A revised draft plan for Brooklyn’s bus network redesign will be released before the end of the year. Rather than the service cuts proposed in the first draft, such as thinning out north-south routes in Bed-Stuy and reducing one-third of Flatbush Avenue bus service north of Grand Army Plaza, the MTA needs to fill the many service gaps where bus routes are spaced more than a half mile apart, and straighten routes to make service more direct.
Reducing Flatbush Avenue service and removing half the bus stops in the proposed Fast Bus Route Corridor makes no sense. The plan goes directly against the MTA’s own Existing Conditions Report stating Downtown Brooklyn is the fastest-growing part of the borough.
Instead of doing a traffic study after Phase 1 of the Flatbush Avenue Fast Bus Corridor is complete in order to see the effects on traffic and passenger trip times, New York City Department of Transportation has irresponsibly proposed extending the Fast Bus Corridor to entire Flatbush Avenue
Bus routes cut by the 2010 budget crisis, such as the B71 and B23, need to be restored by making them more useful to attract ridership. Instead, the MTA proposes to increase the east-west service gap in Cobble Hill and Boerum Hill by rerouting the B65 Bergen Street route to Atlantic Avenue west of Washington Avenue. The B67 and B69 also need to be returned to their former separate routes.
The proposed rerouting of the northern portion of the B49 will make transferring for some riders more difficult, rather than easier as I proposed on the Passengers.org website. The MTA needs to abandon its proposals to split the B103 and to cut the B46, which it is now calling a priority corridor, by creating a direct route from East New York to Sunnyside which no one asked for and is not needed.
Similarly, we do not need new bus lanes for Bay Parkway which will result in gridlock for other traffic just so the MTA can collect revenue from violators. Additional service along Bay Parkway with half the stops eliminated will not result in improved bus service. Nor do we need center boarding islands with parking eliminated on Utica Avenue. The bus lanes and Select Bus Service there, instituted in 2016, resulted in fewer paid fares and slower buses, which is why a progress report was never issued. Why should we believe any MTA promises this time?
Communities need to be seriously engaged during the next phase of community involvement, unlike after the first draft, which resulted in less than one percent of rider participation due to no publicity about meetings on buses and at bus shelters.
Brooklyn needs real service improvements, not service cuts, and elimination of a third of the bus stops which has not resulted in faster buses in Queens. Shifting service from one neighborhood to another such as moving JFK service from northern Brooklyn to central Brooklyn, does not constitute an improvement. Why can’t both bus routes go to JFK?
The MTA’s own Existing Conditions Report showed Brooklyn is growing. Therefore, we need to invest in the bus system by filling service gaps rather than merely shift service within the existing budget. The MTA needs to realize that how long your trip takes, which includes walking, waiting and transferring time is more important than how fast the bus travels.
