System MTA New York City Bus Locale Manhattan | Garage Michael J. Quill | |
 | ||
Operator Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority (MaBSTOA)
New York City Transit Authority (NYCT) Vehicle New Flyer D60 Galaxy
Nova Bus LFS articulated Began service 1899 (streetcar)
1936 (bus) | ||
The 14th Street Crosstown Line is a public transit line in Manhattan, New York City, United States, 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 and M14D, use Avenue A and Avenue D respectively from 14th Street south into the Lower East Side.
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Route description and service
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). Alternately, the designations can refer to Abingdon Square, the western terminus for the M14A, and Delancey Street, the eastern terminus for the M14D.
West of 9th Avenue, the M14A turns south along Hudson Street, terminating at Bleecker Street at Abingdon Square Park. The M14D, meanwhile, travels north to Chelsea Piers, serving Hudson River Park and the Chelsea Market. The M14A follows this route on weekdays during early morning hours. At the east end of the corridor, the M14A 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 travels along Avenue C, East 10th Street, then south along Avenue D (becoming Columbia Street) to Delancey Street at the Baruch Houses.
The M14 parallels the BMT 14th Street subway line (L trains), which runs from Eighth Avenue and continues into Brooklyn.
History
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. That company changed its name to Fifth Avenue Coach Lines in 1956; the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority (MaBSTOA) subsidiary of the New York City Transit Authority took over operations in 1962.
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. After the 9/11 attacks, 14th street was blocked off in front of ConEd between Avenue C and Avenue D, forcing the M14D to run the M14C route, eventually it was decided since the route ran primarily on Avenue D the route would be renamed M14D. In 2004 until 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.