LOWER EAST SIDE — It may take Fung Wah even longer to get back on the road.
The discount bus carrier agreed not to run until a nearby city safety improvement project is completed in the fall after a lengthy Wednesday night meeting raised questions about safety at the company's proposed bus stop at 139 Canal St.
Fung Wah picked up and dropped off passengers at the stop for years before the federal government shut it down in 2013.
It later got the green light to resume its daily trips between Boston and New York earlier this year. The company originally said it planned to be open by the spring, although a manager recently said it could happen as early as June.
Before it can operate in the city, however, Fung Wah must get a bus stop permit from the Department of Transportation. The process includes a visit to the local community board for public input.
Fung Wah and another operator, Lucky River Transportation Corp. — which planned to share the Canal Street stop — both came before the CB3’s Transportation and Public Safety Committee to discuss the proposed space, located near the off-ramp of the Manhattan Bridge.
Each operator planned to pick up and drop off passengers up to 20 times daily, according to documents posted on CB3’s website.
But some community board members grew concerned about the location’s safety after Lucky River’s attorney said it wanted more traffic and pedestrian safeguards, like signs telling drivers to slow down and a fence to prevent pedestrians from illegally crossing at a triangle-shaped island between the Bowery and Canal Street.
Information that the DOT also planned to make safety improvements in the Manhattan Bridge area this summer only raised more red flags for some committee members.
"I’m very concerned about approving 81 bus stops in a location that both DOT and one of the applicants have admitted is not safe now," said board member Chad Marlow. "I don’t want three or four people to get hit before it’s made safe."
DOT representative Colleen Chattergoon — who told the committee about the upcoming work — said she could not share details of the plan but added it would be announced next month.
Other committee members said the stop was not an issue. David Crane said the main issue was the illegal pedestrian crossing, which had been a problem for years. The stop, he argued, would not make it worse.
After a close vote, the committee decided to make the agreement to wait a part of their recommendation to the DOT to support the companies’ use of the bus stop. Community Board 3 will vote on the resolution during its full board meeting on April 28 at PS 20 Anna Silver School.
Fung Wah’s general manager Max Louie said he was disappointed by the decision.
"We’d like to start as soon as we can," he said. "Again our hands our tied, we have to abide by the laws that the DOT gives us."
But Lucky River — which currently stops at Chrystie Street — said it was pleased with the committee’s actions, even if it meant delaying its move to Canal Street.
The company would rather wait for the improvements than have the stop taken away because it is deemed unsafe, said Lucky River's attorney, Ka-Yung Wong. Safety, he said, is the company's biggest priority.
"We want to be there permanently so we want to be make sure that everything that can be done [safety-wise] will be done before we start operating," Wong said.
