Tomorrow: Community Board 15 To Hear Out DOT On Select Bus Service… Again

Following a request by Community Board 15, the Department of Transportation will make its second appearance before the board tomorrow evening to address concerns about the Select Bus Service route planned to replace the B44 Limited along Nostrand Avenue.

Allan Rosen has been doing a tremendous job covering all the concerns – and some benefits – that Select Bus Service (a.k.a. Bus Rapid Transit) will have along Nostrand Avenue, particularly focused on the Southern Brooklyn portion of the route. After some delays, the city is expected to begin implementation in early 2013, but has yet to answer all of the questions raised by the community.

One of the important considerations is parking, for which the DOT has given differing answers on how it’ll affect the area. At a hearing late last month, a DOT spokesman to Sheepshead Bites that only 5 to 10 parking spaces would be eliminated in the neighborhood. But another DOT rep at the same meeting told Rosen that there would be no net loss to parking, as spaces that are eliminated below the Junction will be replaced by new spaces as some bus stops are eliminated.

When the DOT last appeared before the Board – in May 2010 – they were faced with an antagonistic crowd concerned the larger buses would eliminate much needed parking spaces, that the benefits are being overstated, that the costs and nuisance are not worth the four-t0-eight minute cut in commute time, and that fare evasion will sky rocket with the off-board payment system. We’ll see tomorrow if residents have warmed up to the proposal – which has gone relatively unchanged – in the 17 months since their last appearance.

The meeting will be held Tuesday, October 25, at 7:00 p.m. at Kingsborough Community College (2001 Oriental Boulevard) in the Faculty Dining Room.

*The original version of this article stated that an MTA representative told Rosen that they were unclear of the net loss. That was an error. The correct information is now published above.