Midnight Transit Update

According to the MTA, the B is still out of service but the Q is running normally. We'll see how long it lasts this time...

Trains Down Again

Well, that was quick. B train service has been suspended again due to "smoldering cables." I'm not sure which cables are smoldering, but I imagine that you don't want to ride a train with ANY smoldering cables. The Q train, meanwhile, is now running along the D line from Sheepshead Bay to Dekalb... in other words, no where near us. We'll let you know when service resumes. (Sigh.)

Ahoy, trains!

Both the B and the Q have resumed service, though you can expect delays, naturally...

(Thanks for the photo, Dynishal!)

Notes From Community Board Meeting: Safe Streets, Rapid Buses and Scary Water

There was a lot going on at the Community Board meeting Tuesday night so let's jump right in...

EMPIRE/OCEAN/FLATBUSH TRAFFIC CALMING

The most exciting news to my mind is that the Empire/Ocean/Flatbush intersection is getting a revamp to make it safer for pedestrians. We've been calling for this for two years now and are pretty impressed with the Department of Transportation's response:

• 3 of the 4 crosswalks at the intersection will get new splitter islands: raised platforms with trees and other plantings placed in-between north- and southbound lanes. The islands will slow down traffic and give pedestrians a refuge in case they get stuff between lights.
• Left turns from northbound vehicles on Flatbush (onto Ocean) are now banned. The DOT found that no one was doing left turns here, anyway, so it won't hurt traffic flow.
• Ocean Avenue will get a a new curb extension, which will slow down turning vehicles and shorten the distance pedestrians need to travel to cross the street.
• Alignment of traffic lanes will be improved.

Our neighbor, Dynishal, raised the point that the traffic lights for cars on Flatbush are out of sync, so DOT Rep Hillary Poole said she would look at that.

Plans to remake the intersection should begin in a couple of weeks or so. Fire up!

NOSTRAND AVENUE SELECT BUS SERVICE

The improvements to bus service will also have a direct impact on our neighborhood, whether you ride this bus or not: faster buses means more riders, fewer cars, and better air quality.

The Select Bus Service (SBS) will replace the limited bus on Nostrand. There will be two stops in PLG, one at Empire and one at Clarkson. A few highlights from the meeting:

Prospect Park Token Booth Officially History

A few months ago, we wondered out loud which of the two token booths at the Prospect Park subway station was slated for destruction: Lincoln or Empire? Well, we now have our answer, and the winner (loser) is... Empire.

As of this writing, what was formerly the work space of an actual MTA worker is now a pile of rubble. People can still enter and exit the subway at the Empire entrance, but they'll have trouble if they're, say, pushing a large stroller or grocery cart. In order to use the special entrance, they'll need to go around to Lincoln (which makes a certain kind of sense since the elevator is at that end as well).

This is bound to also be a pain for people who live nearby in Crown Heights, and for visitors to the Prospect Park Zoo and Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

PREVIOUSLY
Coming Soon: Empty Token Booth
Possibly Token Booth Closing at Prospect Park Station

Cyclist Killed By Van South of PLG

Jake McDonaugh, an 18-year-old cyclist from Kensington, was struck and killed by a minivan after turning onto Flatbush from Duryea Place. The driver, Michael Oxley, allegedly ran a red light and was speeding at the time of the crash. Atypically, Oxley has been charged with criminally negligent homicide and reckless driving, in addition to driving with a suspended license and traffic violations.

I am usually a huge defender of the dollar vans because they are cheaper, run more frequently and are faster than the B41. I admit that I've always considered the white-knuckle ride part of the charm. This tragedy should act as a cautionary tale for all van drivers - all drivers, really - that traffic laws exist for a reason. Nobody riding up Flatbush is in such a hurry that lives should be in danger.

Update: It turns out that Oxley was not a dollar van driver but rather a driver in a hurry. I apologize for the error.

Who Do I Have To Blow To Get a Bus Shelter Around Here?

Standing in the rain waiting for the B41 bus last weekend got me thinking: Why is it that only one of the B41 bus stops around here has a bus shelter? The B41, which goes up and down Flatbush, is one of most heavily used bus lines in Brooklyn. Yet Park Slope's B71, whose ridership is so low it's been slated for extinction, has new bus shelters in several spots along Union Street.

RIGHT: The bus shelters along Parkside Avenue have no shortage of customers. Yet the most heavily used bus lines in PLG lack such shelters.

