Soul-Destroying B61 Bus Line Will Get Real-Time Tracking

Overdue. Today pols sent out an press release saying that the B61 will get the “BusTime System.” From the release: “Council Member Brad Lander, Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez and Council Member Sara M. González cheered the announcement by the MTA that the B61 will be the second bus in Brooklyn to get BusTime — a system that provides real-time bus arrival and location information. The MTA has committed to installing BusTime on the B61 no later than June 2012. The system uses GPS devices on buses which let transit riders use their cell phones and computers to find out where the next buses to arrive on a route actually are. The MTA first implemented this system in 2011 on the B63 bus which runs along Fifth and Atlantic Avenues in Brooklyn and recently expanded it in Staten Island. The elected officials restated their hopes that the next steps in improving this often delayed line would be more frequent bus service and “countdown clocks” at bus stops similar to those currently in use in some subway stations.” In November Lander’s office released a report saying that only 43 percent of B61 buses come within 1 to 3 minutes of when they’re scheduled to arrive during peak hours, and a whopping 42 percent of northbound buses skip the stop at Columbia and Union streets between 8 and 9 a.m. because they’re too full.
Report: B61 is Often Late and Way Too Crowded [Brownstoner]
Photo by diacritical