A table of the fastest, slowest, most-reliable and least-reliable buses in New York City

author
1 minute, 28 seconds Read

The Straphangers Campaign just released a survey of the city’s buses to determine the fastest, slowest, most-reliable and least-reliable buses in New York City. This was determined by the average “noon-time speeds” (going in both directions) of 34 Selected New York City Bus Routes from May 20 – August 21, 2014.

New York City's Slowest Buses
BUS Route Avg. MPH
M79 3.2
M23 3.6
M42 3.8
M57 3.8
M50 4.0
M14A 4.1
M14D 4.4
M86 4.6
M21 4.7
M66 4.8

No surprise here that the slowest buses are all in Manhattan with the slowest being the 79 crosstown bus inching at just 3.2 miles per hour across 79th street. And of course the M14D, my “bus of preference,” is the seventh slowest bus in the city (stupid Union Square).

New York City's Fastest Buses
BUS Route Avg. MPH
S79 SBS 14.8
S53 10.1
Q27 9.6
Bx12 SBS 9.2
B6 8.6
Q44 LTD 8.4
Bx41 SBS 8.4
S48/98 8.3
Q58 7.7
Bx12 7.4

And on the other end of the spectrum, the fastest buses all belong to the outer boroughs with Bronx (3), Queens (3), and Staten Island (3) all well-represented with Brooklyn being honored with one of the faster buses (B6) in New York.

The fastest Manhattan bus (non-Select Bus Service) is slower than almost every other outer borough bus (except the Bronx’s Bx19). Of the 20 slowest buses, 17 of them are in Manhattan. :/ Here’s the full list:

Route Average MPH, beginning at 12:00 Noon
BUS Route Avg. MPH
M79 3.2
M23 3.6
M42 3.8
M57 3.8
M50 4.0
M14A 4.1
M14D 4.4
M86 4.6
M21 4.7
M66 4.8
Bx19 4.8
M106 4.9
M8 5.0
M101 5.0
M96 5.2
M15 5.4
M116 5.6
B41 LTD 5.7
M72 5.7
Bx2 5.9
B35 LTD 6.2
M15 SBS 6.4
Bx41 6.5
Bx1 LTD 7.1
Bx12 7.4
Q58 7.7
S48/98 8.3
Bx41 SBS 8.4
Q44 LTD 8.4
B6 8.6
Bx12 SBS 9.2
Q27 9.6
S53 10.1
S79 SBS 14.8

The city’s least dependable bus? The M15 local. Read more at DNA Info or at Straphangers.org

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.