Kicked out of port authority, Bieber Bus got a prime stop on a crowded curb

But instead of shutting down, the scofflaw company found a new home at a fraction of the cost: on the curb outside.

Passengers just need to walk down the street to catch Carl R. Bieber Inc. buses to the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania. The new bus stop on Eighth Avenue, near 39th Street, was approved by city transportation officials despite the objections of residents, community leaders and others who say that it crams even more buses and people (and luggage) into one of New York’s most congested corridors — and essentially rewards Bieber with a prime spot.

“If you pay for something — and then you don’t pay — how do you get something better?” said Joe Tabone, the manager of a liquor store next to Bieber’s stop. “I don’t think that’s fair.”

Bieber’s curbside spot is part of what critics say is a much larger problem: a booming fleet of private buses that roll through Manhattan and pull over on streets, making New York’s already bleak traffic picture even worse. Across New York, the number of bus companies with permits for curbside stops has more than tripled since 2013, to 151 from 46.

Many intercity and commuter buses rely on curbside loading and unloading of passengers not only because it is cheaper for carriers, but also because they cannot all fit in the outdated Port Authority Bus Terminal.

As a result, critics say, the buses are adding to choked streets at a time when traffic in midtown Manhattan is crawling at an average of 4.7 mph, among the slowest speeds of any major American city. They also say the so-called “curbside terminals” have blocked sidewalks and entrances to stores and other businesses and worsened air pollution.

“It is cheaper for the bus company, but city residents, workers and visitors pay a heavy price,” said David Sandler, 39, a member of a local community board that opposed Bieber’s bus stop.

Across the United States, intercity bus travel is soaring. There were an estimated 61.6 million rides in 2015, up from about 45.2 million rides in 2008, fueled by the arrival and expansion of carriers such as Megabus and BoltBus that offer low fares, wireless internet and online ticketing, according to Joseph P. Schwieterman, director of the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University.

Intercity bus ridership has especially thrived in the New York City region, in part as more buses offer people a wider choice of pickup and drop-off locations and significantly lower fares than trains. The city’s strong job market has also drawn long-haul commuters from Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, upstate New York and elsewhere. In 2018, there were an estimated 22 million intercity bus rides in the New York City area alone, or about 1 million more rides than in 2014, according to Schwieterman.

Buses are “a solution to the congestion problem” since they offer an alternative to driving, said Peter J. Pantuso, the president and chief executive of the American Bus Association, an industry group. But, he added, cities have been slow to invest in new terminals and infrastructure as they “have identified they have challenges, but they haven’t quite figured out how to address them yet.”

The Port Authority, the country’s busiest bus terminal, opened in 1950 in part to help reduce congestion. Today, all 186 active passenger boarding areas — spread over three floors in two buildings — are full during peak hours. A larger terminal is planned, though it is years away. For now, 18 bus companies and New Jersey Transit share the terminal.

Megabus is not one of them because its double-decker buses are too tall to fit. So passengers wait to be picked up at a bus stop on the Far West Side where there is no bathroom, food court or shelter from the cold and rain. Still, they keep coming. Since the carrier started in New York in 2008, ridership has tripled, and routes have expanded to 38 cities from six.

Sean Hughes, a spokesman for Megabus, said the carrier has worked to address community concerns about congestion and idling, including offering drivers bonuses for not idling.

Today, there are 118 curbside bus stops in Manhattan, according to the city, of which 66 are clustered between 14th and 59th streets in neighborhoods that are already overrun with cars. In total, the Manhattan stops are used hundreds of times a day by private buses — on a recent weekday passengers were dropped off 946 times and picked up 799 times.

One bus stop, on 34th Street between Ninth and 10th avenues, has brought constant honking as buses have idled and slowed traffic, as well as piles of trash left behind by passengers, according to Pat Forbes, a cybersecurity executive who lives across the street from the stop.

“I don’t think anyone has anything against buses — it’s just where they’re at,” said Forbes, 58. “They couldn’t have picked a worse area if they tried.'’

Christine Berthet, a member of a midtown Manhattan community board, said bus companies all want to be near the Port Authority and Pennsylvania Station, but sometimes can be persuaded to go farther away where there is more room. But even that is no longer the best solution. “We have run out of spots,” she said.

Bieber buses rolled into the Port Authority in the 1970s, carrying visitors and commuters seeking high-paying jobs without the city’s high cost of living. In recent years, about 450 passengers rode on weekdays, though that number has declined.

Bieber’s license to operate at the Port Authority was terminated July 28, the first time that has happened in recent years, said Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the terminal. He said Bieber still owes about $125,000.

Matthew Daus, a lawyer who represents Bieber, said the company was facing “financial difficulties in the year leading up to the termination by the Port, and was seeking refinancing in order to keep current with the Port payments, and the refinancing was delayed.”

Daus also said Bieber had to apply for a curbside spot because it could not return to the terminal and that other companies at the terminal also have outside spaces.

A Port Authority official opposed the location of Bieber’s stop, arguing in an October letter to the city that adding a curbside spot to the heavily congested area outside the terminal “only complicates an already challenging environment.” It also puts bus companies paying to use the terminal at a competitive disadvantage, according to the letter.

City transportation officials said they have limited authority to reject bus stops and were responsive to concerns about Bieber by issuing a permit for only three months — instead of the usual three years — so they could monitor its operations. The stop is already used by a public bus. State law caps how much can be charged in administrative fees for a bus stop: Bieber has paid $1,140. (It would be $4,560 for a full year.)

Steve Haddad, the president and chief executive officer of Bieber, said in a statement that “our company looks forward to being a good neighbor to the community and to continue serving our customers, who have no other way to get to and from New York City to earn a living.” The company, he added, has stationed a dispatcher at the stop to ensure safe and efficient operations.

After leaving the terminal, Bieber buses operated on city streets without an approved bus stop, racking up violations and fines, according to The Morning Call, which has reported on the company’s financial and legal troubles. Daus said many violations have been dismissed and others were being appealed or contested.

Bieber buses then dropped off passengers in Weehawken, New Jersey, where they took a ferry across the Hudson River to Manhattan and then used other buses to continue through midtown.

“I said I was missing one mode of transport — an airplane,” said Esther Peña, 22, a hospital clinical research coordinator whose 2 1/2-hour one-way commute from Allentown, Pennsylvania, grew even longer, to three hours.

Many passengers said Bieber should have paid its bills and that its problem became theirs because there were few other transit options.

Yolanda Campbell, 32, a nurse, shivered as she waited recently on the curb for a Bieber bus. She had been driving because she did not want to follow Bieber as it moved around and other bus companies had limited routes and hours. But she would get so tired that she had to pull over to nap.

“I was falling asleep every day,” she said about her commute from the Allentown area. “I don’t care if they’re on the street as long as I don’t have to drive.”

The New York Times

Kicked out of port authority, Bieber Bus got a prime stop on a crowded curb

NEW YORK — A financially struggling bus company was kicked out of the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan after failing to pay $214,000 in fees.

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