The community board transportation committee Tuesday will get an update from State Senator Squadron’s office on increasing the frequency of M14A buses.
Tuesday, July 11 at 6:45pmDowntown Art, 1st Floor Theater70 East 4th Street
It’s happened to all of us: waiting 30 minutes or more for the M14A at Union Square while watching bus after bus after bus marked M14D pick up passengers. The MTA says there’s a 3-to-1 ratio. The question is, why the disparity?
Two years ago cooperator Joseph Hanania started a petition to bring attention to the problem. He made two suggestions: increase the number of M14A buses, and let the M14D continue down the FDR access road to Grand, then turn and use the two stops for the M21 on its way to its normal end of route under the Williamsburg Bridge.
The MTA then reviewed ridership and decided that the frequency of buses was consistent with the count of riders. Advocates like Hanania said those counts were flawed because of how many people at Union Square just give up on getting an M14A and hop on the M14D instead.
Now Hanania says State Senator Squadron may have gotten the MTA to review its counting method to take into consideration M14D riders who get off the bus and continue to walk to Grand Street. And so the issue is back before the community board’s transportation committee on Tuesday.
Update: No new counting methodology was introduced by the MTA this week. In fact, the MTA continues to insist that the ratio of M14D to M14A is appropriate.