New Gates Set For Commuters At Port Authority Bus Terminal

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- More than 30,000 weekday commuters will need to change their routines when they return to the nation's busiest bus terminal after the Labor Day holiday.

Beginning Tuesday, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is reassigning gates at its 65-year-old bus terminal in Manhattan in a bid to reduce delays and overcrowding for the 110,000 passengers who use it daily.

Most gates for the bus terminal's largest operator, New Jersey Transit, will be consolidated on the third floor. NJ Transit buses serve more than 60 percent of the terminal's passengers during peak periods.

Coach USA, which includes the Rockland, Shortline, Suburban and Community Coach lines, will have most of its gates on the fourth floor.

The changes also affect DeCamp and Lakeland riders.

Commuters can learn whether their specific bus routes are assigned to new gates at the Port Authority's website.

The Port Authority also will display signs at strategic locations and staff also will be on hand to direct passengers to their gates.

The gate realignment continues efforts begun last fall to streamline bus operations to reduce congestion in the terminal, which can stretch out into the inbound Lincoln Tunnel and beyond.

The gate reassignment is part of the $90 million quality of commute initiative, which the Port Authority's board approved in 2014.

"The consolidation of NJ Transit's operations and Coach USA's operations will empower those carriers to better manage their bus logistics within the terminal, and build on our previous successes in helping buses arrive and leave on time,'' bus terminal general manager Diannae Ehler said.

The Port Authority, which also operates New York-area bridges, tunnels, ports, airports and the World Trade Center, has heard criticism over the state of the bus terminal.

Earlier this year, a group of proposals to build a new terminal was panned by Port Authority commissioners as too expensive or not feasible.

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