Op-Ed Letters to the Editor
Bus plan
is the pits
To The Editor:
Re “Loony to
cut Abingdon bus
loop, seniors protest”
(news article,
May 9):
At the Community
Board 2
meeting on May
2 held at N.Y.U.’s
Meyer Hall, about
as far from 14th
St. as one could be
(by contrast City
Council Speaker
Corey Johnson
held his hearing on
the same subject at
The New School,
adjacent to 14th
St.) there were strong and vocal
PHOTO BY
ALEJANDRA
O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
M14 crosstown buses on 14th St.
responses from the community,
which Lincoln Anderson
described so eloquently for
The Villager.
The concerns held by the
Union Square Coalition,
whom I represented, centered
around meeting the needs of
the riders, as opposed to the
New York City Transit Authority,
which dwelt more on bus
speeds rather than the comfort
and convenience of its riders.
If buses arrived on reliable
two-minute headways, there
would be no need for Select
Bus Service, with its free rear
entries, since not that many
people would be waiting.
The bus stops removed at
Fifth Ave. and Union Square
should be immediately returned.
The Fifth Ave. stop
allows a transfer to the Fifth
Ave. bus Downtown to N.Y.U.
and Washington Square and
Uptown to the spine of Manhattan.
Union Square not only
connects with three subway
lines but with the Greenmarket,
which serves up to 20,000
people four times a week, and
with Mt. Sinai Hospital.
By eliminating bus stops,
the Transit Authority forces
riders to walk further to their
destinations, thus increasing
— not decreasing — trip time,
plus making the trip less convenient
and comfortable, especially
discouraging seniors
and others who fi nd walking
diffi cult. I hope the Transit Authority
will revise its plans.
Barry Benepe
Agencies
ignore seniors
To The Editor:
Re “Loony to cut Abingdon
bus loop, seniors protest”
(news article, May 9):
I have been saying this for
years: The Department of
Transportation and New York
City Transit Authority are not
senior-friendly. They always
marginalize those with mobility
problems. Sadly, neither is
Transportation Alternatives,
which has morphed into a bicycle
advocacy group. They
all worship speed over need.
The thing is that transporting
people is not only about commuters.
It’s about getting to
doctors appointments, parks,
nursery school, visiting family,
grocery shopping, etc.
Funny they should mention
that ridership has dropped in
the past 10 years. Remember
what happened in 2010? They
cut bus service to our area and
changed routes drastically.
Waits became longer, with nowhere
to sit.
Here’s a thought: local stops,
with seating, during non-rush
hours. Keep providing necessary
service to non-commuters
who need surface transport.
Lora Tenenbaum
Getting set
to sue
To The Editor:
Re “Loony to cut Abingdon
bus loop, seniors protest”
(news article, May 9):
The removal of the Fifth
Ave. and 14th St. bus stop going
west is a disaster for those
of us who use that 14th St.
corridor daily. To have no stop
between Sixth Ave. and Union
Square is a hardship for seniors
and many other others.
Now we hear that the M.T.A.
plans to eliminate the M14A
bus stops on Hudson St. I’m all
in for suing the city. It seems
they want to get rid of senior
citizens and the middle class.
Ellen Datlow
Freedom of
the press
To The Editor:
Re “Jaywalking ticket for
doing my job” (op-ed, Clayton
Patterson, May 9):
You don’t need permission
to exercise your constitutional
rights. Freedom of the press
means you can photograph
anything in public without
some pig interfering. Never
stop resisting anti-Amerikan
government repression.
Nick Zedd
E-mail letters, maximum
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2790 or mail to The Villager,
Letters to the Editor, 1 Metro-
Tech North, 10th fl oor, Brooklyn,
NY 11201. Please include
phone number for confi rmation.
The Villager reserves the
right to edit letters for space,
grammar, clarity and libel.
Anonymous letters will not be
published.
I’m all for a 14th St.
bus-freight corridor
BY CHRIS SAUER
I live on 15th St., and I have to say that I’m frustrated and a
bit embarrassed by the uproar that I’m seeing from some
of my neighbors over the idea of a 14th St. devoted to moving
buses and freight. I write because I want to make clear
that not everyone in the neighborhood is unhappy with the
mayor’s announcement. The mayor says he wants to try to get
people moving. Is that really objectionable?
Don’t get me wrong, I understand
the fear that some of
these folks are expressing.
I don’t want to experience
any more traffi c
than I already do.
I’m also sure most
New Yorkers feel
the same, no matter
where they live.
Traffi c sucks,
but the problem
is cars, not better
infrastructure for
buses. There’s nothing
“drastic” about
effi ciently using our
public space. The real
threat to our neigborhoods
from the L-train
We’ve allowed
our subways
and buses to
fail
upheaval is an increased
number of single-occupancy
vehicles roaming the streets as
more New Yorkers take taxis, Ubers and Lyfts to their destinations.
Reliable, frequent and quick-moving bus service will reduce
the number of vehicles on our streets, making them safer, quieter,
less polluted — more of a neighborhood and less of a
highway. I want fewer cars on our streets not more.
To my eyes, the for-hire vehicle companies were out in force
on the fi rst weekend of the L-train slowdown, driving — apparently
— thousands of more people into Manhattan by car.
Those for-hire vehicles ended up on my block, and the blocks
of my neighbors, in huge numbers. I’m sure I’m not the only
one who noticed a marked uptick in traffi c.
New York City is increasingly stratifying along economic
lines and that is refl ected in the failure of our public transportation
system. We’ve allowed our subways and buses to fail,
and those with enough expendable income have been able to
cushion the blow by resorting to for-hire vehicles. We need
to reverse that dynamic, and that requires dramatic improvements
to public transit.
In the fairest big city in America, you shouldn’t have to be
rich to have a reliable way to get around. The 14th St. bus and
freight corridor is a revolution in favor of working New Yorkers
who take buses.
This is why we should support the plan for 14th St.: It will
make our lives easier going forward, and it marks a serious
attempt by the city to keep surface-level transit working, free
from the constant competition of double-parkers “just grabbing
a cup of coffee.”
Bus priority goes a long way toward solving the immediate
crisis of the L-train slowdown, as well as the longer-term
crisis of second-rate transit that repels riders and brings unnecessary
traffi c into our neighborhoods.
Most people know that being progressive in this situation
means taking a stand for improving public transportation, for
the duration of the slowdown and beyond.
Schneps Media TVG May 16, 2019 13
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