M11 (New York City bus)

The Ninth and Tenth Avenues Line or Ninth Avenue Line is a surface transit line in the New York City borough of Manhattan, running mostly along Ninth Avenue and Amsterdam Avenue from Lower Manhattan to Manhattanville. Originally a streetcar line operated by the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority, it is now the M11 bus route operated by the New York City Transit Authority.

m11
Ninth and Tenth Avenues Line
#6639, now retired, finishes a trip on the M11 at Abingdon Square.
Overview
System	MTA New York City Bus
Operator	New York City Transit Authority
Garage	Manhattanville (except for school trippers)
Vehicle	Daimler Buses Orion VII (NG and OG) New Flyer XD40 (school trippers) New Flyer XE40 (school trippers)
Began service	1859[1] (train) 1935[2] (bus) 1948[3] (current alignment)
Route
Locale	Manhattan
Start	West Village – Abingdon Square
Via	Tenth (Amsterdam) Avenue (NB) Ninth (Columbus) Avenue (SB)
End	Broadway / 133rd Street or Riverbank State Park – 145th Street
Length	7.6 miles (12.2 km)[4] (northbound)
Service
Operates	4:50 AM – 1:50 AM
Annual patronage	3,025,944 (2017)[5]
Transfers	Yes
Timetable	M11
Route map Riverbank Park – 145th Street  M11  Intermittent stops 145th Street 142nd Street 139th Street 137th Street 135th Street / Riverside Drive 135th Street / Broadway  M11  135th Street / Amsterdam Avenue Intermittent stops 133rd Street 131st Street 129th Street 125th Street LaSalle Street Intermittent stops 123rd Street 120th Street 118th Street 116th Street 114th Street 112th Street Cathedral Parkway Intermittent stops 108th Street 106th Street 104th Street 102nd Street 100th Street 98th Street 96th Street Intermittent stops 93rd Street 91st Street 89th Street 86th Street Intermittent stops 83rd Street 81st Street 80th Street 79th Street Intermittent stops 78th Street 77th Street 75th Street 72nd Street ​​ 69th Street 66th Street 65th Street Intermittent stops 63rd Street 61st Street 59th Street 57th Street Intermittent stops 55th Street 53rd Street 52nd Street 49th–50th Streets Intermittent stops 45th–46th Streets 44th Street 42nd Street Intermittent stops 40th Street 38th Street 37th Street 35th Street 34th Street Intermittent stops 30th Street 28th Street 27th Street 25th Street 23rd Street Intermittent stops 21st Street 19th–20th Streets 18th Street 16th Street Washington Street 14th Street 13th Street Horatio Street West Village – Abingdon Square  M11  Legend Major stops Minor stops  M11  Terminal  M11  Part-time terminal Subway connection ← M10  {{{system_nav}}}  M12 →

Current route

The M11 bus route begins at Bethune Street (Abingdon Square) in Greenwich Village, and starts out by heading northbound on Greenwich Street and southbound on Hudson Street. Where the route crosses 14th Street, Hudson Street becomes Ninth Avenue, while the northbound direction jogs west on 14th Street to reach Tenth Avenue. This one-way pair on Ninth and Tenth Avenues, which become Columbus Avenue and Amsterdam Avenue north of 59th Street, continues until 110th Street, where the southbound route joins the northbound direction on Amsterdam Avenue. Several turns - west on 135th Street, north on Riverside Drive, and west on 145th Street - take the M11 to its end at Riverbank State Park. Passengers can transfer to the subway at 137th Street–City College.[6]

School Trippers

School trippers operate on weekdays from Booker T Washington School at 108th Street to either 34th Street or 66th Street. These trips are out of the Michael J. Quill Depot, and use Xcelsior buses as well as the Orion VII buses.

History

The Ninth Avenue Railroad was given a franchise in December 1853 to build from the Battery north to 51st Street and beyond to the Harlem River via Greenwich Street, Ninth Avenue, Broadway, and Amsterdam Avenue, and to return via Gansevoort Street and Washington Street instead of Greenwich Street. By 1854, the company had laid tracks from Canal Street north to 54th Street, but, due to legal complications on the route south of Canal Street, it could not complete and open the line. The city passed a resolution on July 2, 1859, allowing the company to connect to the Hudson River Railroad's tracks in Canal Street, and run over any part of the lines of the Hudson River Railroad, Sixth Avenue Railroad, and Eighth Avenue Railroad in and below Canal Street.[1][7] The line opened in late July 1859,[8][9] using the shared trackage of the Sixth and Eighth Avenue Railroads from Broadway and Barclay Street along Barclay Street, Church Street (northbound only), Chambers Street (northbound only), and West Broadway to Canal Street.[10]

The line was later extended south along Washington and Greenwich Streets and east on Fulton Street to Broadway, and north from 54th Street to 59th Street. The beginning of a lengthy extension to the north opened on March 9, 1884, along Ninth Avenue, Columbus Avenue, Broadway, and Amsterdam Avenue from 59th Street to 74th Street. It was extended further to 110th Street on April 26, 1884,[11] later to LaSalle Street,[12] and finally to the Fort Lee Ferry via LaSalle Street, Broadway, and 130th Street.

The Houston, West Street and Pavonia Ferry Railroad leased the Ninth Avenue Railroad on March 12, 1892, and on December 12, 1893 the HWS&PF was merged into the Metropolitan Street Railway.[7] Under the Metropolitan, the south end was changed to the Christopher Street Ferry, using the trackage of the Christopher and Tenth Street Railroad on Christopher Street. The Metropolitan also introduced the Ninth and Columbus Avenues Line, a combination of the Ninth Avenue Line (from the Cortlandt Street Ferry) with the Columbus Avenue Line, a former cable railway line, as well as the Sixth and Amsterdam Avenues Line, an extension of the Sixth Avenue Line west on 59th Street and north along the Ninth and Amsterdam Avenues Line. The Sixth Avenue cars, but not those from Ninth Avenue, were extended north on Amsterdam Avenue to Fort George, along the Third Avenue Railroad's Third and Amsterdam Avenues Line, after the Metropolitan leased the Third Avenue in 1900.

