The recent expansion of Downtown Alliance’s free bus jitney route into the heart of Lower Manhattan has proved so popular that the business improvement district has tweaked the route. The buses are no longer waiting in north Battery Park City before heading to the Civic Center.
The Alliance expanded the U-shaped route, The Downtown Connection, last month in order to help customers get to more stores. Liz Berger, Alliance president, said she made the move at the suggestion of Abe Brown, J & Music’s general manager. Whole Foods and Bed Bath & Beyond are other stores along the expanded route in which patrons often leave with large or heavy shopping bags.
Bruce Brodoff, the Alliance’s spokesperson, said they have not yet collected new ridership data, but drivers have noticed more and more shopping bags on the buses and some seniors are taking the bus to cross the West Side Highway.
The new mini-loop runs along Warren and Murray Sts. to Broadway and is a continuation of the original route which runs to and from Fulton and Water Sts. in the Seaport, down Water St., past Battery Park and up through Battery Park City. The buses now pause at Fulton and Water rather than north B.P.C. They run every day, averaging about 10 minutes, from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Call 212-566-6700 or go to downtownny.com for more information.
