The Port Authority Bus Terminal 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 at 625 Eighth Avenue between 40th Street and
42nd Street, one block east of the Lincoln Tunnel and one block west of
Times Square. PABT serves as a terminus and departure
point for commuter routes, as well as for long-distance intercity routes, and
is a major transit hub for New Jerseyans. The terminal is the largest
in the United States and the busiest in the world by volume of traffic, serving
about 8,000 buses and 225,000 people on an average weekday and more than 65
million people a year. It has 223 departure gates and 1,250 car parking
spaces, as well as commercial and retail space. In 2011, there were more than
2.263 million bus departures from the terminal.
The PABT, opened in 1950 between 8th and 9th Avenues and 40th and 41st Streets,
was built to consolidate the many different private terminals spread
across Midtown Manhattan. A second wing extending to 42nd Street was added in
1979. It is one of three bus terminals operated by the PANYNJ, the others being
the George Washington Bridge Bus Station in Upper Manhattan and the Journal
Square Transportation Center in Jersey City.
The terminal has reached peak hour capacity, leading to congestion and
overflow on local streets. As it does not allow for layover parking, buses are
required to use local streets or lots, or return through the tunnel empty. The
PANYNJ has been unsuccessful in its attempts to expand passenger facilities
through public private partnership and in 2011 delayed construction of a bus
depot annex citing budgetary constraints. In June 2013, it
commissioned an 18-month study that would consider reconfiguration,
expansion, and replacement options. History
= Site= Before construction of the PABT, there
were several terminals scattered throughout Midtown Manhattan, some of
which were part of hotels. The Federal Writers Project 1940 publication of New
York: A Guide to the Empire State lists among them the All American Bus Depot on
West 42nd, the Consolidated Bus Terminal on West 41st, and the Hotel Astor Bus
Terminal on West 45th. The Dixie Bus Center on West 42nd,
located on the ground floor of the hotel of the same name, opened in 1930 and
operated until 1959. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad had coach service aboard
ferry to Communipaw Terminal in Jersey City that ran from an elegant bus
terminal with a revolving bus platform in the Chanin Building at 42nd and
Lexington. Greyhound Lines had its own facility adjacent to Pennsylvania
Station and did not move into the PABT until 1963, by which time all
long-distance bus service to the city was consolidated at the terminal.
= Original construction and additions= The South Wing of the PABT, originally
built in the International Style, occupies the block between 40th and 41st
Streets and 8th and 9th Avenues and was opened on December 15, 1950. A vertical
addition of three parking levels able to accommodate 1,000 cars was completed in
1963. Plans to expand the bus station to 42nd Street were floated as early as
1965. The North Wing was opened in 1979. This expansion increased capacity by 50
percent and created a new façade comprising 27 steel X-shaped trusses.
Based on this façade design, Virtualtourist listed the PABT in 2008
as one of the "World's Top 10 Ugliest Buildings and Monuments". In 2007, the
South Wing underwent a seismic retrofit in a $52 million building
code-compliance project to reinforce and stabilize it against earthquakes.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the area in and around the PABT was
considered dangerous by police, tourists, and commuters due to high
crime, prostitution, vagrant behavior, and inadequate upkeep and law
enforcement in the building and nearby Times Square, especially after dark, but
this is no longer the case. During 1997, the terminal was the subject of a study,
coordinated by Professor Marcus Felson of Rutgers University, which identified
strategic changes to the building's design and area supervision with a view
to reducing crime and other problems. = Expansion proposals=
Air rights The PANYNJ has attempted to further
expand the terminal through public–private partnerships by leasing
air rights over the North Wing. In 1999, a 35-story building, to be
known as 7 Times Square, was proposed to be constructed over the North Wing and a
golf driving range was to be constructed over the South Wing. However, the
project was put on hold in 2001 due to a decline in the economy following the dot
com bust. Between 2000 and 2011, the PANYNJ worked
with Vornado Realty Trust, who had partnered with the Lawrence Ruben
Company. In November 2007, the PANYNJ announced the terms of an agreement in
which it would receive nearly $500 million in a lease arrangement for a new
office tower that would also provide funds for additional terminal
facilities. It would include 1,300,000 square feet of commercial space in a new
office tower, which was to use the vanity address 20 Times Square, the
addition of 60,000 square feet 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. After an architectural competition, the PANYNJ
selected the design by Pritzker Prize–winning architect Richard Rogers
from Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners for a 45-story office tower with an overall
height of 855 feet. The agreement expired in August 2009, and in May 2010,
Vornado was given a retroactive extension on the deadline to August
2011. In July 2011, Vornado announced they had found a new partner to
partially finance the tower, but in November 2011, the new backers pulled
out of the project. In June 2014 the PANYNJ received a
higher price than anticipated for the sale of nearby property, $115 million
versus $100 million. The value of air rights above the terminal would be
higher than previously appraised, thanks to rising property values in the area
surrounding the terminal and an indication of the rising value air
rights above the terminal. The agency had intentions to release a request for
proposals for air-rights development in 2014-2015.
