There's an important distinction to be made here -- in Manhattan, in general, there are crosstown buses and buses which go uptown or downtown. And there are 2 kinds of 'block' in Manhattan, 'long blocks' are crosstown (east/west) and 'short blocks' which are north/south. Long blocks are irregular depending on where you are, and are typically much longer than short blocks ~3x.
Most uptown and downtown buses offer limited and local service, with limited making far fewer stops. Most crosstown buses stop at every block.
One more confounding factor is that about decade ago, the city replaced many crosstown buses with fewer but much larger articulated buses without realizing that the behavior of fewer larger buses is to make the average ride slower because of the time spent receiving passengers. To address that they created a new system for paying on certain buses involving buying a ticket before you board. But that is resulting in skyrocketing levels of fare evasion. Unintended consequences.
The M14 is a special case right now because of limited service on the L train (which runs under 14th street) due to necessary repairs. The M14 is getting swamped with excess people who normally would prefer the subway.
It's true that the M14 is special right now because it's currently serving riders of the L train, but the proposal to eliminate stops is part of the citywide Bus Action Plan that is being rolled out progressively by borough. Staten Island already redesigned its bus system, and IIRC the Bronx is next.
Would be 3 blocks? Or is a block only delineated by a road, but not a pavement? Or something else?
Can you have "blocks" with a lot of detached houses, I would guess that yes you can? So that makes me think its blocks of possibly many buildings between roads?
A block (which, as you've pointed out is an ephemeral phrase), in NYC at least, is the space along a road from intersection to intersection. It thus usually doesn't count gaps between buildings or alleys or the like. Many of the long (east/west) blocks in Manhattan, for example, have pedestrian pass-throughs in the middle, but that doesn't count as a split in the block.
Etymology note: The word 'blockbuster' was coined by the press to describe the largest conventional bombs used by the RAF in WWII, because they could destroy a city block.
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There's an important distinction to be made here -- in Manhattan, in general, there are crosstown buses and buses which go uptown or downtown. And there are 2 kinds of 'block' in Manhattan, 'long blocks' are crosstown (east/west) and 'short blocks' which are north/south. Long blocks are irregular depending on where you are, and are typically much longer than short blocks ~3x.
Most uptown and downtown buses offer limited and local service, with limited making far fewer stops. Most crosstown buses stop at every block.
One more confounding factor is that about decade ago, the city replaced many crosstown buses with fewer but much larger articulated buses without realizing that the behavior of fewer larger buses is to make the average ride slower because of the time spent receiving passengers. To address that they created a new system for paying on certain buses involving buying a ticket before you board. But that is resulting in skyrocketing levels of fare evasion. Unintended consequences.
The M14 is a special case right now because of limited service on the L train (which runs under 14th street) due to necessary repairs. The M14 is getting swamped with excess people who normally would prefer the subway.
It's true that the M14 is special right now because it's currently serving riders of the L train, but the proposal to eliminate stops is part of the citywide Bus Action Plan that is being rolled out progressively by borough. Staten Island already redesigned its bus system, and IIRC the Bronx is next.
Stupid question, probably. But I'm not American.
Is a "block" just a continuous building with no gaps for a road or pavement?
i.e.
Would be 3 blocks? Or is a block only delineated by a road, but not a pavement? Or something else?Can you have "blocks" with a lot of detached houses, I would guess that yes you can? So that makes me think its blocks of possibly many buildings between roads?
A block (which, as you've pointed out is an ephemeral phrase), in NYC at least, is the space along a road from intersection to intersection. It thus usually doesn't count gaps between buildings or alleys or the like. Many of the long (east/west) blocks in Manhattan, for example, have pedestrian pass-throughs in the middle, but that doesn't count as a split in the block.
In American English, blocks are deliminated by roads and mostly used in dense urban environments, often where the blocks are rectangular.
Etymology note: The word 'blockbuster' was coined by the press to describe the largest conventional bombs used by the RAF in WWII, because they could destroy a city block.
Wikipedia has a great explanation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_block