its not just the buses that are being slowed. the east and west sides are constantly congested with the traffic that now detours away from the pedestrian plazas. you know its become bad when the west side highway becomes the fast way to get downtown during the morning rush hours.

thank you mikey.

Some people live in tiny apts with roommates and bike to work, others prefer bigger apts filled with more stuff in outer boroughs, then demand 10x the space in streets to drive to their jobs and act like victims of the system. Both make choices and pay the same taxes for their use of the streets.

Tavern on the Green turns into a snack bar, Times Square is now an outdoor mall complete with plastic chairs for the lardass tourists, and more outer-boro New Yorkers can't afford a car, so they have to bike to work. Welcome to Mike Bloomberg's third-world vision of NYC. This is what our fathers and grandfathers fought and died for in WWII? So much for each generation doing better than the last. Those old soldiers must be spinning in their graves.

New York City might have the best nightlife and culture, but when it comes to the end of the day where does the money you make go? After all the bills are paid you're lucky to have some money left over. Not too mention who wants to pay rent the rest of their life.

If you hollow-heads like these pedestrian plazas so much, then you obviously like having less firefighters, less police officers, less teachers ect ect.. Because all the $ that should have went to the safety of NYers, went to the amusement for tourists..

But of course most of you'z had your conscious replaced with a media chip that are paid for by your beloved mayor, so that explains it

and what are you talking about?

How do you know that the Pedestrian Plaza's are utilized by tourists? You don't think that New Yorkers are pedestrians too? You don't think that people who work in those buildings might want to hang out too? People in NYC have been known to visit Times Square and Herald Square on occasion (and not use a car to get there)

But even assuming that they are all tourists...

Tourism is one of NYC biggest industries... it make big $$$ in the city for tax revenue. What you are saying doesn't make much sense, because making the city more tourist/pedestrian friendly will have big payoffs.

And I seriously doubt that it cost THAT much to put the plazas in.. unless we spent 1 million for a bench and two million for a chair.

Productivity by firefighters, cops, teachers, token booth clerks, buildings department drones, all city workers basically sucks, not to mention other city workers. We can do with quite less of them, thank you.

I'm not sure that you meant "defiantly," but the streets are actually for cars, otherwise they wouldn't be streets... they would be paths or trails or giant sidwalks.

Good point, Speebs. Manhattan's grid pattern was created in 1811 to make it convenient for commerce and private transportion to move around the city, hence the grid with cross streets set at right angles for easy turns. For almost 200 years, wagons, horsecars/streetcars, buses, trucks and yes, cars, have been navigating these streets. Are these streets crowded? Yes. Have there been accidents over the years? Yes, though many more people died after being hit by horsecars and trolleys 100 years ago before the advent of traffic signals.

But if the city wants to close streets to cars and delivery trucks, or make it punitive to drive into the city, be prepared for a NYC with a lot less people coming in for work/entertainment, and much less tax revenue (18% parking tax, theatre tix, restaurants, etc) not to mention reduced toll revenue on tunnels and bridges, which mostly goes to subsidize mass transit. Be careful what you ask for folks, you just might get it.

What are you talking about?

The Pedestrian Plaza's are pretty popular as far as I can see. Alot of people are spending their $$$ in the city thanks to them.

How many people actually DRIVE into Manhattan for a night on the town??? I seriously doubt that anyone who was going to drive into Manhattan and was going to deal with $$$ for parking and shitty traffic would really be stop because a few sections of Broadway are shut down.

It doesn't make sense.

"The Pedestrian Plaza's are pretty popular as far as I can see. A lot of people are spending their $$$ in the city thanks to them." Are these people REALLY coming to NYC because of pedestrian plazas? Do you not think they are already coming here, plazas or not? I doubt someone from out of town says to themselves "I really want to go to NYC to see some pedestrian plazas."

"How many people actually DRIVE into Manhattan for a night on the town? I seriously doubt that anyone who was going to drive into Manhattan and was going to deal with $$$ for parking / traffic would really stop because a few sections of Broadway are shut down."

REALLY? Do you not take a look at NJ, CT and PA plates at parking lots in the Theatre District? Who do you think is driving into Times Square, some poor SOB from the Bronx or Washington Hts? Who else can AFFORD a Broadway show, other than well-to-do suburbanites who drive in to town, much like they have been doing for the past 60 years?

The city is waging an all-out war on middle class folks who have the nerve to drive into the city for a show or other reasons. Closing streets, creating "plazas" where cars/buses have run for over 100 years, increasing tolls and parking taxes are just the beginning. Bloomy is still looking to get congestion pricing going, and once that happens, that will be the final straw. I know many people (myself included) who are already foregoing a Manhattan theatre night because they don't want to be treated like a criminal because they drive. You don't want us here? No problem. There are many regional theatres, performing arts centers and concert venues in NJ, PA or CT that we can go to. They'll be happy to have my money, and will even provide me with a nice, big parking space for $5 or so. I'll eat dinner in a restaurant nearby, see a B'way-quality show for less than half the price, and not have to be stressed by NYC at all.

Be careful, very careful, what you ask for. Once the Euro exchange rate evens out (it's very favorable to Europeans now), all those big-bucks German and Italian tourists will stay in Europe on holiday, and all those suburban drivers you're so keen on getting rid of will have gone elsewhere for fun. It's happened before in NYC, especially in Times Square, in the very recent past, and it can and will happen again if Bloomy doesn't stop making middle class drivers the enemy.

Wait a few years and we'll see.

Tourists love the "plazas." That, for me, says it all. They waddle around in this zone like farts in the wind. Very annoying if you actually have somewhere to go.

They're going to be there, plazas or not. Isn't it better that there's now much more room to walk around them?

Are you people insane?

Do you remember what it was like to walk through times square? Remember Herald Square?

Talk about "farts in the wild"... people were penned up on the streets like herded cattle. Most people I know LOVE these plazas. I wish they would put some more in Brooklyn. Its not a unusual idea... major "squares" should belong to the public, they shouldn't be just highways.

FYI.... most people in nyc don't own cars, and most people in Manhattan defiantly own cars. Streets are for everyone, not just the few Nyers who actually drive into Manhattan. Sorry haters

I'm surprised anyone takes the NY Post seriously anymore. It's owned by Rupert Murdoch who imposes his will and policies on whatever he owns. Look at the WSJ these days. It's not the paper that it used to be. It's another Murdoch rag like the NY Post.

i agree with that Murdoch sentiment, but it was actually a NYC transit report.

No sane person is taking the bus from Central Park to Union Square. The subway will save a lot more than 10 mins.

True 'dat. If you're taking that bus you've got a lot of time on your hands and a couple of extra minutes will not change anything.

Give the buses their own lanes (as all buses should have) if you want to move things along. Also, no more exiting the bus at the front.

Since it's cars that slow down buses, not pedestrians, this seems to be a good argument for congestion pricing.

Why let suburbanites slow down our transit system?