MTA Service Restoration, Upgrades in Brooklyn

As part of $29.5 million in citywide service upgrades, the  Metropolitan Transit Authority, after cutbacks in 2010, announced today it will restore, extend, enhance and add new service across the city -- just ahead of a planned fare hike in March, 2013.

The upgrades, including permanently extending the G train to Church Avenue and adding three new Brooklyn bus routes, were made possible, according to New York City Transit, by increased revenues from a growing ridership, and cost-cutting.

Here's the good transit news for Brooklyn:

• G train service permanently extended to Church Avenue in Kensington.
• B2: weekend service restored from Midwood to the Kings Plaza Mall along Avenue R in Gravesend and Marine Park.
• B4: restored from Ocean Parkway to Knapp Street along Neptune Avenue in Brighton Beach and Sheepshead Bay.
• B24: weekend service restored from Greenpoint to the Williamsburg Bridge Plaza through Sunnyside.
• B39: restored from Delancey and Allen streets to Williamsburg.
• B48: restored from Atlantic Avenue to Prospect Park along Franklin and Classon avenues in Prospect Heights, Crown Heights and Prospect Lefferts Gardens.
• B57: extended from Carroll Gardens to Red Hook via Court Street, Lorraine Street and Otsego Street.
• B69: weekend service restored from Kensington to Downtown Brooklyn.
• New bus route to be determined will connect Downtown Brooklyn, DUMBO, Vinegar Hill, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
• New bus route to be determined will serve the Williamsburg waterfront.
• New bus route to be determined will connect East New York and Spring Creek.
• X27: weekend service restored from Bay Ridge to Midtown.
• X17: new bus stop in Bay Ridge.

Transportation advocates gave the MTA props for paying attention to feedback from its ridership.

The article from DNA Info.

The list circulated via email blast from Conservative/Republican State Senator Marty Golden included the following additional items, not on the DNA list:

• X28 – Restore Weekend Express Bus Service (negotiations in final stage)
• B64 – Restore service south of Cropsey Avenue to Stilwell Avenue via Harway Avenue
• S93 – Restore service direct from Brooklyn to the campus of the College of Staten Island.

These service changes, if approved, will take effect between this fall and January, 2013.

In a statement responding to the MTA announcement, Democrat Andrew Gounardes, running for State Senate in the 22nd District, praised the MTA's partial restoration of service along the X27, B2, B4 and B64 bus lines as environmentally and economically sound, but said more needed to be done to ensure a 21st century transit system, including restoring the transit-dedicated commuter tax.

Local Council Member Vinnie Gentile issued a statement commending MTA Chairman Joe Lhota for restoring weekend express bus service in Bay Ridge, calling it a "major victory" for the community.