Editorial: Saving The M8
For the last few months, the majority of talk around this blog & others like it has been the “fare hikes & service cuts.
One of the proposed service cuts was the elimination of the M8, a popular crosstown route that takes riders between the East & West Village. The possible elimination of this route caused local officials & residents to be frustrated. This past Friday, a New York University (NYU) writing teacher named Kate Walter wrote an editorial in the New York Daily News. The piece was about how the MTA’s plan to eliminate the M8 exemplifies how the “wheels are coming off” at the agency:
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s budget slashing would eliminate my beloved M8 bus route, the only crosstown mass transit in Greenwich Village. This is an outrageously bad idea.
As a resident of the far West Village, I ride the M8 a lot. In fact, I’ve been riding it for more than 30 years. I can’t imagine my life without it. I know the friendly drivers by name and the sullen ones by sight. I take this bus to my teaching job, to the Jefferson Market Library, to my church on Second Ave. and to the copy shop on E. Ninth St. I socialize, shop and dine in the East Village.
I’m not the only person who will be hurt. The absence of this major channel will hurt businesses, especially stores and restaurants in the vicinity of Eighth St. On weekends, the stop by Kmart is jammed with shoppers heading toward Alphabet City with their many packages. Owners of the small boutiques and vintage shops on E. Ninth and E. Seventh Sts. have been struggling for years. Killing the M8 could put them out of business for good.
My elected officials and the local community board have been voicing their outrage over the proposed cut and there’s even a Web site – savethem8.org – where citizens can sign a petition against the MTA’s decision. I’ll do my part and write letters and speak out, all while hoping this is a trick by the MTA. Maybe MTA officials are thinking that if they threaten to cut important routes and then save them, riders will gladly pay another big fare increase.
Click here for the complete editorial.
Like I said last month, the elimination of this route surprised me considering it gets decent ridership & serves a legitimate purpose. I definitely applaud & more importantly support the efforts started to help save the M8. If any readers would like to support their cause, feel free & visit their website at SaveTheM8.org.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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I find it SO interesting that for over 2 weeks various construction crews of about 10 each have been jack hammering, digging pouring concreate, planting bushes, changing the sidewalk.. al to create a small island by the archives building which eliminated 2 parrking spaces, provided a new place for dogs to urindate and dump. I have lived on this block about 40 years, since 1969 and have never seen a car accident there.. I am sure there have been a few as any corner in NYC. yet we cannot afford our bus route. OUR GOVT AGENCYS NEED TO GET THERE PRIORITIES STRAIGHT AND STOP BLOWING MONEY IN ONE AGENCY ON THINGS ‘WE THE PEOPLE’ HAVE NO INTEREST IN AND START LISTENING TO US… AND SHAREING SOME OF THE MONEYS BETWEEN AGENCIES IF THAT IS THE PROBLEM.