Dedicated to Gerritsen Beach Offering Current News, Links & Reviews with some Memories
The blizzard dumped a good amount of snow on Gerritsen Beach today, it obviously fell short of the large predictions. There is a massive amount of snow outside.
Be Careful. I already hear quads .
I rode the B31 early this morning and no one was on it.
(The new cuts will not go into effect until June at the earliest.)
The MTA’s Brooklyn service reduction plan is cutting the B31’s overnight hours. The B31 ranks the 14th lowest in the city when it comes to overnight ridership (1am – 5am) with 36 average riders.
The MTA plans to hold public hearings regarding the array of cuts proposed it intends to adopt as a measure to close a $400 million budget shortfall for the upcoming fiscal year. The hearing location closest to Brooklyn is going to be held at the Brooklyn Museum located at 200 Eastern Parkway, set for March 3, 2010
Details:
Discontinue overnight bus service on the B7, B31, B45, B57, B64,B65, and B67
Start weekday service later on the B16 and B24; end weekday service earlier on the B2, B9, B11, B13, and B16; end Saturday service earlier on the B9; and end Sunday
service earlier on the B9 and B16.
Here are the changes (without Queens, Bronx, Manhattan and that other place)
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There is now a 5:30 am BM4 bus. It is MTA’s way of making up for taking away the BM3 stop at Allen & Knapp that all the early bird Gerritsen Beach people were able to use.
Prior to January 4th, the 6am was the earliest.
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The state Legislature Wednesday night passed an MTA bailout to rescue millions of daily straphangers and drivers from a toxic mix of fare hikes and service cuts.
The transit-funding package will generate some $2.3 billion annually for the cash-strapped Metropolitan Transportation Authority with a payroll tax and other revenue-raising measures – including a 50-cent surcharge on all yellow-cab rides.
Read more: “Albany to the rescue: Legislators derail ‘doomsday,’ pass MTA bailout”
Legislative highlights:
* A single-ride MetroCard will be $2.25, not $2.50;
* The pay-per-ride discount will be 20% when you buy $7.50 or more;
* A 30-day MetroCard will be $89, not $103;
* Fare increases on LIRR and MetroNorth will be about 10%, as opposed to the 25%-70% hikes in the MTA “Doomsday” budget;
* The Doomsday service cuts will not happen, maintaining current levels of service;
* Two years worth of capital funding will ensure the MTA has the basic resources needed to continue to rebuild the system.
A Daily News writer set out to see how long it would take for our neighborhood to reach public transit if the overnight B31 is cut. It was a
I set out on foot to see just how bad it will be if the MTA abandons Gerritsen Beach.
This neighborhood of tidy brick houses sitting on a peninsula in Southeast Brooklyn looks in parts like a small fishing village. It has no subway line and just one local bus route, the B31 – which will no longer run late at night unless Albany passes a bailout for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
It took him an hour and a half to walk from Lois and Hyman to Avenue U, which is a mile and a half. Your supposed to be able to walk a mile, even a slow walk,in 20-25 minutes.
Nevertheless we do stand to lose a lot of service if/when these cuts go through and I’m glad this reporter brought some light to our situation.
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Goodbye B31, B2 and B4! Hello $2.50
Our B31 will have daily overnight service cease between 1:30 and 4:30 a.m. The B4 and B2 will not have any weekend service. About 3,000 subway and bus positions are also being cut, which will mean about 1,000 layoffs
So much for the Ravitch plan, congestion pricing, and faith in our city and state elected officials. I remember our Lew Fidler almost promising that a new payroll tax would be adopted which would save the fare.
It also looks like we will be getting those East River Bridge Tolls and also an expansion of the rapid bus transit system down Nostrand Ave (more to come on that)
What a mess. What in the world happened?! Was it really the State Senate?!
Marty Golden’s people sent in a press release:
Senator Marty Golden stated, “Does the Governor, Speaker and Majority Leader understand what a 25% fare increase and what the service reductions proposed by the M.T.A. mean to the average New Yorker? In these troubling economic times, this is clearly an issue that required leadership but unfortunately went basically ignored by the Democrats in charge. Although there were actually no good choices, today’s vote by the M.T.A. was clearly the worst option.”
