Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

M42 Takes 'Pokey' Award for Slowest City Bus Line

By DNAinfo Staff on December 7, 2010 3:02pm  | Updated on December 8, 2010 8:55am

By Jennifer Glickel

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MIDTOWN — The M42 bus was awarded the illustrious "Pokey" award by the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign on Tuesday, recognizing the crosstown line for the second consecutive year as the city's slowest local bus.

The Straphangers found that the M42 had the slowest bus speed of all lines in the city at 3.6 miles per hour as clocked at 12 noon on a weekday.

The award came as no surprise to 42nd Street riders and DNAinfo, which last year witnessed the bus be beaten by a six-year-old on a scooter.

"I think it's well-deserved because it is the slowest bus ever," said Bronx resident and frequent M42 rider Randy Jones, 46.

"A lot of times I decide to walk. But since I just got over being sick I'm going to wait, take my time," Jones added while waiting for the bus.

Riders placed the blame for the line's snail-like pace on the heavy traffic on and around 42nd Street.

"Obviously because of this corridor and the 42nd Street congestion it makes sense," said Curtis Nixon, 49, who lives in Midtown West.

Upper East Side resident Victor Brauer thought the bus' slowness only worked against the MTA's own interests.

"If there are no buses people take taxis, and the buses they suffer because there is less clients," Brauer told DNAinfo.

Some riders tried to take a humorous approach to the M42's slow speed.

"If you come around midnight, the Sanitation Department comes around and picks up all the people who have died waiting for the bus," Hell's Kitchen resident Peter Arniotis said with a chuckle.

"I try to make fun of it because otherwise you'd go crazy waiting for the buses all day long," he said.