Who needs mass transit anyway?

From the NY Times:

Riders trying to get downtown through the Times Square area have experienced longer travel times on four out of five affected bus routes, according to a report from New York City Transit, which operates the city’s bus system.

In the worst case, the M6 bus took more than 10 minutes longer to complete its route from Central Park to Union Square in the evening rush, meaning riders had to spend about 25 percent more time to finish the trip.

The report attributed the slower rides to increased congestion, longer routes and new turns required by the closing of several blocks of Broadway. It also said that the rerouting of buses and other traffic onto Seventh Avenue “appears to have caused congestion,” an assertion that the Bloomberg administration rejected.

Buses that travel north on Avenue of the Americas were not rerouted. They benefited from the city’s simplification of the intersection at Herald Square, shaving an average of 14 percent, or 90 seconds, off their travel times between 14th and 34th Streets, the report said.

The bus data was collected by New York City Transit in October and provided to the city’s Transportation Department. The report was not made public until this week, after repeated requests from The New York Times.