Chinatown Bus Company 'YEP Tour' Says It's Here to Stay, Permit or No Permit

CHINATOWN, NY — One of the infamous super-cheap bus companies operating out of Chinatown saw its application for a permit to legally pick up and drop off passengers at Pike Street and East Broadway overwhelmingly rejected by Community Board 3 at a heated Tuesday-night meeting. Furious residents railed on the company at the meeting, saying it's been a blight on the neighborhood for the years it's been there.

YEP Tour President Jerry Walker, accompanied by his attorney, tried to convince residents and board members at the meeting that his company has changed its ways since its previous application for a permit was rejected in July 2015.

That was more of a formality, though, as Walker's attorney said the company would continue business as usual in the area, regardless of whether or not the Community Board accepted or rejected its application for a permit.

YEP Tour, based out of Massachusetts, transports customers between major U.S. cities for dirt cheap. Ever since its last failed attempt at securing a permit, in July 2015, it has continued to operate illegally by using unauthorized locations to drop off and pick up customers, and to park.

Residents said at Tuesday's meeting that they've tried calling the police — but that they're always told there's nothing that can be done to move the vehicles.

"They bring pollution, noise and they block sidewalks," one local resident, Brian O'Connell, told Patch. "I think they're just going to keep operating illegally."

Community Board members said YEP Tour has tallied hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines in recent years, and has taken advantage of loopholes relating to the company's out-of-state status.

"We are serving the community," Walker's attorney insisted. He said the company "has changed." It has fewer buses than before, he said, and one of the lowest crash ratios among bus companies. The company strictly monitors its drivers, he said.

Not surprisingly, residents weren't buying any of it.

"I do not think these buses serve the community," said resident Michelle Coopersmith. She said people in the neighborhood do not even use the buses.

A petition urging the Community Board and the New York City Department of Transportation to reject Yep Tour's application had reached 202 signatures as of Wednesday morning.

Lead photo via Emma Culbert/SPaCE