Advocates who want a busway on 14th Street are “racing” the M14 bus. Neck and neck at First Avenue pic.twitter.com/8Ts6gc2tQW
— Jake Offenhartz (@jangelooff) February 20, 2019
Transit advocates, out to show how slow city buses are, organized a contest yesterday morning in which pedestrians power-walked on the sidewalk as they followed an M14 on 14th Street from Avenue A to the west side of Union Square.
In the end, the bus won the race — by five seconds.
Per Gothamist:
"For New York City in 2019 to have a bus going walking speed on a good day is really nothing to celebrate," said Tom DeVito, senior director of advocacy at Transportation Alternatives, which organized the contest. He noted that that car traffic was less paralyzing than usual, likely due to school being out this week.
The M14 has been found to be the city's third slowest, as well as one of its busiest, with a daily ridership of 30,000.
With the L-train slowdown coming, the buses along 14th Street could get even slower.
The MTA/DOT have already taken the first steps to make 14th Street a car-free busway for most of the day. However, with the shutdown called off, the MTA said last week that a busway along this stretch isn't necessary.
The M14 bus beat pedestrians by only 5 seconds on a day when the L Train is running normally.
— Joe Cutrufo (@JoeCutrufo) February 20, 2019
Imagine what'll happen when there's no L Train service in Manhattan. https://t.co/lnTF6xWgQg
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