The M9 Bus

The slowest bus service in Lower Manhatten. Do not take this bus if you’re trying to reach on time to your destination (unless you take it before 8:30am). It’s almost always overcrowded as well.
Please return this bus to its original route!

It’s generally on time, the bus drivers are friendly (they see me running across the street and wait… That’s impressive) and it covers a pretty long (though windy) route.

This bus has the most roundabout route in the history of Manhattan buses. I remember when it used to go from Battery Park City to Union Square. Then it had a face lift. Or bus lift, whatever, so sue me. Now it goes from City Hall to… the VA Hospital? Almost an entirely different route, but still passing through Alphabet City on a different avenue.
I only take it because I can catch it in Chinatown and it takes me right in front of my friend’s building in Peter Cooper. Takes about a half an hour, and a train and walking would just take even longer. So two stars for convenience, but stars deducted for the hoards of oblivious people that crowd it and the nonsensical route it takes.
You win some, you lose some.

In the most recent round of cuts, the M9 suffered the moving of the main portion of its route from Avenue B to Avenue C. (Why, MTA? Why?) It no longer goes on 14^th street, but has taken over most of the M21’s route and travels up to the VA hospital on 23^rd street before petering out.
The most important thing the M9 does – still does – is go to Chinatown. This is the favored bus of Chinese people going down to Chatham Square; usually at least half the people on it are Asian.
It also doesn’t go to Union Square park anymore, which is a major sore point for me. Interestingly, a couple of guys I know who were around in the 1960s have remarked that it was originally a Red and Tan bus that ran 24 hours; there was even a movie set in the 60s that shows Red and Tan buses going up and down Avenue B. (The name of the movie escapes me, however.) In my memory, the M9 has never run later than 10:30 PM.
Of course, I could rate this one lower than three stars, but I’m waiting for the next round of cuts before I do that.
[ETA: As of 2013, they did bring back service to South Ferry, and although the M9 has never run late, there’s weekend service.]