The 14th Street busway is making the notoriously slow cross street bus routes run faster, and riders are taking notice, according to a new report released by City Hall on Wednesday.
Bus travel time on the M14 routes improved between 22 and 47 percent, according to the report, which compares various statistics from November 2018 to last month.
Bus riders heading eastbound during the evening commute saved 9.7 minutes from Eighth to Third avenues in November — bringing the duration of the trip down to 11 minutes, from 20.7 minutes in the same month last year. M14 travel times dropped by 29 percent on weekday evenings heading westbound, from 14.6 to 10.4 minutes, according to the report. On Saturday evenings, buses ran five to 10 minutes faster.
The report found bus riders are flocking to the route. Ridership has increased by about 24 percent on weekdays, and 30 percent on weekends, according to the Sam Schwartz Engineering report. The increase comes after a five-year downturn in bus ridership along the route.
Wednesday's report builds on another preliminary analysis that showed ridership had increased by 15 percent in the early days of the busway, which was implemented in early October.
"We are getting New Yorkers moving and saving them time for the things that matter," de Blasio said in a statement.
Transit advocates have already started rallying for additional busways citywide to meet de Blasio's goal of making buses run 25 percent faster by the end of 2020. Transportation Alternatives has suggested 149th Street in the Bronx, Utica Avenue and Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, Main Street and Northern Boulevard in Queens, and Richmond Terrace in Staten Island as possibilities for future busways under de Blasio's watch, who advocates have criticized as slow to make any promises on where the next car-free corridor could be.
The busway — which allows trucks, but requires private cars to turn off the corridor after making a drop-off or pick-up along 14th Street — faced an uphill battle in the courts after a group of West Village and Chelsea block associations sued to stop it. The groups, led by West Village lawyer and district leader Arthur Schwartz, argued a flood of traffic would wreak havoc on narrower side streets adjacent to 14th Street.
But nearly three months after a panel of judges gave the pilot program the green light, the newest report has found car volumes have decreased overall on side streets and avenues.
So far, vehicle volume decreased by about 25 percent on 13th Street and almost no change on 12th Street during weekday and Saturday evening peak hours, the analysis showed. In the mornings, there was no change in car volume on 12th Street and a 13 percent drop on 13th Street. On 16th Street, the report found a 16 percent and 22 percent increase in car volumes in the morning and evenings on weekdays, respectively. Fifth Avenue and Seventh avenue had fewer cars overall, and other avenues showed either no consistent or no significant changes.
Drivers' travel time on 12th through 19th streets increased between less than a minute to a little more than three minutes on average to get across Manhattan.
The busway pilot, first envisioned as a mitigation during the L train repairs, is expected to last 18 months. Council member Keith Powers, whose district includes the east end of 14th Street, has called for the program to be made permanent.
"From boosting ridership to increasing speeds, if these preliminary results continue, we should implement a permanent busway along 14th Street," Powers said.
