Local Electeds Announce Specific MTA Service Restorations

Local pols are sending out word about MTA service restorations in their districts. Yesterday Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver got the jump on announcing a restored bus route — letting slip that the M9 will be extended back to Battery Park City. The MTA will be announcing the full slate of service changes later this afternoon.

All told, the restorations won’t bring service back to pre-2010 levels, but the erratic revenue streams that support the MTA — which fluctuate based on the economy and the real estate market — are working in straphangers’ favor for the time being.

The Daily News reported at the beginning of the week that most of the service restorations will be in the Bronx and Brooklyn, where the 2010 cuts were also the most severe. Here’s what we’ve been able to glean so far based on statements from State Senator Dan Squadron and City Council Member Brad Lander:

  • The B39 will be extended over the Williamsburg Bridge into Manhattan.
  • The B57 will be extended into Red Hook, joining the B61 as the only bus serving the neighborhood, and more buses will run on the route.
  • Weekend service will be restored on the B24, M21, and B69.
  • The MTA will establish two new bus routes in 2013: one along the Williamsburg waterfront and another serving the “Brooklyn Tech Triangle” encompassing DUMBO, Vinegar Hill, and the Navy Yard.

Squadron and Lander’s press releases also confirm the rumor that the G Train’s five-stop extension through Park Slope and Windsor Terrace will be permanent.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

MTA Maps a Five-Borough Network for Select Bus Service

By Brad Aaron |
At a press event yesterday to announce service restorations and upgrades, the MTA also went public with a citywide plan to expand Select Bus Service. With tunnel-boring mega-projects consuming billions of capital dollars apiece, the agency is featuring low-cost bus improvements more prominently in its strategy to increase transit capacity. Stephen Smith at the Observer reports: […]

How the MTA Managed to Afford Service Restorations

By Noah Kazis |
Wondering how the MTA could afford to restore service on 24 bus lines and postpone next year’s fare hikes? New budget documents show where the transit system’s revenues and costs beat expectations, leaving the small and fragile surplus. The biggest savings came from cheap energy. Revenues from riders were up, but the important yet volatile […]