Await Blaz’s approval on more city busways

MTA officials on Thursday released a plan to speed up bus service as the coronavirus pandemic eases by installing 60 new miles of bus lanes — but they’re waiting on Mayor de Blasio to give them the green light.

Interim NYC Transit President Sarah Feinberg on Thursday sent a letter to de Blasio asking him to quickly implement the bus lanes — including four new “busways” modeled after the city’s successful pilot program on 14th St. in Manhattan that rolled out last year.

“Public transit will play a key role in ensuring the city’s return to normalcy,” Feinberg wrote. “It’s for that reason we are urging the city to add 60 miles of bus lanes and busways citywide.”

Feinberg called for busways to be installed in Manhattan on 181st St. between Broadway and Amsterdam Ave. in Washington Heights, in downtown Brooklyn along Livingston St. between Flatbush Ave. and Court St., and in two places in Queens — one on Flushing on Main St. between Kissena and Northern Blvds. and another in Jamaica along Archer Ave. between 146th and 168th Sts.

On streets used as busways, all vehicles except trucks and buses would be banned for several hours each day. On 14th St., busway restrictions have been in place from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. since October.

Feinberg and MTA officials have for at least two months worked with de Blasio and the city Department of Transportation on a plan to give buses priority on streets during the pandemic. While the MTA and Gov. Cuomo run the bus network, the mayor controls city streets.

De Blasio administration officials said they plan to release their bus plan soon, and that the social unrest in the city in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis has delayed the rollout.

“New York is a mass transit city, and there’s no recovery without a safe, reliable and fast bus system,” said de Blasio spokesman Mitch Schwartz. “We’ve discussed bus lane expansion with the MTA, and we look forward to their commitment to increased service on bus lanes the city creates to safely serve more New Yorkers.”

The Bus Turnaround Coalition — a group of transit advocacy groups that include TransitCenter and Riders Alliance — endorsed Feinberg’s letter. TransitCenter last month called for 40 miles of fresh bus lanes to address the traffic crisis.

Even without the new bus lanes, de Blasio on Wednesday acknowledged that New York will be more of a car city than a transit city as coronavirus restrictions are loosened.