Keep Local Bus Stops In The East Village And LES, Pols Say

EAST VILLAGE, NY — An MTA proposal to eliminate local stops along bus routes serving the Lower East Side and East Village outraged politicians and locals Friday.

The proposal would make the M14A and M14D a select bus service route — which would lower the number of stops on Avenues A and D and along Grand St. in order to make the notoriously slow bus route quicker.

But the plan, according to an MTA presentation leaked to Streetsblog, would entirely eliminate local bus stops. MTA reps informed locals about the proposal at a recent Community Board 3 committee meeting, East Villagers and Lower East Siders said.

"Not all of us have the privilege or the luxury, even, to go and take the train," said Councilmember Carlina Rivera, calling the MTA's plan to eliminate local stops "disturbing."

Fifteen percent of residents live more than half a mile away from the subway, Rivera said at a rally in front of Village View Housing Corporation, a senior housing complex on Ave A. and Fourth St., Friday afternoon. Seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income residents are among the most impacted, pols and neighbors said.

Rivera and nine other pols are demanding the MTA instead create an SBS plan with supplemental local service that would mirror bus routes along First and Second Aves., they wrote in a letter to the MTA.

The MTA's pitch would make "faster buses at the expense of serving the people," said Susan Stetzer, the district manager at Community Board 3, which will vote on a resolution next Tuesday urging the MTA not to eliminate local stops.

The M14A is considered the "granny line" in the neighborhood, Stetzer said, showing a photo from a Saturday morning bus packed with bus-riders using walkers.

"We need the buses just to get to the subway," Stetzer said.

Bus service becomes a "lifeline" for east siders, locals said.

For those living on the far east side in New York City Housing Authority developments on the waterfront, the nearest subway stops at the Delancey St. or Second Ave. F train or the First Ave. L train can be up to one mile away, Google Maps shows.

"Those who live on Avenue D are living in a transit desert," said John Blasco, a resident of the Jacob Riis Houses who also works in Speaker Corey Johnson's community engagement division.

Two local stops could be eliminated under the MTA's current plan in front of the New York City Housing Authority Riis Houses, according to the diagram published in Streetsblog.

The diagram shows two different layers of proposed SBS stops. A final proposal remains to be seen.

The MTA touted its select bus service in other parts of the city as evidence of improving bus speeds and ridership.

"In order to combat declining ridership, we are investing in redesigning service in our area with our proven Select Bus Service, and we along with our partners at DOT are currently gathering community input on our proposal," MTA's chief external affairs officer Maxwell Young said in a statement. "We have already gone to several community board meetings and held open houses, and invite the community to two more upcoming in the East Village and Lower East Side."

"If our collective goal is to improve bus speeds and ridership, Select Bus Service does just that — just ask the hundreds of thousands of customers who use SBS daily," Young added.

The M14 is infamously slow, poking along about four miles per hour.

Transit advocates want to speed up the M14 routes through a buses only corridor dubbed the "busway" along 14th St. — a transit fix previously proposed under a full L train shutdown.

It remains to be seen what changes the MTA and DOT will make on 14th St. — along with myriad other details regarding the L train repairs that are expected to begin next month.

Rivera said Friday that a meeting with the MTA and DOT is scheduled for April 2 at 6 p.m. in the Seventh Precinct, located at 19 1/2 Pitt St. for the public provide feedback on the M14A and M14D proposals.

Another meeting in Manhattan regarding L train changes is scheduled for April 8, 6 p.m. at the 14th St. Y, located at 344 East 14th St.