STOP the DOT from Granting an Intercity Bus Permit to YEP Tour Inc.

We call upon Manhattan Community Board 3 and the New York City Department of Transportation to deny the intercity bus company, YEP Tour Inc., an intercity bus permit to operate at 2 Pike Street (former Yo Bus Stop).

To date, YEP Tour Inc. has operated egregiously, while flagrantly disregarding the law. Daily for the last 2 years, they have simultaneously operated 5 buses, illegally picking up and dropping off passengers and illegally parking in and around the intersection of Pike Street and East Broadway in Manhattan. YEP Tour Inc. has been fined thousands of dollars which they have not paid. They have regularly created a major commotion and nuisance for both local residents, business owners, and transient citizens.

Approval of an Intercity Bus Permit for YEP Tour Inc. would make it very clear that the DOT and our elected politicians do not represent the people for whom they have been hired and elected to serve. Further, it would make an unambiguous announcement to all other non-permitted intercity bus companies that if they create a massive presence, have zero regard for the highly residential community they operate within, while not paying their fines, then eventually, they too will get a permit.

Our community continues to bear the burden of a grossly unregulated transportation industry. Given….

• the lack of effective policies, procedures, and governance
• the inability to enforce existing stipulations
• the narrowness of Canal Street east of the Manhattan Bridge and the adjoining streets which lack the capacity to accommodate buses along with residential and business related traffic
• Manhattan’s Community Board 3 has previously denied YEP Tour Inc. a permit for 132 Madison Street due to regularly violating the bus stop permitting and designation laws,

….We, the SPaCE block association along with many others in our community, demand that the NYC Department of Transportation deny YEP Tour Inc. an Intercity Bus Permit.