If only they checked bags.
The city announced yesterday that it’s adding Select Bus Service routes to and from La Guardia Airport — complete with dedicated transit lanes — that will shave 10 to 40 minutes off trips.
The buses — which will cost the same fare as the subway — will run from Manhattan, The Bronx and Queens.
Like the SBS buses already running in parts of Manhattan and Staten Island, the buses will have blue lights and technology that changes red lights to green.
In addition, riders will be required to pay before boarding to cut down on waiting times.
“This new Select Bus Service to La Guardia will not only cut travel time for people flying in and out of New York, but it will also benefit New Yorkers who commute to work at the airport every day,” Mayor Bloomberg said.
The Bronx and Manhattan SBS buses — which are upgrades to existing lines — should begin operating next year, according to the MTA.
The Queens bus, which is a brand-new service, likely won’t start until 2014.
The Manhattan SBS route will run along the existing M60 path, beginning at West 106th Street and West End Avenue.
It will travel north to 125th Street, where it will pass three subway stations — the A/B/C/D, 2/3 and the 4/5/6 — while heading east to Queens.
A trip to the airport from 125th Street and Lexington Avenue on the M60 now takes 32 minutes.
That time will be reduced to just 23 minutes, officials said.
Airport-bound riders in Midtown will be encouraged to take the LIRR from Penn Station one stop to Woodside, Queens, to connect to the new SBS bus to La Guardia. That bus will make one stop — at the Roosevelt Avenue/74th Street subway station — and then head express to the airport.
Using that route, it should take travelers 32 minutes to La Guardia from Penn, down from 47 minutes.
The Bx41 — which the MTA has been planning on making an SBS route for over a year — is also being tweaked to include service to the airport.
Under the plan, some of those future SBS buses — which travel along Webster Avenue — will terminate at Third Avenue and 149th Street, while others will continue along to La Guardia.
Department of Transportation planners have not determined exactly where they will cordon off lanes for the SBS service.
Meanwhile, Assemblyman Eric Stevenson yesterday announced he’s introducing legislation that would mandate all city buses have floor-to-ceiling partitions to protect drivers from attacks.
Seventy-one bus drivers have been attacked behind the wheel this year, according to the MTA. Last year, 72 were attacked.
“If a bus driver has to drive though the city, any route, anywhere, he should be protected,” said Stevenson (D-Bronx).
The MTA said in a statement, “We continue to work closely with the NYPD and the five district attorneys to emphasize how attackers must be caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent possible.”