A report on Thursday by the city comptroller says the millions of New Yorkers who commute on express buses need to get service that's more up to speed. NY1's Jose Martinez filed the following report.

These MTA express buses are heading nowhere fast.

"It's express, and you're better off using the underground system than the surface lines," said one commuter. "I know, because I see them all the time stuck in traffic on the Bruckner, on the FDR Drive, coming south from Inwood."

"It's never on time," said another. "And in the wintertime, it's horrible, because you're standing here and you're freezing."

City Comptroller Scott Stringer says he's got the numbers to back them up. His new study found that more than 30 percent of MTA express buses miss their scheduled departure time, leaving commuters to wait anywhere from six to 28 minutes for the next bus.

"This is more than just a statistic," Stringer said. "A late bus could mean a missed job opportunity, lost wages or missed time with children. It's a problem that hits our economic bottom line."

The audit looked at 12 express routes, which typically bring commuters to Manhattan from far-flung and transit-poor corners of the city for $6.50 a ride.

"Express bus riders are paying a premium fare, but they're not getting reliable service. And what Comptroller Stringer's report shows is, they're just not getting their money's worth," said Gene Russianoff of Straphangers Campaign.

Stringer's report flagged Staten Island's X1 and X17 lines as the worst offenders, for leaving too early or too late an average of 36 percent of the time. In Brooklyn, BM1, X27 and X28 buses were late 34 percent of the time.

The MTA, for its part, says it's more focused on making sure buses are evenly spaced.

"Customers really care a lot more about whether or not there's an evenness of service, in terms of how long they're waiting for a bus, as opposed to whether a specific bus is meeting its schedule," said MTA spokesperson Kevin Ortiz.

The agency says it's using a new GPS system to track its fleet in the hopes of improving service.

One thing bus riders can do to help themselves is get next-bus information through their smartphones or text messages by use of the MTA's Bus Time.

"They can meet their bus, rather than wait for it," Ortiz said.

According to Stringer, riders have had enough of waiting.