79th Street Select Bus Service To Launch In May, MTA Says

NEW YORK, NY — Traveling from the Upper West Side to the Upper East Side is about to get easier. On May 21 the MTA will launch select bus service on the M79 crosstown bus route, MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz confirmed with Patch.

The MTA announced that select bus service would be implemented on the M79 bus route in February, and is currently installing select bus ticket machines at M79 bus stops. The initial launch was scheduled for April, but had to be pushed back because the machines were not fully installed and operational.

The M79 bus route is currently one of the worst in Manhattan, according to the Bus Turnaround Coalition. The coalition's report card on the route shows an average travel speed of 4.3 miles-per-hour and that more than one in 12 buses are bunched. The M79 has a daily ridership of 14,660 — a 19.5 percent ridership decrease since 2010, according to the coalition's report card. (For more New York City news delivered straight to your inbox sign up for Patch's free newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

The implementation of select bus service is expected to increase bus speed on the route by 20 percent and increase the route's ridership up from its current 14,500 daily customers, according to the MTA's February announcement.

Unlike other select bus service routes, the M79 select bus will make all the same stops as the current local bus.

"Making the M79 a Select Bus Service route is a great win for the Upper West and Upper East Sides, which will soon benefit from faster, more reliable buses and a stronger crosstown connection," said John Raskin, Executive Director of the Riders Alliance, in a statement.

The new select bus service is expected to cost $1.7 million per year, and the funds for the project were approved in the MTA's operating budget.

Photo by MTA via Flickr/Creative Commons.