BY SHIRLEY SECUNDA AND TERRI CUDE | On Wed., April 20, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority / NYC Transit is holding a public hearing on its proposal for a revised M5 bus route. Unfortunately, the revised route is far from what we asked for, in both concept and convenience.
After years of our pleas and carefully reasoned resolutions, the M.T.A. has finally responded, but not with what the community and Community Board 2 Manhattan requested multiple times. Instead they’ve proposed to alleviate the well-known and frequently suffered M5 delays and “bunching” (no buses for extended periods, followed by multiple buses arriving at the same time) by forcing riders from our area — many of whom have difficulty climbing on and off of buses — to transfer at 37th St. to get to or from anywhere north of there.
Two separate M5 routes are proposed — one between 178th St. and 37th St., and the other between 37th St. and South Ferry. Forget a seamless trip to Lincoln Center or points in the 40s in Midtown. Look forward to being left at a frequently deserted location and to long waits between transfers.
Our community asked for full restoration of the M1, M3, M5 and M6 routes, which served riders admirably. You could get to where you needed to go without climbing on and off buses and waiting for the next leg of your journey.
Since the 2010 cuts in M.T.A. bus service, riders in the Village, Soho, south Noho, Little Italy and Chinatown have had to hike to a bus, or have given up and taken a taxi or waited interminably for Access-A-Ride. Included among these bus riders are many seniors, caregivers with small children, and those who are mobility impaired or for whom the subway stairs make taking the train impossible. Even if there’s an elevator-served subway station nearby, there’s rarely an elevator at the rider’s destination. Those who are able to take the subway often can’t get into the packed No. 6 train, or get so squashed between rush-hour passengers that they more resemble flattened paninis than riders.
In view of the ill-advised 37th St. split, it’s crucial to attend the April 20 hearing, which will be held at M.T.A. headquarters, 2 Broadway, from 5 p.m. to 7pm. Registration to speak starts at 4 p.m., or you can register online at https://web.mta.info/mta/news/hearings/#M5-Bus. You can provide written testimony through that link if you cannot attend in person. We need to show our numbers in opposition to the split, so being there to talk is important.
Some key points we suggest for testimony include demands to:
• Restore the M1, M5 and M6 to pre-2010 routes (this is the most preferable).
• If full restoration of these routes isn’t possible, increase the number of M5 buses and have two of them per hour turn west on Houston St. to start their uptown route on Sixth Ave. from there. This would serve those who can’t make the hike to Sixth Ave. to get the M5 northbound. (The crosstown M21, when it comes at all, stops far from Sixth Ave. — not a convenient or easily navigated connection and one that entails long waits and multiple ons and offs that are especially difficult for physically challenged users.)
• Have the M1 run downtown on Broadway to South Ferry and return uptown on Centre /Lafayette Sts., providing needed uptown bus service for the Village, Soho, southern Noho, Little Italy and northwestern Chinatown between Bowery and Sixth Ave. to serve the currently neglected middle of Manhattan below Ninth St.
• Shift the M1 to Park Ave./Broadway above 23rd St. so we again can have service on Broadway in the Union Square/14th St. corridor.
• If the M5 routes absolutely must be split to provide reliable service, overlap the north and south routes between 14th and 59th Sts. to avoid long transfer waits for completing trips.
Secunda is chairperson, Community Board 2 Traffic and Transportation Committee; Cude is vice chairperson, C.B. 2
