Sunday, January 18, 2026

Passengers now have leaning rails at these East Village bus stops

This past week, the MTA installed leaning bars (aka, butt rails or butt shelves) at the M8 stop on St. Mark's Place at Second Avenue (above) and the M9 stop on Ninth Street at First Avenue (photo below by Steven) ...
As noted before, depending on your height, the lean machines aren't super comfy. In addition, advocates have criticized the bars for making MTA bus and subway stops less accessible to segments of the population, including people with disabilities. 

However, the MTA says these booty bars cost about $450, compared to over $4,000 for a traditional wooden bench.

This past November, City Hall committed $40 million to putting seating or rear rails at every eligible bus stop in NYC — some 8,750 without a place to sit or lean. The rollout will reportedly take up to 10 years, with 875 stops updated annually.

Let us know if you have seen more of the new "I'm not sitting" bars around... some stops have had them for years.
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2026 at 12:34 PM

    Complete waste of money. Just put a bench.

    ReplyDelete
  2. hywel ddaJanuary 18, 2026 at 1:15 PM

    As a septuagenarian well on my way to octogenarian with some mobility issues, I've been asking for more benches along the M8 bus route (both east and west) for ages. I guess this is my answer.
    Why the $4500 quote for a "wooden" bench. The current benches are that metal 3-seater model like the one near Whiskers on 9th St.
    And while were talking about bus routes, I noticed the tree near the bus bench @ 3rd Ave. @ 10th St. (near Korean grocery) suddenly disappeared and the the tree near the bus shelter on 2nd Ave.@ St Marks (by Library) also disappeared. How do you find out why?

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2026 at 1:20 PM

    Abslutely ridiculous, it's right in the middle of the sidewalk on a main strip of St Marks. I HATE this DOT. Gone crazy since the pandemic.

    ReplyDelete

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