West Side bus depot 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. 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
9th and 12th Avenues from 30th Street to 60th Street.
Various studies and news reports have concluded that there is a need for a new
bus depot in Midtown. In a joint study by NYC and PANYNJ, it was determined a
preferred location for a bus depot was at Gavin Plaza located on 39th to 40th
Streets between 10th and 11th Avenues. However, this proposed location for
commuter buses would not have capacity for charter buses and tour buses.
The PANYNJ announced considerable toll increases on its crossings between New
York and New Jersey in August 2011, citing as one of their reasons the
construction of an $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." Originally included in
the PANYNJ 2007-2016 Capital Plan, construction of the garage was scrapped
by the agency in October 2011 after citing budgetary constraints due to an
arrangement whereby the toll increases would be incrementally implemented.
In April 2012, the director of the PANYNJ reported that a proposal had been
made by developer Larry Silverstein, who has a memorandum of understanding to
develop this property at 39th Street near the ramps between the tunnel and
the terminal, to construct a bus garage with a residential tower above it. This
parcel is not large enough to accommodate bus ramps and would require
the use of elevators, which seemed to be a new type of application for bus
storage. It has not progressed any further.
In 2014 the PANYNJ made an application for a $230 million grant to the Federal
Transit Administration for development of the garage.
Midtown Bus Master Plan In June 2013, the PANYNJ commissioned an
18-month study that will consider reconfiguration, expansion, and
replacement options for the PABT and new bus staging and storage facilities on
Manhattan's West Side. The $5.5 million contract awarded to Kohn Pedersen Fox
and Parsons Brinkerhoff would look into potential public-private financing,
including the sale of air rights and cost-sharing with private bus carriers.
Art and advertising The Commuters, a sculpture of three
weary bus passengers and a clock salvaged from original terminal by
George Segal, was unveiled in the main ticket area in 1982. 42nd Street
Ballroom, a rolling ball sculpture by George Rhoads on the main floor of the
North Wing, was installed in 1983. 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".
Triple Bridge Gateway is an art illumination installation completed in
2009 by Leni Schwendinger Light Projects underneath the ramps connecting the
tunnel and the terminal that is part of the transformation of the 9th Avenue
entrance of the South Wing. In July 2011, the PABT became home to
the world's largest mediamesh, a stainless fabric embedded with
light-emitting diodes for various types of media, art, and advertising imagery.
The LED imagery façade covers 6,000 square feet radiating from the corner of
42nd Street and 8th Avenue. Configuration
= Information and ticketing= There is no timetable board displaying
departures at the PABT, so passengers are required to inquire at information
booths or ticket counters for schedules and departure gates. Tickets can be
purchased on the main level of the South Wing at the main ticket plaza and at
Greyhound or Trailways counters, which also sell tickets for other intercity
lines. ShortLine Bus ticket counters are located in the North Wing.
