BY SHRILEY SECUNDA | On Nov. 1 a new service will be available from M.T.A. NYC Transit providing easier access for those who want to ride the M3 bus uptown from Greenwich Village.
The transit agency calls this service “Loop Privileges.” It will allow northbound bus riders to board the southbound M3 along Fifth Ave. or on Eighth St. (where it turns and goes east), ride the bus to its current Astor Place / Fourth Ave. terminus, and then stay on the bus when it lays over there. Passengers then can take that same bus uptown or get a paper transfer to the next bus heading north from that location, all for the same fare.
The “Loop Privilege” service will enable bus riders who are not near the northbound M3’s Astor Place / Fourth Ave. boarding location to get there without having to walk long distances, which is often the case now, a hardship for many, especially the elderly and infirm, who depend on buses to get around. The new service responds to a proposal by Community Board 2 to use such a procedure as an alternative to reinstating the previous, preferred northbound M3 route that the board has requested, but that NYC Transit has not brought back.
The same “Loop Privileges” will also apply to the M1 and M2 buses. This is because they follow the same route in Greenwich Village that the M3 travels and have the same layover as the M3, at Astor Place / Fourth Ave.
NYC Transit is alerting bus drivers about the new plan and instructing them that customers will be allowed “Loop Privileges” at the Astor Place location. The transit agency also advises that straphangers should tell the driver they have “Loop Privileges” when they reach the terminal.
The previous M3 bus route northbound, operating since 1966, started out its journey at Ninth St. on University Place where it headed up to 14th St. and then turned east to Park Ave. South (Union Square East). There it turned north to go uptown.
In 2010, citing budget cuts, NYC Transit shifted the M3 northern route’s starting point to Fourth Ave. and Ninth St. (at the Astor Place / Fourth Ave. terminal). This left a gap in easily accessible East Side bus service going north for anyone in the area between Sixth Ave. and Broadway from blocks south of Eighth St. (like Waverly and Washington Places and W. Fourth St.) all the way to 14th St.
The “Loop Privileges” arrangement will provide the accessibility these people need by making the M3 (as well as the M1 and M2) downtown route, that is closer to them, available for continuing uptown at no extra cost. It also will provide an opportunity to sit on the bus while waiting to go uptown, as well as to stay warm in cold weather and cool in hot weather during the wait.
Originally, the M3 bus traveled on Fifth Ave., both northbound and southbound. When Fifth Ave. was changed to one-way southbound in 1966, the M3 northbound was switched over to the University Place / 14th St. / Park Ave. South route. That one-block move maintained convenient access for those in the mid-Village area and was readily accepted and approved.
Secunda is chairperson, Community Board 2 Traffic and Transportation Committee
