NEW YORK—No more guessing when the next bus is coming for riders of the Downtown Connection bus in Lower Manhattan. The free bus service provided by the Downtown Alliance on Thursday received a new GPS-based system that allows riders to know when the next bus is coming.
The NextBus system looks like an ordinary electronic street sign, but it is connected to a GPS system on the buses, and updates the expected time for the next bus’s arrival. The Downtown Alliance installed seven such LED signs.
Funding for the program was secured by New York state Sen. Daniel Squadron and established in coordination with the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT).
Two additional signs, funded by Goldman Sachs, will be installed in Battery Park City in the coming months.
“Lower Manhattan is the center of a vast, multimodal regional transit network. Our Downtown Connection extends that reach, making it easier for Lower Manhattan’s 300,000 workers, 55,000 residents and 6 million annual visitors to get around,” said Elizabeth H. Berger, president of the Downtown Alliance, in a press release. A pilot of the project started two years ago in two stations.
The Downtown Alliance launched the Downtown Connection in late 2003. The buses shuttled more than 834,000 workers, residents, and visitors in 2009, according to the Alliance. The number is expected to rise this year. The shuttle buses runs at 10-minute intervals from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, with more limited service on weekends.
The Downtown Alliance manages the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Business Improvement District. In its mission statement the Alliance states that it strives to “be the principal organization that provides Lower Manhattan’s historic financial district with a premier physical and economic environment.” In addition, the Alliance advocates for businesses and property owners and promotes the area as a world-class destination for companies, workers, residents and visitors.
