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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, FEBRUARY 2, 2020
BUS PLAN IMPERILED
Train daddy’s departure endangers Brooklyn bus redesign: advocates
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Andy Byford — the
city’s top transit honcho
— announced his impending
resignation on Jan.
23, leaving local publictransportation
advocates
fearful about the fate of
an upcoming boroughwide
redesign of Brooklyn’s
bus network, which
is now expected to move
forward without its chief
proponent.
“We’re extremely concerned
about every borough
bus redesign,”
said Jaqi Cohen, the campaign
director of Straphangers
Campaign. “For
the last 50 years, buses
hadn’t been made a priority.
Andy was the first
to champion such change
and the plans really took
root under him.”
Byford will offi cially
leave his post as President
of the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority’s New
York City division on Feb.
21, but the redesign of
Kings County’s busses
only just got rolling — and
its success now hinges on
his yet-unannounced successor,
according to Cohen.
“It’s very contingent
on who is at the helm and
leading this endeavor,”
she said. “The improvements
could be up for renegotiation.”
The ball is now in Governor
Andrew Cuomo’s
court to ensure the successful
completion of the
various improvements
that the transportation
guru set in motion — including
the bus redesign,
according to another advocate.
“The bus redesign is
incredibly important for
Brooklyn, which has some
of the oldest routes dating
back to 19th-century
trolley lines,” said Danny
Pearlstein, a spokesman
for the group Riders Alliance.
“The Governor has
to be held accountable
that the plan unfolds. He’s
on the hook for the plans.”
Offi cials launched the
sweeping bus overhaul in
October to redesign the
borough’s 63 local and
nine express bus lines
over the coming year —
which came as part of Byford’s
Fast Forward plan
to modernize the city’s ailing
public transportation.
The agency hosted several
public input sessions
around the borough, and
plans to release a report
on the Brooklyn bus system’s
existing conditions
by the end of March — before
developing their redesign
scheme by the end of
the year.
Among other priorities
expected to be addressed,
planners want to expand
bus priority lanes, modify
routes to meet today’s
needs by cutting redundant
routes and simplifying
circuitous lines, and
improve off-peak service.
The push comes as ridership
has dropped 10-percent
and 14-percent since
2016 for express and local
buses, respectively.
The average vehicle
speeds also ailes at a sluggish
7.7 miles-per-hour, according
to the agency.
Other borough bus
redesigns have drawn
heated criticism from residents
and politicians —
such as the neighboring
Queens revamp, where local
lawmakers slammed
the agency’s plans for cutting
service in transitpoor
sections of the borough.
In Brooklyn, cuts
made to the B38, B54, and
the B46 — the borough’s
busiest route — have already
led to demonstrations
from angry straphangers
ahead of the
revamp.
Lisa Daglian, the executive
director of the Permanent
Citizens Advisory
Committee to the MTA,
said she was confi dent
that the Authority’s acting
head of buses, Craig Cipriano,
will continue with
the bus revamp — but said
that offi cials have to keep
the public involved along
the way.
“As far as we know, everything
points at all systems
go,” said Daglian.
“We’re looking to keep our
eye on that the redesigns
go forward with as much
public involvement as possible.”
Daglian and the other
advocates said they will
keep a close eye on who the
agency appoints to replace
Byford — noting that his
successor will have big
shoes to fi ll.
Outgoing transit chief Andy Byford with the agency’s acting head of buses Craig Cipriano (right).
Photo by MTA NYC Transit / Marc Hermann
BY JESSICA PARKS
Brooklynites looking to live on a budget should
head south to Canarsie, which boasts the cheapest
rents of any neighborhood in Kings County, according
to one recent study.
With the average one-bedroom going for $1,500 permonth,
and two-bedrooms for $1,900, Canarsie ranks
as the most affordable area in the borough, according
to the real estate fi rm Propertynest — which compared
2019 rental averages using data compiled from
their own listings and other apartment search platforms.
Canarise’s sweet deals fell well below the 2019 average
rent across all of Brooklyn — where the renters
cough up $2,208 and $2,805 monthly for a one- and twobedroom,
respectively, according to the report.
Predictably, a quintet of bourgie northern Brooklyn
neighborhoods topped the rankings as the most
expensive places to rent, but Dumbo took the crown
— demanding a monthly average of $4,450 for a onebedroom
and $6,180 for a two-bedroom from would-be
residents.
Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Downtown Brooklyn,
and Fort Greene rounded out the list of most expensive
neighborhoods, which excluded Williamsburg
for the fi rst time this year.
The list of ritzy rents comes amid a larger conversation
over the sky-high cost-of-living in New York
City, as activists push for more rent controls and affordable
housing developments.
In June, newly-empowered Democrats in the state
legislature passed sweeping rent reforms, which limited
the ability of landlords to raise rents or evict tenants,
and reinforced rent-stabilization requirements,
among other changes.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has also taken steps to quash
the housing crisis, pledging in 2014 to create 200,000
so-called affordable housing units over ten years —
although many of those developments have been criticized
for being “affordable” in name only.
A two-family residential building in Canarsie.
Photo by Kevin Duggan
Canarsie offers Brooklyn’s lowest rents