BusTalk

[RailBus63]

http://mta.info/nyct/service/service_changes.htm#m6




Southbound buses rerouted from Broadway to 7 Av in
midtown Manhattan because of traffic flow changes by
the New York City Department of Transportation

What’s happening:

The New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) is making street and traffic changes between 59 and 23 Streets that will affect southbound bus traffic. DOT is adding pedestrian walkways and bike lanes to this area of Broadway. Southbound bus service that normally serves this area will be rerouted down 7 Av, except for the M6 which will be discontinued.

This year-long pilot program by DOT is expected to improve traffic flow in this area.

The following routes are affected:
M6, M7, M10, M20, M27, M30, M104

Customer Benefits

With all buses running on 7 Av, it’s easier to find your bus stop.
More frequent southbound service to speed your trip.
Re-establishment of a bus stop near the center of Times Square because of the expansion of pedestrian space.

M6
Service discontinued. For southbound service, use the M7 or M20 on 7 Av from 59 St to 14 St and use the M1 from Union Square to South Ferry. The M1 now operates nights and weekends to South Ferry. For northbound service, use the M1 from South Ferry, the M5 and M7 on 6 Av, or the M20 on 8 Av.

M7
The M7 continues along 7 Av to 14 St, then travels on 14 St to 6 Av.

M10/M20
Instead of traveling from Columbus Circle to 7 Av/49 St via Broadway, the southbound M10 and M20 travel east on 59 St/Central Park South to 7 Av, then travel south on 7 Av. The M20 will be extended to South Ferry beginning June 28.

M27
The westbound M27 leaves 49 St at 7 Av instead of Broadway, then travels south on 7 Av to 42 St, where it returns to its regular route along 42 St.

M30
Instead of traveling down Broadway, the eastbound M30 continues along 58 St to 7 Av, then travels south on 7 Av and returns to its regular route east along 57 St.

M104
Instead of traveling down Broadway from Columbus Circle to 7 Av/45 St, the southbound M104 runs east on 59 St, then south on 7 Av to 45 St, and continues its regular route along 7 Av to 42 St.

[RailBus63]

A few notes and thoughts:

It is perhaps fitting that the end of bus service on Broadway through Midtown coincides with the discontinuance of the M6. The M6 is the original midtown to downtown Broadway bus route and succeeded street railway service that dated back to 1864. Service was instituted by the New York City Omnibus Corporation as route 6-Broadway and replaced New York Railway’s Broadway streetcar line on February 12, 1936. The bus route originally operated in both directions on Broadway, but the city’s decision in the 1950’s to convert the major north-south avenues to one-way traffic resulted in the line being rerouted northbound via Sixth Avenue on November 10, 1963. The M5-Sixth Avenue route was replaced by the M6 and discontinued on that date. Other than this change, the M6’s routing and the terminals at Central Park West and South Ferry remained unchanged over the years.

Sadly, this route declined in importance over the years. A table reproduced in the February 1969 issue of Motor Coach Age magazine indicated that route 6 required 58 buses to make peak service in 1950. This number had declined to 27 twenty years later according to a second table in the magazine’s May 1972 issue. Ridership numbers are not shown in either issue, but the MTA’s website indicates that current patronage on the M6 is 5,183 on weekdays, 4,214 on Saturdays and 3,031 on Sundays. These numbers lag behind all but two of the north-south Manhattan bus routes, and the M6’s productivity is handicapped by having to travel through congestion along much of its route with few available stretches of faster running.

I will miss the M6. Most of my non-railfan trips to the city would involve stops at tourist hubs such as South Ferry, Times Square and Herald Square, and the presence of the M6 would allow me to get a little bus-watching in at those times. I’ve seen the equipment on the route progress from GMC New Look buses with ’batwing’ advertising signs through the brief Grumman-Flxible era to the long reign of the RTS bus. The concept of improving traffic and pedestrian flow through Midtown is worthwhile, but it is unfortunate that an important piece of transit history must come to an end to accomplish this.

[Q65A]

There's good news on the MTA website this evening, as the M6 will not be discontinued as originally planned:
http://www.mta.info/nyct/service/service_changes.htm
This is probably due to the eleventh-hour MTA bailout plan announced just recently.
Both the M6 and M7 will use 7th Avenue southbound to 14th St., then head east to Broadway.
As before, the M7 terminates at Union Sq.
The M6 makes a right and continues SB on B'way to South Ferry.

[RailBus63]

My son and I visited the city on Saturday and spent part of the morning photographing buses on Broadway in the Times Square and Herald Square areas. The city DOT was busy putting in new traffic islands north of 47th Street to divert traffic over to 7th Avenue and the islands in Times Square had already been modified and were ready to allow traffic on 7th to flow straight through. I'll post a few pictures soon.

[Q65A]

It certainly looks as if 7th Avenue will join 5th and Madison Avenues as major Manhattan "north-south busways".
What do you think about this new traffic arrangement on Broadway?
Do you think it will improve traffic flow in Midtown, or do you think it will have minimal positive effect?
The tour bus operators and cabbies might not like it (especially the red double deckers, who routinely use Bway), but time will tell for others...

[RailBus63]

Based on my anecdotal observations, the 7th Ave. to Broadway bus flow in Times Square always seemed to move OK but the Broadway to 7th buses took forever to get through, so hopefully the new straight 7th Avenue routing will help the M10's, M20's and M104's.

Perhaps the bigger question will be the impact on ridership on the affected routes. Below 34th Street, the southbound M6 and M7 buses end up running two to three blocks west of their former Broadway routing, and the M7 will no longer terminate in Union Square. The fact that all of these routes are being simply sent down 7th Avenue suggests that no major effort was undertaken to study ridership patterns, so it will be interesting to see how passengers adapt.