The second phase will require buses to be taken out of service for what the MTA calls “a short maintenance window” so Prevost can reconfigure all the seats on the coaches that roll between Manhattan and neighborhoods with limited or no subway access. Prevost will now also be required to reconfigure 132 diesel buses that have already been delivered, according to the MTA, reversing the earlier plan to limit the alterations to vehicles that hadn’t been completed yet. THE CITY first reported in December that the MTA pumped the brakes on the rollout of express buses that were part of an October 2019 order from Prevost, and asked the bus manufacturer to find fixes only on those that had not yet been assembled. “And now we got them, and they’re horrible.” “I’ve been asking for years, ‘When are we getting the new buses, when are we getting the new buses?’” said Monica Antonio, 62, who commutes four days a week on express buses between Midtown Manhattan and Midwood, Brooklyn, and has arthritis in both knees. The new buses, which are part of a $150 million order from Prevost, a Canadian subsidiary of Volvo, began hitting city streets in December 2020, but quickly encountered resistance from riders who suffered from the squeeze. After being hit with commuter complaints about the lack of leg room on the latest MTA express buses, the transit agency has agreed to adjust seat configurations on more than 250 of its newest coaches by reverting to a more spacious layout used by models assembled between 20.

Express bus from queens to manhattan