Port Authority has postponed the first round of bus route changes, scheduled for March 14.

The changes will go into effect April 4 instead, spokesman Jim Ritchie said.

The reason for the postponement is that the authority made errors in staging the latest round of route picks for union drivers. Some drivers chose routes with erroneous information about which days they would have off. "They ended up with routes that they ultimately didn't want," he said. "It could have created issues."

The picks occur about every three months. Because of the mistakes, the authority decided to redo them, Mr. Ritchie said.

"The upside of that is that everyone gets a little more time to learn the ins and outs of the route changes," he said.

The route changes are part of a comprehensive overhaul of service that will affect nearly all riders. The first round will cover about 60 routes. The delay in implementation won't affect the rest of the scheduled changes, the next round of which is scheduled for June, Mr. Ritchie said.

Details of the route changes are available on the Port Authority's Website, www.portauthority.org. The authority next month will begin a public information campaign to educate riders about the changes.

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