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New Express Bus Could Link Bushwick and Downtown Brooklyn, MTA Says

By Gwynne Hogan | August 3, 2016 1:53pm
 The MTA is considering putting a select bus route between Buswick and Downtown Brooklyn.
The MTA is considering putting a select bus route between Buswick and Downtown Brooklyn.
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DNAinfo/Nicholas Rizzi

BUSHWICK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is considering creating a new express bus route to link up Myrtle-Wyckoff stop on the L and M trains to Jay Street MetroTech in downtown Brooklyn, a spokesman confirmed Wednesday.

MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said that there is not yet a timeline for when the service might be implemented.

The bus's route not yet been determined, the Brooklyn Paper first reported.

Transit advocates welcomed the MTA's consideration of a Select Bus route beginning in Bushwick, particularly as North Brooklyn residents face years of M and L train disruptions and shutdowns. 

"Select Bus Service is the next best thing to a subway route in terms of ease of commute," said Nick Sifuentes, director of the Riders Alliance. "It's good that they're considering this for an SBS route, that's the only way to move a large number of people."

"Will this help to drain off some of the pressure? Probably, a bit," he said, referring to the looming L train shutdown that will sever service between Manhattan and Brooklyn for 18 months starting in 2019. Though he added, "It's not anything like an actual full solution."

Select Bus Service, aims to make bus service faster and more reliable, by using higher capacity buses, adding dedicated bus lanes and evenly spaced stations, more frequent service, and a payment system outside the bus, according to the MTA.

A recent MTA progress report on the Nostrand Avenue B44 Select Bus found that it was 31 percent faster in the morning rush hour and 20 percent faster in the evening than regular bus service. 

Generally, SBS shaves off between 15 and 30 percent from an average commute time, according to the city. 

Currently, to get from Myrtle-Wyckoff to downtown Brooklyn, Google Maps suggests taking the L out to Broadway Junction then transferring to the A or taking the M or the L into Manhattan and switching to the F.

Those three options are a good 15 to 20 minutes faster than the B52 or B54 bus routes, where the trip takes nearly an hour.

Riding a bike between the two stops takes around 30 minutes, according to Google Maps. 

"These cross-Brooklyn buses, they are extremely slow," said Alan Minor, a North Brooklyn resident and transit advocate with Neighbors Allied for Good Growth. "I almost feel like I could run faster."

Minor has come to rely on the B44 and more recently the B46 SBS.

"I just know it's a pretty smooth ride," he said.