14th Street Car Ban Kicks Off With Cranky Drivers, Joyous Bus Riders

After months of legal challenges, the city has prevailed in rolling out restrictions for private car traffic on 14th Street, as part of a major transit project aimed at speeding up buses along the heavily-congested corridor.

The new pilot program went into effect at 6 a.m. on Thursday morning, effectively banning passenger vehicles between 3rd and 9th Avenues to make way for new dedicated lanes for the M14A/D buses. Trucks are still permitted to use the street, and local drivers, including for-hire vehicles, can make pickups and drop-offs, provided they take the first available right turn.

For bus riders, long forced to contend with one of the slowest routes in the city, the impact of the transit priority was felt immediately. "It's faster than walking, and that's usually not the case," said Shannon Sweeney, a resident of 7th Avenue and 14th Street, while riding the bus east at around 10 a.m. this morning.

The busway will be primarily enforced by automated cameras, installed for the first time aboard buses, as well as at intersections along 14th Street. The city has promised drivers a 60-day grace period before issuing camera-based tickets.

Within hours of the busway's debut, some drivers had already found themselves running afoul of the new traffic rules. Jonathan Fernandez, who drives a truck making deliveries for Southern Wine, racked up three separate $115 ticket for parking in a bus lane, in front of a fire hydrant, and "angle parking." Shortly after, he again attempted to park in the bus lane while stopping for coffee outside a Third Avenue Dunkin Donuts', but was chased off by a Traffic Enforcement Agent.

"This is the first I"m hearing about it," Fernandez said of the busway. "It's going to make traffic worse."

Meanwhile, dire warnings of traffic spillover onto residential side streets—the basis of a contentious lawsuit that twice delayed the project's implementation—did not seem to come to fruition during the first rush hour.

Still, as traffic flowed normally along 15th Street, Uber driver Stephen Lesley railed against the changes, telling Gothamist that his customers were already cancelling on him after realizing they'd have to walk an extra block. "That sucks," chimed in a passenger from the backseat, who said he lived on 14th Street.

The bus priority has long been championed by transit advocates, who've called on Mayor Bill de Blasio to do more to get drivers out of their cars.

"In addition to giving bus riders precious time back, the busway will reduce congestion and air pollution along one of the city’s key thoroughfares," said Danny Harris, executive director of Transportation Alternatives. "The 14th Street busway will move 27,000 New Yorkers a day and set a new standard for transit in New York City, serving as a model for what’s possible with dedicated busways across the five boroughs."

Arthur Schwartz, the attorney leading the suit against the busway, told Gothamist on Thursday that he witnessed significant traffic outside his home on 13th Street, and vowed to continue fighting the changes in court.

"Traffic from one end to another spews pollution, spews toxic emissions that harm people who live on a residential street," he said. "I'm an environmentalist, you're an ideologue."

Speaking on NY1 earlier this week, Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would be watching the results of the 18-month pilot closely, promising to "judge accordingly and not, if you will, ideologically but really based on the facts."

"We’ll see what this tell us," he added. "I am hopeful it’s going to show us some things that we can do better."

If you are planning on driving along the corridor, set aside some time to study this map: