Community organizers have started an online petition in their campaign to stop Yep Tours, a Chinatown bus operator, from obtaining a permit at 2 Pike St.
The company is scheduled to go before Community Board 3 later this month to request the permit for a space previously used by Yo! Bus, which ended its service in December of 2015. Yep Tours operates illegally from the location now (using it as a layover spot), as well as from a stretch of Pike on the west side of the street. Last summer, the city denied a Yep bus permit on Madison Street after the community board voted against it.
More from the petition started by the SPaCE Block Association:
We call upon Manhattan Community Board 3 and the New York City Department of Transportation to deny the intercity bus company, YEP Tour Inc., an intercity bus permit to operate at 2 Pike St. To date, YEP Tour Inc. has operated egregiously, while flagrantly disregarding the law. Daily for the last 2 years, they have simultaneously operated 5 buses, illegally picking up and dropping off passengers and illegally parking in and around the intersection of Pike Street and East Broadway in Manhattan. YEP Tour Inc. has been fined thousands of dollars which they have not paid. They have regularly created a major commotion and nuisance for both local residents, business owners, and transient citizens. Approval of an Intercity Bus Permit for YEP Tour Inc. would make it very clear that the DOT and our elected politicians do not represent the people for whom they have been hired and elected to serve. Further, it would make an unambiguous announcement to all other non-permitted intercity bus companies that if they create a massive presence, have zero regard for the highly residential community they operate within, while not paying their fines, then eventually, they too will get a permit. Our community continues to bear the burden of a grossly unregulated transportation industry.
You can add your name to the petition here. The application will be considered Thursday, Oct. 20, 6:30 p.m., at Downtown Art, 70 East 4th St.
