No more cars on 34th St: busway clears final hurdle, despite wild opposition from transit users

Story by Gabrielle Fahmy:

City Hall’s latest anti-car crusade cleared its final hurdle this week, despite fierce opposition from actual bus riders, who accused community board leaders of being in bed with the city and private interests.

The wildly controversial plan to ban cars on 34th Street — a vital crosstown route for commuters from New Jersey and Long Island — to make way for a dedicated busway between 3rd and 9th Avenues, will take effect as early as the end of the summer.

Stacy Rauch, a lifelong Murray Hill resident who takes the 34th Street crosstown bus daily, says car traffic isn’t the problem.

“The bigger problem is we don’t have enough buses,” she said during a heated community meeting Wednesday night.

Rauch was among dozens of angry Murray Hill residents who said the plans were rushed through with zero data or traffic analysis, and that the rerouted traffic from motorists coming out of the Midtown tunnel will make their local residential streets unlivable.