Metro

‘Appy’ times ahead for Manhattan bus riders

Waiting for a city bus is about to get a whole lot less painful for Manhattan riders.

The MTA announced today that it will launch its popular Bus Time program — which allows riders to track buses on their smart phones, tablets and computers — in Manhattan this year.

After Manhattan, the agency will add the service — already in use and wildly popular in Staten Island and the Bronx — to Brooklyn and Queens.

The city should be completely wired with the program by April 2014, a three month delay from its initial plans due to super storm Sandy.

There is several ways for riders to use the program, which tells the distance a bus is from the selected stop.

Riders can text 511123 for the info, using a special code for each bus stop. That code will be at the sign.

They can also visit bustime.mta.info or use one of the many third party apps created with using the MTA’s Bus Time data.

“Bus Time has proven extremely popular among bus riders on Staten Island and the Bronx – and I can tell you that because customers have come to me on buses in the Bronx and said we did a really great job on Bus Time,” said Fernando Ferrer, MTA Acting Chairman.

“They find it useful and easy to access, and I think that’s a tremendous endorsement of what we have been doing. Bus Time is so helpful to our customers that we have scheduled an extremely aggressive timetable to introduce it to three other boroughs.”

jennifer.fermino@nypost.com