Currently, the B61 is one of the city’s longest and slowest bus rides. It heads from the Ikea in Red Hook to Queens Plaza in Long Island City. Its route is a zany, meandering one that ambles through Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Downtown Brooklyn, Fort Greene, Williamsburg and Greenpoint before reaching its northern terminus. Now, in an effort to ease congestion along the route, NYC Transit is considering splitting the route into two this January. Based on the preliminary plan, the B62 would head from Downtown Brooklyn to Long Island City, and the B61 would go from Downtown Brooklyn to the Ikea in Red Hook.
As amNew York’s Heather Haddon notes, some riders may find the split and Downtown Brooklyn transfer inconvenient. Most riders in the northern parts of Brooklyn, however, use the bus route to deliver them to the 7 or L trains in Long Island City or Williamsburg. This break-up will, according to Transit spokesman Paul Fleuranges, create “more consistent and efficient service.” If approved by the MTA Board, it will go into effect in January.
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No matter where the terminus is located, the bus still has to turn around. Terminating the bus route in Downtown Brooklyn means that buses will turn around in Downtown Brooklyn. In order to maintain the routes of both spurs in both directions along Jay Street from Fulton to Tillary, the Williamsburg section should probably use the same loop at the B57 (right turn on Atlantic, Boerum Pl, and Livingston, then left turn onto Smith St), and the Red Hook section should turn around at Sands St like the B75.
Those changes would spawn more idling bus traffic in both those areas. What’s good for Williamsburg riders is bad for Downtown Brooklyn air-breathers.
They should have the two routes overlap: one from Red Hook to Williamsburg, and another from Downtown Brooklyn (or Cobble Hill) to LIC.
“Splitting” a bus route in that way usually does not make any sense.
It reminds me of some years ago when they made that change with the Eighth Ave./Seventh Ave. bus line here on the West Side of Manhattan.
The M10 got split into the M20 and a shorter M10.
I think that it had been better the old way.
I prefer it the current way – there’s no reason a traffic jam at the Holland Tunnel should delay bus service in Harlem.
The split also allowed for more frequent service over what I assume is the most heavily traveled section of the route, where the M10 and M20 overlap.
It’s an inconvenience for people traveling between north of Lincoln Center and south of Penn Station, but how many people go that far by bus?
This new B61/B62 split will apparently have a shorter overlap (only in downtown Brooklyn itself), so it’s possible that more people will be inconvenienced. But my impression from riding the line (only a few times, I’m afraid) is that relatively few ride from one side of downtown to the other.
I personally prefer the subway, but there are MANY people who do travel by bus between places south of Penn Station and places north of Lincoln Center. For instance, what about elderly or handicapped riders who have difficulty with subway stairs or who fear the subways altogether?
Also, if you have to use up the bus-to-bus transfer on your MetroCard to change betweeen the M10 and the M20, then another fare will be deducted if you change to yet another bus, such as any crosstown route.
How many is “MANY”? Probably a tiny fraction of the number who use the subway or who use the bus for other trips. Certainly fewer than the number who ride the segment of the M10 up in Harlem, where it doesn’t run directly above the subway, whose bus service is no longer at the mercy of New Jersey traffic. And it’s not like the trip isn’t possible anymore – it’s just a little less convenient than it used to be. (Granted, that inconvenience is a bigger deal for people who have difficulty climbing stairs than for the rest of us.)
Back when the M10 was first split, I distinctly recall the announcement of a three-leg transfer, so that through riders wouldn’t lose their transfer privileges to other lines. Is the three-leg transfer no longer available? I hope one is instituted on the B61/B62.
I do not know if the three-leg transfer still exists or not.
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I think the b61 should never been spited but have a b61 limated service to speed up the traip making transfur stops and maybe stoping @ williamsburg bridge plaza connecting to other main buses and to the j m and rush hr z train… the b62 should had been the bus going to midtown from green point from where the b43,b61,b48 and the G train runs. Once the b62 would had hit midtown it would make wave for a
Q32 ltd from 59th and lex to 34th and 5th ave with it ltd stops while the b62 and m4 make all stops….to msg/peen station on 32 street.
I live in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and there are alot of people that are not very happy because the B62 has taken the main parking space from the residents. It is a good thing that the B62 is helping with the congestion problems but it is bad that people have to park real far from their home.
The split is more inconvenient and inefficient than planners anticipated (or chose to regard). There has to be a better way to be efficient than to impose a two bus transfer. Very disappointing MTA.