Uptown Shuttles Suspended To Help Coronavirus Driver Shortage

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — Shuttles set up to help straphangers get around during the year-long 191st Street construction project will be suspended during the coronavirus pandemic, officials announced Wednesday.

Two shuttles — known as the 191 1 bus and 181 A bus — will both be suspended during the pandemic starting Saturday, according to a Community Board 12 notice.

The shuttles have been bringing riders between the 191st Street station and the 181st Street station since construction started to replace an elevator at 191st Street, the deepest station in the city's subway system, on Feb. 1.

Stopping the shuttles will let their drivers switch to operating buses instead, officials said.

"Ridership on these shuttles has dropped precipitously since the start of the pandemic and we need to redeploy our limited bus operators to ensure that our underlying bus network can continue to reliably move essential workers," the notice reads.

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The news comes the same week that the MTA — facing an $8 billion budget deficit after ridership dropped 92 percent — started a historic plan to stop late night train service between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. for the first time in 115 years in order to clean trains during the coronavirus.

Transit officials estimate about 11,000 riders — among them essential hospital workers — have been relying on trains during the COVID-19 shutdown.

Officials said that straphangers who still need service to or from the 191st Street and St. Nicholas Avenue entrance can use the M3 bus from the 181st Street station. The M3 is scheduled to run from 6:30 to 1 a.m. everyday. Customers can use the M101 overnight.

The 191st Street project is scheduled to wrap up in February 2021. It is one of five elevator replacements at Uptown subway stations the MTA hopes to complete by 2022.

The stations include: The West 168th Street 1 station, the 191st Street 1 station, the 190th Street A station, the 181st Street 1 station and the 181st Street A station.

The West 168th Street 1 station project recently wrapped up ahead of schedule.

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