Bus Wait Complaints Flood In From Prospect Park Neighborhoods

PROSPECT HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — Bus riders from Prospect Park neighborhoods have a common complaint: the wait is too darn long.

A new MTA study tallied those complaints ahead of a long-awaited potential Brooklyn bus system redesign. It overall found Brooklyn bus riders want to wait less for more service, but some neighborhoods had the most pressing complaints.

Prospect Heights and Park Slope riders gripe more frequently about bus service infrequency than most other Brooklynites, for instance.

But their complaints fell behind those in Red Hook, an area with many carless residents that's only served by two bus lines. Red Hook residents complained about no direct lines and too many transfers out of their neighborhood.

Still, those complaints were also common in Park Slope, Prospect Heights and other neighborhoods near Prospect Park. The report noted the park serves as an obstacle for direct transportation for parts of Brooklyn and more riders enter buses in the relatively more open Brooklyn areas to its east.

Prospect Park neighborhoods, especially Crown Heights, also have dense concentrations of riders and senior citizens, the report found.

Crown Heights also has narrow streets, like on St. Johns Place, that don't allow two buses to pass each other and cause delays, it found. Other delays in Crown Heights come from commuter vans blocking buses on Utica Avenue.

MTA officials look to redesign Brooklyn's bus network "from scratch" based largely on those complaints. The report states they'll look at rerouting or consolidating bus lines to increase frequency and avoid narrow streets or turns that delay service.

The report's release ends the redesign's first phase. It states MTA officials will share the results with the Brooklyn Borough Board and community boards.

"We will then develop a Draft Plan of a new bus network that reflects the findings in this report and the input we receive," the report states.