Countdown Clocks To Be Installed At 48 Upper East Side, Midtown Bus Stops

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — City officials and transportation advocates held a rally on the Upper East Side Tuesday to unveil improvements to the east side's bus infrastructure.

City Councilman Dan Garodnick, the Department of Transportation and the Riders Alliance stood in front of a newly-installed countdown clock on the corner of 68th Street and Lexington Avenue and announced that 48 similar clocks will be installed at bus stations on the Upper East Side and in Midtown Manhattan.

"With more and more delays below ground, it’s time we stop ignoring our transit above ground," Garodnick said in a statement. "My $1 million investment in 48 bus stop countdown clocks will give riders critical real-time data to reduce stress and help them make the best decisions for their trip. With this allocation, we are moving New York one step closer to having the 21st century bus system its residents expect and deserve."

The clocks are a result of a $950,000 investment made by City Councilman Garodnick's office in 2015. Four of the 48 clocks — located at 60th Street and Third Avenue, 50th Street and Third Avenue, 57th Street and Sixth Avenue and 68th Street and Lexington Avenue — have already been installed. The remaining 44 countdown clocks will be installed by the end of the year.

The clocks include audio and visual cues that let passengers know when the next bus will arrive at their stop.

"This expansion of bus stop clocks is an important step that the city has taken to signal to riders that they matter," Rebecca Bailin, campaign manager at the Riders Alliance, said in a statement. "As we fight to make buses faster and more reliable, improvements like these are about equity: bus riders, who are dis-proportionally lower-income and more elderly than the City as a whole, will be able to plan their trips to accommodate their lives."

Photo by NYC Department of Transportation