The Adams administration wants bus riders to take a load off, announcing Thursday that the city would be making a $40 million investment toward installing benches or “leaning bars” at nearly 9,000 stops around the city that currently lack any seating options.
“To make New York City the best place to raise a family, and grow old in we have to take care of the big things and the small things,” Mayor Adams said in a statement. “I am proud that this effort will give New Yorkers a break and transform the bus-riding experience for thousands of people.”
The effort is expected to take ten years, with the city committing to installing 875 benches or bars per year at a total of 8,750 bus stops. Work is set to begin next month.
According to the city Transportation Department, which is responsible for the infrastructure supporting the MTA’s city bus lines, only about 5,000 of Gotham’s roughly 15,000 bus stops have provisions for seating.
“For many New Yorkers, having a place to sit at the bus stop is more than just a matter of comfort, it’s a matter of whether they can take the bus at all,” City Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said in a statement.
The so-called “leaning-bars” that have appeared in the subway in recent years have drawn ire from critics who’ve labeled them “hostile architecture,” meant to discourage long-term stays by homeless New Yorkers or others.
Asked which bus stops would receive leaning bars as oppposed to benches, a City Hall spokeswoman told the Daily News that any bus stop with the space to fit a bench would get one.
