New York City’s buses are more than transportation — they are one of the most powerful engines of opportunity in the city.
Mayor Mamdani tapped into something special by prioritizing fast buses for New Yorkers. At the NYC Department of Transportation, we are delivering. This week, we released “Next Stop: Fast Buses, Better Service” — the mayor’s plan, in partnership with Gov. Hochul and the MTA, to go further for the more than one million New Yorkers who rely on buses to get to work, school, medical appointments, grocery stores, houses of worship, and family.
For many residents, especially those without cars, the bus is not one option among many — it is the only practical way to get where they need to go. Yet for too long, New York’s bus riders have faced the frustration of the nation’s slowest buses. Our plan is about giving New Yorkers something increasingly precious: time.
The plan delivers faster, more reliable service through new busways and bus lanes along 50 key corridors, traffic signals that give buses a head start, and more efficient boarding. It will also create comfortable, accessible stops with seating and shelter.
When buses move faster, commutes become shorter and less stressful. When we meet our goal of improving speeds by 20%, a trip that takes an hour becomes less than 50 minutes. Over time, those saved minutes add up to dozens of hours — time for homework, loved ones, education, additional shifts, or simply resting.
These gains matter most to the New Yorkers who depend on buses most. Bus riders are disproportionately working-class, lower-income, and carless. Many are seniors who rely on transit to stay independent. Many are parents juggling school drop-offs and work schedules. Many are people with disabilities who need dependable transportation to access services and opportunity.
Many bus riders live in neighborhoods historically underserved by transit — large stretches of eastern Queens, southeast Brooklyn, the eastern Bronx, and Staten Island, where residents often live far from subway stations. In those neighborhoods, buses are the backbone of mobility, and improving them is among the most effective ways to expand opportunity.
Bus riders are also more likely to be Black, Latino, or more recent immigrants than the city’s population as a whole. When buses are slow and unreliable, those burdens fall disproportionately on these communities. When buses improve, those same New Yorkers gain better access to jobs, schools, healthcare, and the full life of the city. This plan is a commitment to fairness — and to the mayor’s vision of a city that works for working people.
The projects already underway show what that commitment looks like. This year, we are delivering major improvements along Fordham Road, 161st St. in the Bronx, Flatbush Ave., Linden Boulevard, and Madison Ave. and 34th St. in Manhattan — benefiting hundreds of thousands of daily riders. We also announced the first-ever busway in the Bronx on Tremont Ave., where the Bx36 crawls at 6 mph.
This plan raises the bar for what bus investment can achieve. By outlining a vision for the next generation of bus rapid transit corridors, we are creating the conditions for transit-oriented housing development — ensuring that the neighborhoods served by faster, more reliable buses become places where working class New Yorkers can afford to live near the transit they depend on.
For generations, buses have quietly carried New Yorkers through every corner of the city. Now it is time to give bus riders the service they deserve — and make clear that faster buses are not just a transportation upgrade, but an investment in the daily lives of the New Yorkers who need them most.
Flynn is New York City’s transportation commissioner.