M14 (New York City bus)

m14a, m14d
14th Street Crosstown
A 2019 Nova Bus LFS Articulated (5590) on the M14A SBS and a 2017 XD60 (6106) on the M14D SBS at East 14th Street/Broadway (Union Square) in October 2019
Overview
System	MTA Regional Bus Operations
Operator	New York City Transit Authority
Garage	Michael J. Quill Depot
Vehicle	Nova Bus LFS articulated New Flyer Xcelsior XD60 New Flyer Xcelsior XE60 (main vehicles) New Flyer Xcelsior XD40 New Flyer Xcelsior XE40 Nova Bus LFS HEV (supplemental service)
Livery	Select Bus Service
Began service	1899 (streetcar) 1936 (bus) 2019 (SBS)
Route
Locale	Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Start	M14A-SBS: West Side – Abingdon Square M14D-SBS: Chelsea Piers – 11th Avenue
Via	14th Street, Avenue A, Avenue D
End	M14A-SBS: Lower East Side – Grand Street M14D-SBS: Lower East Side – Delancey Street
Length	M14A-SBS EB: 3.3 miles (5.3 km)[1] M14D-SBS EB: 3.6 miles (5.8 km)[2]
Service
Operates	24 hours[3]
Annual patronage	4,465,036 (2023)[4]
Transfers	Yes
Timetable	M14A/D SBS
Route map Legend Chelsea Piers – 11th Avenue (18th Street)  M14D  17th Street 15th Street Hudson Street–13th Street Washington Street  M14A  West Village –Abingdon Square   Hudson Street–9th Avenue Bleecker Street 8th Avenue ​​​ 7th Avenue ​​ 6th Avenue ​ 5th Avenue University Place ​​​ Irving Place ​​ 3rd Avenue 2nd Avenue 1st Avenue Avenue A 11th Street Avenue B 5th Street Avenue C Houston Street 11th–12th Streets ​​​ Delancey Street 10th Street Grand Street–Essex Street 5th–6th Streets Clinton Street 3rd Street Pitt Street East Broadway-Columbia Street Houston Street-Columbia Street Houston Street-Mangin Street Jackson Street 555 FDR Drive Lower East Side – FDR Drive (Grand Street)    M14A  Lower East Side – FDR Drive (Delancey Street)    M14D  Rivington Street Legend Two-way stop One-way stop  M14  Terminal Subway connection PATH connection ← M12 ← Bx41 SBS (by borough) ← Bx12 SBS (by route number)  {{{system_nav}}}  M15 SBS →

The 14th Street Crosstown Line is a public transit line in Manhattan, New York City, running primarily along 14th Street from Chelsea or the West Village to the Lower East Side. Originally a streetcar line, it is now the M14 bus route, operated by the New York City Transit Authority. The line's two variants, the M14A SBS and M14D SBS, use Avenue A and Avenue D respectively from 14th Street south into the Lower East Side.

Both M14 services share the 14th Street Crosstown corridor between 9th Avenue on the West Side and Avenue A on the Lower East Side. The "A" and "D" designations refer to the north–south streets used by each service within the Lower East Side (Avenue A and Avenue D respectively).^[3][5]

West of 9th Avenue, the M14A SBS turns south along Hudson Street, terminating at Bleecker Street at Abingdon Square Park. The M14D SBS meanwhile, travels north to Chelsea Piers, serving Hudson River Park and the Chelsea Market. Until Select Bus Service was implemented, the M14A SBS followed this route during the overnight hours.^[3][5] This was changed to operate to Abingdon Square at all times.^[6] At the east end of the corridor, the M14A SBS turns south at Avenue A (which becomes Essex Street south of Houston Street), then east along Grand Street to the FDR Drive on the East River coastline. The M14D SBS travels along Avenue B, Avenue C, East 10th Street, then south along Avenue D (becoming Columbia Street) to Delancey Street at the Baruch Houses.^[3][5]

During weekday rush hours, some M14 SBS buses make short turn runs, resulting in some westbound M14 buses terminating at either Union Square or Eighth Avenue, and some eastbound M14 buses terminating at First Avenue. These trips may be signed as just the M14, without any letter suffix.^[3]

The M14A/D SBS routes supplement the 14th Street Line (L train), which runs from Eighth Avenue and continues into Brooklyn.^[3][5]

Two XD60s: one local-wrapped 2017 (6105) on the Abingdon Square-bound M14A in August 2018 before implementation (top), and one SBS-wrapped 2019 (6152) on the Chelsea Piers-bound M14D in June 2024 after implementation (bottom), both at West 14th Street/8th Avenue.

The tracks were built by several companies and pieced together by the Metropolitan Street Railway by 1899. The Bleecker Street and Fulton Ferry Railroad built the 14th Street tracks west of 9th Avenue, the Central Crosstown Railroad built from 9th Avenue to Union Square, and the Forty-Second Street and Grand Street Ferry Railroad built from Union Square to Avenue A and south on Avenue A. The Metropolitan Crosstown built a short connection at Union Square to connect the two halves, and tracks north on 11th Avenue to the West 23rd Street Ferry.

