Greenwich Village Tour Bus Routes

Bleecker St Tour Bus Routes

With more than 100 double-decker buses a day, Bleecker St. in Greenwich Village, has been the  a major tour bus route  from West to East and then heading down Broadway to Lower Manhattan.  Like many streets in residential neighborhoods, its single lane for moving traffic and a bike lane was never intended to absorb this commercial overload.

In July CB#2 Manhattan heard a proposal to alter Greenwich Village tour bus routes – substituting a route going east on West Fourth St. for the current one on Bleecker St.   Similar conversations had been heard in the past regarding the use of 8th Street and Charlton St. as alternatives.  In February 2008 CB#2 issued a resolution regarding the planning and regulation of bus routes.  So,  it comes as no surprise that the area is no more willing to accept this type of imposition on their local, largely residential, and predominantly narrow streets in 2012.  CB2Man_Reso-2008-bus-routes

The Community Board’s July 2012 response was to deny the West 4th St. proposal because the argument that the street is wider and has less residential living didn’t hold water.  As pointed out by one Community Board member, routing literally hundreds of tour buses at the southern entrance to Washington Square Park in the middle of heavy NYU student and local resident pedestrian traffic didn’t seem like much of an improvement.  The overall consensus of the community members attending the meeting was that the buses do not belong on any Greenwich Village side streets.  The current route of the buses on Bleecker Street certainly demonstrates the worst of all the conditions of the thus-far proposed alternatives.

The Committee did request that DOT examine the feasibility of routing CitySights buses east from 7th Ave S along Greenwich Ave and then on 8th St to Broadway and that DOT provide a rationale for ruling out the use of Houston St – specifically the block between 7th Ave S and 6th Ave – as an option for this bus traffic.

Since the July hearing it has been observed that double-decker tour buses are using 8th Street, West 4th St. and Bleecker St. routes, which doesn’t say much for Community Board recommendations and community input in this process !

Greenwich Village is not alone in this dilemma.  Catherine McVay Hughes, the recently elected Chair of CB#1 was quoted this week in a Downtown Express article documenting tour bus routes and tourism issues in Lower Manhattan as well:  ”The influx of tourists translates into an increased number of tour buses, thereby worsening area congestion.   Moreover, tourists stopping to take photographs and to observe local landmarks obstruct pedestrian and vehicular flow and contribute to street litter.”

To her credit,  Councilmember Chin convened a City Council hearing on Sept. 28th to review a variety of tourism impacts in Lower Manhattan, among them tour bus routes.

Our Streets Our Lives (OSOL) has been working the past eight years with elected officials, DOT, CB2, and the bus companies to divert tour bus routes from the narrow village streets to the major thoroughfares.  We have supported, and will continue to support the 2008 CB2 resolution that states this.  We also have challenged DOT’s assertion that they do not have the jurisdiction to regulate city tour bus routes.  DOT and the bus companies are well aware of our position.

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managing editor, October 3rd 2012 | Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in NYC Dept of Transportation, Tourism

How much progress on headsets in tour buses?

CitySights New York open-air tour buses

CitySights New York open-air tour buses

As we have oft posted, the NYC legislation requiring headsets on all open-air tour buses was instituted in June 2010.  According to that legislation all newly licensed open air tour buses on or after June 18, 2010 must be equipped with a headphone limited sound reproduction sound system.  Fleets with already licensed open-air buses would have to adhere to the following timetable:

By July 1, 2011 no less than 10% of each fleet

By July 1, 2012, no less than 40% of each fleet

By July 1, 2013, no less than 60% of each fleet

By July 1, 2014, no less than 80% of each fleet

By July 1, 2015, no less than 100% of each fleet.

On October 13, 2011, The Department of Consumer Affairs commenced proceedings against Gray Line New York Tours, Inc. for eight non-compliant tour buses and CitySights New York, LLC for six non-compliant buses.

So here is the report card for year one ( July 2010 to July 2011) and the settlement on fines agreed to in March 2012 by CitySights sa_CitySights_New_York_LLC.pdf and the settlement agreed to by Gray Line sa_Gray_Line.pdf  for a grand total of $429,600 to be collected by the City for noncompliance in the first year.

