'Notorious' Port Authority Bus Terminal May Get a $10 Billion Overhaul

Source: New York Times

‘Notorious’ Port Authority Bus Terminal May Get a $10 Billion Overhaul

After years of study and debate, there is finally a proposal to rebuild the Midtown Manhattan eyesore from the ground up.

By Patrick McGeehan and Winnie Hu
Jan. 21, 2021
Updated 2:44 p.m. ET

Few public spaces in the country have been derided so thoroughly and so often as the Port Authority Bus Terminal in the heart of Manhattan.

The dreary 70-year-old station, with its leaky ceilings and dingy vestibules, has become synonymous with the overburdened, crumbling infrastructure that has made commuting in New York City a grim slog.

Now, the agency that operates the bus terminal — the busiest in the country — has settled on a final proposal for transforming it into a 21st-century transit hub capable of handling many more buses.

The project’s announcement on Thursday follows the opening on Jan. 1 of the Moynihan Train Hall, a majestic, light-filled terminus meant to alleviate overcrowding and offer a far more appealing gateway to New York than Pennsylvania Station, which is arguably the most miserable train hub in the United States.

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Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/21/nyregion/port-authority-bus-terminal.html

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Source: Bloomberg News

Port Authority Eyes New Plan for Midtown NYC Bus Terminal

By Martin Z Braun
1/21/2021, 4:21:11 PM Updated on 1/21/2021, 5:53:18 PM

The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey released a new plan to replace its neglected, overcrowded midtown bus terminal, more than seven years after the transit agency first sought proposals to overhaul it.

Replacing the decaying depot, which opened in 1950 and was expanded in 1981, will take a decade at least and billions of dollars, Port Authority officials said. The new five-story terminal will be able to handle almost 40% more passengers. It will provide storage space for as many as 350 buses, curbing traffic congestion and pollution and gates to accommodate inter-city coaches that previously picked up and dropped off passengers on city streets.

The bi-state agency plans to fund the project with $3 billion in its current capital plan and the sale of air rights for as many as four new high rise towers, officials said. The agency will also seek federal aid and an agreement from the city to allow a developer to use payments in lieu of taxes to help finance the project, much like the new Moynihan Train Hall railway station.

“It’s way past time that this building be replaced,” said Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton.

On busy days before the Coronavirus pandemic, 260,000 commuters walked the bus station’s bleak corridors, where missing ceiling panels revealed leaky pipes. Comedian John Oliver called the bus terminal the “Single Worst Place on Planet Earth.”

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Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-21/port-authority-proposes-new-plan-to-replace-midtown-bus-terminal