudson Highlands (NY) and eastern Pennsylvania

• Academy Bus
• Bieber Tourways^[13]
• Coach USA
  • Community Coach
  • DeCamp Bus Lines
  • Lakeland Bus Lines
  • Olympia Trails
  • Rockland Coaches
  • Short Line Bus
  • Suburban Trails
• Martz Trailways^[14]
• New Jersey Transit routes 107-199
• Spanish Transportation
• Trans-Bridge Lines

Gates 1-85 on lower level of the terminal are used for inter-city departures

Long-haul lines

• Adirondack Trailways
• Bolt Bus
• Bonanza Bus Lines
• Capitol Trailways
• Greyhound Lines
• Peter Pan Bus Lines
• Susquehanna Trailways^[15]

Subway connections and sidewalk bus stops

Cab stand and subway entrance on 8th Avenue. Extensive underground passageways within paid fare zone connect the subway and PABT

Subway connections

Direct underground passageways connect the terminal with the 1 2 3 7 <7> A C E N Q R S New York City Subway trains.

NYCT buses

New York City Transit Manhattan buses M34a, M42, M10, M20 stop immediately outside the terminal.

Northern New Jersey jitneys

In the last decade numerous jitney routes serving Hudson, Berrgen and Passaic counties in Northern New Jersey originate at or in the vicinity of the bus terminal. Dollar vans, many operated by Spanish Transportation, to Paterson tend use platforms on the lower level. Routes to Bergenline Avenue/GWB Plaza, and Boulevard East depart from 42nd Street outside bus terminal's North Wing.^{[16][17] [18][19][20][21]}

Megabus

In 2011, a controversy arose when Megabus, a long-distance cut-rate carrier using double decker buses, with the permission of the New York City Department of Transportation, began to use the streets and sidewalk at the terminal. The director of the PANYNJ, citing safety, and well long-haul companies paying rent to use the terminal, citing unfair competitive advantage, were opposed to the permission to allow the company use of 41st Street directly under the connection between the two wings of the Port Authority.^[22] Despite these concerns and complaints, Megabus was permitted to stay.^[23] In April 2012, legislation was introduced at the New York State Legislature which if passed would allow further regulation the use of bus stops on city streets by intercity buses.

Capacity and overflow

The XBL, or exclusive bus lane, on Lincoln Tunnel Helix during AM rush hour, connects with ramps leading to the PABT

The PABT is the gateway for most bus and jitney traffic entering Manhattan^[24] with more than 190,000 passengers^[25] on 6,000 bus trips made through the Lincoln Tunnel and terminal daily.^[26]The Lincoln Tunnel Approach and Helix (NJ 495) in Hudson County, New Jersey passes through a cut and descends the Hudson Palisades to the Lincoln Tunnel at the other end of which is the PABT.^[27] Starting 1964 studies were conducted to address the feasibility of an exclusive bus lane (XBL) during the weekday morning peak period.^[28] The XBL, first implemented in 1971, serves weekday eastbound bus traffic between 6:00am-10:00am. The lane is fed by the New Jersey Turnpike at Exit 16E and the terminus of New Jersey Route 3. The helix, tunnel, and terminal are owned and operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the bi-state agency that also implements the 2.5-mile (4.02 km) contra-flow express bus lane along one of three westbound lanes. The XBL allows for 1725-1750 buses transporting about 65,000 persons and is a major component of the morning "inbound" commutation crossing the Hudson River.^{[29][30][31][32][33]} It is used by numerous NJT interstate bus routes (100–199) as well regional and long haul companies.^[34]

