The M31 and M57

bus route A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for ...

s constitute the 57th Street Crosstown Line, a

public transit Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

line in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, running primarily along 57th Street. The M31 runs between 11th Avenue and 54th Street in

Hell's Kitchen Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the eas ...

to 1st Avenue and 92nd Street in Yorkville. The M57 runs from 72nd Street and Amsterdam Avenue in the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

to Sutton Place and 57th Street in Sutton Place. The M31 and M57 are operated by

MTA Regional Bus Operations MTA Regional Bus Operations (RBO) is the surface transit division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). It was created in 2008 to consolidate all bus operations in New York City operated by the MTA. , MTA Regional Bus Operations ru ...

under the

New York City Transit The New York City Transit Authority (also known as NYCTA, the TA, or simply Transit, and branded as MTA New York City Transit) is a New York state public-benefit corporations, public-benefit corporation in the U.S. state of New York (state), New ...

brand.

Route description and service

Turnstyle at Columbus Circle (26109472913)

For most of its length, the M31 uses 57th Street to travel crosstown, then uses

York Avenue York Avenue and Sutton Place are the names of a relatively short north-south thoroughfare in the Yorkville, Manhattan, Yorkville, Lenox Hill, and Sutton Place neighborhoods of the East Side (Manhattan), East Side of Manhattan, in New York City. ...

to travel uptown to 92nd Street and First Avenue. At its western end, the M31 turns left on Eleventh Avenue, then left on 54th Street to terminate; eastbound buses return to 57th Street using Tenth Avenue. At its northern/eastern end, the M31 goes left on 91st Street then right on First Avenue, terminating along 92nd Street before returning southbound on York Avenue. The M57 mostly duplicates the M31 along 57th Street. The only major difference is that the M57 uses West End Avenue to reach its western terminus at 72nd Street and Amsterdam Avenue. At its eastern end, the M57 makes a loop around First Avenue, 60th Street, Sutton Place, and 55th Street. The M57 operates out of

Michael J. Quill Depot MTA Regional Bus Operations MTA Regional Bus Operations (RBO) is the surface transit division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). It was created in 2008 to consolidate all bus operations in New York City operated by the MTA. , ...

whereas the M31 operates out of the

Tuskegee Airmen Depot MTA Regional Bus Operations operates local and express buses serving New York City in the United States out of 29 bus depots. These depots are located in all five boroughs of the city, with the exception of one located in nearby Yonkers in Westc ...

History

M31

East Side Omnibus Corporation began operating bus route (M11) on June 25, 1933. The route was renumbered as the M31 on July 1, 1974, as part of the renumbering of bus routes in Manhattan.

M57

Buses were introduced on April 17, 1934. Service formerly went between

Columbus Circle Columbus Circle is a traffic circle and heavily trafficked intersection in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located at the intersection of Eighth Avenue, Broadway, Central Park South ( West 59th Street), and Central Park West, at the so ...

and Sutton Place.

Fifth Avenue Coach Company The Fifth Avenue Coach Company was a bus operator in Manhattan, The Bronx, Queens, and Westchester County, New York, providing public transit between 1896 and 1954 after which services were taken over by the New York City Omnibus Corporation. It ...

began operating bus #20 on March 15, 1937, from Sutton Place to 12th Avenue to provide river-to-river service for Sutton Place residents at five-minute headways.''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''
Buses to Link 2 Rivers Via 57th St. Monday
March 12, 1937, page 18 The route, formerly numbered M20, became M28 on July 1, 1974, as part of the renumbering of bus routes in Manhattan. On September 10, 1989, the M28 (57th Street Crosstown) and M103 (59th/60th Street Crosstown) routes were merged to form the M57. M57 buses began operating from 57th Street and Sutton Place South to Broadway and 72nd Street, running via 57th Street and West End Avenue.* * * * 57th St 7th Av td (2018-08-16) 21

References

{{Manhattan bus routes, state=expanded M31 1937 introductions 31