New York City\u2019s buses move just as slow when Mayor Eric Adams took office in 2022, and riders across the city have grown bitter over his failed promise to give them more dignified commutes.<\/p>\n
That frustration is palpable on the Bx12, the busiest bus route in the Bronx that criss-crosses the borough along Fordham Road.<\/p>\n
The transportation department in 2023 planned to redesign the street to give buses more priority, but nixed the upgrade<\/a> after local business groups and civic institutions complained the changes would come at the expense of motorists.<\/p>\n \u201cHe [Adams] didn\u2019t really change anything,\u201d lamented Maria Midy, 58, as she waited for a Bx12 bus that was stuck in traffic earlier this month. \u201cTraffic on Fordham never ceases, especially during the early morning rush hour or mid-morning.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMost of the riders do not drive, and I do not drive,\u201d Midy added. \u201cI\u2019m disappointed.\u201d<\/p>\n While the state-run MTA oversees the operation of the city\u2019s bus fleet, the mayor has wide authority to clear traffic for those buses.<\/p>\n On the campaign trail in 2021, Adams vowed to do just that: He said he\u2019d build 150 new miles of bus lanes during his first term. But transportation department data shows he delivered on fewer than 30 miles in Adams\u2019 first three years in office.<\/p>\n And even those new lanes haven\u2019t been enough to make a major difference for bus riders, who are, on average, the city\u2019s lowest-income commuters. MTA data shows the average speed of the agency\u2019s buses lingered around 8.3 mph this year, about the same as in 2021.<\/p>\n In no borough is the mayor\u2019s lack of progress on improving bus service more noticeable than the Bronx, which Adams won by a wide margin in the 2021 mayoral primary.<\/p>\n During the first three years of his administration, weekday bus ridership in the borough fell by 33%, from 233,000 to 155,000.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aWhen you promise, you have to do it,\u201d said Esther Fampong, who\u2019s been riding buses along Fordham Road for almost 15 years. Fampong waited more than 20 minutes for a Bx12 bus to show up at her stop.<\/p>\n Anna Correa, a spokesperson for the mayor\u2019s office, argued Adams actually helped bus riders across the five boroughs. She pointed to the installation of new bus lanes on Hillside Avenue in Queens earlier this year as evidence that the outgoing mayor helped the city\u2019s 1 million daily bus riders.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the last four years, we have delivered real, measurable improvements \u2014 saving riders time, improving quality of life, and building a stronger, more reliable bus network for New Yorkers across the city,\u201d Correa wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n Danny Pearlstein, spokesperson for the advocacy group Riders Alliance, had high expectations for the mayor when he took office.<\/p>\n His group gave Adams a jacket embroidered with the title \u201cN.Y.C. Bus Mayor,\u201d but has since requested he return the garment<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cHis administration failed to meet the requirements of the Streets Plan law and left 85,000 Bronx riders stuck in slow traffic on Fordham Road,\u201d Pearlstein wrote in a statement. \u201cWe embroidered high hopes into the Bus Mayor jacket and they are still largely unmet.\u201d<\/p>\n The Adams administration also scaled back several other street redesign projects across the city, the most controversial of which was an overhaul to McGuiness Boulevard in Greenpoint<\/a>. Manhattan prosecutors allege the mayor\u2019s former top adviser, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, took bribes<\/a> in exchange for watering down the redesign.<\/p>\n When Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani takes office on New Year\u2019s Day, he\u2019ll be held to his own campaign promises to make life a little better for commuters.<\/p>\n