Has anyone done this lately? It looks like the m4 might pass through some less than savory areas.........

Well is passes through Harlem which is less unsavory than it used to be. But you're not getting off the bus. There's no way to get to the Cloisters without going through Harlem. You can take the subway, but then it's a pretty long walk from the subway stop to the Cloisters. Some transfer to the bus from the subway for the last bit of the trip.

If you want an unguided tour of Northern Manhattan, this is certainly one great way to do it. Bear in mind that the busses don't always run all the way up -- sometimes they stop half way. And then you have to get out and wait for a bus doing the upper half of the route. So ask the bus driver when you get on to be sure.

Many of those "unsavory" neighborhoods are gentrified or gentrifying - since they are the only places left in Manhattan that are even close to being reasonable in price.

My wife and I are white, upper middle class out of towners, though we have lived in big cities and regularly take public transportation.

We have taken this bus, absolutely without any fear at all. You see a lot of really interesting neighborhoods -- not only Harlem in its various guises but Columbia University (and the restaurant from Seinfeld), the Fort Washington area art deco zone, etc.

It is a _very_ long ride. I think we transferred to a 104 on the return trip to vary the scenery by going down the West Side.

I took the M4 bus last year, from about 36th and Madison, all the way to 181st St, just short of the Cloisters. I enjoyed the view of the different neighborhoods and the changing terrain as the Manhattan streets became more and more hilly. However, on that Monday afternoon at starting at 3PM, the ride took 1 3/4 hours.