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/ Apr 17,2014
Better Bus Service in Brooklyn
A Call for a Dedicated Bus Lane from Downtown to Prospect Park
The Transit Workers Union, Transit Center, and New York City Councilman Jumaane Williams are taking a page from Marron Research Scholar Eric Goldwyn's dissertation, encouraging Mayor De Blasio—who committed to improving city-wide bus service in his state of the city address—to establish a dedicated bus lane on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. As reported by Clayton Guse in The New York Daily News:
The B41 got an “F” by TransitCenter last year as a part of the organization’s Bus Turnaround Coalition, which issues annual report cards for each of the city’s bus routes. The group found buses on the route traveled at an average speed of 5.9 miles per hour.
A fix, advocates say, would be a bus lane from downtown Brooklyn to Prospect Park.
“We’re talking Grand Army Plaza all the way down to Cadman Plaza to have a dedicated bus lane,” said Local 100’s head of buses John Patafio. “The mayor wants two miles of lane? Here’s a good place for two miles of lane.”
Transit advocates argue slow buses are a social justice issue as much as they are a transit issue.
“It’s important to remember that the average bus rider in New York makes $28,000 a year, versus $40,000 a year on the subway,” said Eric Goldwyn, a researcher at NYU’s Marron Institute. “If we abandon the people on the bus we’re abandoning the most vulnerable New Yorkers.”