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87-Year-Old Woman Hit By Cab Near Port Authority Megabus Stop

By Mathew Katz | July 16, 2012 2:18pm
Passengers load onto a bus at the new Megabus hub at Port Authority Bus Terminal on Feb 16, 2012.
Passengers load onto a bus at the new Megabus hub at Port Authority Bus Terminal on Feb 16, 2012.
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DNAinfo/Mathew Katz

HELL'S KITCHEN — An 87-year-old woman was struck by a cab near a controversial Megabus stop at the Port Authority Bus Terminal on Sunday afternoon, officials said.

According to the Fire Department, the woman was crossing in the middle of the block on West 41st Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues from the north side to the south side of the street when she was hit.

According to a Port Authority spokesman, the woman had a hearing impairment and did not hear the approaching vehicle. A Megabus vehicle was parked at its hub on the south side at the time of the crash, but Port Authority police said they could not tell if the woman was heading to the hub. She was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where she was being held in stable condition, FDNY said.

The incident shut down the block for part of the afternoon, officials said.

The NYPD referred calls to the Port Authority Police. A Port Authority spokesman did not immediately have information on whether the cab driver was charged. The woman's identity was not released.

George Lence, a spokesman for Megabus, said that the incident had nothing to do with the discount carrier. He declined to say whether the woman had purchased a ticket to the bus carrier.

The controversial Megabus stop is set to move from the Port Authority location at the end of the month, after repeated complaints by the Port Authority about pedestrian safety at the hub.

In a May letter to the Department of Transportation, the agency's director, Pay Foye, wrote specifically about concerns about passengers accessing the location by crossing West 41st Street in the middle of the block.

“Running a major long-haul bus operation on a city street outside one of the world’s busiest bus facilities is unsafe, risky and simply not smart,” said Port Authority Executive Director Pat Foye.

Megabus' rocky tenure at the hub started in January, to the dismay of residents concerned about traffic, competitors, who said the free stop gave the carrier an unfair advantage, and to the dismay of the Port Authority itself.

The Department of Transportation, which placed the discount carrier in the corridor near the Port Authority overhang, despite community outcry, ceded to complaints and agreed to move the bus operator out of the spot after July 31.

Megabus' new location has not yet been announced.