NYC has the greatest number of bus commuters in North America but the some of slowest bus service in the nation. In an attempt to turn the tortoise into a hare, the DOT is moving forward with "Select Bus" service on First and Second Avenues. Construction will begin this month, creating dedicated terra-cotta brown bus lanes and extending some sidewalks to allow buses to pick up and discharge passengers without having to exit and reenter traffic. The new service, running from 125th to Houston Streets, is expected to improve overall travel time by 20 percent.

Buses will be equipped with three doors for quicker boarding and exiting, and tickets will be sold at sidewalk kiosks. Riders will be on the honor system and not required to show their tickets unless asked. (Scofflaws will be subject to a $100 fine.) The Select Buses will make fewer stops than the current M15 Limited, but unlike the physically separated bus lanes planned for 34th Street, the Select Bus lanes will not be separated from traffic. "New Yorkers are tired of waiting years and decades for changes to make their streets work better," DOT commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan tells the Times. "We want to give buses the red carpet."

The service will be similar to the one that runs along Fordham Road in The Bronx, and the DOT says police will step up enforcement of the bus lanes, issuing $150 tickets to cabs and other motorists who block the lane. (On about half the route, trucks will be allowed to use the lane for deliveries from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays.) A plan to give Select Buses technology that would extend green traffic lights as they approach has been put on the backburner for now.

The Select Buses are expected to start running in October, and the changes will include 3.5 miles of protected bike lanes, separated from traffic by a row of parked cars. But the bike lane improvement will only run between Houston and 34th Street, and the dedicated bus lane on Second Avenue will cease between 70th and 100th Streets because of construction of the Second Avenue subway. Transporation Alternatives spokesman Wiley Norvell tells us that cycling advocates "will be working overtime to make sure the bike lanes we’ve been fighting for from 34th to 125th, and the pedestrian safety islands that accompany them." But he says, "When it's completed up through East Harlem, the East side will have the best streets for biking, walking and buses anywhere in the country."