BY KEVIN DUGGAN
A cut-rate shuttle company
that offers service to a handful
of East Coast metropolises
wants to take on passengers in
Williamsburg, thereby saving
Kings County travelers the hassle
of traveling to Manhattan to
catch a bus, a spokesman told a
local civic panel Tuesday.
“We see a demand within
the neighborhood and neighborhoods
immediately surrounding
Williamsburg to have
intercity bus service, instead of
having to travel to Midtown or
Chinatown — it’s just easier,”
Judd Krasher, government affairs
manager at FlixBus, said
at Community Board 1’s full
monthly meeting.
A German-based transit
purveyor, Flixbus offer trips to
cities including Boston, Philadelphia,
and Washington, D.C.
for as little as $4.99, while also
boasting routes that ferry passengers
to more distant locales,
including the West and Gulf
coasts.
Unlike Greyhound, or Megabus,
COURIER L 20 IFE, NOV. 22-28, 2019
Flixbus doesn’t own or operate
its buses, but contracts
local fi rms, who then slap the
company’s green and orange
paint onto their fl eet.
Meanwhile, the organization
manages on online storefront
in the form of a mobile
app, while also handling the
marketing, network planning,
and customer service, according
to the Krasher.
The company came to the
Williamsburg community
board seeking an endorse for
their application to the Department
of Transportation for a
curbside permit, but one member
raised concerns that the
company’s unique business
model would disenfranchise
the little guy.
“This sounds like the Uber
of buses,” said Tom Burrows.
“What about the big bus companies
that are already here. Are
they all going to start showing
up here and get on the bandwagon.”
Another civic guru worried
that the buses would overburden
the area’s clogged streets
and impede fi rst responders.
“Forget about just traffi c
for people to move about who
live in the community, but as
somebody who works with the
NYPD I know that emergency
response cars are having trouble
so you’re then adding to
that,” said Dana Rachlin. “I’m
just worried about infrastructure.”
Krasher said that the company
puts each partnering company
through its own training
program, and provides insurance
so that they don’t compromise
safety, or dodge liability.
“We have our own insurance
that along with our bus
partners our bus companies
and those are very much
linked,” he said. “So if god forbid
there was something that
went wrong we do not absolve
ourselves of the responsibility
if it was damaged or an injury
or something like that — no we
don’t do that.”
He added that FlixBus would
not stand in the way of any company
German intercity bus company FlixBus wants to set up shop in Williamsburg.
FlixMobility
wishing to unionize.
“We don’t have any union
requirements when it comes to
our bus partners,” he said. “If
a particular company wants to
unionize that we work with, we
don’t stand in the way of that,
that is their prerogative.”
The transit company will
work with the community
board, Councilman Stephen
Levin, and the transportation
offi cials to fi nd a suitable location
for its bus stop, before submitting
their application to the
city sometime in the next two to
three months.
“Our intent is to not pick a
point on a map… and invade a
neighborhood, that is not what
we’re looking to do at all,” he
said.
‘Uber of buses’
planning W’Burg stop
“Touching & hilariously funny.”
WRITTEN BY
GEORGE EASTMAN
DIRECTED BY
KAREN CARPENTER
Sometimes it’s harder to like
someone than it is to love them
– Broadway World
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CRAIG BIERKO
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