Council Members Brad Lander, Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon and Councilman Steve Levin
Back in 2010, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (M.T.A.) cut service to several local bus lines and eliminated the B71 bus completely. The B71 ran along Union Street and connected Carroll Gardens to the Park Slope neighborhood and its public institutions like Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Museum, the Children's Museum and the main Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza.
The route was popular with older citizens, young families and area school children. To this day, its services are great missed.
In the seven years that have passed, our local politicians have held rallies several times to push the M.T.A. to re-instate the bus route. This morning, Council Members Brad Lander, Steve Levin and Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon once again gathered with constituents for a "Bring Back The B71 Bus" rally.
This time around, our politicians are pushing for an extended route that would pass through Red Hook and end in Manhattan.
According to a press release, the new B71+ route would:
● Connect seniors, students, families, NYCHA residents, and people with disabilities to schools, stores, and Brooklyn’s cultural institutions: Nine schools, three senior centers, multiple public housing developments, and Brooklyn’s best cultural institutions (Brooklyn Museum, BPL Central Branch, Prospect Park, Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, and the Brooklyn Children’s Museum) would be served by this new route. That means better access and increased mobility for residents of Red Hook, Columbia Waterfront, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, and Crown Heights.
● Provide a new connection through Red Hook to Lower Manhattan: Red Hook is not served by any subway stop, and only by two local Brooklyn bus routes. A direct connection between Red Hook and Manhattan would make 90,000 more jobs accessible for Red Hook commuters within a one-hour transit zone. And everyone along the route would gain a convenient new commuting route to Lower Manhattan.
● Serve a growing population: Since the elimination of the B71, population around the route has grown by more than 10% -- much more than the increase for NYC or Brooklyn overall -- but no new transit capacity has been added. The potential rezoning of Gowanus would mean even more demand.
The plan also has the support of Congresswoman Velazquez, Council Member Laurie Cumbo, Council Members Menchaca, and community partners like the Eileen Dugan Senior Center, Gowanus Alliance, TWU Local 100, Transportation Alternatives, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, the Fifth Avenue Committee, Gowanus Alliance, Park Slope Civic Council, Red Hook Initiative and many.
Why our elected officials think that there may be a chance now to re-instate the bus route after falling on deaf ears with the M.T.A. for the past seven years, is unclear. The main push for this latest effort may have a lot to do with the proposed re-zoning of the Gowanus Corridor. One of the big concerns voiced by the community during New York City Planning Department's Gowanus Neighborhood Planning Study 'listening tour" was that the local subway stations were already overcrowded. Many felt that more residents in Gowanus would make a bad situation worse.
Since this proposed B 71 + route would go all the way to Manhattan, it would certainly accommodate some of the new residents in Gowanus.
Remember that our politicians holding another "Bring Back The B 71 Bus" rally and posing for a photo op is NOT the same as getting the bus back. We need to make sure that they continue to fight for it to make it happen.
To add your name to the petition, please click here.
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13 comments:
Why are these rallies held during business hours? Are the retired, independently wealthy, and otherwise unemployed the best people to be representing our democracy?
Instead of the going up 3rd to Smith the new route has the B71 turning on Bond and then up Sackett. I suspect this is in anticipation of the future luxury development. Too bad for Sackett Street residents. I will not be signing at this moment.
I live on Union street and have been enjoying the peace and quiet since the bus route ended. The corner stop at smith was a pile of litter. Combined with the filth from Kittery and the loud honking from cars because a bus can't get by a truck or anything else double parked. The hiss and groan of the brakes. All day. All night. I'm sorry. No bus for me. And I agree, why the Bond Street loop? With city bike and anything else. These are tight turns. Vote NO neighbors: on the B71.
Once again Councilman Lander moves forward in the most antu-community manor, presenting a completed planned route without community input, the man who asjs us to vote on small imoact community projects leaves democracy far behind when it comes to actions and plans that have meaningful impacts on lacal communities.
