(19 Mar 2015) A plan to transform the nation's busiest bus terminal from a crumbling eyesore into a gleaming new facility stalled on Thursday as transit officials rejected the nearly $10 billion price tag and demanded cheaper options.
Commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey revolted against the proposal presented by agency officials, saying they need to go back to the drawing board and consider other options, including building the new terminal in New Jersey and creating a rail link to Manhattan or finding a cheaper place in the city for the construction site.
"I do hope that even the options that were presented today could be delivered a lot more cheaply than these estimates reflect," said Port Authority Chairman John Degnan.
Long considered an embarrassing stain on the city's mass transit system, the Port Authority Bus Terminal, located in Times Square near the city's most famous tourist attractions, suffers from cracked floors, crumbling ceiling tiles and severe overcrowding during rush hour.
"It's almost embarrassing a little bit," said commuter Antonio Enriquez.
Commissioners acknowledged for years that the terminal needs to be replaced, but the project never took off amid the bi-state agency's political scandals and increasing financial burdens.
The cost estimate is more than twice as expensive as the $4 billion World Trade Center transportation hub, which was heavily criticized for running far over budget.
The 65-year-old terminal, which has run an annual deficit of about $100 million in recent years and handles 220,000 bus riders every day, is on a long list of priorities for the Port Authority, which has funneled billions of dollars in recent years to fund other structurally deficient bridges and tunnels and the decimated World Trade Center site.
The internal study, which began more than a year and a half ago, produced five possibilities for how to rebuild the bus terminal. All of them would build the new terminal on Manhattan's far west side near Times Square, though they ranged in price from $8 to 10 billion and would take anywhere from 12 to 15 years to be completed.

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