Commuters in southern Brooklyn are urging the MTA to release another draft of its Brooklyn Bus Network Redesign before the plan is finalized, citing concerns about stop eliminations and limited public awareness.

Confusion rules in parts of the borough

Nestled between a pharmacy, several stores, and a residential neighborhood, the bus stop at Avenue Z and East 18th Street is a popular destination for grocery shoppers.

The B4, B36, and B49 lines all pass through that stop, but it’s one of many slated for removal under the proposed redesign. Jennifer, a frequent bus rider, said she hadn’t heard about the changes.

“There are days where I’m in pain [doing] that walking, plus packages will be that much rougher for me, you know, to walk that extra two or three blocks,” she said.

Allan Rosen, a former MTA director of bus planning and now a member of Passengers United, said confusion among riders is widespread.

“It was never publicized on the buses, never publicized on the bus shelters,” Rosen said. “The only way to learn about it was to go to the MTA website, and not everybody checks the MTA website.”

Rosen, who has been vocal about the issue for years, said the agency’s approach is flawed.

“The biggest problem is they’re eliminating 1,000 bus stops,” he said. “They just looked at Google Maps and eliminated every other bus stop.”

“Eliminating stops in southern Brooklyn is a huge problem”  

Activists are now asking the MTA to release at least one more draft of the plan so the public can provide additional feedback.

“They’re not at looking at all of how long people’s trips will take,” Rosen said. “All they’re concentrating on is how fast the buses are going.”

State Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton recently sent a letter to the MTA raising similar concerns.

“Eliminating stops in southern Brooklyn is a huge problem,” she said. “We have a lot of elderly people, so even just making it a few stops away or a few blocks away is a lot for people, especially if there’s inclement weather.”

Scarcella-Spanton said she remains hopeful there will still be room for revisions.

“If there are major issues that we’ll be able to have some tweaks and we’re going to be very aggressive in pushing those tweaks, especially once we see it,” she said.

MTA responds

In a statement, an MTA spokesperson said, “The MTA has been actively engaged with the community since the proposed Brooklyn Bus Network Redesign was first announced in 2019 through an extensive public outreach process. This project will improve bus speeds and deliver more reliable service and continue to welcome feedback from all Brooklynites as this process continues.”

The agency did not provide a timeline for when the final draft will be released.

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