A Lower East Side resident who’s pushed for expanded East River ferry service and the resurfacing of the tennis courts at East River Park has a new crusade. Joe Hanania has started a petition, urging the MTA to step up 14A bus service to the eastern end of Grand Street. Here’s his pitch:
14A service to the dense Grand Street. Coops and to the many businesses on Ave. A is far from adequate – even while there are three 14D buses for every one 14A bus. The difference is especially noticeable when there are service delays on freezing days, and it takes half an hour – or more – for a jammed 14 A bus to arrive. This can be easily resolved with a more equitable allocation of 14th Street crosstowns, with half – rather than one quarter – running the 14A route, and the other half remaining on the 14D route. At the same time, the 14 D’s route should be extended. Instead of having its eastern terminus at Delancey St., it should continue two blocks south to Grand St., so that it services westbound Grand St. residents. It would cut back to Delancey St. via Columbia St. to resume its current route. This would add approximately 5 blocks to its route – and attract a lot more customers who are otherwise stuck waiting and waiting.
As for his previous petitions, Hanania noted in an email message:
…my previous petition to resurface the East River Park tennis courts got nearly 1,000 signatures, leading Council member Rosie Mendez to get $500,000 allocated in the current city budget for this purpose. This summer, torn nets with huge holes were replaced, and the multiple and deep cracks present on every court have been patched over. The resurfacing is scheduled to take place at the end of 2015, according to an email from Steve Simon, chief of staff for (the) Manhattan Parks (Department), who was instrumental in getting this done. An East River ferry landing on the LES is still in limbo, although three sites have been mentioned and sometimes featured on maps. They are East Houston Street, Montgomery Street, and Grand St., which I championed.
Here’s the link to the Change.org bus petition.
AGREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please!! we need this very badly!!
4 Avenue D buses to 1 A bus soooo unfair!!! Please add more A buses!!!
I sometimes take the Ave A bus from Whole Foods on 14th Street and after four Ave D buses go by the PACKED Ave A arrives. Lots of the Ave D buses are half empty because they run so many.
My trip to Houston Street is so slow because so many people get on and off at each stop. I only take the bus if I have a ton of groceries. You could walk there and back in the time it takes by Ave A bus.
Hi Emily – Why not copy and paste your comments on my petition so we can get them in front of the eyes of the decision makers? Please use the link in the article, or copy and paste the following link. http://www.change.org/p/carmen-bianco-bring-better-bus-service-to-the-grand-st-coops-by-rebalancing-service-between-the-14-a-and-14-d-lines Thanks.
So glad this petition is out there. While we’re on this subject, couldn’t hurt to have more service on the M21 as well. Anyway we can extend the petition to include that one as well? Thank you.