UPPER EAST SIDE — The city has allowed Hampton Jitney to turn a temporary stop at East 86th Street into a permanent one despite community concerns of overwhelming congestion on the busy sidewalk.
The bus company announced plans this week to add two permanent pickup stops on the Upper East Side and to turn a stop on Lexington Avenue near East 86th Street into a permanent one after telling residents it would be temporary.
"We're not sure retaining the stop at East 86th Street is in the best interest of the community," said Scott Falk, co-chairman of Community Board 8's transportation committee. "I don't think it's an ideal outcome and I don't think anything could work [at that location]."
When Jitney met with CB8 this summer, the transportation committee did not have a chance to discuss the Lexington Avenue stop — located between 85th and 86th streets outside of a Hot & Crusty — as a permanent one because it wasn't presented as such, Falk said.
In addition to the stop being near a heavily trafficked subway station, the corner is home to a cluster of big box stores including H&M, Best Buy and Sephora. Residents and business owners alike have said they've been impacted by the crowds of travelers waiting with their suitcases and clogging up the street.
In response to the complaints, the DOT assured members of the board at the time that the move would be temporary, and that it would work with the community to find a permanent location.
The new changes are expected to take affect on Thursday, according to Jitney.
Jitney's president Geoff Lynch defended its decision to keep the stop, saying the addition of two new stops would help ease overcrowding on Lexington Avenue. Jitney still has the DOT's authorization for that stop, and it's not "giving that up," Lynch said.
"We're hoping this is a way to alleviate the problem," he said. "We have the off-season now to try this out."
The temporary stop was created after DOT banned left turns onto Lexington Avenue from 86th Street in April 2015, which made it difficult for the Jitney buses to get from their former spot on East 86th Street to Lexington Avenue to finish its pickup route, Lynch said.
The Jitney requested a temporary stop on Lexington Avenue so its buses would have a straight shot down the street, rather than weaving across the Upper East Side to pick up its passengers.
After this story was published, a DOT spokesman reached out to DNAinfo saying the 86th Street stop was not authorized and that the proposal to turn it into a permanent one is currently under review.
Hampton Jitney's authorization for the temporary stop expired on Sept. 30, 2015, according to the spokesman.
"NYC DOT, community boards 8 and 11, and the Hampton Jitney bus company reviewed together the proposed sites on 96th Street and Third Avenue, and 77th Street and Lexington Avenue in the Upper East Side," he said in a statement. "DOT concluded that these sites meet our criteria for bus stops. Upon receiving letters of support from the Community Boards, we issued permits for the two bus stops for passengers pick up. Currently, the proposed bus stop on 86th Street is under review due to community concerns."