Despite the XBL to the tunnel there are often long delays due to congestion caused by the limited capacity of bus lanes for deboarding passengers at the bus terminal, which has reached it's capacity.^[35] leading to re-routing and overflow on local streets^[36][35] In December 2011, the New Jersey Assembly passed a resolution calling upon the PANYNJ to address the issue of congestion.^[26] Thomas Duane, representing New York's 29th Senate District which includes the area around the PABT, has also called for reduced congestion in the neighborhood.^[37][38] A consortium of regional transportation advocates, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, have proposed a reconfiguration and expansion of the terminal, a PM west bound XBL, bus stops at other Manhattan locations, and a new bus storage depot.^[38] A proposed bus garage in Midtown so that day-time turnover buses could avoid unnecessarily travelling through the tunnel without passengers was scrapped by the agency in October 2011.^[39][40] In May 2012, the commissioner of NJDOT suggested that some NJT routes could orginate/terminate at other Manhattan locations, notably the East Side. an arrangement requiring approval of the NYC Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) to use bus stops.^[41]

Cancelled expansion

20 Times Square

The PANYNJ has attempted to further expand the terminal through public–private partnership by leasing air rights over the North Wing.

In 1999 a 35-story building known as 7 Times Square was proposed to be constructed over the North Wing and a driving range was to be constructed over the South Wing.^[46] However, the project was put on hold due to a decline in the economy following the dot com bust.^[47]

Between 2000 and 2011 the PANYNJ worked with Vornado Realty Trust, who had for a time partnered with Ruben Associates.^[48] In November 2007, the PANYNJ announced the terms of an agreement in which it would receive nearly $500 million in a lease arrangement and cpnstruction of additional terminal facilities.^[49] After a architectural competition, a 42-story office tower designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Richard Rogers with 1,300,000 square feet (120,000 m²) of commercial space was chosen. The agreement included the addition of 60,000 square feet (5,600 m²) of new retail space in the bus terminal, as well as 18 additional departure gates, accommodating 70 additional buses carrying up to 3,000 passengers per hour. New escalators would be installed to help move passengers more quickly between the gate area and the ground floor. Construction was expected to begin in 2009 or 2010 and take four years to complete.^[50] The agreement expired in August, 2009,^[51] and in May 2010, Vornado was given an retroactive extension on the deadline to August 2011.^[52] In July 2011, Vornando announced they had found a new partner to partially finance the tower,^[48] but in November 2011, the new backers pulled out of the project, leaving the fate of the building up in the air.^[53]

Bus depot

Many buses layover on city streets or make non-passenger carrying trips through the Lincoln Tunnel for daytime parking

The Port Authority allows for limited layovers of buses, thus requiring companies to make other arrangements during off peak hours and between trips. Many park on local streets or parking lots during the day while others make a round-trip without passengers through the Lincoln Tunnel to use facilities in New Jersey.^[54] Bus layover parking on city streets is regulated by the NYDOT which assigns locations throughout the city. In the vicinity of the PABT these are concentrated on the side streets between between 10th and 12th Avenues from 29th Street to 60th Street.^[55] Various studies have concluded that there is a need for a new bus depot in Midtown.^{[56][57][58][59]} In a joint study by NYC and it was determined the preferred location for a bus depot was at Gaviin Plaza located on 39th to 40th Streets between 10th and 11th Avenues.^[56] The PANYNJ announnced considerable toll increases on its crossings between New York and New Jersey in August 2011 citing the construction of $800 million "new bus garage connected to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, which will serve as a traffic reliever to the Lincoln Tunnel and midtown Manhattan streets, saving two-thirds of the empty bus trips that must make two extra trips through the tunnel each day."^[60] Originally included in the PANYNJ 2007-2016 Capital Plan^[61] construction of the garage scrapped by the agency in October 2011 citing budgetary constraints due to an arrangement whereby the toll increases would be incrementally implemented.^[62] In April 2012, the director of the PANYNJ reported that a proposal had been made by developer Larry Silverstein to develop a property at 39th Street near the ramps between the tunnel and the terminal.^[63][64] The parcel, which he has a memorandum of understanding to develop, cannot accommodate bus ramps and would require the use of elevators for bus storage.^[65]

See also

• George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal
• Journal Square Transportation Center

References

External links

• Guide to the Port Authority Bus Terminal
• Port Authority Bus Terminal
• Port Authority Bus Terminal History
• XBL-Lincoln Tunnel-PABT

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Port Authority Bus Terminal