Golden continued, “The issue of an M.T.A. bailout has become a political football. It was punted from Shelly Silver to Malcolm Smith, to the Governor, then a website was created, and then it is was dropped. The inaction on the part of the Democratic leadership of this state in control of the Governor’s mansion, the Senate and the Assembly, closing the doors completely to Republicans, failed all New Yorkers. Now, when you pay another 50 cents to ride the train or when you have to walk even further to catch a bus, remember to thank the Democrats. Their inaction has caused your quality of life, a basic necessity to work and to live, to suffer.”
Senator Golden spoke at the Brooklyn hearing hosted by the Metropolitan Transit Authority where he opposed the fare hikes and service cuts on bus routes in his district. Senator Golden further organized a petition drive opposing service reductions to the entirety of the weekend express bus service on the X 27 and X 28, weekend service on the B2, B4 and B16, overnight service on the B31 and B64, the entire B37 bus route, and other reductions to the B16 and B70.
Seems like this statement is a political “punt” of sorts and more putting politics ahead of what’s best for the people!
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City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. unveiled a Web tool on Wednesday that allows residents to enter their Zip code and see a table, and download an accompanying map, showing how the MTA’s proposed cuts would affect their particular neighborhood.
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On January 24th the MTA held its very public budget hearing and guess what, not one person from Gerritsen Beach, Marine Park or Sheepshead Bay/Plumb Beach went to save the B31, B2 or B4.
According to various news reports more than 500 people gave a loud and clear message to the MTA board’s by showing up to testify for their respective buses. The meeting went past midnight to allow testimony.
As a community, we stand to lose the MOST if these services are to be cut. The B31 would have daily overnight service cease between 1:30 and 4:30 a.m. The B4 and B2 would not have any weekend service. Since we had not a single person at the hearing we will now lose the most.
My petition which got about 300 signatures was handed over to Marty Goldens office which Martys office had collected a total of 500 signatures (not sure if thats 500 with mine or without mine). Although petitions are good and all, when the MTA sees heads and faces protesting service cuts for specific buses, it holds more weight than a stack of petitions.
Lew Fidler stated at the last property owners meeting that he does not believe that the services will be cut. He is “very optimistic” that these service cuts will “go away” after the state adopts a payroll tax of 1/3 of 1/2. He also wants his constitutients to know that the tolling of the east river bridges has nothing to do with the planned cuts. The toll money would be designed to increase service, not to stop the cuts.
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Photo by Adam E. Moreira
For those of us that take the B31, you may have noticed a new model bus. Specific new york city ordered 854 Daimler Commercial Orion VII Hybrid buses were ordered for operations within New York City, to be delivered through 2010.
I’m not sure how many miles per gallon we get on our “normal” buses which should be around 3.5 MPG (conventional diesel). This new hybrid gets 5.3-5.4 MPG.
This should mean that the B31 will wait for you at kings highway, but we all know that the drivers must get some sort of pleasure leaving us all behind.
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Thanks to James for sending this in!
Interesting Gerrittsen Park Bus Schedule (notice the extra T)
They got bus service every 15 & 10 minutes! Amazing we can’t get that now!
I like that children “in arm” are free while others pay full fare and that “ordinary” shopping parcels are free.
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Update:WILL BE TAKEN DOWN SOON!
Please sign the online petition here!
Paper copies of the petition are available in some stores on Gerritsen Avenue.
Here is what is at stake:
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Thanks Greg for sending this in!
The MTA unveiled its 2009 budget at a board meeting Thursday in Midtown.
The so-called “Doomsday Budget” will hit riders with a steep fare hike and major service cuts.
Including:
Discontinuing overnight service on the B31. Ouch!
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaZW4LCNTMY[/video]
Looks as though there is a video following up on Bus Shelter Says: This Day Is Yours
This bus shelter has a huge histroy since starting this site.
There really hasn’t been any news recently so I kept track of my trip on the B31.
To Kings Highway (Empty – 15 Minutes)
From Kings Highway (Standing Room Only – 16 Minutes)