The Special Tourist Hell that is the Port Authority Bus Terminal

If you're a tourist, and you're planning to take a bus in or out of New York City, be sure to give yourself extra time to navigate the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

Commuters who regularly take the bus in and out of Manhattan (this includes me--I did this for more than nine years) will of course know where they're going. Most of the time. But tourists be warned: you will find Port Authority to be an intimidating maze.


A typical example: to get to my bus stop in New Jersey, you can theoretically wait at three different gates--it depends on what time the bus departs. One of the gates has four separate doors and it's unclear which door is the correct one, because different buses stop at different gates, depending on what time of day it is and which day of the week it is.

Confused yet? Well, some of these buses might go to your bus stop, but then again, some might not. You're supposed to be clairvoyant and already know this, or you've been successful at deciphering the bus schedule pamplets that you can get from the information booth near the entrance of the terminal downstairs. When it's open. Of course when traffic is bad (which happens most every weekday rush hour and causes buses to arrive and depart late), you might as well throw the schedule totally out the window.

Nobody tells you anything. The bus driver might grunt at you when you ask him "is this the bus to ---- stop?" And god forbid if you miss your bus on a weekend; you get the privilege of waiting two hours for the next one.

My advice: embrace the fact that you have no idea where you're going. Ask a fellow commuter, or better yet, ask several fellow commuters. And good luck.