Taking the B61 Headcount
Is New York City Transit trying to get a sense of ridership on the B61 route, which terminates in Red Hook and is being extended to the new Ikea when it opens on Beard Street, or are they actually trying to gauge ridership in order to make independent service improvements? A reader emails to say:I hardly ever take the B61 bus because I prefer walking rather than riding with 1000 other people, but I rode both to and from the A train today and there were MTA employees on board counting passengers each way. I'm assuming they're trying to determine the usage so that when Ikea opens they'll add more buses. Or at least I'm hoping thats the case. I'm curious if they've been on for longer than just today.Anyone with a sense of this, please be in touch via a comment or email. In the meantime, think of all the people who have no idea what a B61 is who will come to know its unique joys in late summer. Extra points to the first person to bring a Billy Bookcase home to N. 10 Street in Williamsburg on the B61.
Labels: Ikea, Red Hook, Transportation
posted by rsguskind at 8:10 AM
7 Comments:
Even without a bustling Ikea to increase ridership, the B61 is a nightmare. "3 busses per hour" translates to "wait 57 minutes for the first bus, then watch in amazement as two other B61's play leapfrog with it".
Service on the B61 stinks and has stunk for a long time - I have extreme doubts as to whether this count will help anything, but it certainly can't hurt.
There are few lines within the greater NY transit system that I view with more disdain than the L train - but the B61 is certainly chief among them.
the MTA just flat out sucks
This just goes to show how inept the MTA is. Today is Holy Thursday, a lot of people were off work today because some schools are closed, or people just take the week. This is not a representative day or week to do a headcount. Of course, if you go by the information from CB1's mailing list, the MTA considers the B61 "underutilized," when any 5 year old could count on their fingers and toes and explain to you otherwise.
And if you find a bus driver on the B61 who gives enough of a crap to try to play leapfrog, consider yourself lucky. Most bus drivers these days could care less about service, speed or efficiency. There are exceptions of course but that is rare.
I ride the B61 every rush hour morning... except wednesdays, when I get to ride a little later and it is emptier. And what day should I see someone doing a headcount? Yup, Wed. My husband won't even ride it in the mornings, it stresses him out too much.
I ride the B61 during non rush hours and I find it to be a good bus. It's useful for me when I need to get from Clinton Hill to Williamsburg. Or late at night when I need to get from Borough Hall/Jay St. to Clinton Hill.
Just my $.02
Curious- does anyone ride a bus that's not a nightmare at rush hour?
This family will never, ever patronize the Red Hook Ikea. Not one cent to them. We didn't know Swedes could be devils, but have been proven otherwise.
Funny, 3:42, I had no idea the Swedes were in charge of the MTA.
How is it better to use more fuel and congest the roads to go to Jersey to that Ikea instead? It's so wasteful. Not everyone is rich like you and can afford expensive furniture in NYC stores.
Anyway, to be on topic, Red Hook and other areas the extra residents will simply not arrive if the transportation isn't better FIRST. The buses in Brooklyn are useless. To have only 3 buses in an hour, why bother at all? The city is basically telling everyone to buy cars doing that. So much for reducing congestion, pollution and fuel consumption.
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