M14 (New York City bus)

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 on weekdays during early morning hours.[3][5] This was changed to follow the 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 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 8th Avenue, and some Eastbound M14 buses to terminate at 1st Avenue. During these runs, the A/D prefix may not be displayed on bus destination signs.[3]

The M14A/D SBS routes run parallel the BMT 14th Street subway line (L train), which runs from Eighth Avenue and continues into Brooklyn.[3][5]

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]

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.[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. After the 9/11 attacks, the block of 14th Street between Avenue C and Avenue D was closed to the public, 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. 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.

• 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