Updated 7/20/20.
Improvements along 14th Street
Following the initial launch of Select Bus Service and the New York City Department of Transportation’s (NYCDOT) pilot of Transit & Truck Priority (TTP) the city has announced the busway along 14th Street will be made permanent and bus lanes will be extended east.
With the launch of SBS, we set out to improve your experience on the bus by increasing the speed of trips, decreasing travel time, and improving ridership on the route, which had seen steady declines. Data shows bus speeds have improved by up to 24%.
Trips are faster
Combined, SBS and TTP are speeding up crosstown trips. Travel time between 3rd and 8th avenues has decreased 38%, averaging just 10.3 minutes. In November 2018, that same trip took an average of 17 minutes on the M14.
Buses are more reliable
- Wait assessment, which measures how evenly buses are spaced, increased to 86% in October 2019 from 71% in September 2018.
- On-time performance jumped to 68% in October 2019 from just 45% in September 2018.
Ridership is up
Following the launch of SBS in July, ridership on the M14 increased by:
- 37% on Saturdays
- 29% on Sundays
- 15% on weekdays, reaching 30,195 average weekday riders
In early October, TTP was implemented. Weekday ridership increased by an additional 17%, to approximately 31,000.
Additional improvements
As a next phase of improvements, we installed new bus-boarding platforms . Bus boarders, as they’re known, make it easier for customers to get on and off buses, provide more room for pedestrians on the sidewalk, and help speed up service. Read more about them and see where we’re installing them here.
Starting November 21, 2019, we expanded the new Automated Bus Lane Enforcement (ABLE) system to M14 buses to help protect bus lanes. ABLE launched on the M15 bus route October 7 and on the B44 on October 30. Read the release about how the ABLE system works here.
For more information on the success of the 14th St Busway, see our press release.
Launching SBS and TTP
On July 1, 2019, we introduced Select Bus Service on the M14 A/D in in coordination with New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT).
On October 3, 2019, NYCDOT launched the pilot of its Transit & Truck Priority design on 14th St to support faster, more efficient service for M14 A/D SBS buses. From 6 AM-10 PM, seven days a week, only buses and trucks will be permitted on 14th St between 3rd and 9th Avenues. Get all the details about the pilot program here.
What you need to know
Proposal versus final plan
Developing SBS for the M14 A/D involved a substantial amount of data collection, analysis, and feedback from the communities served by the routes. We shared our original proposal with communities and elected officials earlier this year to get your feedback.
The final plan incorporates some of that feedback into the service we will provide starting July 1. Some of the stops originally recommended for removal along the A and D branches to help improve reliability and decrease travel time have been restored. We’re also testing out the feasibility of maintaining stops that serve Abingdon Square over the next nine months.
Goals for M14 SBS
With the launch of SBS on the M14 A/D, we plan to:
- Increase the speed of trips
- Decrease travel time aboard the bus
- Increase ridership
- Improve your experience
Throughout the initial phases of SBS on the M14, we will monitor and measure performance to ensure that we are achieving these goals. Past SBS implementations show that these goals are attainable with the tools we will use on the M14.
What makes SBS work
Select Bus Service combines different improvements developed to keep buses moving and give you more reliable service:
- Off-board fare payment and all-door boarding means customers can board the bus faster, and buses spend less time at the stop.
- Better bus stop spacing means buses spend less time leaving and re-entering traffic, keeping them moving along the route.
- Dedicated bus lanes, enforced by cameras, mean fewer cars blocking lanes, keeping buses moving.
SBS also gives us the opportunity to improve your experience with:
- Bus boarding curb extensions to increase the accessibility of bus service
- New leaning bars and benches at bus stops
- Real-time bus arrival information at stops
Since 2008, we’ve introduced 18 SBS routes across the five boroughs. We found that:
- SBS customers are 10 to 15% more satisfied than local or limited bus customers.
- SBS improves travel time by 10 to 30%.
- City-wide, SBS routes are 27% faster than other local or limited-stop bus routes.