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Megabus Hub Moving to Far West Side

By Mathew Katz | July 19, 2012 11:07am

HELL'S KITCHEN — Megabus is being moved from its Port Authority bus stop.

After months of complaints that the discount carrier was being allowed to pick up customers for free on 41st Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, the company is being shunted to Manhattan's far west side.

The Department of Transportation told the service it must move by the end of this month, Megabus said in a statement.

As of Aug. 1, buses will pick up fares on the south side of West 34th Street, between 11th and 12th Avenues.

The new hub is in a location that Community Board 4 has asked for for months. In frequent letters to the city's Department of Transportation, the board pointed out that the spot near the Javits Center is far enough west that it would not conflict with any residential properties.

Megabus previously rejected the location as too remote earlier this year, but ran into trouble operating at the Port Authority stop on West 41st Street, where it was allowed to pick up free of charge.

Several rival bus companies brought a lawsuit against the DOT claiming that Megabus had an unfair competitive advantage at the location, getting most of the perks of being near the city's bus terminal without having to pay millions in fees usually associated with the location.

That lawsuit was eventually thrown out of court, but intense lobbying from the neighborhood — not to mention a long list of safety concerns from the Port Authority itself — prompted the DOT to kick the discount bus carrier out of the spot by the end of the month.

Megabus' arrivals hub will still be in the middle of the city — it will continue to send incoming buses to the corner of Seventh Avenue and West 28th Street.