Want to understand why more Manhattanites don’t ride the bus? Look no further than this year’s Pokey awards, given out annually by the Straphangers Campaign. Manhattan buses, as usual, top the list of the year’s slowest service.

The Pokey this year goes to the M50 crosstown bus, which averaged a mere 3.5 miles per hour at noon (imagine it at rush hour!). The 14 slowest lines are all in Manhattan, with the Bronx’s Bx19, which runs down Southern Boulevard and into Harlem, clocking in as the slowest bus in the other boroughs.

[Of course, I had many runs in with the M50 while empty (and I presume going home). The drivers were super aggressive, cutting off other drivers, not letting anyone into the lane. And they make a left hand turn onto 9A/12th from the right hand lane of 49th street. I know the turning radius is large, but there was no communication of their intent. It was always dangerous to watch as time after time unknowing people would pull up on the M50s left assuming that the bus was going to make a right turn… so a big NY raspberry in the direction of the M50.]
Source: StreetsBlog