More than 30,000 weekday commuters have to change their routines on where they get dropped off and picked up for the ride home at the nation's busiest bus terminal.
Beginning Tuesday, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey reassigned gates at its 65-year-old bus terminal in Manhattan in a bid to reduce delays and overcrowding for the 110,000 passengers who use it daily.
Most gates for the bus terminal's largest operator, New Jersey Transit, are consolidated on the third floor. NJ Transit buses serve more than 60 percent of the terminal's passengers during peak periods.
Coach USA, which includes the Rockland, Shortline, Suburban and Community Coach lines, now has most of its gates on the fourth floor. The changes also affect DeCamp and Lakeland riders.
Commuters can learn whether their bus routes are assigned to new gates on the Port Authority's website.
The Port Authority also will display signs at strategic locations and staff members will be on hand to direct passengers to their gates.
The gate realignment continues efforts begun last fall to streamline bus operations to reduce congestion in the terminal, which can stretch out into the inbound Lincoln Tunnel and beyond.
Local
The gate reassignment is part of the $90 million quality of commute initiative, which the Port Authority's board approved last year.
The Port Authority, which also operates New York-area bridges, tunnels, ports, airports and the World Trade Center, has heard criticism over the state of the bus terminal.
Earlier this year, a group of proposals to build a new terminal was panned by Port Authority commissioners as too expensive or not feasible.
