Buses Will Get Priority On 14th Street Starting Thursday

WEST VILLAGE, NY — The 14th Street busway is back on.

After months of uncertainty, followed by a vigorous legal battle, a panel of judges ruled a plan to give buses priority on 14th Street and ban most private traffic may move forward, court papers show.

"Thanks to this latest court ruling, the new 14th Street busway has gotten the green light and starting next week, bus riders will finally get moving," Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement Friday after Streetsblog broke the news.

BIG NEWS: the 14th Street Busway is officially ON!

This will make a huge difference for bus riders — their wait is over.

Implementation begins next week. https://t.co/tGYoa6uPBF
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) September 27, 2019

Under the "transit & truck priority" pilot project, only buses and trucks will be allowed to travel crosstown on the corridor 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. between Third and Ninth avenues.

Private cars can turn onto 14th Street, but must turn right off the street at the next opportunity.

The new street changes are a part of an effort to speed up the notoriously snail-paced bus routes, M14A and M14D, which carry some 27,000 riders every day from the Lower East Side through the East Village and Union Square to the Meatpacking District.

"This is a smart project that speeds up buses and leaves room for the drop-offs and deliveries the neighborhood needs," de Blasio said. "These are the changes we have to make as a city to fight congestion and give people transit options they can rely on."

The busway pilot is expected to launch Thursday, according to the Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg.

"We are grateful to the judges of the Appellate Division, First Department for their decision today to allow DOT and New York City Transit to move forward with our 18-month Transit and Truck Priority Pilot Project on 14th Street. With over 27,000 trips taken on the M14 Select Bus Service each day, the new busway will help create more reliable commutes with shorter travel times," Trottenberg said in a statement.

The department will work with NYPD, politicians, local merchants, residents, drivers and bus riders to "monitor and evaluate the new service and make adjustments as needed," she said.

A statement from Commissioner Trottenberg and @NYCMayor on today's decision lifting the stay on the Transit and Truck Priority Pilot Project on 14th Street, which will now take effect Thursday, 10/3.

More info: https://t.co/zsSKjjD9BO pic.twitter.com/tVxSxWqOeB
— NYC DOT (@NYC_DOT) September 27, 2019

The busway was originally floated under the L train repairs, but when the shutdown was reversed, the de Blasio administration decided to launch a busway pilot program in coordination with a Select Bus Service plan on the route — which advocates have long pointed out is nearly the same speed as walking across Manhattan.

A group of Chelsea, West Village and Flatiron District neighbors sued the city in June over environmental concerns that traffic would spillover onto narrower crosstown streets.

The groups' lawyer, Arthur Schwartz, led the campaign against the busway, comparing transit advocates to the Ku Klux Klan after they planned to rally at his home in the West Village. Transit advocates and bus riders argued the lawsuit was "class warfare," saying bus riders earn an average of $28,500 a year.

The lawsuit went back-and-forth, and was halted yet again Aug. 9 when Schwartz appealed a previous decision. Three judges voted Friday to overturn the ruling, with two dissenting.

Transportation Alternatives advocacy director Tom DeVito said, "New Yorkers who ride the M14 are about to see their bus line transformed from one of the city's slowest, into one of the fastest, practically overnight. This should bring an end to the legal shenanigans that have been holding up these improvements for months on end."

"New Yorkers who ride the M14 are about to see their bus line transformed from one of the city's slowest, into one of the fastest, practically overnight. This should bring an end to the legal shenanigans that have been holding up these improvements for months on end."
— Transportation Alternatives (@TransAlt) September 27, 2019