The MTA rolled out Select Bus Service on the M14 bus in Manhattan on Monday in an effort to speed up travel on 14th Street.

WHERE DOES THE BUS RUN?

The M14 A and D SBS buses run east-west along 14th Street, and north-south in the East Village along Avenue A and Avenue D.

• See the full list of the M14 bus stops

PAY FIRST

Select Bus Service riders are required to pay their fare at a machine before boarding and bring their receipt on board. Commuters are allowed to board at any door of the bus.

MORE THAN A DOZEN STOPS REMOVED

The MTA rolled out the M14 to speed up service along the line, and it removed more than a dozen stops. The transit agency had decided to remove local stops in order to introduce speedier crosstown bus service on 14th Street to help travelers during the "L" train slowdown. The agency has cut back evening and weekend service on the L subway line for tunnel repairs. The L runs beneath 14th Street in Manhattan.

• Your Very Own L Train Survival Guide

The MTA says the bus stops are now 675 feet apart on the Lower East Side. Officials say the Select Bus Service route will cut travel times. Transit officials hope it will reverse a decline in ridership on the line by one-third since 2007.

A 'BUSWAY' FIGHT

The city's original plan also included restricting 14th Street to buses and trucks only between Third and Ninth avenues. Several community groups filed a lawsuit, saying the plan was made in anticipation of the previously scheduled L train shutdown, and is now unnecessary. A judge issued a temporary injunction on the plan last week, siding with residents who feared more traffic on side streets.

"It might inconvenience a small number of wealthy homeowners. And they get their lawyers, they get their publicists, and they block it," Thomas DeVito, the senior director of advocacy for Transportation Alternatives, said at a rally Monday denouncing the lawsuit. "We are going to fight and we are going to make sure 14th Street works for transit riders."

That's not how Judy Pesin sees it. She lives on 13th Street and belongs to the community groups that sued over the car ban.

"I'm a transit advocate. I take the subway, I have a bicycle, I take the bus," Pesin said. "I don't like congestion either, but I certainly don't want it on a narrow street."

Pesin uses her phone to document the traffic clogging her street. She wants the car ban limited to rush hours at first.

"Does it have to go from 0 to 60? Do they have to ban vehicles for such draconian hours?" she said. "Start with things that are justified."

Riders of the M14 bus welcomed the Select Service along the often-congested street, and said it's worth trying the "busway."

"That's better for me because then the buses are a lot more reliable," one commuter said. "Delays were really common, the buses were always packed, especially on my way home from school."

The city transportation department will have another chance to make its case for the 14th Street "busway" when it is back in court August 6.