MTA

On Sunday, Select Bus Service launched on a route that stretches from 125th Street in Harlem to LaGuardia Airport. Public officials marked the occasion -- the first SBS route to debut during the de Blasio era -- at a Harlem press conference today. With off-board fare collection and dedicated bus lanes (on part of the route), the upgrades will speed cross-town trips for 33,000 bus riders daily, on both the M60 SBS route and local routes that will benefit from the bus lanes only.

Following the installation of off-board fare payment machines last month, Select Bus Service lanes are going in on 125th Street. Joseph Cutrufo of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign posted this pic on Twitter yesterday.

Yesterday the Straphangers Campaign released a report that shows the number of subway incidents that result in a significant delay in 2013 rose 35 percent from 2011. "The increase in alerts is a troubling sign that subway service is deteriorating," said Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign.

A City Council bill from Dan Garodnick could save a lot of transit riders a nice chunk of change.

It's been a big week for buses. Public meetings kicked off for Select Bus Service on Woodhaven Boulevard, signs of SBS are starting to crop up on 125th Street, and news broke that bus lanes are coming to Utica Avenue. After Wednesday's infrastructure forum, I caught up with Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg to discuss the de Blasio administration's commitment to speed up bus service citywide.

During his campaign for mayor, Bill de Blasio called for the creation of a citywide, "world-class" Bus Rapid Transit network consisting of at least 20 routes. These new routes would provide a crucial link for communities beyond the reach of subways and speed trips that are poorly served by the city's Manhattan-centric rail system.

This week kicked off with news that Speaker Sheldon Silver would remove Governor Andrew Cuomo's $40 million transit raid from the Assembly's budget plan. Today comes word [PDF] that the State Senate has followed suit, rejecting the transit raid in its own budget resolution.

New York finally has real-time bus arrival information and excellent route maps posted at bus stops. Or rather, at least one bus stop has this info, and it looks like the kind of thing that should spread to a lot more bus stops.

Here are more highlights from Thursday's City Council transportation committee budget hearing.