CB3 Denies Yep Tour Pike Street Bus Stop Permit Application

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — Community Board 3 rejected bus operator Yep Tour Inc.'s permit application for a bus stop at Pike Street and East Broadway at its full board meeting Tuesday evening at P.S. 20 at 166 Essex St.

At a meeting last week, furious residents railed against the Massachusetts-based bus company that operates out of Chinatown, Patch reported. Despite the fact that the company was denied a permit in July 2015, it continued to use unauthorized locations to drop off and pick up customers as well as park.

In the board's resolution to deny the application, it stated that Yep Tour owes the city $300,000 in unpaid summonses, citing information from the city's Department of Finance website.

Yep Tour president, Jeremy Walker, disputed this figure, and said the company owed about $37,000 or less. Walker told Patch by phone that he was disappointed with the board's decision.

"Obviously, I acknowledge that mistakes were made," Walker said. "I have rectified those mistakes."

Currently, Yep Tour operates a bus terminal at 120 East Broadway where buses take people to Philadelphia or Washington, D.C. at lower fares, according to Walker. He said the stop on Pike Street was the "perfect location for us."

Walker said the company would install cameras outside the terminal, and that drivers who stopped or parked where they were not allowed would be fined $250.

His lawyer told residents at the Nov. 15 meeting that the bus company would continue to operate permit or no permit, and Walker said he is going forward with the application despite the board's denial.

Residents have been unhappy with the bus company, and 205 have signed a petition asking Yep be denied an intercity bus permit.

Community boards are advisory, and the resolution was a recommendation for the city's Department of Transportation (DOT) to reject the bus company's permit application.

Yep Tour has an approved permit for a bus stop in front of 6010 8th Avenue in Brooklyn, Alana Morales, the DOT's assistant press secretary, said in an email. The department is currently reviewing the company's application for a stop at Pike Street and East Broadway, she said.

Lead photo via Emma Culbert/SPaCE