When’s the Next Bus Arriving? Downtown Alliance Has the Answer

By Liz Berger

No more guessing games or neck-craning.

Riders of the Downtown Connection—the Downtown Alliance’s free bus service in Lower Manhattan—will now know exactly when the next bus will arrive. We’ve installed seven NextBus LED signs, which list the next two arrivals, along our 37-stop route.

What exactly is NextBus?

Well, the NextBus system uses GPS technology to track Downtown Connection buses and calculate their arrival times at specific stops. It posts that information on countdown clocks like the one you see above, taking the uncertainty out of waiting, and making daily life better for Lower Manhattan’s shoppers, business people, residents and visitors.

So, with NextBus, you no longer have to stand at a bus stop in the blistering wind or pouring rain for a wait of unknown duration.

We’ve installed the seven signs with the assistance of NYC Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and thanks to a $24,000 grant from the office of State Senator Daniel Squadron.  Goldman Sachs has agreed to fund two additional signs to be installed in Battery Park City in the coming months.

We started the Downtown Connection service seven years ago because we understand that convenient transportation connections are a must in a neighborhood like ours—a global, 21^st-century, business, residential and tourist destination. And what a success it has been! The Downtown Connection now serves more than 830,000 riders a year on a recently expanded route from the South Street Seaport to Battery Park City to the Murray-Warren Street shopping corridor and back.

The NextBus system will make the Downtown Connection even more indispensable for Lower Manhattan’s residents, shoppers and visitors. And it will make our neighborhood even more robust.

Liz Berger is President of the Alliance for Downtown New York.