{"id":316296,"date":"2026-08-07T20:28:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/316296\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:28:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:28:07","slug":"bus-riders-tell-mamdani-dont-wait-for-brt-to-get-illegal-parking-out-of-the-buss-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/316296\/","title":{"rendered":"Bus Riders Tell Mamdani: Don’t Wait for BRT to Get Illegal Parking Out of the Bus’s Way"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mayor Mamdani\u2019s Flatbush Avenue bus rapid transit isn\u2019t scheduled to wrap up installation until 2030, but he can get get illegally parked cars out of their way right now, according to bus riders who attended a mayoral \u201ctown hall\u201d in Central Brooklyn on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like really low-hanging fruit,\u201d Ron Shalom, a Flatbush resident and music producer, said of the illegal parking along Flatbush Avenue, which serves the busy B41 among other routes. <\/p>\n

\u201cRestricted parking on Flatbush Avenue is just not enforced, it creates huge obstacles,\u201d Shalom said.<\/p>\n

The \u201ctown hall\u201d hosted by the Department of Transportation, MTA and the mayor\u2019s office focused on three corridors in Central Brooklyn where Mamdani has pledged to build-out some form of bus rapid transit: Flatbush Avenue, Utica Avenue and Church Avenue. <\/p>\n

The three routes serve 150,000 daily riders across 13 buses<\/a>, according to DOT, which solicited feedback from riders at Thursday\u2019s event, which the mayor attended.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking to build public transit that will make the whole world jealous of our city,\u201d Mamdani told attendees. \u201cWhen I look in this room, I see all of the different ingredients we need to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Yorkers at Thursday\u2019s meeting made it clear that these changes can\u2019t come soon enough \u2014 and might not be able to wait until 2030. \u201cLong wait times!\u201d \u201cUnreliable arrivals!\u201d \u201cDouble-parked cars!\u201d and \u201cAll of the above,\u201d said participants when DOT asked for the most frustrating part of their commutes.<\/p>\n

\"\"Brooklyn residents sitting in at Thursday\u2019s Town Hall. Photo: Poppy Wilkinson<\/p>\n

DOT said that it wants to amend a number of these problems in the short term, using methods such as bus lanes and bus stops with more shade and seating. <\/p>\n

But attendees said that ridding the lanes of illegal parking could be a quick fix, too \u2014 especially for streets like Flatbush Avenue, where buses move as slowly as four miles per hours. <\/p>\n

Double-parked cars cause buses to merge into regular traffic, instead of allowing them to cruise from stop to stop \u2014 and the lack of enforcement here is one of many reasons the New York City has the slowest buses in the country<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One Brooklynite said that they didn\u2019t see parking, even legally, as a good use of space on Flatbush Avenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they could do away with parking entirely on Flatbush,\u201d said Jules Ratner, a Gravesend resident and prospective college student.<\/p>\n

The MTA and city have rolled out bus-mounted automated cameras to enforce against bus lane blockers and double parking, but drivers continue to flout the rules \u2014 in part because the city only tickets them if two buses in a row snap them breaking the law. <\/p>\n

Adding to the confusion, Ratner said, is that many bus lanes are not 24\/7, so drivers grow accustomed to ignoring them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you say a car is allowed, they\u2019re not going to listen to the fine print,\u201d Ratner said.<\/p>\n

Hard infrastructure that completely prevent cars from driving or parking in bus lanes or bus stops are currently on a longer timeline.<\/p>\n

DOT wants to roll out \u201cbus rapid transit\u201d treatments \u2014 busways that have dedicated, protected lanes, all-day, frequent service and upgraded waiting areas \u2014 over the next four years on Flatbush, Utica and Church avenues in Brooklyn along with Northern Boulevard in Queens and Tremont Avenue in the Bronx.<\/p>\n

\"\"A mock-up from Mamdani\u2019s DOT detailing an example what bus rapid transit looks like. Photo: NYC DOT<\/p>\n

\u201cThe easiest and most effective way is with physical separation, like curbs,\u201d DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn told Streetsblog on Thursday.<\/p>\n

For bus riders, enforcement and infrastructure go hand-in-hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I hear about bus improvements, that makes me really happy, because I know that\u2019s gonna make the street safer for cyclists as well,\u201d said Rose, a Staten Islander who declined to provide her last name, but expressed excitement about changes coming to the city\u2019s buses.<\/p>\n

DOT will feedback from riders via an online survey<\/a> through the end of October and is holding community events throughout August, September, October and November.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking to hear from you not only for input on this plan, but about how we can best capture the experiences and priorities of bus riders across the city,\u201d Flynn said. \u201cWe\u2019re really just at the beginning of this process.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Henry Beebe-Center<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Mamdani\u2019s Flatbush Avenue bus rapid transit isn\u2019t scheduled to wrap up installation until 2030, but he can…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-316296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}