Bus Time Clocks Come To Bensonhurst’s B8 Line

New Bus Time clocks have made their way onto the B8 bus route down 18th Avenue, with 5 of the LED signs giving passengers a heads up on when the next bus is due.

The five clocks run along 18th Avenue, using real-time GPS monitoring to let commuters know how much time is left until the next bus—a system already in place with the Bus Time app. Now, commuters without smartphones can reap the benefits as well.

Each route for the stop is listed with a separate countdown, and blank spaces allow for additional bus routes to be listed in the future.

The project had $100,000 allocated from Councilmember Mark Treyger’s District 47 during Participatory Budgeting, leading to the installation of 5 clocks—about $20,000 each.

The NYC Department of Transportation was on track to install twenty-eight of the Bus Time pole signs by the end of 2017, on bus routes in Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, Kensington, Bensonhurst, Sheepshead Bay, Coney Island and Brighton Beach, according to the DOT.

Piloted in Staten Island and Manhattan in 2013-2014, the program has had positive results, said a DOT spokesperson.

The DOT has said further expansion in Brooklyn will happen through funding provided by local elected officials, though the cost may prove to be prohibitive in some communities. In District 30, Councilmember Brad Lander has pushed for collaboration between the city and LinkNYC, with the goal of using the large advertising and communications kiosks to display wait times for nearby bus routes.

Last fall, Lander put the price point of the clocks at about $35,000, and when one factors in the roughly 15,000 bus stops in Brooklyn, full coverage doesn’t seem likely anytime soon. Still, a handful of Bensonshursts commuters are now able to reap the benefits of more timely information.