List of express bus routes in New York City

bus on the Eltingville-bound SIM1 at Bowling Green, four days after the X1 became the SIM1 on August 19, 2018. Most routes travel to and from Staten Island via the Verrazzano–Narrows Bridge, Gowanus Expressway, and Hugh L. Carey Tunnel into Lower Manhattan. Some routes operate through New Jersey via the Goethals Bridge, New Jersey Turnpike, New Jersey Route 495, and Lincoln Tunnel to directly serve Midtown Manhattan. On August 19, 2018, all of the Staten Island-Manhattan express bus routes were redesigned to offer simpler and direct routes, fewer stops to speed up the trips, and additional service for off-peak hours and weekends. The new routes originally planned consists of 21 express routes: 11 traveling to Midtown, 8 traveling to Downtown and 2 traveling to Greenwich Village via Battery Park City. The previously used "X" routes have been dropped in favor of "SIM," or Staten Island to Manhattan, routes. This was the result of the two-year Staten Island Bus Study conducted by MTA, launched in 2015, which analyzed trip performance data, ridership profiles and extensive customer input, to determine the most effective way to reconfigure the network. All routes are operated by New York City Transit. All routes run during rush hours in the peak direction. In addition, the SIM1C, SIM3C, SIM4C and SIM33C provide off-peak weekday and weekend service, and the SIM1C provides overnight service. These four -C routes cover most stops in Manhattan served by other routes during peak hours. History and notes ==Manhattan to Brooklyn==

bus on the Bensonhurst-bound X38. This was only a demo bus and is no longer in passenger service. X- routes are operated by New York City Transit, while BM-routes are operated by MTA Bus Company. All routes operate nonstop between Brooklyn and Manhattan via the Gowanus Expressway or Prospect Expressway to the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel, with some routes continuing non-stop via the FDR Drive to reach Midtown. The exception to this is the BM5, which also makes stops in Queens and uses Woodhaven Boulevard, the Long Island Expressway and Queens Midtown Tunnel to reach Midtown. History and notes Proposed routes under the Brooklyn Bus Redesign The MTA released a draft plan for Brooklyn's bus network redesign on December 1, 2022. The new plan retains the "BM" prefix and preserves all existing routes. The BM1, BM2, BM3, BM4, X27/X37, and X28/X38 will each be split into three routes: a rush-hour downtown route, a rush-hour midtown route, and an off-peak downtown and midtown route. In general, the revised plan includes the following changes: • All routes with the X prefix will be relabeled with the BM prefix; i.e. the X27, X28, X37, and X38 will become the BM7, BM8, BM37, and BM38 respectively. • All peak downtown routes will have a single-digit number (e.g. BM1). • All peak midtown routes will have a double-digit number beginning in 3 (e.g. BM31). • All off-peak downtown and midtown routes will have a single-digit number and the suffix "C" (e.g. BM1C). • All off-peak routes operated by MTA Bus will eliminate Saturday service due to low ridership. ==Manhattan to Queens==

bus on the Downtown-bound QM65 All Midtown routes except for the Super Expresses operate nonstop outbound via the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, while Downtown routes operate via the FDR Drive and the Queens Midtown Tunnel. All inbound service operates via the Long Island Expressway and Queens Midtown Tunnel. All routes are operated by the MTA Bus Company, except for the QM63, QM64, and QM68, which are operated by New York City Transit. History and notes In December 2019, the MTA released a draft redesign of the Queens bus network redesign with 77 routes. The final redesign was initially expected in mid- or late 2020, but the first draft attracted overwhelmingly negative feedback, with 11,000 comments about the plans. Planning resumed in mid-2021. The original draft plan was dropped, and a revised plan with 85 routes was released on March 29, 2022. The new plan retains the "QM" prefix and preserves most of the existing routes. • The X63, X64, and X68 was renamed the QM63, QM64, and QM68 respectively. • One new express route was introduced: the QM65 from Lower Manhattan to Laurelton. This route is operated by MTA Bus. • The QM3 was eliminated due to low ridership. • The QM10 and QM40 were to be eliminated and absorbed into the QM11, QM12, and QM42. This was withdrawn in the Proposed Final Plan. In the second draft plan, all Queens-bound express buses were supposed to use the Long Island Expressway; some of the existing routes used Queens Boulevard or Northern Boulevard. released in December 2023. Phase 1 changes were implemented on June 29–30, 2025. The QM15–QM18, QM24–QM25, and QM34 changes took place on September 2, 2025. ==Manhattan to the Bronx==

in 2021 All routes are operated by MTA Bus. History and notes Former Liberty Lines Express routes were taken over by MTA Bus Company on January 3, 2005, while former New York Bus Service routes were taken over on July 1, 2005. ==Manhattan intra-borough==

New York City Transit Staten Island Express routes demonstrator bus on X17J route in 2018 Most X routes were discontinued between 2010 and 2018 due to budget cuts and a reimagining of the bus network. In 2015, the MTA began a comprehensive study of express bus lines on Staten Island. These lines had not been drastically changed since the 1980s, and were updated piece-by-piece. In March 2018, after hosting several meetings with Staten Island residents, the MTA announced that express bus service to Staten Island was expected to be completely reorganized in August 2018. As part of the redesign, all of the existing bus routes would be discontinued and replaced with new routes with a "SIM" prefix on August 19, 2018. The "SIM" prefix was chosen to reduce confusion with the "X"-prefixed routes they replaced, but deviate from the "S" prefix used by local Staten Island bus routes. The routes that were discontinued prior to August 18, 2018 were: X6, X13, X16, X18, X20, X21 (first use), and X30 (first use). The remaining X routes were expected to be revamped and renamed sometime between 2019 and 2021, but it was later changed to when the rest of the boroughs got their own Bus Network Redesign; the three remaining X-routes in Queens were changed to QM on June 29, 2025 with the Queens Redesign, and the final four in Brooklyn will change with the Brooklyn Redesign in the future. Other X- routes MTA Bus Company Command Bus Company (special service) Eight special routes, which were operated by Pioneer Bus then Command Bus Company. Note: An additional route, the BM2S bus route, ran from Starrett City to Downtown Manhattan ran via Flatlands Avenue between East 80th Street and East 105th Street. The service still operates as part of regular BM2 service during rush hour. All of these routes have been rebranded or eliminated. ==References==