This Week: Better Bus Service for the B44, Bike to Work Day

The week kicks off with a community board meeting on Brooklyn’s first Select Bus Service line and culminates with the day we set aside each year to get the word out about the joys of bike commuting.

  • Monday: More than 40,000 Brooklynites ride the B44 each weekday, enduring the most unreliable bus service in New York City. Service improvements that will give riders faster, more predictable trips are scheduled to launch in 2012, with the implementation of Brooklyn’s first Select Bus Service line. Tonight, Brooklyn Community Board 15, which covers the most southeastern reaches of the borough, hears a presentation on the project from NYCDOT and New York City Transit. 6 p.m. Also tonight: The Museum of the City of New York hosts a panel discussion on Jane Jacobs, Robert Moses, and the automobile. 6:30 p.m.
  • Thursday: NYCDOT presents plans to extend the Columbia Street bike lane to the Red Hook Ikea to Brooklyn Community Board 6. 6:30 p.m.
  • Friday: National Bike to Work Day! Newbie bike commuters and old pros will all be treated to special pit stops all around town. Bike Month NYC has the full details.
  • Saturday: Inspired by Al Roker’s first place Brompton ride in the 2010 commuter race? Whether you’ve already got a folding bike or you’re just folding-curious, check out Time’s Up’s annual folding bike ride and festival. 2 p.m.

Keep an eye on the calendar for updated listings. Got an event we should know about? Drop us a line.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

STREETFILMS

The Slowest Bus in New York City

By Robin Urban Smith |
New York City has some of the slowest bus service in the country. The 9th annual Pokey and Shleppie Awards, given by NYPIRG’s Straphanger Campaign and Transportation Alternatives, shine a spotlight on this unfortunate fact by recognizing the slowest and most unreliable buses in the Big Apple. Tune in above to see which routes earn […]

Tish James: We Need to Improve NYC’s Most Unreliable Bus, But…

By Ben Fried |
Yesterday the Straphangers Campaign awarded Brooklyn’s B44 the Schleppie Award in recognition of its status as the most unreliable bus route in the city. Over 20 percent of B44 buses, which run on the Nostrand Avenue corridor, arrive either bunched together or very far apart. About 42,000 people endure the route’s maddening inconsistency every weekday. […]

Select Bus Service Comes to Brooklyn

By Ben Fried |
Yesterday was the first day of service for Brooklyn’s first Select Bus Service route, upgrading the B44 Limited with a dedicated bus lane, off-board fare collection, bus bulbs, and fewer stops. It’s the sixth SBS route to enter service, following two in the Bronx, two in Manhattan, and one in Staten Island. In addition to […]

Eyes on the Street: Painting SBS Bus Lanes on Nostrand Avenue

By Stephen Miller |
Brooklyn’s B44 bus carried more than 12.5 million passengers last year between the base of the Williamsburg Bridge and Sheepshead Bay, making it the city’s fifth-busiest bus route. But the B44, which runs primarily along Nostrand Avenue, is notoriously unreliable and spends less than half of each run in motion. Half the time, it’s stuck in traffic or at bus […]

B44 Moving 15-30 Percent Faster After Select Bus Service Upgrades

By David Meyer |
As bus speeds decline in NYC, the few routes that are getting dedicated bus lanes and off-board fare collection are bucking the trend. The newest evidence comes from the B44 route along Nostrand Avenue and Rogers Avenue in Brooklyn, where buses are moving 15-30 percent faster since NYC DOT and the MTA upgraded the line to Select […]

City Receives Federal Funding for Full Nostrand Avenue Select Bus Route

By Ben Fried |
The first Select Bus Service route in Brooklyn is on track to start speeding bus trips next year, after Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and NYC Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan announced yesterday afternoon that the project has secured a $28 million federal grant. The B44 route on Nostrand, Rogers, and Bedford Avenues, which runs between Sheepshead Bay […]