Manhattan has city's slowest buses: Report

Manhattan was the "winner" in the Straphangers Campaign's awards for the slowest and most unreliable buses in the city.

The Pokey Awards for slowest-traveling buses were bestowed on two crosstown lines in midtown -- the M42 and M50 -- that were as fast as walking on an average afternoon. Manhattan also had nine out of the 10 slowest bus routes in the city.

"Our advice to the M42 and M50: Don't challenge a row boat to race around the Central Park Reservoir," Gene Russianoff, the Straphangers Campaign's attorney, said in a statement. "These crosstown buses are losers."

The Schleppie Awards for unreliable service went to the M101, 102 and 103 buses that run between upper and lower Manhattan on Third Lexington, Lenox and Amsterdam avenues.

MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz touted the speed gains made with Select Bus Service routes, six of which have been installed during the Bloomberg administration.

"As the report indicates, the current SBS routes have already had a dramatic impact on improving bus speeds along those corridors," Ortiz said.