MTA Announces Redesign Proposals Of M14D And M21 Buses
Jane Henry ’29
I am one of the lucky few to live within walking distance of BHSEC. On my walk home, I am appalled by the hordes of students coming from Bard and NEST+M, constantly crowding the M14 bus stop as soon as the last class of the day is dismissed. In the mornings, students spill out onto the corner of Houston and Mangin from the M21 bus. Reports say that these buses have a 70% higher rate of needing repairs, such as shattered glass and deflated wheels from excess weight. Bus drivers along these two routes express similar concerns, with some being medically diagnosed with severe anxiety due their daily ordeal of driving a loud, rowdy, packed to the brim with students and teachers alike. As a freshman, I was horrified by this situation, and reached out to the MTA to see what was being done about this, so that I could help my fellow students. They got back to me, and told me not only was I practically an angel for making this effort, but that I was welcome to describe the plans that will soon be put into action.
With Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s commitment to making buses fast and free, special attention is being paid to the dire situation of our students’ much-needed transportation. The MTA has, at long last, released their plans to do something about this. Officials say that this has been in the works for a long time, ever since the school’s founding in 2001, but it has taken them a long time to finalize and perfect these ideas. The proposals that follow are summaries of the much longer proposals in the official report, and will be voted on and selected by the students, faculty, and staff of BHSEC M (and not NEST).
Proposal 1: Double (or Triple) Decker Delight
This proposal takes advantage of the epiphany that many New York City architects have already had — when you run out of room, build upwards. We are suggesting an addition of one more floor onto the buses. The top floor would be open-air seating, and the mid-level and/or ground floor would remain basically the same, with the bench seating in the back of the bus converted into stairs. The advantages of this are that 2 or 3 times as many humans, along with the occasional grocery cart/carrier for the non-students on their way to the 14th street and Avenue A Trader Joe’s, could fit on the bus. Disadvantages include that the bus might have to be replaced with a pre-existing double decker bus from Times Square, but a silver lining is that we do get to keep the people handing out flyers on street corners to promote the various Bard high schools across the city.
Proposal 2: Twice as Much = Twice as Good
The crowding of people is a problem both inside the bus and out. If both the amount of buses in operation, and their speeds are significantly increased to at least 20,000% of the current speed (6-7mph), students will not feel pressure to cram into the bus. Rather, they will accept that it is simply not yet their time. Each time a bus arrives, every 1-2 minutes from the hours of 8AM-9AM and 3:30PM-4:40PM, half of the students will leave the bus stop and enjoy a ride on a bus with plenty of free seats and elbow room, while their peers are able to actually sit on the bench at the bus stop without accidentally tripping over their professor’s shoelace, falling into the lap of someone who your pretty sure was in your writing and thinking class, and hitting your head so hard on their glasses that you pass out. It’s happened to us all… Right?. This not only aligns with Mayor Mamdani’s approach, it takes it a step further. Some have pointed out the downside that buses going at this speed (around 80 mph in highly populated areas and school zones) are wildly dangerous, causing crashes and fatalities for drivers, riders, inhabitants of nearby vehicles, and especially joggers. But, as Brooklyn resident Sammy Meskill, ’29 says, “It would all be worth it to get home fast.”
Proposal 3: The Anti-Mamdani
“Fast and Free”— more like Slow and Expensive. This proposal takes a more psychological approach to the bus dilemma. The MTA suggests that if we slow down the buses, make student “OMNY” cards invalid, enforce fare payment, increase ride fare, and increase the number of advertisements (especially 1-800 ads for injury lawyers), students will just find another way to get home, and the only ones to use the buses will be people who have plenty of money and time to spare- a rare phenomenon at BHSEC, considering that students have empty wallets from lunchtime deli runs, and homework to do. While this may seem harmful to students and contradictory to proposal 2, the MTA has proven that it would be just as effective by consulting Google’s Gemini Overview after searching, “does making something harder make less people want to do something in the context of buses and high school students and the mta and bus fares."
Similar plans will soon be released for the redesign of the Essex and Delancey subway stop. Stay tuned!