At this writing the second year,  (July 1, 2011 to July 1, 2012) seems not to be an issue.  According to a spokesperson at the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) there were eight summonses issued to open-air tour buses, none regarding compliance with headset delivered sound.

DCA has also reported that there are only four companies which have open air buses.  Of those, three companies have equipped 50 percent of their fleets (including City Sights) with limited sound reproduction systems and one has equipped 40 percent of its fleet.  Only 40 percent of each fleet was required by law to be equipped with limited sound reproduction systems and headsets by July 1, 2012.

Mr. Marmurstein of Citysights says he has no microphones going and that all their open-air tour buses are head-set ready although tenants in Washington Square Village and on 4th St. have reported hearing them.  Local residents are collecting data – date, time, name of company and bus number for the record.

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managing editor, October 1st 2012 | Tags: , , ,
Posted in Local Law 15 (2010), NYC Council Legislation, NYC Dept of Consumer Affairs

A Plan for Buses for 9/11 Memorial ?

Grayline Hop-On at 34th St, No Standing Zone

Grayline Hop-On at 34th St, No Standing Zone

With an anticipated 60-100 charter and tour buses per day headed for the World Trade Center site, and unknown hundreds of additional interstate and intra-state buses picking up and dropping off tourists in the 34th St. and 42nd St. areas, the issues of lay-over locations, drop-off and boarding stops, permits and routing will affect Manhattan drastically, from 42nd St. south, river to river beginning in September.  Without a hoped for long-term plan living with sightseeing, tour and charter buses is going to be everybody’s problem.  See Regulating Buses post for a fuller discussion.

Since February of this year City officials have been trying to wrap their minds around a 9/11 Memorial plan, which now looks pretty temporary, awfully haphazard and not too pleasing for anyone.   

The first actual meeting of downtown stakeholders was on April 15th in a closed door session convened by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.  It included Assemblymember Deborah Glick, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, City Councilmember Margaret Chin, New York Police Department representatives, Community Board 1 (CB1) chair Julie Menin, and Downtown Alliance President Liz Berger, in addition to Speaker Silver and Senator Squadron.  At that time DNA Info reported the testimonies.

This meeting was followed by a Public Hearing June 28th, convened by the Department of Transportation and Manhattan Borough Commissioner Luis Sanchez to review parking rules changes targeting needs for the 9/11 Memorial bus management.  This revised plan utilizes a combination of authorizations to park at Munimeters or other designated locations and introduces a kind of placard parking system from Houston St. south.  DNAInfo covered this meeting, as well, as did Our Chinatown with some interesting additional controversy regarding Chinatown Rest Stops for Tour Buses !  The Broadsheet Daily has just published the most comprehensive report to date on DOT and NYC & Co’s plans:  Tourbus traffic downtown will increase dramatically with the opening of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum . 

State Senator Daniel Squadron submitted written testimony expressing deep concern, “that the city is not moving forward with ideas including steeper penalties for bus operators that break the rules and a ban on buses circling Downtown’s streets.”

State Assemblymember Deborah Glick’s testimony called attention to the related issue of buses north of Houston St:  “The current proposal indicates that bus muni-meters are at designated points south of Houston Street. The current proposal would allow those buses that choose to avoid the designated muni-meters to travel North of Houston which will create congestion in an area that is already far to congested with bus traffic. It is critical that CB2 be given an opportunity to be a part of this dialogue as they are the community most affected by congestion North of Houston.”

Assemblymember Glick also urged more thought on the bus pricing plan:  “I am concerned with the proposed pricing of the commercial muni-meters in and around the WTC Memorial Area. Specifically, the $20 dollar per hour per three hour parking blocks seems counter-intuitive to the desired effect of discouraging extended layovers by buses and discouraging avoidance.”

What concerns us most is the concentration on tour bus parking below Houston St. without regard to the many other attendant factors.  At present bus parking will be limited to three hours, to many an unrealistic time frame for tourists to disembark from a remote location, have their designated tour – which may include more than the World Trade Center site itself  - and then return.  See Downtown Tour Guides Worry About 9/11 Memorial Bus Plan – DNAinfo.com

But, in order for the buses to reach Lower Manhattan and the 9/11 Memorial, they must also travel through numerous communities where they will certainly increase traffic congestion, parking in unauthorized places, and circle endlessly through narrow residential streets trying to find authorized spaces, or waiting to get into authorized spaces downtown while trying to manage frustrated tour guides and confused patrons as they pick up and drop off passengers.

