Countdown clocks are coming to 1,400 more bus stops. Here's what the Council has passed on bus stops

More New York bus riders will soon see when the next bus is coming without opening an app. The city signed a deal to add real-time countdown clocks at more than 1,400 bus stops, Gothamist reported. The Transportation Department plans to equip 2,900 of the city's roughly 15,000 stops by 2030. About 700 clocks are already up.

The new displays include a text-to-speech feature for riders who are blind or have low vision, and the MTA says they will sync with its bus location system, according to Gothamist. Some screens will go on bus shelters, which are run by JCDecaux under an advertising deal; a contractor will install about 1,400 clocks on bus stop poles. Installation will cost $17 million, not counting maintenance. Locations will be chosen by ridership and what officials called an equitable approach.

"Every New Yorker deserves to know when their bus is coming," Mayor Zohran Mamdani said, according to Gothamist. The mayor has also announced 300 new bus shelters over two years.

What our records add

DOT gave the Council its shelter numbers in May. At the Finance Committee's May 29 hearing on the transportation budget, a member asked how many new bus shelters would go in this year, especially in transit deserts and on high-ridership routes. A department official answered 100 this year, and said new funding would help the city meet the bus lane requirements in Local Law 195.

The Council passed a bus shelter law unanimously. Int. 416, from Council Member Justin E. Sanchez with 20 sponsors, creates a pilot program for cleaning and removing snow and ice from bus shelters, bike share stations and public communications structures. It passed 49 to 0 on March 10, with one member absent. The record shows the mayor returned it unsigned on April 10.

Bus stop bills still waiting:

• Int. 1081, from Shahana K. Hanif, would require the Sanitation Department to clear snow and ice from certain bus stops and shelters and keep a public online map of clearance status. It was introduced Sept. 24.
• Int. 120, from Selvena N. Brooks-Powers, would require notice to nearby homes and businesses when a bus stop is created or removed. It has waited since Jan. 29.
• Res. 158, from Sandra Ung, asks the MTA to make bus and subway announcements in the four most commonly spoken languages in the city.

The Transportation Committee has 159 pending items, 119 of them more than 180 days old, according to our committee records.

What's next

The Sanitation Committee meets Nov. 2 on snow removal (meeting), a natural place for questions about clearing bus stops before winter. The Transportation Committee meets Tuesday, Oct. 27 (meeting).