From The Village Sun:
On Monday, coinciding with phase one of the city’s reopening, Mayor de Blasio, in a bold show of support for mass transit, declared that the new 14th St. busway is now permanent.
“The 14th St. busway, this has been a success by every measure,” de Blasio said. “I said, we’re going to do it, we’re going to see if it works, we’re going to see, do people ride the bus more? Does the bus go faster? Does it have any negative impact on the surrounding streets? And the jury is back. The answer is, it is a clear success. We are making the 14th St. busway permanent.”
Launched in early October, the 14th St. busway was initially pitched as an 18-month pilot project. The stated plan was that, after the year and a half, the project would be assessed and then a decision made on whether to continue it. Now, however, after only eight months — with more than two of those months falling during the low-traffic COVID-19 lockdown — the busway has been decreed a permanent fixture on 14th St.
The first-of-its-kind program bans cars from 14th St. between Third and Ninth Aves. between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. seven days a week. Only buses and trucks are allowed as through traffic during those hours. Cars and taxis can enter the crosstown boulevard, but must then take their first right-hand turn off of it.
The mayor also announced Monday that the city is now moving forward with creating five more busways around town.
“I don’t think a busway like 14th St. was successfully achieved previously in city history,” de Blasio said. “The fact that today we’re saying 14th St. is now permanent [as a busway], five more coming in; it is the beginning of something really positive, obviously, between the busways, the Select Bus Service, all of these approaches have been working. And that opens the door to a very positive future for New York City. And this is a great time to do it because we got to give people confidence to come back to mass transit.”
Streetsblog reported that the new busways will include Fifth Ave. between 57th and 34th Sts.; E. 181st St. from Amsterdam Ave. to Broadway; Main St. between Sanford St. and Northern Boulevard, in Flushing, Queens; Jamaica Ave. from Sutphin Boulevard to 168th St., in Jamaica, Queens; and Jay St. between Fulton and Tillary Sts., in Downtown Brooklyn.
Along with the new busways, dedicated bus lanes will be added on E. 14th St. between First Ave. and Avenue C, as well as three other locations, in the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island. The E. 14th St. dedicated bus lanes will be added this month, the mayor said.
Predictably, transit-advocacy groups were elated at the news that the 14th St. busway is not going anywhere.
“The 14th St. Busway has been a resounding success,” said Danny Harris, executive director of Transportation Alternatives. “We are pleased to see it made permanent, and that more busways will soon be coming online. New Yorkers deserve a bus commute without being stuck in endless car traffic. Our streets must be a tool toward the city’s recovery, and we look forward to working with the Department of Transportation to bring more bus-only corridors across the five boroughs.”
“As almost everybody knows, the busway is a historically great success,” said Danny Pearlstein, communications director for the Riders Alliance. “Riders are thrilled to see it made permanent and inspire imitations citywide.”
