A man proposed to his girlfriend in a Megabus parked at the Port Authority yesterday. "Nina Lazerow thought it was just another bus ride," the CBS report notes, presumably referring to the nauseous lurching of the bus as it takes an hour to crawl out of Manhattan rush-hour traffic, the Cheetos dust-encrusted arm rest you have no choice to use and the guy hocking loogies into a plastic bag a seat over while he watches the same episode of Friday Night Lights the entire ride on his iPad. No, this bus had one designation: love. Then…a four-hour trip to Baltimore. more ›

It's an undisputed fact that the Port Authority Bus Terminal is the saddest place in Manhattan. It's a bonafide money pit and a Superfund for Souls, but a new bar and restaurant will hopefully allow you to forget the fact that you're about to get bedbugs on your bus ride to aunt Millie's. Beer Authority is promising 80 beers on tap and 100 bottles, as well as cask ales and growlers. And with a logo like that, we'd let it press its sudsy, hoppy boot down our throats any time. more ›

Those travelers who enjoyed occasionally-working WiFi and 32% less bus-funk on Bolt Bus may have to hit the cripplingly depressing Port Authority Bus Terminal. According to the Daily News a quarter of the service's buses—which are owned by Greyhound— will be picking up riders at Gate 84 of the terminal. Retailers and residents have complained that the buses are a nuisance at their current post on 34th Street and Eighth Avenue and 33rd Street and Seventh Avenue. "The buses are so big, you can't even see my business," the manager of Sbarro on 33rd & Seventh said. If New Yorkers can't get a slice at Sbarro, where will they turn? more ›

The Port Authority is projected to lose $99.7 million this year at its Times Square bus terminal, a place so depressing and soul-crushing that a dead bus driver recently went unnoticed for an entire afternoon. But hey, at least they've got that sweet new LED facade. According to budget numbers obtained by the Post, the Goethals Bridge will lose $5.5 million this year, while the Port Authority ferry services will hemorrhage $10.6 million. On top of all that, the agency is spending a fortune on the World Trade Center site, which has gone wildly over budget and is taking forever. Thankfully, help is on the way in the form of higher tolls and PATH fares! more ›

Trying to tell the difference between the Lincoln Tunnel and a Port Authority bus ramp—not to mention following police directions— is hard, especially when you may be inebriated. The Post reports that the police arrested a man with a blood alcohol content "nearly three times the legal limit... was so sloshed early yesterday" that he "ignored a PA cop who ordered him to stop just after midnight, and revved his Toyota up a winding bus-entrance ramp to an upper level." more ›

The Post reports a Greyhound bus driver "driven by love" (har) stole a $600,000 coach from Port Authority Bus Terminal to visit his girlfriend in Mount Vernon, NY. A surveillance video caught him disabling the bus's security system and driving it away last Wednesday, and he caused a terror scare when he abandoned the bus in Mount Vernon. more ›

Now that you've torn through your presents and are making room for new gifts and purchases -- why not give a little back? Green Brooklyn reminds us that we have until December 31st to make tax-deductible donations (to claim on 2007 income taxes). They were particularly moved by the amount of work Habitat for Humanity has been doing for Brooklyn, they just completed their 9th home in the area -- all "constructed using state-of-the-art, eco-friendly building materials, like cabinets partially made of sunflower seeds and counter tops made of recycled glass." more ›

The low-slung Port Authority bus terminal will be getting a heady addition: The Port Authority will announce a deal for a tower to be built at its north end. The NY Times reports that Lawrence Ruben Company and Vornado Realty Trust is buying air rights for $400-500 million, which the Port Authority will then be used to add 18 bus platforms, give the terminal a "major face-lift" and overall refurbishing. Well, finally - commuting to... more ›

EVENT: White Castle is sponsoring an "over the top" (heh) event today at Port Authority...it's the 30th Annual White Castle Empire State Golden Arm Tournament of Champions. Over 100 ladies and gents will face off to become the arm wrestling champ! The event starts at 12:30 and the finals begin at 3:30pm. More info here. 12:30 and 3:30pm // Port Authority Bus Terminal [North Wing/Main Concourse at 625 8th Ave] // Free MUSIC: The Scotland... more ›

