George Washington Bridge Bus Station

View of the terminal from the west at 178th Street.

The George Washington Bridge Bus Station is a commuter bus terminal located at the east end of the George Washington Bridge in the Washington Heights area of Manhattan in New York City, New York. The bus station is owned and operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. According to the Port Authority's website, on a typical weekday, approximately 17,000 passengers on about 950 buses use the bus station. In June 2011, the agency announced plans for $3.2 million renovation of the terminal.

Architecture

The station is built over the Trans-Manhattan Expressway (Interstate 95) between 178th and 179th Streets and Fort Washington and Wadsworth Avenues and features direct bus ramps on and off the upper level of the bridge. The building was designed by renowned engineer Pier Luigi Nervi and is one of only a few buildings he designed outside of Italy. It opened January 13, 1963 as a replacement for a series of sidewalk bus loading areas that existed between 166th and 167th streets further south. The building is constructed of huge steel-reinforced concrete trusses, fourteen of which are cantilevered from supports in the median of the Trans-Manhattan Expressway, which it straddles. The building contains murals as well as busts of George Washington and Othmar Amman, the civil engineer who designed the bridge. The building received the 1963 Concrete Industry Board’s Award. The first floor of the bus terminal has shops and a waiting area.

Accessibility

Some portions of the terminal are wheelchair accessible, but many of the bus platforms are not. In addition, the M4 bus provides wheelchair accessible service to Fort Tryon Park, continuing inside the park to the Cloisters Museum when open.

New York City Subway

The complex includes the 175th Street station of the IND Eighth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway, located at Fort Washington Avenue and 175th Street. The subway station, operated by the New York City Transit Authority, was part of the original IND line which opened in 1932.

Bus service

As of 2008, the following bus companies serve the terminal:

In addition to service provided by city, state, and major bus companies, service is also provided by Express Shuttle as well as privately operated guagua (minibus) to points in northeastern New Jersey.

New York City Transit Authority buses

• Local buses stop at a lower level and on the streets outside the station. Local service includes:
  • M4, M5, M100 and Bx7 (outside the station)
  • M98, Bx3, Bx11, Bx13, Bx36 and Bx35 (on streets nearby). The Bx13 serves Yankee Stadium.

New Jersey Transit

Route	Terminal	via	notes
171	Paterson Broadway Bus Terminal	GWB Plaza Route 4
175 NJT	Ridgewood	GWB Plaza New Jersey Route 4 Hackensack, Paramus, Rochelle Park	some trips do not stop at Garden State Plaza or Bergen Community College
178	Hackensack Bus Transfer	GWB Plaza, New Jersey Route 4 Grand Avenue, Teaneck Armory, Englewood Avenue	express variation of 182 limited Sunday service
181	Bergenline Station	GWB Plaza, Palisade Avenue, Bergenline Avenue
182	Hackensack Bus Transfer	GWB Plaza, Fort Lee Road, DeGraw Avenue	local variation of 178
186	Dumont	GWB Plaza, Sylvan Avenue, Palisades Avenue, Teaneck Road
188	West New York	GWB Plaza, Edgewater 60 Street at Kennedy Boulevard

Rockland Coaches

For purposes of service hours, the following terms are used:

• Peak: Service operates in the peak direction (to Manhattan AM, from Manhattan PM) between 4:30 AM and 9 AM and 3 PM and 7:30 PM, weekdays.
• Reverse peak: Service operates against the peak direction during peak hours.
• Shoulder: Service operates in the peak direction (to Manhattan AM, from Manhattan PM) 1–2 hours before or after the peak period.
• Midday: Bi-directional service to and from Manhattan off-peak, including the shoulder period.
• Evening: Service operates after the PM rush (bidirectional unless noted).
• Saturday: Route operates on Saturday.
• Sunday: Route operates on Sunday.

Route	Service	Terminals	via
9A & 9W	Peak Reverse peak Midday Evening Saturday Sunday	New City (9A and 9W) (full-time) Central Nyack (9W) or Stony Point (9) (peak service only)	Sylvan Avenue, Oak Tree Road, Piermont Avenue/River Road, Broadway, Nyack Turnpike (Central Nyack trips only) Lake Road, Main Street, Route 9W (Stony Point trips only)
11C	Peak Reverse peak Midday Evening Saturday Sunday	Stony Point, or Spring Valley	Queen Anne Road, New Bridge Road, Boulevard, Kinderkamack Road, Middletown Road, Route 59 (to Spring Valley), Routes 303, Main Street, and 9W (to Stony Point)
14K	Peak Reverse peak	Harrington Park, Westwood, or Montvale	Grand Avenue (some trips), Engle Street/Dean Street, Knickerbocker Road, Blanch Avenue, Rivervale Road (to Montvale), Piermont Avenue (to Westwood)
20	Peak Reverse peak Midday Evening Saturday Sunday	Palisades Center	CR 501, Tappan Road, Western Highway, Convent Road, Gilbert Avenue, Middletown Road, Route 59
25	Peak	New Milford	Route 4, Teaneck Road, NeW Bridge Road, Prospect Avenue, Madison Avenue, Boulevard, River Road
84 RC	Peak Reverse peak Midday Evening Saturday Sunday	Tenafly limited continuing service to Northvale or Westwood	County Route 501, Livingston Street (to Northvale), Rivervale Road, Piermont Avenue (to Westwood)

Short Line Bus

Route	Service	Terminals	via	notes
208 east/northbound	Peak service only.	Montgomery	Washingtonville, Monroe, Central Valley	Route owned by the New York State DOT.
208	Peak service only.	Harlem East Side (Manhattan)		Route owned by the New York State DOT. Does not serve Port Authority Bus Terminal.

See also

• Port Authority Bus Terminal
• Journal Square Transportation Center

External links

• Unofficial New Jersey bus map
• NJ Transit route finder
• Rockland Coaches
• ShortLine Bus
• GW Bridge Bus Station home page
• ArchNewsNow.com article