MAYOR DE BLASIO ANNOUNCES THE FORMATION OF BETTER BUSES ADVISORY GROUP, WHICH TAKES A RIDE ON B35 ALONG CHURCH AVENUE

City agencies, the MTA, elected officials and transit advocates will share ideas to increase bus speeds 25% citywide by 2020

  Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced the formation of an advisory group for the administration’sBetter Buses Action Plan to increase bus speeds by 25% across the five boroughs by the end of 2020.  City agencies, the MTA, elected officials, transit advocates and others represented in the advisory group will share thoughts about how to improve service along critical corridor around the city. To kick off the group’s work, they took a ride on the B35 bus along Church Avenue in Flatbush, Brooklyn – among the plan’s priority corridors.

“We are taking action to get New Yorkers moving and saving them time for the things that matter,” said Mayor de Blasio. “With guidance from riders, our new Better Buses advisory group will come up with innovative solutions to get our bus routes up to speed.”

“Church Avenue is a bustling corridor, where keeping buses moving is a persistent challenge —as we try to strike a balance among the needs of commuters, shoppers,  merchants and delivery trucks in one of Brooklyn’s densest neighborhoods,” said DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg.  “I look forward to working with the members of the Better Buses Advisory Group officially named today.   The Mayor’s Better Buses plan will bring sensible changes to Church Avenue that will not only make commutes faster and more reliable, but will make one of Brooklyn’s most crash-prone streets safer for everyone.”

"NYC Transit is working hard with our partners to improve bus performance throughout the city, which begins with unclogging congested streets and we welcome the attention that NYCDOT, the NYPD and City Hall are giving this critical matter,” said New York City Transit President Andy Byford.

New York City has 2.5 times more bus riders than any other city in the country, but also the nation’s slowest buses, with a current average speed of just eight miles an hour.  Despite the City’s expanding population, bus ridership has declined by 13% in the last four years.

As part of the Better Buses Bus Action Plan, the New York City Department of Transportation has identified 20 projects to improve bus travel times.  To highlight one key corridor in the City’s initiative, NYC DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg joined local elected officials and advocates today for a ride on the B35 bus along Church Avenue in Flatbush, Brooklyn.  Plagued by slow bus speeds and a high crash rate, the busy east-west corridor is a top 2019 project location identified by DOT in the Better Buses Action Plan. 

Commissioner Trottenberg was joined today by MTA New York City Transit President Andy Byford, Assembly Member Robert Carroll and members of the Better Buses Advisory Group, including representatives of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities, the Community Service Society of New York, The Riders Alliance, TransitCenter, the Straphangers Campaign, ABNY and AARP.

Better Buses -- First Stop, Church Avenue:  The planned changes along Church Avenue, which DOT presented this month to local community boards, help connect Flatbush to Kensington – by introducing new curbside dedicated bus lanes and updated curb regulations to optimize bus and traffic flow, as well as better organize activity at the curb. 

This 0.9- mile of roadway between Flatbush Avenue and Ocean Parkway carries four different MTA bus routes with a combined daily ridership of 45,000.  The B35, which travels across Brooklyn from Brownsville to Sunset Park, has an average speed of only 4.9 MPH during the morning commute and 3.6 MPH in the evenings, among the slowest in the entire City.  (The B103, BM3 and BM4 lines also travel along portions of Church Avenue.)  The street is plagued by traffic issues common to others identified in the Better Buses report: double parking, truck loading and long traffic queues – delays often caused by turning vehicles.  Safety along the corridor has also long been a concern: over the last five years, this portion of Church has seen 481 serious injury crashes, including two fatalities.

DOT is looking at several improvements to the Church Avenue corridor including:

·         Curbside red bus lanes that give dedicated space to buses, increasing travel speeds and reliability.

·         Updated curb regulations along Church Avenue and side streets, including new and adjusted truck loading zones and metered parking, to accommodate deliveries and parking activity along Church Avenue.

Vision Zero Changes at Ocean Parkway/Church Avenue – Today’s bus ride ended at the intersection of Church Avenue and Ocean Parkway.  This Vision Zero priority intersection has been among the most crash-prone in Brooklyn, as vehicles leave a pedestrian-heavy neighborhood to enter the Prospect Expressway.  Over the last five years, 102 people have been seriously injured at this intersection, with one pedestrian struck and killed here in February 2018.

Over past years, DOT has made a number of safety improvements to this intersection, including the addition of pedestrian refuge islands, flashing yellow turn arrows, leading pedestrian intervals (LPI) that give those crossing Ocean Parkway by foot a head-start, countdown clocks, and a red-light camera.  Along with the Better Buses improvements to Church Avenue, DOT also plans the addition of several Vision Zero-related changes that will be made this summer at this intersection, including: new curb extensions and widened concrete medians to expand pedestrian refuges; new turn restrictions; and an extension of the time for the pedestrian LPI. (see rendering of proposed changes below).

Better Buses Advisory Group: The Mayor’s announcement today also named the members of a new Advisory Group, which will help implement the Better Buses plan. The group will contain the following elected officials:

·         Public Advocate Jumaane Williams

·         Senator Alessandra Biaggi

·         State Senator Leroy Comrie

·         State Senator Andrew Gounardes

·         State Senator Brad Hoylman

·         State Senator James Sanders Jr.

·         Assembly Member Walter T. Mosley

·         Assembly Member Nily Rozic

·         Council Member Diana Ayala

·         Council Member Joseph Borelli

·         Council Member Fernando Cabrera

·         Council Member Laurie Cumbo

·         Council Member I. Daneek Miller

·         Council Member Donovan Richards

·         Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez

In addition to elected officials and representatives of MTA New York City Transit, NYPD, NYC Small Business Services and the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities, the Advisory Group will include the following member organizations:

·         NYC BID Association

·         Association for a Better New York

·         1199 SEIU

·         Transport Workers Union

·         Amalgamated Transit Union

·         Rudin Center

·         Center for an Urban Future

·         The Rider's Alliance

·         Transit Center

·         Straphangers Campaign

·         New York League of Conservation Voters

·         Community Service Society of New York

·         AARP

“Efficient transportation is a priority for the over 230,000 small businesses across the five boroughs. Local businesses can only continue to support our economy if there are effective transit options available that allow their employees to reliably come to work and customers to easily support their businesses,” said Gregg Bishop, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Small Business Services. “I applaud DOT’s commitment to increasing bus speeds by 25% across the five boroughs by the end of 2020, which will go a long way to positively impact business owners and residents alike.”

“A better bus leaves no one behind,” said MOPD Commissioner Victor Calise. “As the City develops ways to increase the speed, safety, and efficiency of our bus system, it is important that we include the needs of people with disabilities. MOPD looks forward to working with our City and State partners, elected officials, and advocacy groups including the disability community to create a better and more inclusive mode of transportation that works well for everyone.”