New York City's slowest bus has an average speed of 3.6 mph

New York - The slowest bus in the city has gotten even slower.

The M42 Manhattan crosstown was rated the most snail-like in the five boroughs in 2009, with an average speed of 3.7 mph.

This year, the pace decreased slightly to 3.6 mph, according to two transit advocacy groups.

"Broadway boasts bright lights, big stars and a bus so slow an actor could memorize the first act of Hamlet riding the M42 between the U.N. and Times Square," said Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign.

The Straphangers Campaign and Transportation Alternatives gave the annual "Pokey" award to the M42 on Tuesday for the second year in a row.

The tongue-in-cheek prize is symbolized by a golden snail on a pedestal.

A young person walking along 42nd St. would travel at about the same pace as the bus, Russianoff said.

According to the two groups, the slowest routes in each of the other boroughs are:

Brooklyn: B35, between between Sunset Park and Brownsville, 5.4 mph.

Bronx: Bx19, between Botanical Gardens, Bronx, and Harlem, Manhattan, 5.1 mph.

Queens: Q58, between Ridgewood and Flushing, 6.6 mph.

Staten Island: S48, between Richmond Terrace and St. George Ferry Terminal, 8.2 mph.

The transit groups surveyed 29 bus routes selected either because they have high ridership or a history of plodding.

The Straphangers Campaign and Transportation Alternatives gave the MTA high marks for expanding Select Bus Service strategies for speeding travel like off-board payment to additional routes.

"MTA NYC Transit is grateful for the Straphangers' acknowledgment of improved service along routes where we have implemented Select Bus Service," an NYC Transit spokesman said. "More bus customers will benefit from speedier and more efficient service as additional SBS routes are rolled out across the City."

The groups also gave out their annual "Schleppie," awarded to the least reliable route based upon NYC Transit data for a sample of 42 high-volume routes.

The 2010 Schleppie winner is the Bx41 in central Bronx. Almost one in four Bx41 buses arrived bunched together or had big gaps in service during the first half of the year.

The other four most unreliable routes were:

Manhattan: M101/2/3, between upper and lower Manhattan. Some 22.3% of buses arrived bunched together or with a major gap between other buses.

Staten Island: S78, between St. George Ferry Terminal and Tottenville, 21.8%

Brooklyn: B44, between Sheepshead Bay and Williamsburg, 21.7%.

Brooklyn: B41, between Kings Plaza and downtown Brooklyn, 21.5%

Daily News