I don't think a community driven bus route plan would be this one we ate being asked ti support.
The bus stop used to be next to the empty lot across from Kittery on the other side of Smith then sometime it was moved to the other side in front of a fire hydrant a pile of restaurant garbage which smells all summer long and a brownstone where people live. Screeching breaks. Cars honk. On the opposite side at lesser children only have to cross president to get to the stop from Carroll school. And cars can pass easier. No double parked UPS trucks and delivery vans. I'm very opposed to this bus anyway but if the mommies want it they probably will get it.
WOW!!!
All this complaining for a bus route that has been defunct for seven years and there is no plan at present to restore the service!
I live on Union Street as well...
(1) The Kittery's trash smells bad. I walk by every morning. The bus isn't going to impact the smelly trash. I've mentioned it to the owner, and they do hose it down frequently. So they are trying.
(2) As far as noise of the bus on Union Street... Really??? Are you joking? You're worried about the marginal impact of a few busses? Union Street has become a mess of honking cars and vehicles. Just stand at the corner of Hoyt and Union and watch a large truck try to turn right onto Hoyt. Not enough room...and the block turns into a tirade of honking horns. Traffic has gotten alot worse. Blame devolpment in Gowanus or the weird traffic patterns caused by the Barclays Center. The B71 going up Union Street 2 times per hour between 7 am and 10 pm is NOT the problem.
(3) The Route: Think about what you are saying. A revised bus route to aid developers? Are you serious? You seem to way overthinking this!
Does anyone miss the ease of taking the bus from Carroll Gardens to the Brooklyn Museum and the Botanic Garden and the Main Library. It was so easy to do. Now its a psychodrama to take 4 subway lines with multile flights of steps and it takes an hour. So your choice is a cab or walk.
I support the restoration of the B71 service. If the MTA agrees, we can hash out the details. But right now its just a pipe dream
And, while I can fault Brad Lander for many thing and I often don't agree with him. On this issue, getting the bus service restored, he is spot on.
Thank you.
We all miss the ease of taking a bus to the park or the BBG. If this were about restoring the B71 there wouldn't be much concern because we all know Brooklyn-to-Brooklyn neighborhood transportation is dismal.
But this is unnecessarily about adding more routes into Manhattan. Red Hook buses now make connection s to subways, and all our subways already run to Manhattan (except the G).
Bring back the B71 and leave the new routing out of this.
We all miss the ease of taking a bus to the park or the BBG. If this were about restoring the B71 there wouldn't be much concern because we all know Brooklyn-to-Brooklyn neighborhood transportation is dismal.
But this is unnecessarily about adding more routes into Manhattan. Red Hook buses now make connection s to subways, and all our subways already run to Manhattan (except the G).
Bring back the B71 and leave the new routing out of this.
Thanks, Katia, for hitting the nail on the head. Efforts to revive this bus, which as you note has been dead for seven years, have come and gone every now and then. There is nothing here that makes one think that the NYC Transit is about to reconsider reviving this route.
Adding a link to Lower Manhattan is a nice idea, but makes it even more expensive to operate (longer route means more buses and more staff to operate).
Of course the route provided a convenient link between Carroll Gardens and Park Slope and the Cultural Institutions, but with service only once every 30 mins or so, it was far from attractive or reliable. This seems like another effort to curry favor with constituents, with no real plan on how to achieve the goal. I am sure the MTA is waiting to act based on a pile of signatures.
bored-at-work may be on to something--this petition may be about Lander's building his email list for his eminent run for mayor after the current mayor times out of the job.
No doubt. The timing works out oh so well for Brad, since he gets a third term as councilman, which brings him right to the end of DeBlasio's second term as mayor.
The bus. The traffic. Yes. The noise. Get real. And litter. I live closer to the stop than you do. Kittery does nothing. Rats? Now that's "spot on".
Yes to the bus! I'm too old for citibikes.
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