[EVG file photo]
The 14th Street busway launches July 1, the DOT said this week.
In April, the city announced that an "experimental new transit improvement" would take place early this summer to help move commuters in Manhattan during the L-train restoration.
Here's more on what to expect. Starting July 1, private through-traffic will be banned between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. on 14th Street between Third Avenue and Ninth Avenue. Buses, trucks and emergency vehicles will be given priority in the center lanes between Third Avenue and Ninth Avenue. Cars will be allowed to make pickups and drop-offs as well as access local garages.
And how will the city patrol all this?
Here's Curbed:
To enforce the busway, new cameras on the buses will issue tickets to those violating the street’s new restrictions. But drivers will be given warnings and tickets will not be issued until at least September...
The busway also harkens the arrival of the new M14 Select Bus Service, which features off-board fare payments and all-door boarding. To also help speed up travel times, the MTA is eliminating 16 stops (down from a proposed 22) along the M14A and M14D routes (but not without a fight from local elected officials and some residents who were upset about the loss of the stops).
Per amNY:
The current M14 A and M14 D routes have an average speed of about 3.8 miles per hours — just a bit faster than the average human walking speed of 3.1 miles per hour and much lower than the citywide bus average of 7.4 miles per hour.
...and...
[T]he MTA and city tout that SBS treatments work, improving travel time between 10% and 30%. Citywide SBS routes are about 27% faster than other local or limited-stop bus routes.
The city continues to install SBS ticking machines along the M14 routes, such as here on Avenue A between Houston and Second Street...
[Photo from June 7]