Southern Brooklyn may have a faster way across town.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the city’s Department of Transportation launched their new B82 Select Bus Service on Oct. 1, replacing the B82 Limited buses.
The decision to upgrade the B82 to the select service comes as a result of three years of community outreach, according to the transit authority and was based on the route’s high ridership, its course through dense residential neighborhoods and commercial centers, its links to subway lines.
The new service promises shorter travel times for thousands of riders every day, said the city’s Transportation Commissioner.
“For the last three years, our agencies have conducted extensive outreach with the community and stakeholders, and we believe that SBS will bring shorter travel times and more reliable service for 28,000 daily riders along one of Brooklyn’s busiest bus routes from Starrett City to Coney Island,” said Polly Trottenberg.
The service runs from 24th Avenue and Bay 38th Street in Gravesend towards Canarsie on Kings Highway, ending at Seaview Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue in Starrett City.
The new B82 Select Bus Service follows the existing limited and local routes for the most part, but at Flatbush Avenue and Kings Highway it will now continue on Kings Highway and service a new stop turning onto Avenue K and continuing on Flatlands Avenue at Utica Avenue.
The local service will continue to run the original route by turning from Kings Highway onto Flatbush Avenue and then again onto Flatlands Avenue.
The select and local services will run in both directions on Glenwood Road between Rockaway Parkway and E. 103rd Street but the buses will no longer run along Flatlands Avenue there.
The local service will also continue to serve Cropsey Avenue and Coney Island as well as Flatlands Avenue between Flatbush and Utica avenues.
The transit authority also announced an increase in off-peak service on the B17 local route, which runs from Canarsie to Crown Heights, beginning Sept. 30.
This route will have increased midday service during weekdays from every 20 or 10 minutes to every eight-and-a-half minutes, according to the transit authority.
There will also be reductions in wait times on Saturdays and Sundays for the routes, the transit auhtority said in the press release.
The B17 transports some 10,000 straphangers during weekdays and could get busier during the upcoming L train tunnel closure in April 2019, because it connects Canarsie to alternative subway lines, namely the 2, 4, and 5 trains at Utica Avenue Station.
This is in addition to the recently announced L5 bus which the transit authority will introduce ahead of the L train tunnel closure to direct more riders to the subway alternatives during weekday peak hours along the same route.
