NYT event listing for Children's Museum, Nov 2003

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Managing Buses on the Streets of Lower Manhattan A comprehensive strategy must be developed in order to serve tourists, commuters, and other vis­ itors who increasingly use bus transit to access Lower Manhattan. Buses play an important role in carrying commuters and visitors to Lower Manhattan. Commuter bus volumes are expected to continue to grow in the coming years. Furthermore, even with concerted efforts to promote alternatives, planning estimates show that up to 25 percent of visitors to the World Trade Center memorial will arrive by bus — adding to the existing bus crowding in the area.

Recognizing the conflicting role that commuter and tour buses play in Lower Manhattan by enabling access to the area on the one hand and creating unnecessary street and sidewalk conges­ tion on the other, the Port Authority and LMDC planning teams reached out to partner trans­ portation agencies to conduct a bus study that assessed the future bus demand in Lower Manhattan. These teams developed strategies with the potential to improve service while reduc­ ing buses' adverse impact on local traffic and neighborhoods. The effort was aimed at reaching an interagency consensus on the main elements of a commuter- and tour-bus management plan that would coordinate with ongoing Lower Manhattan planning.

Chinatown is another popular destination for both tour and commuter buses but its narrow streets are ill-suited for such uses. LMDC's recently commissioned Chinatown Traffic Study will yield strategies for better managing charter and tour-bus operations serving attractions in that area, and their relationship to routing and operational recommendations for the rest of Lower Manhattan will be considered as that study nears completion.

Tour and Charter Buses In the summer months, hundreds of tour buses carry visitors to Lower Manhattan's existing attractions each day. The largest tour bus destination is Battery Park, where ferries depart for the Statue of Liberty. Many of these buses utilize the northern curb of the park for staging and stor­ age while passengers visit the historic Statue. The grouping of buses in this specific location is highly disruptive for traffic going to Battery Park City and entering the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. Buses also park under the elevated FDR Drive, which poses an impediment to pedestrians wishing to access the East River waterfront and generally detracts from the area around the South Street Seaport. In addition, sightseeing tour buses that can run continuous

36 Lower Manhattan Transportation Strategies

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