When the Williamsburg Bridge opened in 1904, 14th Street cars were rerouted to use the bridge (running east on Delancey Street from the one-way pair of Clinton Street northbound and Essex Street southbound), running as the 14th Street-Williamsburg Bridge Line until 1911. Buses were substituted for streetcars by the New York City Omnibus Corporation on April 20, 1936.

Avenue D service was added on January 28, 1951, initially running from Broadway along 14th Street, Avenue D and Columbia Street to Stanton Street, and returning on Cannon Street and Houston Street.^[7]

In 1956, New York City Omnibus Corporation became Fifth Avenue Coach Lines; the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority (MaBSTOA) subsidiary of the New York City Transit Authority took over operations in 1962.^[8]

The route was once operated by the now defunct Hudson Pier Depot and was known only as the M14. When the depot was taken over by the Quill depot, it was separated into three lines, the M14A, M14C and M14D. Following the September 11 attacks, security measures at the Consolidated Edison power plant were tightened, and the block of East 14th Street between Avenue C and Avenue D was closed to the public. Service was consolidated on the Avenue C and Avenue D branches of the M14, with bus service running along Avenue C, East 10th Street, and Avenue D. In May 2002, the MTA announced plans to consolidate the two routes to improve service, and make operations simpler.^[9] Eventually it was decided since the route ran primarily on Avenue D the route would be renamed M14D.

From 2004 to 2006, the M14C briefly returned running down Avenue C to Houston Street, then turning east towards Avenue D/Columbia Street and resuming the normal route. This new route began running late and caused confusion with the M21 on Avenue C and eventually service returned to its current state as the M14A and M14D. Afterward, Avenue C was temporarily served by the M21 bus, but since 2010, it has been served by the M9 bus.

Two XD60s: one 2017 (6117) on the Grand Street-bound M14A SBS, and one 2019 (6224) on the Delancey Street-bound M14D SBS, at 14th Street/6th Avenue in Chelsea/Greenwich Village, Manhattan in January 2022.

In April 2019, a Select Bus Service line was planned to run along 14th Street to provide alternate service during the original L train shutdown plan. Service was expected to operate from Ninth Avenue to Avenue C, then turn north along Avenue C to 20th Street, where there would be a ferry transfer.^[10][11] This route was to be another branch supplementing the existing M14A/D designation, but the existing lines would not be converted to Select Bus Service. To facilitate bus trips on the M14 corridor, the 14th Street busway would be implemented, turning parts of 14th Street into a bus-only street during rush hours.^[12] The Select Bus Service route was to be implemented by January 6, 2019, three months before the tunnel was set to shut down. It was to initially run with five stops in each direction between First Avenue/14th Street and 10th Avenue/14th Street. Local service on the M14A and M14D would be retained with minor modifications.^[13] One or two weeks before the tunnel would originally close, the M14 SBS was to be extended to Stuyvesant Cove. The M14A/D local and the M14 SBS would be able to serve a combined 84,000 passengers every hour, with a bus every two minutes during rush hours. During late night hours, the M14 SBS would be replaced by the L14 SBS route to the Bedford Avenue station in Brooklyn.^[14][15] After the 14th Street Tunnel work was completed, some version of M14 SBS service would continue operating.^[16]

On January 4, 2019, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the L train shutdown would be modified. An alternate plan of weekend and late-night construction would be executed instead, therefore putting the initial M14 SBS plan in limbo.^[17][18] New York City Transit later announced that it still planned to implement SBS along the corridor, and continued to work with the DOT on a plan for permanent service. The preliminary plan was to convert both the M14A and M14D routes into SBS routes.^[19] On March 6, 2019, the NYCDOT met with elected officials and revealed plans to implement Select Bus Service on both the M14A and the M14D in June 2019, with an accelerated timeline to provide an alternative to L service. The implementation of bus lanes on the branches in the Lower East Side was to be implemented later on. Bus stops on each branch would be spaced out to speed up service. The M14A's terminal loop through Abingdon Square was to be implemented on a 9-month trial due to difficulty of bus operations there, as well as complaints of buses laying over in the Abingdon Square area. If the terminal was eliminated during or after the trial, service would be extended to Tenth Avenue. As of May 2022, the M14A continues to serve Abingdon Square at all times.^[6] Bus lanes would either make use of the busway layout intended for the Tunnel shutdown or would consist of standard bus lanes.^[20][21]

In April 2019, the busway was added back to the plan.^{[22][23][24][25]} SBS was later pushed back to July 1, 2019.^[26][27] However, due to a lawsuit, the busway was not implemented as scheduled,^[28][29] and after another delay that August,^[30][31] went into effect on October 3, 2019.^[32][33] The busway was so successful on its first day that M14 buses had to be slowed down in order to keep from running ahead of their posted schedules.^[34] In December 2019, the M14A/D SBS were the launch routes for the MTA's new battery-electric New Flyer Xcelsior XE60 buses.^[35]

• Media related to M14 (New York City bus) at Wikimedia Commons
• Select Bus Service − mta.info
• M14 SBS: Keeping Buses Moving on 14 St and the Lower East Side − mta.info
• 14th Street Select Bus Service with Transit & Truck Priority Pilot Project − NYCDOT