The results of a recent study concluded this month was presented to the Port Authority Board of Commissioners on September 28, 2017. Engineering and Construction firms concluded that it would be feasible to add two floors to the current bus Terminal and then proceed to renovate the floors below , in a top down approach. This technique has been used before on other buildings. Thus this will be included in the options to be studied as part of the environmental process .
You can see the presentation here and view the video Here ( 0:31:28).
While this is a good news from a land use perspective – no eminent domain will be necessary- many key issues air quality and street safety remain to be addressed: increasing by 40% diesel bus exhaust is not going in the right direction unless the building is fully enclosed and the air filtered. And what will happened to pedestrians with 40% more buses on the street or to 40% more commuters who want to go the East side and use the E line , which is already at capacity?
This is only the very first step in a very long precess to resolve all these critical issues to the community satisfaction. We have our work cut for us.
All non-electric buses should be banned from the PABT. Diesel vehicles, in particular, have been show to have lethal effects. This is a no-brainer.