BY BEN VERDE
Park Slope civic gurus rallied
on Tuesday to demand the
return of the crosstown B71
bus, claiming it’s easier to get
from Brooklyn to Manhattan
than it is to reach Red Hook!
“Most of the subway service
is oriented towards
north-south, and taking people
in and out of Manhattan —
not connecting people across
Brooklyn neighborhoods,”
said Eric McClure, Transportation
Chair of Community
Board Six.
The bus route ran from
the Columbia Street Waterfront
District, up Union Street
through Gowanus and Park
Slope, before turning back in
Crown Heights — right up until
the Transit Authority axed
the service in 2010 amid statewide
budget cuts.
The move deprived locals
of an essential crosstown transit
option, which made stops at
nine schools, three senior centers,
and multiple public housing
developments, according
to one local lawmaker.
“Students lost a route to
school, seniors lost the bus
that took them to the grocery
store and library and families
lost a ride to the Brooklyn
Children’s Museum and Prospect
Park,” said Councilman
Brad Lander (D–Park Slope).
Another Park Slope activist
pointed out the lack of alternative
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transit options to fi ll
the vacuum left by the B71’s demise,
especially in Red Hook,
where straphangers cant’
rely on the subway to provide
crosstown connections.
“This void represents
schools that families can’t
choose because they can’t get
to them, healthy food options
that are fewer, the music lessons
that are just too out of the
way,” said community board
member Kathy Park Price.
“This hole represents missed
opportunities.”
Kathy Park Price holds up
a map as proof of the lack of
crosstown bus service in the
area between Crown Heights
and Red Hook.
Photo by Ben Verde
Local leaders have pushed
for the buses return since it
was eliminated in 2010, but
they’re renewing their push
to resurrect the B71 in anticipation
of the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority’s
plan to overhaul the borough’s
bus system. And then there’s
the Gowanus Rezoning, which
housing experts predict could
bring more than 8,200 new residents
to the neighborhood.
“Agencies must plan and
invest in smart, sustainable
infrastructure to support new
and existing residents,” said
Andrea Parker, Executive Director
of the Gowanus Canal
Conservancy. “Both current
and new residents of Gowanus
will benefi t from an accessible
transportation route.”
At the rally on Tuesday
night outside the Park Slope
library branch, advocates delivered
a 1,300-signature petition
to transit offi cials calling
for the line to not only be reinstated,
Locals rallied on Tuesday to demand the MTA bring back the B71 bus.
Photo by Ben Verde
but extended to Manhattan
through the Holland
Tunnel, which would create a
direct link to Manhattan for
transit-starved Red Hook.
The Transit Authority
should be reinstating the B71
and making other bus improvements,
according to advocates,
who see mass transportation
as a way to mitigate
the effects of climate change.
“As the planet gets hotter,
we need to be getting people
out of cars and onto mass transit,”
said McClure. “For the
Transit Authority to be contemplating
service cuts rather
than adding service, is just
unacceptable.”
Locals rally for return of
crosstown bus service
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