Do you take the B25 bus to Dumbo or East New York? How about the B51 from Brooklyn to Chinatown? Or the B37 in Bay Ridge?According to the Brooklyn Eagle, if the proposed mass transit cuts go into effect this spring, service on the B23, B25, B37, B39, B51 and B75 buses will be eliminated.
Other Brooklyn service changes include ending weekend service on the X27 and X28 express bus routes, and more cutbacks on the B2, B4, B7, B16, B24, B48, B57, B65, B69, B71 and B75.
Says the Eagle, " . . . Neighborhood protest rallies, petitions and letter-writing drives, plus pressure by City Council members, have ballooned from Williamsburg and DUMBO to Bay Ridge and East New York."
On Wednesday, Jan. 28, bus and subway riders will get a chance to voice their views at the MTA’s Brooklyn public hearing from 6 to 9 p.m. at the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge.
More here.
Shown above: The B25 is the only bus serving Dumbo. (More on this at DumboNYC.)
Photo by MK Metz
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Hi,
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing about this. I spoke at the Manhattan hearing on Wednesday night. I thought it might be good for the board to hear from a Brooklyner while they had their Manhattan ears on. Brooklyn and Queens are getting a really unfair amount of cuts, particularly the southwestern slope, south Gowanus, Sunset Park, Bay Ridge. Other than the extreme bus cuts (along with the ones you mention a few others are B75 and B69 cut completely, B71 ending weekend service, plus many more) they are proposing eliminating the N express and the M out to Brooklyn during rush hour.
I was one of two people who spoke out for Brooklyn in the Manhattan hearings. There were extremely organized groups there for the M8 and the M10, with multiple speakers and many people in the audience holding signs.
To some degree the MTA board is using the public outcry to get more money from the state, but there will be cuts. I think those two M bus lines will likely be saved because their riders were so organized and vocal. If anyone is reading this, please sign up for the Jan 28th public hearing on line, or by phone (you can find the page through MTA.org), write a focussed speech defending your bus routes or subway lines (it's hard to stay focussed, since all of them are essential, and the fare raises also a huge problem)that lasts three minutes, and present it. Or at least come to hold a sign and cheer other speakers. It's a huge, huge pain in the ass, and it will make you feel nihilistic and depressed (or it did me) but I do think if the board gets a sense of huge community outcry for particular routes, that will reoccur to them as they finalize their cuts.
It's unfair Manhattan gets the lions share of public transit, but they also use it way more than car addicted Brooklynites, so I can't resent them that much. The way they got organized was great.