MTA Releases Final Bus Plan For LES, E Village M14 Route

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — The MTA released a final bus plan for the M14 select bus service routes this week — which will keep additional local stops after outcry from neighbors about accessibility issues.

The MTA will still scrap more than a dozen local stops along the M14A and D lines to space out stops under its strategy to revamp the M14 bus lines into a select bus service route to speed up the notoriously sluggish line.

Bus stops are now spaced about 675 feet apart on the Lower East Side — closer than the MTA's guidelines of 750 feet every stop and closer than standards worldwide, per the MTA.

"We arrived at this final compromise plan through close consultation with residents, community groups, advocates and elected officials," MTA spokesman Maxwell Young said. "Once the new route is implemented we will actively monitor it to ensure it is providing the best possible service for our customers, seeking to balance convenience and increased speed, which is desperately needed along this line."

The lines have been at the center of a debate among neighbors in the East Village and Lower East Side — who were outraged about a preliminary proposal to remove more local stops.

Politicians and neighbors rallied to keep the local stops — arguing the M14A and D lines are a critical "lifeline" for seniors and people with disabilities and mobility issues, noting the route is considered the "granny line."

The final plan will now retain two additional stops on Grand Street on the M14A and one at Columbia and Rivington streets on the M14D — a victory for some.

"We rallied, petitioned and organized and we won!" tweeted Councilwoman Margaret Chin, who marched along Grand Street with dozens of seniors and advocates earlier this month urging the MTA to keep more of the local stops. "The M14 Grand Street stops were restored."

"They literally just heard our concerns, and that's what made them change their mind," said district leader Daisy Paez, adding it was a victory for Grand Street residents.

TransitCenter, a transportation advocacy group, was less enthused the MTA backed off its previous plan.

Wednesday, the organization wrote on Twitter in response to Chin, "When bus stops are spaced only a block or two apart, it bakes slowness and unreliability into the system. The retreat from more balanced bus stop spacing on the M14 means New Yorkers will lose out on better transit access."

Ben Fried, a spokesman for Transit Center, said additional measures like more benches, bus shelters, and safety measures at intersections could make the bus routes more accessible to seniors and those with disabilities — but the final route the MTA settled on could've been better, he said.

“We’re glad they did some changes to the bus stop balancing but it could’ve been better," Fried said.

Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, who spearheaded a letter pushing for a local and an SBS route, said in a statement more efforts to increase transit accessibility should be made.

"This revised plan is certainly an improvement, but the MTA and DOT must dramatically increase access to the Access-a-Ride E-Hail Program and make needed safety and traffic mitigation upgrades along Avenue D and challenging intersections like Grand and Clinton streets," Rivera said in a statement.

Along Avenue D, two stops will still be removed between Fifth and 10th streets. For John Blasco, a Jacob Riis Houses resident and district leader-elect, said he and others understand the need to scrap stops — but disagreed on which ones were eliminated.

"When it came down to 14D, we are very happy that they are not going to eliminate Rivington and Columbia [streets]," Blasco said. "So many seniors come to that stop."

He hopes the MTA will re-evaluate removing stops nearby the Lower Eastside Girls Club and the Social Security Administration — and instead move a stop between Fifth and Sixth streets further north, among other recommendations.

Blasco added of all the L train 'slowdown' community discussions, the M14 was the least transparent. "Why couldn't you come to us from the beginning to talk about what is more useful, what would work for us and what would not work for us?" he said.

Some M14 buses have already been replaced with buses that have SBS labeling, and fare machines have been installed at various stops. The SBS route is expected to be launched in June, when the city will launch a bus and truck priority plan along 14th Street to help L train riders during the Canarsie tunnel repairs.