Q: Why is there no direct train connection between Times Square and the Port Authority Bus Terminal? Both the No. 7 train and the Shuttle end at Times Square, and riders bound for the bus terminal must walk a block underground through a tunnel that resembles a medieval dungeon. Moreover, at least in the case of the Shuttle, it looks as though unused tracks continue on after Times Square in the direction of the Port Authority terminal.

A: Both train lines, the No. 7 and the Shuttle, were built long before the terminal was erected in December 1950. The 7 opened in 1928 and the Shuttle in 1904. And it is much easier to continue building tracks for an extra block during the initial construction than to extend one of two existing subway lines under one of the city’s most traveled blocks.

For the immediate future, New York City Transit has no plans to extend either the Shuttle or the 7 toward the Port Authority Bus Terminal on Eighth Avenue, according to an agency spokesman, Mark Groce. In the eyes of NYCT, such a project would save commuters only an extra block’s walk, a walk that has already been facilitated by the dungeon like tunnel you described. In addition, cross-town subways, of which there are few, tend not to stop every block, a service normally left to buses.

The Thru Streets program inconveniences a lot of drivers who get trapped on those streets and end up having to go all the way across town. For all this frustration, has the program yielded tangible results in improving traffic in Midtown Manhattan?

While I’m sure that the Thru Streets program sends countless motorists many blocks out of their way and wastes a fair amount of those people’s gas and time, it has paid off for most motorists who use them – on purpose. According to a report by the city’s Department of Transportation, the average trip on a Thru Street lasted six minutes and 31 seconds, down from eight minutes and 40 seconds on the same blocks prior to the program’s inception. That’s about 25% less time on the streets for your average driver. Also, along these streets, speed, such as it is, has picked up as well: 5.3 mph as opposed to 4.0 mph, according to the city report. The department also said 74 additional vehicles are accommodated each hour because of the program.

Despite the increase in speed by vehicles traveling on Thru Streets, accidents are down 31%, according to the study. Those findings suggest that almost a third of accidents in crowded Midtown streets involve vehicles making 90-degree turns.