Elected officials, community leaders, and Brooklyn residents today flooded the MTA’s NYCT & Bus Committee Meeting to call upon the agency to revive the cross-Gowanus B71 bus with a new link through Red Hook to Lower Manhattan.
The group known as the B71+ Coalition also delivered over 2,500+ signed petitions in support of restoring the bus route. The signatures were collected within a month after a successful kick-off rally in early October. At the meeting, City Council Member Brad Lander (D-Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Kensington) and Assembly Member Jo Ann Simon (D-Downtown Brooklyn, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill both gave personal testimoney and a number of lawmakers chimed in with supportive statements.
“The B71, which was cut by the MTA in 2010, was a vital East-West connector that stretched from a transit-isolated community on the west side of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (Columbia Waterfront District) to the Brooklyn Children’s Museum in Crown Heights. Currently, there is more than a mile between the nearest eastbound buses, the B61 and B65 (and .9 miles westbound), a large gap that could be filled by restoring service to Union Street. Meanwhile, nearby residents of Red Hook remain in a transit desert, despite physical proximity to Manhattan,” said Lander in his testimony.
Lander said to address these problems, riders are now calling for a new B71+ route that would extend into Red Hook, take the Hugh Carey Battery Tunnel to Lower Manhattan, return back to Red Hook, then proceed up the Columbia Waterfront and over to Prospect Park.
The new route would:
- Provide a new connection from 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.
- Connect students, seniors, families, NYCHA residents, and people with disabilities to schools, businesses and cultural institutions: Nine schools, three senior centers, multiple public housing developments, and some of Brooklyn’s best cultural centers would be served by this new route, which will bring better access and increased mobility to the students, aging communities and families in the neighborhoods this route serves (Red Hook, Columbia Waterfront, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, and Crown Heights).
- Serve a growing population: Since the discontinuation of the B71, the population around the proposed new route has grown by 10.7%, much more than the increase in New York City or Brooklyn alone. This increase in the still-growing population has fed a demand for more transit, and even greater growth (and transit demand) may result from rezoning in Gowanus.
“Today, we went directly to the MTA to express the grievance our community felt when our Brooklyn neighborhoods lost a vital connector when the MTA eliminated the B71 bus line seven years ago,” said Simon.
“It’s long past time to restore this bus service with a revised route that would serve the increased transit needs of the area’s growing population. Linking the transit starved neighborhood of Red Hook to Crown Heights and lower Manhattan through a new B71+ bus route would provide a great option for riders to go to work, school, medical visits, local businesses, or cultural institutions. A new bus route would also have the advantage of being accessible to people with disabilities and the increasing population of older adults,” she added.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams noted that quality east-west bus service is critical for Brooklynites of all stripes, from seniors to students, and the commuting challenges they face is only intensifying as the population continues to grow.
“I’m proud to be a member of the growing coalition to revive the B71 bus route, a call I’ve had alongside my colleagues in government over the last couple years of community organizing, as well as to extend it with a new link through transit-starved Red Hook to Lower Manhattan,” said Adams.
City Council Member Stephen Levin (D-Northern Brooklyn, Boerum Hill) noted that when the B71 bus route was taken away, it left an already transportation-challenged area in a precarious situation. “The needs of the communities along the corridor have only increased since that time. Enough waiting. Get on board with this plan and we’ll be one step closer to fair transportation for all New Yorkers,” he said.
Council Member Laurie A. Cumbo (D-Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights) called access to public transportation vital for everyday New Yorkers to safely travel to and from home, school, work, house of worship, small businesses, and public spaces. “In order for our communities to continually thrive, we must ensure that our transit system keeps pace with the unprecedented growth throughout the borough of Brooklyn. It is time to reconnect families, professionals, scholars, seniors, and youth to their community and city,” she said.
City Council Member Carlos Menchaca (D-Sunset Park, Red Hook) called the proposed B71+ Bus Route an essential part of making Red Hook accessible to the rest of the city.
“This new bus route has the potential to offer Red Hook residents access to thousands of jobs in Manhattan. Coupled with other achievements, such as the Red Hook Ferry we brought earlier this year, we are finding better ways to connect New York City that are better for the environment than dependence on cars. The need is clear for adding this bus route, and I wholeheartedly support it,” he said.
