2
BROOKLYN WEEKLY, AUGUST 18, 2019
BAKE OFF
Locals rally and make pastries in
opposition to planned B54 bus cuts
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
A Metropolitan Transportation
Authority scheme to
cut service to the B54 bus
route drove dozens of residents
and business owners
to rally last Thursday
morning on Myrtle Avenue
in Clinton Hill, where
one straphanger said he
was so upset — he made
cookies!
“I’ve never been in a
situation where someone
takes away bus service
from a thriving neighborhood.
With that said,
I made some cookies. Let
the sweetness make up for
the bitterness,” said Theo
Peck, owner of Peck’s gourmet
food market on Myrtle
Avenue, who brought
cookies featuring red and
blue frosting, which read
“Save the B54,” to the Aug.
8 demonstration.
Transit offi cials announced
in July they
would reduce the amount
of buses running along
the B54’s Myrtle Avenue
route between Bushwick
and Downtown Brooklyn
this fall in response to low
ridership numbers, forcing
commuters to wait an
additional one to three
minutes during the morning
peak, midday, and evening
hours. The route will
keep the same schedule as
current during the evening
peak times, according
to documents released
last month.
The MTA has pitched
the service cuts as a modest
inconvenience that
will result in substantial
savings and allow the
agency to enhance service
elsewhere, but the
plan has drawn fi erce opposition
from community
members, business owners,
and local elected offi
cials, who claim transit
offi cials have underestimated
the value of local
transit to commuters.
“I think it’s outrageous
Protesters rallied against the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority’s planned cuts to the B54 bus service on Myrtle Avenue
near Washington Avenue on Aug. 8. Photo by Kevin Duggan
and unacceptable,” said
Assemblyman Joseph Lentol
(D–Clinton Hill) at the
protest organized by the
local business booster the
Myrtle Avenue Partnership
at the corner of Washington
Avenue. “Brooklyn
is the greatest borough
in the world and we need
more transportation services,
not less.”
Peck said he relies on
the bus both personally
and professionally, saying
his wife, son, staff, and patrons
all use the B54, and
that his business will suffer
as a result of the cuts.
“Basically my entire
back-of-the-house staff
takes the B54. Whether
it’s from one place or another,
the B54 gets them
here, and it gets them here
on time,” he said. “This is
vital. This is how people
earn a living.”
The demonstration
was represented by small
business owners, the elderly
and disabled, workers
and area residents,
all of whom shared a reliance
on the Myrtle Avenue
bus route, and one local
woman demanded the
MTA fi nd some other way
to pinch pennies.
“We need this bus. We
really need this bus to
travel,” said Edna Grant.
“You got people on wheelchairs
and everything,
they don’t need to cut it.”
But a spokeswoman
for the agency said that
transit honchos will push
forward with the plan,
claiming the cuts will
streamline the route, ensuring
buses remain on
schedule, and increasing
occupancy bus-by-bus by
22 percent.
“The B54 received minimal
schedule changes of
one to three minutes to
align more closely with
ridership and the actual
travel time on the route, so
buses run more on time – a
priority we’ve heard from
our ridership - and with
fewer empty seats,” said
Amanda Kwan, a spokeswoman
for the MTA.
The Authority plans to
take a deeper look at the
entire Kings County bus
network in the coming
months, as part of a borough
wide effort to “modernize”
bus routes, Kwan
said.
Meanwhile, Kwan
promised that city transit
gurus will keep an eye on
the B54 to ensure its service
cuts render the promised
results.
“We welcome customer
feedback as we approach
our planned redesign of
the entire Brooklyn bus
network in the coming
months when we will reexamine
the route network
for the fi rst time in
decades,” she said.
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