After several years of community council meetings and looking at 30 different options, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey decided to build a new bus terminal in the same footprint as the current one on 42nd Street.
While the governor, during his State of the State address, punctured the Port Authority by showing the renderings and identifying the location, the agency made a presentation this week filling in some, but not all, details.
The agency promised that the project would be similar to the recently completed Moynihan Train Hall in the sense that it would be of “airport-like quality” and that its financing would include a good deal of private capital. The agency has not committed itself to an exact percentage, however, of public / private funding.
A rendering of the interior of the Port Authority Bus Terminal
Port authority bus terminal
The new station is expected to have room for 30% more buses than the current facility, to anticipate growth. It will be equipped to operate electric and possibly autonomous buses. As well as buses much larger than the ones that the current terminal was built to receive. To avoid bottlenecks and bottlenecks, access ramps to the facility will be wide enough to bypass a bus if it breaks.
“It must be the plan that is our final goal, it is our final goal and it is exactly what this area of the city is, what the region needs,” said Rick Cotton, Executive Director of the Port Authority during a presentation on Thursday.
Listen to Stephen Nessen’s report at WNYC:
Cotton said, after extensive input from public and community meetings, that the agency decided not to acquire more land than the Port Authority already owns. Another crucial request from community members was to take NJ Transit buses off city streets, as well as interstate buses like Bolt and Megagbus. Therefore, the terminal’s new plans include ramps that connect directly to the Lincoln Tunnel, instead of winding through the streets. And a separate wing of the terminal for interstate buses.
At the moment, the Port Authority plans to build this facility first and transfer the existing buses there when it destroys the old terminal and build the new one.
Passengers buy their tickets in the main lobby of the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey released a proposal on Thursday, January 21, to rebuild and expand the bus terminal in midtown Manhattan
Mary Altaffer / AP / Shutterstock
“I think it’s a good plan,” Manhattan district president Gale Brewer told Gothamist. “After a bad start seven years ago, when the Port Authority said it wanted to demolish Hell’s Kitchen. This is all over, they have been listening to the community closely and have come a long way since their original proposal, which says a lot. “
The project is expected to undergo a federal environmental review, which under the Trump administration could have taken two years, or died in that phase. But it is not clear how long it can take under the Biden government. Then, the project would go through the city’s ULURP process before construction could begin.
The current terminal opened in 1950 and has undergone several improvements over the years, but – before the pandemic – it is not able to handle the volume, with 186 gates, 20 bus lines, 17 public restrooms and 260,000 passengers a day. Over the years, Porto has invested $ 100 million in renovations, including new bathrooms, LED lamps and 60-70% roof replacement.
John Oliver dubbed it “the worst place on planet Earth”. and the passengers told Jim O’Grady of WNYC “if hell had hell, it would be that.”
“This is a vital link for New York City, and the bus is one of the most flexible switching instruments, unlike fixed rails, it can adapt to new developments,” said Mitchell Moss, director of The NYU Rudin Center for Transportation. Gothamist. “This is an intelligent and vital project for the future of the city and the region.”
The Port Authority expects the new terminal to open in 2031.
Port authority bus terminal