In 1908, the Third Avenue was released from the bankrupt Metropolitan. The Metropolitan introduced the Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue Line on February 17, 1908,[13][14] connecting the Broadway Line to the Ninth and Amsterdam Avenues Line via 53rd Street.[15] The Ninth and Columbus Avenues Line was later discontinued, and all Ninth Avenue cars, then beginning at both the Cortlandt Street and Christopher Street Ferries, were truncated to the intersection with 53rd Street, where passengers could transfer to the Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue Line, Sixth and Amsterdam Avenues Line, and Broadway and Columbus Avenue Line.

In 1919, the Ninth Avenue Railroad was separated from the bankrupt New York Railways, which had replaced the Metropolitan, and the Ninth Avenue and Amsterdam Avenue tracks were again linked by a single line, only shared with New York Railways cars (of the Broadway and Columbus Avenue Line) between 53rd Street and Broadway. The Ninth Avenue Railroad merged with the also-separated Eighth Avenue Railroad in December 1926 to form the Eighth and Ninth Avenues Railway.[16]

Bus service

Buses were substituted for streetcars by the Eighth Avenue Coach Corporation, a New York Railways subsidiary,[17] on November 12, 1935,[2][18][19] and assigned the number M42.[20] It was subsequently labeled 11 by the New York City Omnibus Corporation when it gained control in 1936.[21][22]

When Ninth and Tenth Avenues became one-way streets on November 6, 1948,[3] traffic was split between 14th Street and 110th Street, with southbound traffic moving to Tenth Avenue south of Broadway, and northbound traffic moving to Columbus Avenue north of Broadway. The New York City Omnibus Corporation directly took over operations in 1951, and in 1956 it was renamed Fifth Avenue Coach Lines; the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority, now a wholly owned subsidiary of the MTA's New York City Transit Authority, replaced it in 1962.

In its first 30 years in bus service, the 11's northern terminus was at La Salle Street and Broadway. On June 20, 1965, it was extended to 132nd Street and Broadway.[23] On June 26, 1994, the route was extended along 135th Street and Riverside Drive to Riverbank State Park during park hours–7 a.m. to 11 p.m.[24] During other times, the route terminated at its previous terminal at 132nd Street and Broadway. This extension added service along Riverside Drive between West 135th Street and West 145th Street, and provided access to the park from the south. The M11's previous terminal required a U-turn on Broadway, and the extension removed the safety hazard. After six-months, ridership on the extension was lower than expected, and the route extension was to be reevaluated after summer 1995.[25]

References

1. Common Council resolutions relating to the Ninth Avenue Railroad, reproduced in A Compilation of the Ferry Leases and Railroad Grants Made by the Corporation of the City of New York, 1860, pages 309 to 316
2. New York Times, Last Trolley Cars Clang on Eighth Avenue, November 13, 1935, page 23
3. New York Times, 1-Way Traffic Today on 9th, 10th Avenues, November 6, 1948
4. Google (May 8, 2017). "M11" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved May 8, 2017.
5. "Facts and Figures". mta.info. August 28, 2011. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
6. M11 Bus Schedule
7. Harry James Carman, The Street Surface Railway Franchises of New York City, pages 72 to 77
8. New York Times, Opening of the Ninth-avenue Railroad, July 23, 1859, page 1
9. Gustavus Myers, History of Public Franchises in New York City, 1974, page 124
10. New York Times, Our City Railroads, December 26, 1865, page 8
11. D. Appleton & Co, Appleton's Dictionary of Greater New York and Its Neighborhood, 1884, page 215
12. New York Times, Tracks on the Boulevard, May 9, 1893, page 6
13. New York Times, New Broadway Lines Puzzle Passengers, February 18, 1908, page 3
14. New York Times, Getting Used to New Cars, February 19, 1908, page 3
15. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac, 1916
16. New York Times, Transit Companies Merge, December 24, 1926
17. New York Times, Bus Grants Asked on 8th and 9th Avs., February 7, 1935, page 3
18. New York Times, Eighth Av. Buses to Run on Tuesday, November 7, 1935, page 25
19. New York Times, 8th Av. Buses Bring New Traffic Rules, November 12, 1935, page 21
20. New York Times, Bus Line Sues City on One-Way Order, March 29, 1938, page 23
21. New York Times, 5 Bus Franchises are Under Inquiry, January 4, 1934, page 1
22. New York Times, Buses to Run Soon on 8th and 9th Avs., October 5, 1935, page 17
23. Linder, Bernard. "Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority: The First Ten Years." Motor Coach Age, May 1972.
24. "Good thing the M11 bus now goes to Riverbank State Park". New York Daily News. June 24, 1994. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
25. • NYC Transit Committee Agenda February 1995. New York City Transit. February 15, 1995. pp. D.55.
    • NYC Transit Committee Agenda February 1995. New York City Transit. February 15, 1995. pp. D.56.
    • NYC Transit Committee Agenda February 1995. New York City Transit. February 15, 1995. pp. D.57.
    • NYC Transit Committee Agenda February 1995. New York City Transit. February 15, 1995. pp. D.58.
    • NYC Transit Committee Agenda February 1995. New York City Transit. February 15, 1995. pp. D.61.