The police charged a Queens man with raping a woman he met on the Internet. A 21-year-old woman traveled from Indianapolis to the Port Authority Bus Terminal on Tuesday, where David Graham picked her up. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an overturned auto on Christopher and New Lots Aves. in Brooklyn, a scaffold collapse on East 166th St. and Sherman Ave. in the Bronx, and a fire with evacuated animals on Greenpoint Ave. and 46th St. in Queens.
• If you're the head of a major corporation that wants to make a mark on the New York skyline by occupying space in a tower that comes with all the cachet of being above the Port Authority Bus Terminal, you may be in luck.
• Limousine company Attitude New York sued one of its former drivers for setting up his own company, E-Z Ryder Limousine, and allegedly poaching celebrities from its client list. The plaintiff wanted E-Z Ryder banned from ever soliciting a client he'd driven while with Attitude, but the judge thought that was a stretch and the case was decided in favor of the defendant.
• Brooklyn Assemblyman Karim Camara was arrested for drunk driving this morning and upstate police are thorough. Not only was Camara witnessed weaving through traffic doing 65 m.p.h. in a 30 m.p.h. zone, but he smelled of alcohol and was slurring his words when the cops pulled him over. Then he was given several field sobriety tests, each of which he failed. He refused to take a breathalyzer test, however, so he still has the tiniest shred of plausible deniability.
• Nathan Kensinger found his way into the tunnels underneath Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards and, thank goodness, remembered to bring his camera.
• Trailer for the street art grafitti vandalism movie Bomb It. It's about paint in public places.
• Incredible slideshow of pictures of the aircraft carrier Intrepid in a Bayonne, NJ drydock.
• The five-judge panel that refused convicted terrorist helper Lynne Stewart's bid to resign from the bar after her conviction was apparently just waiting for an opportunity to disbar her themselves.
• SHORPY, The 100-Year-Old Photoblog, has a great picture of workmen building the Manhattan Bridge taking a break in 1907, back when New York was cool.

The area around the Port Authority Bus Terminal is about to get more sexy. MUJI, the Japanese retailer known for its minimalist goods, announced that it will open its flagship American store in The New York Times building on 8th Ave between 40th and 41st Streets. Currently, MUJI only has two "stores" in the United States, both small sections at MoMA stores in New York. The company's full name, Mujirushi Ryōhin, translates to "No Brand Quality Goods". more ›

"Across from the Port Authority Bus Terminal" is becoming the new benchmark in swank office location. Crain's reports that the New York Times Building (pictured right) designed by Renzo Piano and FxFowle has "breathed new life into the formerly moribund area" across from the Port Authority Bus Terminal. more ›

If you've got millions, does the Port Authority have a deal for you! The Port Authority is considering bids for naming rights to the bus terminal. And some companies might be interested, since it's in the hubbub of Times Square, even though some critics think people might be confused.

But PA officials doubt that even the most ardent preservationists would bemoan the loss of "Port Authority Bus Terminal" from the cityscape. more ›

+ And the award for worst-Halloween costume idea goes to the Brooklyn Record. Congrats! more ›

The CDC on hand hygiene. more ›

Jacob Kornbluth, Filmmaker more ›

Two 16 year-old Hasidic girls from Brooklyn finally returned home after running away. According to the Daily News, Elky Stern and Frimcha Hirsch left their Borough Park home last Monday, armed with a few thousand dollars in savings, went to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, and took a bus as far as they could go. Phoenix, to be exact. Their parents, upset and worried, held a press conference fearing the girls had been killed, but the girls called a teacher, saying they wanted to escape the confines of their Hasidic community: "We're okay, we just don't want to live in the community. We don't want to live in those rules anymore." They had already put down rent money and applied for jobs in Phoenix but the girls were convinced to go home after hearing how worried their parents were, and returning looking more Mall-of-America than Hasidic in tight clothes. They were not immediately reunited with their families. more ›