BY DENNIS LYNCH | The M23 Select Bus Service (SBS) debuted on 23rd St. last week, so we took a crosstown ride on the new service that transit officials claim will be faster, more reliable, and more convenient for commuters.
The SBS is different than a regular bus service in a few ways, but its streamlined ticketing and boarding process is most visible to customers. Riders purchase a ticket with money or a MetroCard from machines at each bus stop, much like MetroCard vending machines at subway stations.
That makes boarding faster so long as riders know to use the machines. The MTA and city Department of Transportation stationed employees at each M23 stop to help walk people through the ticketing process (as witnessed by Chelsea Now on Fri., Nov. 11). One or two riders at each stop would get on the bus ready to dip their MetroCards, which sometimes held us up briefly.
Regular M23 rider Carlos D. said he believes SBS will make his ride across town faster, but was concerned that many riders were “not at all in tune” with the ticket-buying process, which could slow down the bus or leave would-be riders at the curb.
“Many, frankly, don’t speak English, and it’s a little disorientating for them. The MTA should do a little better job of educating the public, whether that’s putting up signs or something,” said Carlos. “Even for English speakers it’s confusing. On more than one occasion, I’ve had to help people through that process. But we’ll see. It hasn’t been a week. Let’s wait and see what happens in the next few weeks; I think it will be a success.”
It wouldn’t take much to best the old, infamously slow M23. The Straphangers Campaign has twice awarded it the undesirable “Pokey Award” for slowest local bus route in the entire city. The M23 was usually stopped or stuck in traffic for 90% of its trip and it spent 25% of its crosstown trip just picking up passengers, according to the MTA and city DOT.
The MTA would not say how long the average trip on the old M23 took and said that one trip on the M23 SBS was not enough to calculate its running time. Our trip on the M23 SBS from the westernmost stop, Chelsea Piers, across town 16 stops to its easternmost stop at Ave. C and E. 20th St. took about a half hour. A trip from First Ave. to Sixth Ave., or five stops, took 15 minutes.
The M23 SBS uses the curbside “bus only” lane on 23rd St. that’s in effect 24/7, except for a stretch between Seventh and Eighth Aves., but traffic still slowed us down.
The rules of the “bus only” lane are somewhat loose. Vehicles are permitted to enter the bus lane 200 feet before they take a turn off the street or before a driveway they will turn into. Since a Manhattan block is roughly 875 feet long, cars turning are allowed in the bus lane for almost a quarter of the way down the block on either side.
Drivers can also stop in a bus lane to pick up or drop off passengers, and charter buses are allowed to travel in the bus lane at any time. Only delivery trucks are barred from stopping to make a delivery or pick up when the bus only lane is in effect, although Patch proved that doesn’t necessarily stop them from doing so.
Violating those laws earn drivers a $115-150 fine. There are bus lane enforcement cameras in place and the NYPD is responsible for enforcing the bus lane restrictions, although officers were only giving out warnings when we took our crosstown trip to allow drivers to adjust.
M23 riders should also know that the MTA has eliminated two former M23 stops, so the bus will no longer stop near Madison Square Park between Broadway and Madison Ave. and at the intersection of Lexington Ave. because they were too close to other stops.
