Lower East Siders March On Grand St. To Keep M14 Local Bus Stops

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — Dozens of seniors marched along Grand Street Wednesday morning, urging the MTA to keep local bus stops along the M14 bus routes.

Earlier this year, the MTA floated a select bus service plan along the M14A/D routes to speed up bus service along the notoriously slow routes. But the proposal involves removing more than a dozen local stops — largely along avenues A and D and Grand Street.
Courtesy of MTA

The plan has outraged neighbors, who say seniors living in senior housing complexes along the bus routes are a critical "lifeline" for seniors who use walkers and wheelchairs as well as people with disabilities and mobility issues. Wednesday morning, dozens marched from Grand Street and East Broadway to Grand and Suffolk streets, chanting "save our stops."

"The 14A and 14D are a lifeline for our community," said Alan van Capelle, president of the Educational Alliance, which runs programming at senior housing along Grand Street and East Broadway.

"Parents with kids and bags need to use those buses. Seniors need to get their doctors and pharmacy on those buses. People who are disabled need those buses to get to the programs os they can lead vibrant lives. Those buses are a lifeline for a community that is a transportation desert," van Capelle said at Wednesday's 'May Day' march.

Local politicians wrote a letter to the MTA in late March saying the MTA should create an SBS plan with supplemental local service to mirror bus routes along First and Second avenues.

Wednesday, Councilwoman Margaret Chin proposed adding SBS ticketing machines at all stops to speed up the bus boarding process.

Chin says it's the "best solution" that would allow for saving all the stops and speeding up buses.

"If that doesn't work, then talk to the community and see how we can find a solution that's good for everyone," Chin said.

Daisy Paez, a district leader, speaks at a march to "save" local bus stops along the . M14 bus route Wednesday morning. (Sydney Pereira/Patch)

Various community meetings were held regarding the proposal and other L train project related transit changes, though neighbors felt their feedback on the M14 went unheard — especially at an April 2 meeting where attendees said they did not have enough space for everyone to speak, leaving people waiting outside in the cold.

"They already have made up their mind," said Helen Zwyer, a Lower East Sider who attended the April 2 meeting at the Seventh Precinct about the M14. She said the meeting was over crowded, and she felt her concerns weren't heard in full. "This is really a very serious issue."

Another M14A rider who's lived in the neighborhood for nearly seven decades, Diane Chin, said, "We have to get from point A to point B."

"That's my lifeline," she added.

The extra few blocks make a huge difference for people who use walkers, wheelchairs or have had hip and knee replacements, seniors said.

The MTA defended that an SBS route is the best way to improve service — and noted that stops on the Lower East Side are about 16 percent closer together than the average citywide.

“The best way to reinvigorate this route that has seen precipitous ridership declines, and provide our customers with the service they deserve, is to upgrade the route to SBS," MTA spokesman Shams Tarek said. "We currently have stops every 675 feet on the Lower East Side, far closer than our systemwide average of 805 feet — which itself is far closer than in most cities of the world."

"While we are still in active and detailed conversations with elected officials, advocates and community members, our proposals would require just a short walk for some people, while providing improvements in bus speeds for the entire route," Tarek said.

The MTA's 750-foot baseline spacing for bus stops is closer than most other cities, per the MTA.

Per Streetsblog, the head of New York City Transit Andy Byford said at an MTA board meeting last month, "We're definitely okay with revisiting some of the stops, but if we put them all in, that will keep service painfully slow. ... We're trying to improve transit for the majority while still listening to communities, and getting that balance right."

MTA SBS machines installed along Avenue D between Fifth and Sixth streets in a photo from April 23, 2019. (Sydney Pereira/Patch)

Lower East Side district leader Daisy Paez said more than 5,000 signatures to keep the local M14 stops were submitted to the MTA last month.

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.

Some M14 buses have already been replaced with buses that have SBS labeling, and ticketing machines have been installed at some stops.

The final SBS plan has yet to be announced.