UES Bus Stop Displaced By Development Needs A Shelter, Menin Says

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A busy Upper East Side bus stop that got booted across the street by an upcoming construction project is in dire need of a shelter, a local lawmaker told the city.

For years, the crosstown M79-Select Bus Service route has had a westbound stop on the northeast corner of First Avenue and East 79th Street — serving a decent fraction of the line's 12,000 daily riders on a typical pre-pandemic weekday.

But the developer Extell recently kicked off construction on a new 30-story medical tower being built on that block — forcing the city to relocate the M79 bus across First Avenue, and push an uptown M15-SBS stop a block north to East 80th Street.

While the new M15 stop is protected by a sidewalk shed, the temporary M79 stop sits out in the open — leaving passengers exposed to the elements while they wait.

"This is an issue that given the community’s large senior population needs to be rectified," Councilmember Julie Menin said in a letter to the Department of Transportation last week.

"Many constituents" have reached out to complain about the new stop, which will remain in place until construction on the tower wraps up in 2025, Menin noted.

This summer's extreme heat only underlines the need to build a bus shelter on the corner, she argued.

Menin's office shared one recent complaint from a resident who said that the ticket machines serving the M79 line were not moved across the street for a full week after the stop itself was relocated. Signs announcing the stop's move, which were posted in the neighborhood around two months ago, vanished just before the actual relocation — causing some confused commuters to continue waiting at the now-defunct stop.

"The M79 needs a bus shelter," the resident wrote. "This is a community with a large senior population and it is unthinkable how inconsiderate the DOT has been with their actions."

The Department of Transportation has not returned Patch's request for comment, though an agency representative told Menin's office that the request had been forwarded for further review.

Related coverage: Medical Tower To Be Built On Long-Empty Upper East Side Block