Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Buses

Street Cheats: One Cop Delaying Hundreds of Bus Riders

Yesterday, multiple members of the City Council used their platform on the transportation committee to vent about buses that leave the bus lane and venture into general traffic lanes.

Despite representing districts where the vast majority of people don't own cars and rely on buses and trains, council members including Ruben Diaz Sr. and Fernando Cabrera just couldn't see past their own experience behind the windshield. Instead of seeing bus lanes as a way for New Yorkers to bypass the congestion caused by space-hogging personal cars, they perceive them as slights to their personal status as motorists.

Maybe because so few council members ride the bus, no one at the hearing mentioned one of the real scourges of the city's bus lane network: cops in bus lanes. Someone should show them this photo that @TheDistancePlan tweeted out last week.

It's a view of 125th Street from Metro-North's Park Avenue viaduct, in the 25th Precinct, where several buses had to merge into the general traffic lane in the span of a few minutes. In other words, hundreds of people were delayed by this single police officer who couldn't be bothered to park a few feet away:

https://twitter.com/gpaulbenson/status/982732525930983424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

A City Council oversight hearing castigating NYPD for degrading the city's transit improvement projects could have sparked some fireworks and generated a few stories in the major dailies. Stuck in their windshield perspective, Diaz and company missed their chance.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Talking Headways Podcast: The Menace of Prosperity

Daniel Wortel-London on his new book, "The Menace of Prosperity: New York City and the Struggle for Economic Development, 1875–1981."

August 28, 2025

MONEY TALKS: Business Interests Call the Shots in Eric Adams’s New York

Forget the bribery charges — you don't have to break the law to buy influence in the Big Apple.

August 28, 2025

‘Safety for Sale’: How City Hall Corruption Hurt New Yorkers and Slowed Bus Riders

The mayor's interventions into DOT projects at behest of campaign donors hurt New Yorkers — literally.

August 28, 2025

GHOSTING: Drivers with ‘Ghost Plates’ Are Speeding Through New York City Streets

Cars with fake, obscured, or mismatched license plates continue to wreak havoc on city streets, a City Council report revealed.

August 28, 2025

Thursday’s Headlines: ‘Blessed’ By Duffy and Byford Edition

Sean Duffy became the latest in a long line of politicians to make big promises about New York Penn Station. Plus more news.

August 28, 2025

Wednesday’s Headlines: Mastro of None Edition

The Adams administration put the brakes on yet another long-awaited DOT initiative as it crossed the finish line. Plus more news.

August 27, 2025
See all posts