Citizens in communities such as Greenwich Village, Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen have been trying for years to work with DOT to channel tour and charter buses to routes that are less disruptive to communities and businesses…and which can better fit the requirements of the vehicles and charters, themselves.  DOT’s response is that the agency does not have authority to regulate bus routes because buses are under the jurisdiction of Interstate Commerce Federal Laws.  But there are contradictions to this answer:  since July 1998 DOT has prohibited tour and charter buses from traveling or laying over on Brooklyn Heights’ small streets.  Again, Assemblymember Glick challenged DOT’s inconsistent response to this crucial factor:  “it is my understanding that DOT, under the Administration Code and Rules of the City of New York,  in fact does have the authority to regulate New York City bus parking within city limits as well as to approve or disapprove proposed routes by tour bus operators.”

The State Assembly and Senate bills introduced by Speaker Silver and Senator Squadron were designed to eliminate this shadow-dance between NYC DOT and the Interstate Commerce Commission, by giving NYC “home rule.”

Judith Chazen Walsh (Member, Our Streets Our Lives) who also spoke at June 28th’s hearing pointed out that DOT’s “rules change” for 9/11 Memorial bus management not only limits coverage to Lower Manhattan, but it ignores provisions for enforcement, fines, penalties, trip permits and other mechanisms that could mitigate the chaos of the September 11 launch of Memorial tourism.

Even bus lobbyists question the feasibility of managing buses below Houston St., only.  Clive Burrow, chairman of the New York TAB (Travel Advisory Bureau), a membership organization that has marketed New York City tourism since 1996, was quoted in the Broadsheet Daily as saying:  “we are also planning to brief our local politicians in July on readily available [bus] parking in Midtown. There are literally thousands of spaces that could be used, but it will take some political will and some horse trading to make them available.”  A recent Mayor’s Midtown Citizens Committee (MMCC) report offers a third perspective. 

Ms. Walsh offers some additional guidelines referenced in several major cities like Boston, Washington, New Orleans, San Francisco as well as Ottawa and Vancouver that have motorcoach regulations which should be considered.  One of the most comprehensive ordinances has existed in Philadelphia since 2006 where tour buses are licensed by Philadelphia’s Department of Streets which charges a $100 application fee and approves the applicant’s proposed tour route if the Department finds ‘that the route is safe and that it does not unreasonably hinder traffic flow”.  An approved license costs $5,000.  The applicant must also “demonstrate the ability to load or unload passengers without using the public right-of-way for periods in excess of 15 minutes.”

Even a bus management system as straight-forward as Philadelphia’s would likely take longer than our remaining two months to initiate for the 9/11 Memorial…and would probably have to by-pass any Community Board routing and location approvals in the near-term. 

At this juncture we ask that DOT’s proposal include:

1.)  Parking/layover locations and route regulations for tour and charter buses for the area south of the Port Authority Building, river to river.

 2.)  That all locations south of Houston St are drop-off only and that pick-up locations are added north to 42nd St. and designated on Avenues as close as possible to Subway Stations, with the exception of specially designated handicapped transportation layover locations which should be as close to the World Trade Center Memorial as possible.

3.)   That all other non-public bus traffic be limited to streets of two or more vehicle travel lanes – in any direction.

Ellen Peterson Lewis, Chair, Transportation
Barbara Backer, Chair, Pro Tempore

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managing editor, July 9th 2011 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Interstate Commerce Commission, New York State Legislation, NY State Dept of Transportation, NYC Dept of Transportation

Regulating Buses

Bleecker St Tour Buses and Lanes

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. 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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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. 
  4. Surety bonds as a permitting requirement, in an amount commensurate to the bus company’s – or their parent company – annual revenue.
  5. 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.”
  6. 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

 

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managing editor, July 9th 2011 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Local Law 15 (2010), New York State Legislation, NYC Council Legislation, NYC Dept of Transportation, Tri-State Transportation Campaign, Uncategorized