BusTalk

[Q65A]

From METRO Magazine & the NY Times:
To sweeten the pill of a proposed fare increase, New York City Transit said on Monday that it was planning a series of subway and bus service improvements that would go into effect in the second half of next year.

The service changes would mean shorter waits for riders or extended hours of operation on some subway lines, added bus service and the creation of a new bus route in Manhattan.

The improvements would be made only after the financial performance of the transit agency’s parent, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, was reviewed during the first three months of the year to certify that its economic position had not weakened, officials said Monday.

Riders would see the first service improvements in June, according to material released on Monday. Some of the changes are relatively small, like shaving one or two minutes from waiting times for evening service on the Nos. 1, 4 and 6 lines. Others add hours of operation to some lines. Operation of the B and W lines on weekdays would be extended to 11 p.m. from 9:30 p.m. Some changes, like an increase in service on the G train, would not begin until next December.

The changes would also create a new bus line, the M13, from the Lower East Side to East Midtown, and would extend the B71 and B77 buses from Brooklyn via the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel into Manhattan, where they would go to South Ferry.

The service additions are expected to cost $16 million next year and $46 million in 2009. The proposed fare increase would bring in $90 million in 2008 and $110 million the next year, the authority said.

The transportation authority’s board is to vote on Wednesday on its 2008 budget, including the first fare and toll increases since 2005. If the increases are approved, commuters on the Metro-North Railroad and the Long Island Rail Road will see their fares go up on March 1.

[Q65A]

Students of NYC bus history will note that this certainly is not the first time that a route called M13 has operated in Manhattan.
In Motor Coach Age (Jan.-Mar. 2004) Eddie Crew and Bernard Linder presented the histories of both the East Side and Comprehensive Omnibus Companies. The former operator began running the M13-First Avenue line on June 25, 1933 from South Ferry to 125th St. & 1st Avenue.
The line went north from South Ferry via South St., Roosevelt St. Bowery, Division St., Allen St. and First Ave. A part-time branch ran down Catherine St. from Division St. to South St.; apparently this branch served the headquarters of several newspaper publishers.
On June 4, 1951, First Avenue was made one-way northbound (and Second Avenue made one-way southbound), and the M13 and M15 were combined in an odd way: northbound buses were signed as M13, while the southbound buses were signed as M15. This arrangement later was terminated, and both routes joined as the M15, which as you all know still runs to this day (and is the busiest bus line in NYC).