Port Authority Bus Terminal — Attraction in New York

The Port Authority Bus Terminal (colloquially known as the Port Authority and in initials as PABT) is the main gateway for interstate buses into Manhattan in New York City. It is owned and operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ). The bus terminal is located in Midtown at 625 Eighth Avenue between 40th Street and 42nd Street, one block east of the Lincoln Tunnel and one block west of Times Square. It is one of three bus terminals operated by the PANYNJ, the others being the George Washington Bridge Bus Station in Upper Manhattan and the Journal Square Transportation Center in Jersey City.

Artwork: The Commuter's Lament-A Close Shave (Norman B. Colp)

Location: 42nd Street-Port Authority Bus Terminal · Installed: 1991

This little poem, inspired by the famous Burma Shave ad campaign, was commissioned by the MTA arts program in the 1990s as a temporary installation, but it is still installed, in the transfer corridor from the IND 8th Avenue/42nd St. station to the Times Square subway station complex (7th Ave, Broadway, Flushing, and Shuttle stations). The lines actually appear mounted on the overhead I-beams, approximately every fifth beam. The photo here is a montage of the installation.

The artist wrote to us in November, 2006, about the installation: The work is incomplete, for the last panel (a 24"x36" B/W image of a slept-in bed) was removed for the station renovation last year. I do not have any info from Arts for Transit when it will be reinstalled. Also missing are wall labels at the beginning and end of the sequence which identifies the work as THE COMMUTER'S LAMENT or A CLOSE SHAVE. The second part of the title also refers to Burma Shave, a men's product (1930's to 60's approx) which was well known for series of signs, like my homage.

The New York Times recently reported that Mr. Colp passed away Aug. 28, 2007. It was noticed in 2011 that the final panel had been...

The absolute worst public transportation system I've ever dealt with. During the day, things somewhat function as they should for the most part, however, after about 11pm it's a completely different story. Being in the city that never sleeps, of course I wanted to stay out late and experience the NY nightlife. But trying to make it back to my stay in Lodi, NJ was just about enough to ruin the entire experience. According to the bus schedules that I checked several times, the transit buses I used to go back forth were supposed to run 24 hours. But after waiting around for several hours on different occasions I found this was not accurate. And when I asked the staff on hand for assistance on which bus I should take, absolutely no one could give me any useful information. Which gate is this bus departing from? What time do these buses stop running? Which bus can take me the closest to where I'm trying to go? All these questions and more were met with blank stares and shoulder shrugs, as if transit information was the best kept secret in the entire city. I understand keeping track of every bus that comes in and out of the port authority is nearly impossible, but I would expect that if you've worked there more than 3 months that someone in the entire building could give me a better answer than "I don't know." After realizing they were simply interested in making sure I paid for my ticket, I had to sit for hours on end researching all the the bus routes and figuring out which ones were still running that could drop me off the closest to my location with less than a 45 minute walk at 3am to my stay. Primarily for this reason, this will be my last trip to the big city until at least the turn of the next decade. This is a simple issue that can be remedied with the slightest education of the port authority employees and I'm undoubtedly sure that I am not the first person to realize this nor will I...

I live in Harmon Cove Town Houses on 12/18/2023 the 129X pulled in and I didn't have enough time to run and catch it. I ran to Meadowlands Parkway at Cove Court (SB) and waited about a minute for the bus to pull out of the gate community. The weather was very bad ( Rain & Wind ), the driver saw me and drove by pointing his finger across the street for the (NB) bus stop. After waiting for almost 10 mins in the rain the same bus driver pulled up. I asked him why did he drove by me his reply was I don't stop there, I told him that is a designated bus stop for the 129X to New York and that other bus drivers pick up customers here including myself. He proceeds to say "well I don't stop there" with a negative tone in his voice. At this point I'm highly upset and wet. I told him I'm going to repot you and his response me was in a cocky way ( Go Ahead! ). I feel highly disrespected by this man and I really tried my best to compose myself. So I took a seat right after I told him he's an "A$$Hole

I submitted a complaint to NJ transit the same day and as of 1/12/2024 no one has replied back to me. It's apparent that the company doesn't care and the bus driver knew that hence why he told me to go ahead and complain. SMH

I'm pretty sure he would have stopped if I was Caucasian or Hispanic.

Today 1/18/2024 my fiancé called me to tell me she was disrespected by a bus driver, I sent her the same bus driver photo and asked if this was him. She responded Yes!

I called the complaint number to check the status of my first complaint a month ago about this driver and was told the person who is handling my case number received awhile ago and don't know why I haven't been contacted and she will send a email to this person 🤦🏾‍♂️.

Its obvious that NJ Transit does not care about customer service and the employees reflect that, they just their for a paycheck even though its the customer whos actually...