Port Authority Bus Terminal - Capacity and Overflow

Capacity and Overflow

The PABT is the gateway for most bus and jitney traffic entering Manhattan with more than 190,000 passengers on 6,000 bus trips made through the Lincoln Tunnel and terminal daily. The Lincoln Tunnel Approach and Helix (NJ 495) in Hudson County, New Jersey passes through a cut and descends the Hudson Palisades to the Lincoln Tunnel at the other end of which is the PABT. Starting 1964 studies were conducted to address the feasibility of an exclusive bus lane (XBL) during the weekday morning peak period. The XBL, first implemented in 1971, serves weekday eastbound bus traffic between 6:00am–10:00am. The lane is fed by the New Jersey Turnpike at Exit 16E and the terminus of New Jersey Route 3. The helix, tunnel, and terminal are owned and operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the bi-state agency that also implements the 2.5-mile (4.02 km) contra-flow express bus lane along one of three westbound lanes. The XBL allows for 1725-1750 buses transporting about 65,000 persons and is a major component of the morning "inbound" commutation crossing the Hudson River. It is used by numerous NJT interstate bus routes (100–199) as well regional and long haul companies.

Despite the XBL to the tunnel there are often long delays due to congestion caused by the limited capacity of bus lanes for deboarding passengers at the bus terminal, which has reached its capacity. leading to re-routing and overflow on local streets In December 2011, the New Jersey Assembly passed a resolution calling upon the PANYNJ to address the issue of congestion. Thomas Duane, representing New York's 29th Senate District which includes the area around the PABT, has also called for reduced congestion in the neighborhood. A consortium of regional transportation advocates, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, have proposed a reconfiguration and expansion of the terminal, a PM west bound XBL, bus stops at other Manhattan locations, and a new bus storage depot. A proposed bus garage in Midtown so that day-time turnover buses could avoid unnecessarily travelling through the tunnel without passengers was scrapped by the agency in October 2011. In May 2012, the commissioner of NJDOT suggested that some NJT routes could originate/terminate at other Manhattan locations, notably the East Side. an arrangement requiring approval of the NYC Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) to use bus stops.