New York City bus rides should become faster under a new city plan, which focuses on upgrading 50 bus routes, including three high-priority corridors in Brooklyn.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Governor Kathy Hochul on Wednesday unveiled Next Stop: Fast Buses, Better Service, a broad action plan to build the next generation of bus service in the five boroughs. The plan includes making center lanes for bus-only traffic, a phase-in for all-door boarding in 2027, new bus stops and safety measures that looks to speed up buses by 20% and shorten commutes by up to six minutes each way.
The bus routes first to see these improvements in Brooklyn include the Flatbush Avenue bus corridor, which was announced in September 2025, and on Utica Avenue and the Kensington-JFK bus corridor.
“For working New Yorkers, every minute matters. But for too long, our buses have been stuck in traffic instead of keeping pace with the city that never sleeps,” said Mamdani said in a statement. “When a commute stretches longer than it should, that’s less time with your kids, less time with your loved ones and less time enjoying the greatest city on earth.
New Yorkers take 2.75 million trips on New York City buses each day, making the system the busiest in the nation — carrying more riders than the bus systems of Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Philadelphia combined. But New York’s buses remain the slowest of any major U.S. city, averaging just eight miles per hour, according to officials.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will work to improve service reliability by ensuring scheduled trips are completed, modernizing depot operations and strengthening bus maintenance. Alongside the Department of Transportation, the MTA will also expand the bus stop accessibility program to reach 65 stops per year by 2030; install 300 new bus shelters by 2028; add seating at 875 bus stops annually, ensuring every feasible stop has seating by 2035; plant 30 trees at bus stops in 2026 and pilot shelter design improvements for mitigating extreme heat at bus stops; and install 90 new Real-Time Passenger Information displays in 2026 and expand to 2,900 displays citywide by 2030.
Automated camera enforcement will also be expanded to deter cars from parking in bus lanes.
The city committed $254 million in expense funding and $628 million in capital funding over five fiscal years to carry out the program.
“Every day, millions of New Yorkers rely on buses to get around this city, but for far too long, making their journeys faster and their lives easier has seemed out of reach. That all changes today,” said Hochul. “New York is in the midst of a transit renaissance, with historic investments being made to improve the lifeblood of our city.
