Riders will soon be able to get from point A to point B on New York City buses faster, as the city announced Thursday it is getting ready to unveil a new express bus service.

Five heavy traffic corridors will eventually be picked for the new service, most likely one in each borough, beginning in 2008. The first of a series of public hearings on the plan was held earlier this week at MTA headquarters in Manhattan.

News of the express bus lanes comes the same day City Council members and commuter advocates released a report on how to speed up some of the city's slowest moving bus lines.

"Our city needs to make bus passengers a priority. Right now the city's Department of Transportation is focused on making life easier for drivers than on our city's majority transit riders. They need to start measuring their performance in transportation more in terms of how fast our buses are moving, not so much on how fast cars are moving," said Paul White of Transportation Alternatives.

Among their suggestions, enabling Smart Card fare collection, extending curbs at bus stops, and having police ride the buses and jump out to ticket any vehicles blocking bus lanes and stops.