With more than 100 double decker tour buses a day, Bleecker St. in Greenwich Village, has become a major tourist thoroughfare from West to East. Like many streets in residential neighborhoods, its single lane for moving traffic and a bike lane was never intended to absorb this commerical overload.
The rapid increase of inter-state, intra-state, chartered, tour, and sightseeing buses is, still, largely unregulated. While a key component in the growth of NYC’s tourism industry, the increased traffic, safety and environmental impacts on residential neighborhoods and congestion on major commercial crossroads still needs serious and thoughtful attention.
In response to concerns raised by Our Streets Our Lives, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, Manhattan community-based organizations in Chelsea, Hells Kitchen, at Lincoln Center, Central Park West, in Harlem, in Chinatown, at Battery Park, the South Street Seaport, as well as Dumbo and Fulton Ferry Landing in Brooklyn, State Senator Daniel Squadron and State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver introduced legislation in February to authorize New York City to pass a local law to regulate intercity passenger bus service through a permit system. Provisions of the proposed legislation included:
- 1. Prohibiting intercity buses from picking up and dropping off passengers on city streets without a permit that defines approved pick-up and drop off locations.
2. Assigning a city agency to implement and enforce the permitting system.
3. Establishing a community board review process for issuing permits and designating locations/relocations for bus pick-up and drop-off
4. Requiring consultation with the MTA in designating locations/relocations for bus pick-up and drop-off and issuance of permits
5. Providing for public notice of all permit applications within five days of submission
6. Requiring applicants to obtain five thousand dollar surety bonds
7. Mandating agency review, and approval or denial, within ninety days of submission of application.
8. Requiring the display of permits in buses
9. Exempting a number of vehicles, including school buses, sight-seeing buses, transportation authority buses, municipal buses and others
10. Authorizing a maximum $275 annual fee to be credited to the city as well as civil penalties for violations
11. Prohibiting the adoption of any system until there has been a public hearing
While the legislation received broad support by the New York City Council , it remains in the State Senate Transportation Committee.
The refinements we, and a number of others, including CB#4 Manhattan recommend include:
- Giving NYC DOT authority to regulate the routes and parking of all buses. Interstate, intra-state, commuter vans, charter, tour and sightseeing buses (double-decker) should all be subject to permitting to provide a consistent approach to all curb and street allocation between various intermodal transportation uses. This will also allow evaluating whether each community carries no more than its fair share of the routes and stops. Further there should be a limit on the number of parking permits issued by the city.
- Designation of approved routes. All buses should be permitted to travel on approved routes for reaching their destinations. Streets serving residential districts, schools, senior centers or landmarked districts are not appropriate for the size of these vehicles which pose special burdens on pedestrian safety and the structural integrity of ancient infrastructures.
- Permits that spell out the bus operator’s responsibilities in managing the pick up /drop off locations: idling should be banned during loading and unloading; a rope should separate the queues from the pedestrian flow and retain the 8 ft pedestrian right-of-way required of all NYC sidewalk incursions.
- Surety bonds as a permitting requirement, in an amount commensurate to the bus company’s – or their parent company – annual revenue.
- Raising the cap on annual fees. The proposed legislation caps the fee per bus per year at $ 250. Sidewalk space and curb space are at a premium in the city, the fee should compensate the city for revenue other curb uses would have generated. For instance annual revenue from three muni-meters (the amount of space a bus would take) is more than $39,000/yr.; for a sidewalk café in the 34th St area that revenue is more then $19,000/yr.
As a point of reference, a recent inquiry to the NYC Office Of The Comptroller has confirmed that “Bus companies that operate sightseeing buses pay a fee of $100 per bus for a two year license. In FY10 the City collected $20,725 of fees for such buses.” - Enforcement. This legislation does not make clear who will be enforcing locations, pedestrian right-of-ways, routes, EPA issues such as idling, etc.
And none of this precludes the need for a comprehensive plan for garages and layovers throughout the City that will not infringe on residential neighborhoods for charter buses, charter tour buses as well as interstate buses. Tourism and intermodal transportation are, and will be, an important part of New York City’s fiscal and green strategy for many years to come. We need to get this right.
We do have one benchmark to celebrate, however. As of July 2011 at least 10% of all hop-on hop-off buses should be using headphones instead of public PA systems on their tours as our 2010 Local Law 15 legislation prescribes.
Ellen Peterson Lewis, Chair, Transportation
Barbara Backer, Chair, Pro Tempore
