Local Pols To Push City Hall Tomorrow On Express F Service

Sarah Crean -
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Some of our local Councilmembers, along with a group of business, labor, and transit advocates, will be pushing the de Blasio administration and the MTA tomorrow on the issue of renewed F express service in Brooklyn.

Councilmembers David Greenfield of Borough Park and Midwood, and Mark Treyger of Coney Island, will present the case for restoring F express service to Brooklyn at a City Council transportation committee preliminary budget hearing tomorrow.

Greenfield and Treyger will be joined tomorrow by representatives from Transport Workers Union Local 100, the Building and Construction Trades Council, the Riders Alliance, Transportation Alternatives, the Straphangers Campaign, and the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.

Elected officials from other neighborhoods on the F line, such as Bensonhurst and Sheepshead Bay, have also been pushing for express F service for years.

“I receive regular calls from constituents who want the F express to be restored,” said Councilmember Greenfield in a statement. “At Wednesday’s hearing, I intend to ask NYCT [New York City Transit] and MTA officials why we’ve been kept waiting for thirty years, and what they intend to do to restore transit equity to Brooklyn.”

The MTA has still not released a “long-promised study” on the feasibility of restoring F express service, Greenfield said.

Greenfield won’t be making recommendations as to which subway stops should be express until the study is released, said Stephen Snowder, a spokesman for the Councilmember. Express tracks currently exist between Jay Street and Church Avenue, and Church Avenue and Avenue X, Snowder said.

Despite an agreement between Mayor de Blasio and Governor Cuomo to provide $26.1 billion for MTA capital programs, “many important projects in Brooklyn remain unaddressed,” Councilmember Greenfield argued.

Local elected officials are also calling for the return of some express bus lines which were cut from the MTA’s 2010 budget, as well as faster service for other Brooklyn buses.