For Immediate Release | June 4, 2010
Jennifer Krinsky | jenniferkrinsky@gmail.com [5] | 212-490-9535
(New York, NY) Today, at the urging of the elected officials
representing the Manhattan neighborhoods of Turtle Bay and East
Midtown, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the New
York City Department of Transportation (DOT) have made a commitment to
re-instate the Select Bus Service (SBS) 49th/50th Street bus stop.
Select Bus Service, which will replace Limited Service on the M15 bus
lines which traverses up and down First and Second Avenues, will be
implemented in October of this coming year and will help to increase
travel speeds along this slow-moving corridor which is the only public
transportation option east of the Lexington Avenue subway line. The
original proposals for SBS included a stop in this neighborhood which
has a substantial elderly population.
"I am pleased today to see that the MTA and the DOT have been
receptive to my and my colleagues' requests to re-implement the
49th/50th Street Select Bus Service stop," said Senator Krueger
(D-Manhattan). "However, their commitment to our constituents in the
Turtle Bay Area must go further."
In response to its financial difficulties, the MTA has proposed a
number of service cuts, including the total elimination of the M27 bus
line, stopping evening and weekend service on the M50 bus line, and
ending service on the M104 bus line from the West Side to the United
Nations. These buses run crosstown on 42nd, 49th and 50th Streets
(with the M104 continuing uptown on the West Side of Manhattan) and
serve as the only crosstown service for this community.
"If these proposals are enacted, this would mean the complete
isolation of this community by the DOT and the MTA. We must protect
this neighborhood's residents' connection to their essential needs,"
said Senator Krueger. "Without crosstown bus service in East Midtown,
there is no alternative for travel to doctors appointments, senior
centers and cultural institutions, which are central, vital parts of
many of these constituents' lives.
"While we celebrate this victory on SBS service, we will be continuing
to work together to express this community's needs for crosstown
service. We cannot allow our constituents to be cut off from their
transportation lifelines."
