Second Avenue Line (surface)

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M15 Select Bus Service
126th Street
125th Street
116th Street
114th Street
106th Street
100th Street
97th Street
89th Street
86th Street
79th Street
67th Street
57th Street
50th Street
42nd Street
34th Street
29th Street
28th Street
23rd Street
14th Street
1st Street
Houston Street
Grand Street
Hester Street
Catherine Street
Fulton Street
Wall Street
South Ferry
An M15 local bus stops by the VA Hospital, heading uptown.
An M15 SBS bus operates through the Lower East Side.

The Second Avenue Line is a bus line in Manhattan, New York City, United States, running mostly along Second Avenue (and northbound on First Avenue since 1951) from Lower Manhattan to East Harlem. Originally a streetcar line, it is now the southbound direction of the M15 bus route, the busiest bus route in the U.S. with an annual ridership just shy of 17.5 million.[1] (However, the M15 is the only route on First and Second Avenues, while the one-way pair of Madison and Fifth Avenues has a higher frequency of local buses past Central Park, split among four routes (M1/M2/M3/M4).[2]) MTA Regional Bus Operations, under the New York City Bus and Select Bus Service brands, operates the route out of the 126th Street Bus Depot.[3] Service is operated exclusively with articulated buses.

History

The Second Avenue Railroad opened the line in 1853 and 1854, from Peck Slip on the East River north along Pearl Street, Bowery (shared with the Third Avenue Line), Grand Street, Chrystie Street, and Second Avenue to East Harlem. A short branch was later built along Stuyvesant Street and Astor Place to end at Broadway in NoHo. The Metropolitan Street Railway leased the line in January 1898, and on April 3 the line from Astor Place to Manhattan was electrified. The original line was later electrified to the Bowery, where streetcars used the Third Avenue Line to City Hall, and the line to Peck Slip was abandoned. Buses were substituted for streetcars by the East Side Omnibus Corporation on June 25, 1933. The New York City Board of Transportation took over operations in 1948, with the New York City Transit Authority replacing it in 1953.

In late 2004, the New York City Department of Transportation selected the route as one of the candidates for bus rapid transit service, along with Fordham Road (since implemented), Nostrand Avenue, Merrick Boulevard, and Hylan Boulevard. Six years later, on October 10, 2010, service began on the M15 Select Bus Service.[4][5][6] By then, the MTA had discontinued service to City Hall due to budget cuts.

References

  1. Average weekday NYC transit bus ridership
  2. 2000 figures from the Second Avenue Subway SDEIS, Appendix D.2, page 3
  3. Testimony by State Senator José M. Serrano given before the City Council Transportation Committee Hearing on MTA Environmental Practices, October 18, 2006
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External links

External video
video icon SBS Bus Wrapping, Metropolitan Transportation Authority; October 12, 2010; 1:48 YouTube video clip
video icon How to Ride the M15 Select Bus Service, Metropolitan Transportation Authority; October 20, 2010; 2:10 YouTube video clip