While more than 95% of scheduled trips do take place, according to the agency, 80% of those that do not result from not having enough operators.
byJose Martinez
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On Thursday morning, the MTA scrapped a series of scheduled trips on express bus routes that link the boroughs with Manhattan, sounding a familiar refrain on social media about a shortage of drivers.
“We’re running as much service as we can with the bus operators we have available,” @NYCTBus posted repeatedly to X (formerly Twitter).
At least six scheduled morning express bus runs —from Staten Island, two from The Bronx and one apiece from Brooklyn and Queens — were scrapped, a day after the agency similarly blamed a bus operator shortfall for a series of canceled express trips.
The rash of cancellations came as the MTA plans to boost service on six express bus routes next month, just before the scheduled June 30 start of congestion pricing. Officials are hopeful that more service will draw motorists out of their private vehicles and on to mass transit as the first-in-the-nation central business district vehicle-tolling program launches.
But transit sources and advocates for express bus riders told THE CITY that commuters who live on Staten Island and in borough neighborhoods far from the subway system are also contending with maintenance issues and a shortage of coaches. The canceled trips are disrupting the commutes of the more than 50,000 weekday commuters who rely on the 1,030 express buses that run along close to 80 routes for $7 a trip.
“They’re canceling lots and lots and lots of service on a daily basis, canceling it on the backs of their customers,” said Vittorio Bugatti, an express bus rider from Brooklyn and founder of the Express Bus Advocacy Group. “A lot of people are very frustrated and they have every right to be, as the service is very unreliable.”
“But you can’t run the extra service if you can’t run what you have now,” he added.
Even as the MTA pointed to agency data showing that express bus service delivery is at 95.4% in 2024 — one of the highest figures since the start of the pandemic — the canceled runs have piled up, with the agency conceding that 80% of the lost trips this year can be pinned on operator vacancies and availability.
“I am constantly being told and seeing posts from the MTA about how they’re running as much service as they can with the bus operators they have available,” said Filippa Grisafi, a rider advocate who commutes between Staten Island and Manhattan. “And then a bus driver will tell me, ’I’m standing outside the depot and we have 10 operators waiting because we don’t have buses.’”
A spokesperson did not respond directly to THE CITY’s questions asking if the MTA has had recent maintenance issues or a shortage of express buses that has contributed to the cancellations, but said the agency continues to hire bus operators.
“New York City Transit continues to aggressively fill bus operators vacancies, regularly onboarding dozens of new operators, while continuing to provide reliable service,” Michael Cortez, an MTA spokesperson, told THE CITY in a statement. “As more operators graduate from training, they will be strategically deployed.”
In March, the latest date for which numbers are available, 95.8% of express bus trips completed their scheduled runs, according to MTA data — down from 97.2% one year earlier, but higher than the 12-month low of 92.3% last July.
“Every night for the past month, going to Manhattan or back up to The Bronx, there have been numerous cancellations back to back,” said Marielena Recine, who commutes daily on the BxM10, which runs between Williamsbridge/Morris Park and Midtown. “At that point, how are you getting home?”
“You’re not always going to pay $80 for an Uber.”
THE CITY reported this week that the MTA recently paid $100,000 to New Jersey Transit for 15 used coaches that will largely be used for parts in helping to maintain the MTA express bus fleet in advance of the service boosts to six routes, four of which run between Staten Island and Manhattan.
The NJT bus buy took place as North America’s largest mass transit system faces multiple lawsuits — including one from New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy — that seek to stop congestion pricing, which is designed to dramatically reduce traffic on Manhattan’s most congested streets while raising billions of dollars for upkeep and expansion of the mass transit system.
The canceled trips are testing the patience of express bus riders, said Bugatti of the Express Bus Advocacy Group.
“It’s extremely stressful and unnerving to not know whether you’re going to get to work or meetings on time,” he said. “There has to be some sort of accountability when you’re paying $14 a day for a round trip.”
