The B12 route has been awarded the 2018 "Schleppie" by the Straphanger Campaign for its unreliable service
The B12 is the city's most unreliable bus route, according to The New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) and the Transit Center. The group's Straphangers Campaign annually "recognizes" poor bus service with the "Pokey" award for the slowest route and the "Schleppie" award for the most unreliable.
One out of five buses arrive bunched on the B12 route, which runs between East New York and Prospect Lefferts Gardens; it makes the route the well-deserving recipient of this year's "Schleppie," announced the NYPIRG. Bunching occurs when two or more buses arrive at a stop at the same time, meaning that they are not on schedule. The Straphanger Campaign decided that a level of bunching of greater than 15 percent, or one bus bunched out of seven, was not a minimum adequate level. Any route with more than 15 percent bunched was deemed an unacceptable level of service.
The B15, which connects Bedford Stuyvesant with JFK airport, is the runner-up in the "Schleppie" category, joined by six other Brooklyn busses who made this year's list of the 16 least reliable routes.
"New Yorkers know from bitter daily experience that service is often unpredictable and unreliable," said Jaqi Cohen, Straphangers Campaign coordinator. "New Yorkers want transit officials to put an end long waits and bus bunching. Buses can move faster, but that requires transit officials to act. Taking steps such as adding more dedicated bus lanes, expanding traffic signal priority for buses and permitting board at all doors can make a huge difference in overall bus speed and reliability."
The award for the slowest of New York City Transit's local bus routes went to Manhattan's M42, "clocking in at an excruciating 3.2 mph," the campaign found. The slowest running bus route in Brooklyn is the B63, which connects Fort Hamilton and Brooklyn Bridge Park, with an average travel speed of 4.7 mph.
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