New Jersey Transit maintains a customer service counter at the terminal on the
south wing main level. NJT has ticket vending machines throughout the
terminal. Effective in 2009, passengers boarding NJT buses are required to
purchase a ticket before boarding In April 2012, NJT began re-equipping
machines that would give change for those paying cash with bills rather than
$1 coins. NJT also accepts contactless payment systems, at TVMs and ticket
windows. = Gates=
There are 223 departure gates of either saw-tooth or pull-through island
platforms design at PABT. At the Subway Level, or lower level of both wings,
Gates 1-85 are predominately used for long-distance travel and jitneys, and
overnight hours for commuter lines. During hours of normal operation, Gates
200-425, numbered to indicate the different boarding areas within the
complex are accessible from the 2nd Floor and serve short-haul commuter
lines. Most NJ Transit routes and New Jersey private carrier commuter routes
are on the 200, 300 and 400 levels. = Retail and entertainment=
Like other transit hubs the PABT has undergone a series of renovations to
create a mall-like sphere to promote its retail, food, entertainment, and
services spaces. There are numerous franchise stores—such as Heartland
Brewery, RadioShack, Starbucks, Hudson News, Duane Reade, GNC, Bolton's, a
United States Postal Service branch station, as well as a variety of
restaurants and bars throughout the terminal. Frames, a bowling alley
occupies a large space on the 2nd floor. Companies
Connecting transport Direct underground passageways connect
the terminal with the 1 2 3 7 A C E N Q R S trains in the New York City Subway
at the Times Square – 42nd Street / 42nd Street – Port Authority Bus Terminal
station complex. New York City Transit Manhattan buses,
operated by New York City Bus, stop immediately outside the terminal.
In the last decade, numerous jitney routes serving Hudson, Bergen 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 to 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. In 2011, a controversy arose when
Megabus, a long-distance 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,
as well as 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. Despite these concerns and complaints, Megabus was initially
permitted to stay. However, the permit was withdrawn later that year. Megabus
now largely uses street-side stops near the Jacob Javits Convention Center and
Penn Station, except for a limited number of routes which use the PABT
Capacity and overflow The PABT is the gateway for most bus and
jitney traffic entering Manhattan with more than 190,000 passengers on 6,000
bus trips made through the Lincoln Tunnel and terminal daily. The Lincoln
Tunnel Approach and Helix 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. Starting in 1964, studies were conducted to address the
feasibility of an exclusive bus lane during the weekday morning peak period.
The XBL, first implemented in 1970, serves weekday eastbound bus traffic
between 6:00am–10:00am. The lane is fed by the New Jersey Turnpike at Exits 16E
and 17 and 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 contra-flow express bus left lane in
three westbound lanes. The XBL serves over 1,800 buses and 65,000 bus
commuters on regular weekday mornings and is a major component of the morning
"inbound" commutation crossing the Hudson River. Over 100 bus carriers
utilize the Exclusive Bus Lane. As of 2013, New Jersey Transit operates
fifty-seven interstate bus routes through the Lincoln Tunnel, as do
numerous regional and long distance companies.
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 its capacity. leading to re-routing and
overflow on local streets In December 2011, the New Jersey Assembly passed a
resolution calling upon the PANYNJ to address the issue of congestion.
Congestion contributed to a decline of the on-time performance of buses, which
was 92% percent in 2012 and 85% percent in the first quarter of 2014. 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.
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. A proposed bus garage in Midtown, so that day-time turnover
buses could avoid unnecessarily traveling through the tunnel without
passengers, was scrapped by the agency in October 2011. In May 2012, the
commissioner of NJDOT suggested that some NJ Transit routes could
originate/terminate at other Manhattan locations, notably the East Side; an
arrangement requiring approval of the NYC Department of Transportation to use
bus stops. Notes
References External links
Port Authority Bus Terminal Website Port Authority Bus Terminal History
Guide to the Port Authority Bus Terminal Buses, The Lincoln Tunnel, and The Port
Authority Bus Terminal