MTA Considers Reinstating X28 Weekend Service
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is seriously considering restoring a weekend express bus service to Manhattan which was discontinued in 2010 as part of MTA budget cuts.
The NYC Transit and Bus Committee of the MTA’s Board will hear testimony on the plan to reinstate Saturday and Sunday service on the X28 — a route which allows residents from neighborhoods like Sea Gate, Coney Island, Bensonhurst, and Dyker Heights to travel to Downtown and Midtown Manhattan — on June 20.
The proposal would see the weekend service restored for a six-month trial period beginning in September 2016.
For years, a broad coalition of southern Brooklyn elected officials, including Senator Marty Golden, John Quaglione, Councilman Vincent Gentile, Councilman Mark Treyger, Senator Diane J. Savino, Assemblyman William Colton, and Assemblywoman Pamela Harris, have called on for the MTA to restore this service to southern Brooklyn, citing lengthy travel times to and from Manhattan, as well as overcrowding.
“We promised residents in Southern Brooklyn that we would keep fighting for more transportation options, and we are seeing the fruits of our labor,” said Treyger. “First, we recently saw the commitment for express service on the F train. Now, we are seeing really positive progress on getting weekend service on the X28 restored. We have not been asking for luxury items like streetcars. We just want to get back the transit services that were taken from us.”
Weekday ridership on the X28 in 2015 grew by seven percent over the previous year, according to NYCT. The proposed restoration would see the X28 weekend service operate just as it did prior to the 2010 service cuts, traveling between West 37th Street/Surf Avenue in Coney Island and East 57th Street/Madison Avenue in Manhattan.
If implemented, Saturday service would operate from 6am to 8:15pm toward Manhattan, and from 7:30am to 10pm toward Brooklyn. Sunday service would operate from 7am to 7:15pm toward Manhattan, and from 8:30am to 9pm toward Brooklyn. Frequency would also be the same as it was prior to 2010, with Saturday service operating every 30-40 minutes, and Sunday service every 30-60 minutes.
