WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — When Niki Kramer started working at an Upper East Side Pilates studio two years ago, she thought she’d found the perfect way to commute from her home in Washington Heights.
But after more than a year and a half of waiting for buses on the M98 route that arrived 20 to 30 minutes late — or never at all — she gave up on the idea.
“You cannot count on that bus whatsoever,” said Kramer, 40, who now takes the A train to 125th Street, where she switches to a local train before hopping a crosstown bus to reach the studio.
“[The M98] is obviously a much more effective route for me, but I just can’t count on it.”
The M98 — a weekday-only bus that makes pickups along Fort Washington Avenue and on West 178th Street, and then travels down the Harlem River Drive before exiting onto Park Avenue at East 135th Street — is one of the few transit options offering a direct route between Washington Heights and Manhattan's East Side.
Kramer joined a chorus of Uptown residents who complained of long waits and scheduled buses that never appear, creating standing-room-only crowds.
“They’re not on schedule, ever,” said Ana Urena, 53, a housekeeper who takes the bus to work three days a week. “Recently we were waiting for about one hour and 45 minutes, and no one showed.”
Diane Schneck, who commutes from Washington Heights to her job at an East Harlem senior center, said that it’s not uncommon for her scheduled 8 a.m. bus to come 20 to 25 minutes late.
“Then it’s like, you’re really going to be late,” said Schneck, who is in her 50s. “I got in today around 9:20. I’m lucky because I don’t have to punch a time clock.”
Lynne Goretzka, 58, said the bus route worked very well until the MTA made changes to it in 2010 and 2011.
Initially, the agency changed the ending point of the route from 34th Street to 68th Street, forcing commuters heading to Midtown East’s business district to switch to other buses or the subway. In 2011, the MTA reduced service on the route, increasing the time between scheduled buses by about two minutes.
“It's been complete pandemonium ever since,” said Goretzka, who has been taking the M98 for about 15 years.
She estimated that it used to take her about 50 minutes to get from Washington Heights to her job on East 55th Street riding the M98. Now, it can take 90 minutes or more, she said.
“Using today as an example, I arrived at my bus stop at 7:30 a.m. The next bus did not show up until 7:57 a.m. There should have been a bus at 7:37 a.m. and 7:47 a.m.,” Goretzka said. “The 7:57 a.m. bus is then packed to the rafters.”
Goretzka said she has written to and called the MTA several times to notify the agency of the problems, but has never gotten a response.
When the MTA decreased service on the line, the agency said the change was based on rider demand rather than budgetary concerns.
MTA data shows that average daily ridership on the M98 decreased by nearly 3 percent from 2008 to 2013, the last year for which data is available. In 2013, about 2,000 people daily took the bus, which only runs during peak commuting hours on weekdays.
However, M98 riders don’t feel the numbers reflect true demand in the neighborhood.
“I think that people lost patience with them not showing up and stopped taking it,” Kramer said.
Real estate experts agree that commuter demand in the area is growing and will probably continue to do so as more and more people move to the area from Downtown neighborhoods.
In 2014, Northern Manhattan saw a 24.5 percent increase in new rentals over the previous year, while other Manhattan neighborhoods stayed stable or decreased, according to Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers.
“We’re now seeing an expansion of commuting times because high prices in the central areas are pushing people out, not just in Manhattan but in Brooklyn and Queens,” Miler said. “It’s that search for affordability.”
The route was restructured to reduce service duplication below 68th Street, where there are plenty of other transit options, a spokeswoman for the MTA said.
In addition, she noted that outside factors complicate travel on the M98.
“The longer a bus route, the more likely service will be affected by road conditions such as traffic,” the spokeswoman said.
In response to DNAinfo's inquiries, Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who is chairman of the Council's transportation committee, said he is pushing for better service on the route.
He sent a letter to the MTA advocating for the route to be returned to 34th Street and for service to be returned to its original level, said a spokesman from the councilman’s office.
"The lack of subway access to the East side causes those in our community to depend on the M98 to commute to work," the letter said. "We owe these hardworking New Yorkers a quality of service that allows them a respite from their stressful days rather than continued frustration and stress."
In the meantime, some commuters are stuck with the M89 as their only option.
“They are always late,” said Dragisa Milosevic, who has taken the bus every weekday for the past decade to get to his job on the Upper East Side.
“It’s terrible; the worst bus I ever used.”
