Commuter advocates and City Council members are discussing ways to improve city buses in light of a decline in passengers over the years.
Two-and-a-half million people ride the bus every day. That's a 16-percent drop since 2002, as subway ridership has soared.
Advocates are calling on the MTA and city Department of Transportation to overhaul the system.
They say one of the main problems is that the speed of buses has gone down, and it's faster to walk in some areas.
"It's like when the vice president, he came to LaGuardia, he say, 'This airport is like a third-world country.' The bus system here, in many aspects, is like a third-world country," said City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez of Manhattan.
"Why can't we just pay with our cellphones like you can in so many other places? Why can't you just tap and go as you get on every single entrance of the bus?" said City Councilman Ben Kallos of Manhattan.
In response, the MTA released a statement, saying, "Improving bus service is a collaborative effort between the MTA and NYCDOT. The future of the city’s bus service depends on pushing forward initiatives that provide transit service enhancements as well as relief from road congestion."