Port Authority Bus Terminal
The Port Authority Bus Terminal (colloquially known as Port Authority and by its acronym PABT) is a bus terminal serving interstate buses traveling into Manhattan, New York City. The terminal is the largest in the Western Hemisphere and the busiest in the world by volume of traffic,[2] serving about 8,000 buses and 225,000 people on an average weekday and more than 65 million people a year.[3]
The terminal is located in Midtown at 625 Eighth Avenue between 40th Street and 42nd Street, one block east of the Lincoln Tunnel and one block west of Times Square. It is one of three bus terminals operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), the others being the George Washington Bridge Bus Station in Upper Manhattan and the Journal Square Transportation Center in Jersey City.
The PABT serves as a terminus and departure point for commuter routes as well as for long-distance intercity bus service and is a major transit hub for residents of New Jersey. It has 223 departure gates and 1,250 car parking spaces, as well as commercial and retail space.[4] In 2011, there were more than 2.263 million bus departures from the terminal.[5]
The PABT, opened in 1950 between Eighth and Ninth Avenues and 40th and 41st Streets, was built to consolidate the many different private terminals spread across Midtown Manhattan. A second wing, extending to 42nd Street, was added in 1979. Since then, the terminal has reached peak hour capacity, leading to congestion and overflow on local streets. It does not allow for layover parking; hence, buses are required to use local streets or lots, or return through the tunnel empty. The PANYNJ has been unsuccessful in its attempts to expand passenger facilities through public private partnership, and in 2011 it delayed construction of a bus depot annex, citing budgetary constraints. In June 2013, it commissioned an 18-month study that would consider options for reconfiguration, expansion, and replacement of the terminal.[6]
Before the PABT was constructed, there were several terminals scattered throughout Midtown Manhattan,[7] some of which were part of hotels. The Federal Writers Project's 1940 publication of New York: A Guide to the Empire State lists the All American Bus Depot on West 42nd, the Consolidated Bus Terminal on West 41st, and the Hotel Astor Bus Terminal on West 45th.[8] The Dixie Bus Center on 42nd Street, located on the ground floor of the hotel of the same name, opened in 1930 and operated until 1959.[9] The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad had coach service aboard a ferry to Communipaw Terminal in Jersey City that ran from an elegant bus terminal with a revolving bus platform in the Chanin Building at 42nd and Lexington.[7] Greyhound Lines had its own facility adjacent to Pennsylvania Station and did not move into the PABT until 1963, at which time all long-distance bus service to the city was consolidated at the terminal.[7][10]
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