Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and Governor Kathy Hochul unveiled the “Next Stop: Fast Buses, Better Service” plan in New York City, launching a multi-year program to make buses faster and more reliable across the five boroughs. The initiative centers on 50 priority corridors and targets a 20% speed increase, with potential time savings of up to six minutes per trip on selected routes. Last updated: July 9, 2026.
Officials framed the plan as a response to slow bus speeds and uneven reliability in the nation’s busiest bus network, where riders make an estimated 2.75 million trips each day and vehicles average about eight miles per hour. The program combines new infrastructure, operational upgrades, and expanded enforcement to reduce stop delays to under two minutes beyond schedule while improving accessibility and comfort at stops.
Funding, timelines and systemwide targets
The plan commits $254 million in expense funding and $628 million in capital funding over five fiscal years to bus priority infrastructure, fleet replacement, and station-area upgrades. The combined investment underpins a citywide strategy to lift average bus speeds by 20%, shorten typical commutes by several minutes, and improve on-time performance in the most delay-prone segments. Program delivery is phased, with all-door boarding pledged by 2027 and the first rapid bus corridor slated for completion by 2030.
Fleet modernization is central to the speed and reliability goals. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to purchase approximately 2,500 new buses replacing more than 40% of the current fleet. Officials paired fleet upgrades with route redesigns transit signal priority, and queue jumps to cut dwell and red-light time. Together, these measures are intended to achieve the target of delays of less than two minutes beyond scheduled waits at stops along the most critical corridors.
Priority corridors and the rapid bus network build-out
City and state agencies identified 50 priority corridors based on ridership, trip length, on-time performance, and connections to other transit. Five corridors in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx are designated for the next generation of rapid bus service: Tremont/Cross BronxNorthern BoulevardFlatbush AvenueUtica Avenue and a Kensington–JFK link. Flatbush Avenue is expected to be the first rapid corridor completed by 2030, with the remaining four entering public engagement this year.
The rapid corridors will expand on and surpass existing Select Bus Service (SBS) features, adding protected bus lanes, raised or near-level boarding islands, and enhanced stations. The long-term goal is to ensure that 90% of New Yorkers live within a half-mile of a subway, commuter rail line, SBS route, or rapid bus station. Corridor designs will integrate dedicated and protected bus space, improved station environments, and streetscape upgrades intended to create neighborhood hubs while keeping buses moving.
Station upgrades, accessibility and rider experience
Rider-facing improvements span shelters, seating, and real-time information. The program calls for 300 new bus shelters by 2028, with seating added to 875 bus stops this year to expand comfort and shade. New digital signs will provide real-time passenger information at stops: the first 90 displays are planned for this year, with a further 2,900 scheduled by 2030. Agencies also plan to make dozens of bus stops wheelchair accessible each year to improve systemwide access for riders with disabilities.
To reduce vehicle dwell times and ease crowding at doors, the MTA committed to all-door boarding by 2027. This operational shift is paired with route-level changes aimed at smoothing flows at busy stops and minimizing bus bunching. By combining all-door boarding with transit signal priority and queue jump phases at intersections, the plan seeks cumulative seconds saved at each stop and signal, translating into full-route minutes saved for high-ridership lines.
Enforcement expansion and traffic management
Keeping lanes clear is a core pillar of the speed program. The MTA will expand its Automated Camera Enforcement (ACE) to more than 50 additional routes by next year to ticket vehicles blocking bus lanes and busways. The city will add 200 stationary bus lane cameras, and NYPD patrols will intensify on key corridors. Officials say these measures are designed to preserve dedicated space and prevent recurring chokepoints that slow buses in mixed traffic.
Traffic signal tools will complement enforcement. Wider deployment of transit signal priority will extend green lights for approaching buses, while queue jumps at intersections allow buses to start ahead of general traffic. Combined with new busways and protected segments on constrained streets, these treatments are intended to improve run times without adding fleet hours, helping reach the 20% speed target on the 50 identified corridors.
City data underpin the focus on bus priority: despite being the nation’s busiest bus network, New York’s buses have historically moved at roughly eight miles per hour. Planners point to systemic time losses at signals and stops, along with lane blockages, as primary drivers of poor performance. The integrated package—fleet renewal, boarding changes, lane protection, and signal treatments—targets those minutes and seconds across routes serving working-class riders, women, and people of color who are disproportionately dependent on surface transit for daily trips.
Implementation will roll out corridor by corridor as designs are finalized and public engagement proceeds on the next four rapid routes, while construction advances on Flatbush Avenue toward the 2030 milestone. Agencies will track wait times, travel times, and reliability metrics to evaluate whether the two-minute delay threshold and the 20% speed lift are being met. The plan’s advocates frame the collaboration between NYC DOT and the MTA as the basis for delivering a faster, more accessible and more comfortable bus system citywide over the next five fiscal years.
