NJ: Could hundreds more buses cram into the Lincoln Tunnel at rush hour? How AI might help.

The hundreds of commuter buses that run in a conga line on Route 495 bus Lane to the Lincoln Tunnel could move faster and fit in more vehicles under a concept the Port Authority received a $805,000 federal grant to study.

The funding from the Federal Transit Administration’s Enhancing Mobility Innovation program will allow the Port Authority to continue work started in 2021 that included equipping three decommissioned NJ Transit buses with autonomous vehicle and artificial intelligence technology to test how to use the current bus lanes more efficiently.

Officials said live testing could begin this year on the 2.5-mile, buses only lane.

The grant funds two areas the authority has been studying and testing. They are the use of automated vehicle technologies for automated shuttles, which has been experimented with at the authority’s airports and in Xclusive Bus Lanes for express commuter bus service.

It continues a 2021 study of bus platooning to make better use of the current Xclusive Bus Lane. The agency has been studying and developing the concept since 2019.

“The grant will continue the work the Port Authority started a few years ago to test technology that would allow throughput to be increased,” said Steve Burns an authority spokesman.

“That would be done through the use of driver-assist features, allowing buses to travel closer together and to “communicate” with each other," he said.

The grant also will expand the testing to include electric buses.

“Our goal is to start testing this year,” Burns said. “The pilot will use Port Authority-owned electric buses.”

In trucking the technique is called “platooning” when used on tractor trailers traveling a group. The lead truck communicates distance, speed and braking information with the following trucks. The trucks can react quickly to road and traffic conditions or give control back to the driver.

The XBL already is a narrow lane that tests a bus driver’s nerves to stay in lane, maintain a safe distance from the bus ahead and cope with rush hour traffic patterns on Route 495 between the New Jersey Turnpike and Lincoln Tunnel.

AI and autonomous vehicle technology could assist drivers to shorten the following distance between buses, allow buses to travel at higher speeds, reduce incidents with better lane keeping, and promote smoother merging into the exclusive bus lane from other highways, officials said in earlier interviews.

Now the XBL handles 1,850 buses that carry more than 70,000 passengers from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. each weekday, which comes to 600 buses an hour. The bus lane operates at its maximum capacity for 90 minutes of its four-hour operation.

“Our goal is to reach 800-900 (buses) per hour as we prepare for the new Midtown Bus Terminal and the increased capacity and flexibility it will afford bus operations,” Burns said. “This is one component of our much larger efforts to advance autonomous technology for the benefit of the traveling public.”

The $10 billion replacement for the Port Authority bus terminal in midtown Manhattan includes more space for buses as ridership grows. But Route 495 in North Bergen and Weehawken has no room to grow proportionally.

The other program the grant funds is continuing study of how to use small autonomous shuttle buses at the authority’s three major airports.

“Last year, we introduced self-driving shuttles at JFK available for the public to navigate a large parking area,” Burns said.

The authority also pilot tested a driverless shuttle van at Newark airport which was New Jersey’s first use of an autonomous vehicle on public roads, he said.

The agency also has an open Request for Innovation to pilot additional Autonomous Vehicle technology at Newark Airport, Burns said.

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