The Metropolitan Transit Authority is going ahead with its plan, put forth back in January, to eliminate the B75 and the B 71 bus lines, because of the agency's mounting budget woes. The idea had been floated by the M.T.A. numerous times in the past, but at the last minute, the money was always found to save the service. Not this time.
Both the 71 and the 75 will be eliminated on June 27. The B75 will be replaced by both the B57 and the B61. Unfortunately, the B71, which connects Carroll Gardens to Park Slope and is the lifeline of many school-aged kids, the handicapped and the elderly, will be totally eliminated.
The service cuts were made despite strong opposition and demonstrations by our local elected officials and area residents. Public transportation is vital for our neighborhoods and makes sense ecologically. The inability of the MTA to manage its finances and to balance its budget so that it can provide the services that its ridership rely on, is pitiful.
Though it seems as tough the cuts are definite, there still is a petition out there to save the
the B71 Bus. If you wish to sign it, click here:
http://www.petitiononline.com/saveB71/petition.html
the B71 Bus. If you wish to sign it, click here:
http://www.petitiononline.com/
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4 comments:
MTA mismanagement may be part of the problem, but the primary reason that the agency is out of money, year after year, is because the state government takes it away, plain and simple. Albany simply removed hundreds of millions of dollars from the MTA budget, including money that had already been allocated to the agency.
Public transit needs public money in order to keep running and keep fares low. The MTA isn't getting it from our government. Too few New Yorkers seem to realize this. There would be more hope for a resolution if we identified the correct problem.
Some more info here (also recommend looking around this blog in general): http://www.streetsblog.org/2010/03/09/albany-didnt-cut-the-mta-budget-they-stole-from-it/
I don't know. I live in Union St. Yesterday afternoon at about 3PM I saw it go up towards Grand Army Plaza, empty. Are so many people gonna miss it.
http://whatyourdonotknowbecauseyouarenotme.blogspot.com/2010/05/doomsday-notsomuch.html
Yes, the many people who take the B71 when you're not looking will miss it. Children going to school in the mornings, elderly people going to their doctors' appointments throughout the day, mothers or nannies picking up children after school, people going shopping in Park Slope and beyond, etc., etc., etc. The bus line may not be mobbed throughout the day, but it's the only east-west bus line in the area between downtown and 9th Street. It's a vital link, and it's unconscionable of the MTA to completely eliminate it. It already runs only every 30 minutes, so is it really, really that great a savings to the MTA? In the larger scheme of things, I don't think so. The MTA is clueless and does not understand how people live in NYC. Save me MTA's the false sympathy when they say they know it's painful. No, they do not know how truly painful this is, and it's an insult to our intelligence for them to say such things. The B71 must be saved.
i like carroll gardens being a place that you have to figure out how to get to....
with the 'F' out of service, the B71 closed and the limited entry ways through the Gowanus, the neighborhood is an enclave. It's pretty cool. Sorry that there are people that are being inconvenienced though. Scooters, Bicycles & Motorcycles are a great way to get around!
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