For eight weekends across June and July, New York City turned 42nd Street into a dedicated bus corridor, clearing the crosstown route from First to 12th Avenue while restricting deliveries and closing Penn Station side streets to accommodate FIFA World Cup crowds headed to MetLife Stadium. The experiment is over, the teams have gone home, and the results are in. For bus riders, it worked. Now comes the harder question: can a tournament weekend become permanent policy?
What happened
- The city closed 42nd Street from First to 12th Avenue to most vehicles on eight match days in June and July, with smaller closures on side streets and parts of Fifth and Sixth Avenue.
- Streets around Penn Station were closed to vehicular traffic, and truck deliveries were restricted from 30th to 60th Street for up to 13 hours on game days.
- Bus travel times ran about 23% faster than usual, even with roughly a million extra visitors in town, according to city transit officials.
- At least half of match-goers reached the stadium via public transit, with Sunday's final alone drawing around 80,000 spectators.
- The M42 route normally moves at roughly 5 miles per hour, the pace of a leisurely stroll.
Our analysis
The headline number is 23%. On a route where buses crawl at walking speed—and won the dubious "Pokey" award for sluggishness last year—that improvement means the difference between catching kickoff and missing the first half. The match-day videos were telling: buses gliding through emptied lanes, a Streetsblog reporter cutting eight minutes off his usual journey. Danny Pearlstein of Riders Alliance called it "a big success." For transit advocates, the data validates what they have argued for years.
But the real test is not the speed gain—it is whether that gain survives contact with the businesses that depend on 42nd Street as a commercial corridor. The NYC Hospitality Alliance documented member frustration over delivery bans and late notification; restaurants could not receive perishables during restricted windows, and some operators said they learned of no-truck zones less than two weeks before the first match. Fred Cerullo of the Grand Central Partnership called it "a lot of burden to get business done." The complaint is not that the busway failed—it is that implementation caught people unprepared.
The politics are more favorable than the business reception. Three Manhattan community boards have already called for a permanent busway. Transportation Alternatives has mounted a "Miracle on 42nd Street" campaign for protected bike lanes and wider sidewalks. With 34th Street queued up for similar treatment after federal negotiations, 42nd Street is the natural next link uptown.
The New York City Department of Transportation's new bus blueprint already identifies a "Midtown Crosstown" corridor—roughly where 42nd Street sits—as one of 50 priority corridors for a 20% speed increase. That document is the clearest official signal yet that the busway will receive formal consideration. The question is whether the Mamdani administration treats the hospitality industry's concerns as a communication problem to fix or a structural objection to overcome.
Who should care
| Stakeholder | Impact of permanent busway |
|---|---|
| M42 riders | Faster commutes; current pace of 5 mph could improve to a light jog |
| Restaurants and shops | Compressed delivery windows; require off-hours coordination |
| Newsstands and cart vendors | Truck access limited; potential parking fines passed to operators |
| Bus advocacy groups | Momentum confirmed; natural progression after 14th and 34th Street busways |
| Hospitality industry | Lost taxi stands, frustrated patrons; seeks better advance notice on restrictions |
| Commuters from outer boroughs | Faster, more reliable crosstown connections |
What to watch next
Watch for the DOT's Midtown Crosstown corridor to move from blueprint to budget. The delivery-window complaint has a straightforward fix—earlier notice and flexible scheduling—but if the city treats it as noise rather than feedback, it hands opponents a rallying point. Protected bike infrastructure will likely draw sharper pushback than the bus priority itself.
Key takeaways
- Match-day closures cut bus travel times by about 23% on a corridor that normally averages 5 miles per hour.
- At least three community boards and an advocacy campaign already back a permanent 42nd Street busway.
- Truck delivery restrictions and late notification were the main flashpoints with hospitality businesses during the test.
- The DOT's priority corridor list is the clearest signal yet that the busway will receive official consideration.
Frequently asked questions
Did bus speeds actually improve on 42nd Street during the World Cup?
Yes. According to city transit officials, travel times on the corridor ran about 23% faster than usual during match days.
How many people used transit to get to MetLife Stadium?
At least half of match-goers took public transit, with the Sunday final alone drawing around 80,000 spectators.
What is the M42 bus route?
The M42 is the crosstown bus route running along 42nd Street, normally averaging roughly 5 miles per hour.
Why are businesses pushing back on the busway?
The NYC Hospitality Alliance said members struggled with truck delivery restrictions and what they described as last-minute communication about no-truck zones.
What is the "Miracle on 42nd Street" campaign?
It is a campaign led by Transportation Alternatives calling on City Hall to redesign 42nd Street with a protected bike lane, wider sidewalks, and bus priority.