The B41 isn't the only heavy-lifting bus line in PLG that doesn't have bus shelters. The B44 along Nostrand—which has the fifth highest ridership of any bus line in the city—has none within the PLG boundary either.

In fairness, the MTA/DOT may be waiting until after the planned bus rapid transit line is in to install shelters along Nostrand. And before launching into a conspiracy theory, I should check whether the site specs along Flatbush would even allow for a shelter. If B41 stops don't fit the specs, it would be because the sidewalk along Flatbush Avenue is too narrow. But if the sidewalk is too narrow for a bus stop, that suggests another kind of problem: passengers clogging the sidewalks as they wait for one of the most crowded buses in the city. (I can attest to this happening at the Parkside stop.)

One of two B41 express stops in PLG—at Empire Blvd.—has a bus shelter from a previous era, but there is no shelter at Parkside, nor are there shelters at Grand Army Plaza, an area with much wider sidewalks.

I asked Community Board 9 President Pearl Miles about this, and she responded with a request for suggested stops. I'm going to recommend Grand Army Plaza and Parkside for the B41, and the B44 stops along Nostrand and New York Avenues. The B49, along Bedford and Rogers, has less than half the passenger load as the other buses, and I haven't checked for shelters along these roads (though I'm pretty sure there are zero). So if anyone has any other suggestions for Ms. Miles, do let her know: bk09@cb.nyc.gov.

Park Slope in the LaGuardia Flight Path

The Brooklyn Paper reports that the people in Park Slope complaining that there seem to be a lot of low-flying planes roaring over their heads aren't crazy. A change in flight paths to increase efficiency has led to a 52% increase in planes flying over Park Slope and Prospect Park.

I think this puts to rest the idea that the marching bands and Big Apple Circus are somehow "dumped" on our side of the park to protect the gentle ears of Park Slopers from the noise.

Kids Pay for MTA Shortfall, in More Ways Than One

I can't read about the MTA budget crisis (no more free students passes, service cuts, etc.) without feeling violently ill, but Daily News writer Michael Daly managed to say what I would have liked to say without turning blue or shouting obscenities.

Daly points out how Speaker of the Assembly Sheldon Silver has screwed over school kids and other transit riders by letting congestion pricing die last year.

Welcome to Shelly World, where school kids pay full fare on the subway, but motorists pay nothing to cross bridges and even park for free if they want to shop in his 'hood....The income from placing tolls on the East River crossings would have covered much if not all of the MTA's $383 million budget shortfall. Just the three untolled bridges serving Silver's Lower Manhattan district would have generated more than enough to keep school kids riding the subway for free as they have since 1948.

Subway fares aren't the only toll on kids. The New York City Health Department has just published an air quality study that shows how traffic congestion is poisoning the air. Area of the city that have higher levels of traffic have "higher levels of particulates (27 percent greater), elemental carbon (45 percent greater), and nitrogen dioxide (37 percent greater) than those in areas with less traffic." [Streetsblog]

Eliminating the free fares for students (particularly when coupled with the service cutbacks) could even make the air quality problem worse: anything that makes public transit more expensive and less safe and convenient is likely to encourage more driving.

Mind the Gap: Another Brilliant Performance by the MTA

Witnessed this morning at the Prospect Park station around 8:50am: a woman exiting the Manhattan-bound B train slipped and fell, causing her leg to fall into the gap between the train and the platform. The leg appeared to be brutally broken after a loud crack heard by a number of passengers. An unfortunate and terrible accident to be sure, and we hope she recovers quickly and with as little pain as possible.

What really disturbed me, aside form the amount of pain this woman appeared to be in, is the MTA's apparent mishandling of the situation. The train was delayed until an emergency response team could assist (so far, so good).  After 15 minutes, no EMTs had arrived on the scene. Here's where it gets really good: the B train was then taken out of service, forcing all passengers to spill out onto an already crowded platform. Adding insult to injury, the Q train behind us was rerouted to the Coney Island-bound platform and also taken out of service. Those passengers, having received no directions other than to leave the train, headed over to the Manhattan-bound platform, now packed like a tin of sardines and pushing towards the location of the accident. I headed out on the S train at about 9:15 so I'm not sure when the EMTs finally arrived, but let's just say it was much later than it should have been, and they were faced with a heck of an obstacle course.

Lessons learned: (1) be careful of the gap when entering/leaving the train, and (2) don't ever, ever get injured on NYC transit (partnered with, of course, don't get sick on NYC transit). Lawsuit pending? We expect so.