As the Metropolitan Transportation Authority prepares to release its final draft plan for the Brooklyn Bus Redesign, residents in parts of western and Central Brooklyn want to revive a long-dead bus line.
The B71, which used to run from Van Brunt and Union streets in the Columbia Waterfront District to Rogers Avenue in Crown Heights, was axed in 2010 due to low ridership — leaving local communities without an easy east-west route.
Local pols and civic groups have repeatedly called on the MTA to bring the route back — and now, they say the agency’s push to modernize and improve bus service in the borough is the perfect time to make it happen.
“To this day, 13 years after its elimination, constituents still ask electeds to fight to bring back this route,” a cadre of polls wrote in a Feb. 8 letter to New York City Transit President Richard Davey. “If the MTA is genuinely committed to redesigning a bus network that prioritizes frequent service, faster travel, reliable service, better connection, and an easy ride, then it must include the reinstatement of the B71 or a similar connector.”
The route directly connected the waterfront to major cultural institutions including the Brooklyn Museum, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, the central library, and Prospect Park. Without it, residents of western Brooklyn have to take multiple trains and buses to get to Central Brooklyn – and vice versa.
If restored, the B71 would give people “very ready access” to those institutions, said Timothy Gilles, president of the Park Slope Civic Council. And, heading in the other direction, it would bring residents of Crown Heights and Park Slope over to the new parks and amenities along the East River.
“It’s not only for connecting neighborhoods, it’s also connecting neighborhoods to cultural and recreational amenities that are an important part of Brooklyn and an important part of Brooklyn life,” he said.
What’s more, the population of the…
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