The Metropolitan Transportation Agency (MTA) and the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) today presented two preliminary Select Bus Service (SBS) B82 proposals to a contingent of Southern Brooklyn lawmakers.
Among those present at the meeting included MTA President Andy Byford and DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg – whose teams presented the plans – and City Council Members Chaim Deutsch, Kaman Yeger and Mark Treyger, Assemblyman Bill Colton and representatives from Assembly members Steve Cymbrowitz and Helene Weinstein’s office as well as from State Sen. Simcha Felder‘s office.
The B82 route runs through major arteries of southern Brooklyn from Coney Island through Bath Beach and Bensonhust and then along Kings Highway between Marine Park, Midwood, Flatbush and East Flatbush up Flatlands Avenue through Flatlands and Canarise before ending at Spring Creek Gardens, formerly Starrett City.
The SBS service includes off-board fare payment, bus lanes, traffic signal priority, and longer spacing between stops. The electeds and constituents fear creating bus lanes will further bottleneck the already congested roads along the route, take away much-needed parking and hurt seniors and the disabled who depend on the local stops, which the SBS will bypass.
The two plans scale back the original plan, which would have seen a dedicated bus lane throughout the bus route. The service was supposed to start this summer, but following intense community and local lawmaker pushback, the MTA and DOT decided to go back to the drawing board.
“This decision to adjust their plan proves the power of the people to have a voice in the projects affecting their community and the commitment of the MTA to the needs of neighborhoods they serve,” said Colton.
While the MTA and MTA would not release the plans as they are preliminary, Colton said both of the alternatives to the initial plan significantly reducing the bus-only lanes, introduced no-left turns at several busy intersections, created loading zones for commercial vehicles making deliveries, and saw the installation of more metered parking around Kings Highway.
Deutsch, in whose district most of the B82 runs and who spearheaded the meeting, said it is too premature to endorse any of the plans. There still needs to be more input from community stakeholders including residents, business owners and commuters, he said.
“These two plans are premature and if things are going to work out, we can expect a new plan, and if it doesn’t work, we will continue to be vocal until there is a plan that is feasible,” Deutsch said.
