Over a dozen community institutions and labor unions urged the New York City Department of Transportation to paint bus priority lanes on Brooklyn's Flatbush Avenue to speed sluggish service between Grand Army Plaza and the Manhattan Bridge.
In a letter to DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, the groups said upgrades to the busy transit corridor is long overdue.
"Flatbush has long been slated for better buses and the service too often crawls today," the letter reads. "After years of design, engineering and consultation with impacted communities, it is time to move forward with a robust project to improve speed and reliability along the spine of Brooklyn."
Sylvia Morse, a senior program manager for Research & Policy at Pratt Center for Community Development, said a 2024 Pratt Center/Riders Alliance survey found that local residents heavily depend on Flatbush Avenue buses to get to work and school, to medical appointments, and to shop at businesses in neighborhoods all along the bus route, but face slow, unreliable service and its financial and health impacts.
The survey found Flatbush buses primarily service Black, women and low-income riders living in and around Flatbush, Brooklyn. Two out of three bus riders endured long waits for bus service in extreme weather; about half have paid for a car service or taxi because the bus didn’t come in time; and one in three riders were fired, reprimanded or lost pay at work.
In addition to the Pratt Center and Riders Alliance, the letter was signed by 1199 SEIU, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Flatbush Streets for People, Flatbush Development Corporation, Haitian American Caucus-US (NY), Laborers’ International Union of North America Local 1010, New York Communities for Change, NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign (Brooklyn College Chapter), Prospect Park Alliance, Transport Workers Union Local 100 and Transportation Alternatives.
