Rosen: Removal Of Bus Shelters Raises Questions

The following op-ed is by Allan Rosen, a Manhattan Beach resident and former Director of MTA/NYC Transit Bus Planning (1981). For a complete list of his contributions to Sheepshead Bites, which includes many articles about the bus cuts, MTA and DOT, click here.

After the June 27 bus service cuts, Department of Transportation officials stated that it has not yet made a decision regarding the fate of the bus shelters that would no longer be needed. Now it seems they have.

Some of them, if not all, are being demolished.

Three shelters along the former route of the B4 have already been unceremoniously removed: ones along Neptune Avenue at Ocean Parkway, Coney Island Avenue and at Shore Boulevard (pictured above). Relocating the BM 3 express bus terminal stop to its former location across the intersection of Emmons Avenue and Shore Boulevard could have saved the last shelter. However, that would have required some thought and cooperation with the MTA, but as I stated in my first DOT article, DOT is run by a bunch of idiots.

The removal of the shelters leaves several questions unanswered.

1. What happened to the ones that were removed? i.e. Can and will they be reassembled elsewhere or did they go to the scrap pile?
2. Will the contractor erect additional shelters to compensate for the ones that were removed and will this come at a cost to the city?
3. If they will not be relocated, how much revenue will the city lose, since the contract called for a specific number of shelters to be erected in conjunction with an estimation of revenue generated during the lifetime of these shelters?

These questions demand answers. DOT cannot remain silent.