By Joseph Morales

    The M15 is one of if not the busiest bus route in New York City. The M15-LCL/SBS has consistently ranked 1st in the MTA’s ridership totals in recent years averaging millions of riders annually. This is likely because the M15-LCL/SBS runs from East Harlem to the southern tip of Manhattan and runs along First and Second Avenues, which both offer extremely limited subway access. The recently constructed Second Avenue Subway(SAS) only serves Second Avenue between 96th St and 72nd St and a proposed phase 3 of the project that would send the SAS down to Houston Street is in the MTA’s 20 year needs assessment to be evaluated for completion between now and 2044. Therefore, people needing to get around on the Far East Side of Manhattan will be relying on the M15 for some time to get them around.

                 The implementation of Select Bus Service on the route in 2010 did improve buses along the corridor as measures such as bus lanes, off-board fare collection as well as all-door boarding helped improve travel times by 15-18% and increased ridership by 9% as of  according to a progress report done on the M15-SBS in 2011. However, in recent year the M15 has consistent averaged low bus speeds on First Avenue between East 61st St and 79th St. You can see those speeds in a NYCDOT presentation here:https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/1st-ave-bus-lane-jul2022.pdf  Therefore, the NYCDOT has been implementing improvements on bus lanes along First Avenue between East 61st and 79th Streets on the Upper East Side to improve these speeds.

                    You might be wondering why on 1st Avenue between 61st and 79th Streets? Aren’t other parts of the M15 slow? Anyone asking these questions would have good reason as accoridng to MTA statistics the entirety of the M15 route has averaged speeds of 6.0-6.4 mph on a monthly basis between July 2019 and July 2022 outside of April-June 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic while according to MTA statistics which is lower than the bus speeds the NYCDOT recorded for the M15 along the segment of 1st Avenue where bus lane improvements are occurring. This is because the success of  bus lanes in increasing bus lanes depending on how many things(usually cars and trucks) are obstructing the lanes. ABLE(Automated Bus Lane Enforcement) cameras on M15 buses have detected a large concentration of bus lane violations on 1st Avenue between 58th and 78th sts which is mostly within the project’s vicinity. Also, three out of the top five hotspots for violations are within the project’s vicinity. This indicates that while bus speeds may be slower in other bus lanes along the M15 route, they may be the least effective in increasing speeds in this area due to the number of vehicles obstructing the lanes.This is likely because the 1st Avenue corridor is home to many small businesses and is within blocks of multiple major hospitals along with The Rockefeller University, Roosevelt Island Tram and many other destinations of interest, parking is at a premium. 

                   The bus lane upgrades has primarily consisted of moving existing lanes over from the curbside in one lane and once again allowing for vehicle parking as well as commercial loading on the curb. Allowing access to the curb again will not only give motorists a place to park and businesses space to receive deliveries, but it will ensure that motorists do not block bus lanes while standing or parking, which is a major cause of slower bus speeds. These bus lane improvements can improve bus reliability not just in this area but in both directions along the entire M15 route, as delays in one area can impact all passengers on the route regardless of where they are going. Bottlenecks are also among the chief stressors for bus commuters, as many bus riders throughout the city can identify the corridor that gives them the most trouble during their committed.

Newly upgraded bus lanes on 1st Avenue and East 76th St               

The new setup also allows businesses to receive deliveries on the curb, something that had previously been illegal under curbside bus lane regulations, forcing these businesses to either work around bus lane hours or receive deliveries while the delivery workers block the bus lane, causing bus delays.

                In addition, the lanes being off the curb may also allow for some restaurants to add outdoor dining sheds on the curbs next to their establishments, allowing them to catch up with competitors on other corridors and throughout Manhattan, where outdoor dining has become popular. These bus lane improvements can improve bus reliability not just in this area but in both directions along the entire M15 route, as delays in one area can impact all passengers on the route regardless of where they are going. Bottlenecks are also among the chief stressors for bus commuters, as many bus riders throughout the city can identity the corridors that they dread during commutes. 

                  As this project is completed, it is yet to be seen how the new bus lanes will benefit people and businesses on the Upper East Side as well as the 48,000 riders who use the M15 daily. It might even set a precedent for how bus lanes are designed citywide in order to speed up buses while minimizing the negative impacts on motorists and small businesses. 

Works Cited

New York City Department of Transportation. “1st Avenue Bus Lane Enhancement – CB 8 – July 12, 2022.” NYC.gov, 12 July 2022, https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/1st-ave-bus-lane-jul2022.pdf. Accessed 23 December 2022.

“+selectbusservice M15 on First and Second Avenues: Progress Report.” NYC.gov, 2011, https://www.nyc.gov/html/brt/downloads/pdf//201111_1st2nd_progress_report.pdf. Accessed 23 December 2022.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “Bus Dashboard.” mta.info, http://dashboard.mta.info/Bus. Accessed 23 December 2022.