Free Shuttle Will Make Brooklyn Navy Yard So Much Easier to Reach

There’s always something interesting going on at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, from Brooklyn Grange’s rooftop farms to Steiner Studios film studios to designer shows during Fashion Week. But it’s awfully hard to get there.

Now the remote but ever-growing hub of innovation and employment is initiating a better literal connector to the surrounding borough: A free shuttle service.

The Navy Yard, which is notoriously isolated at the edge of the Wallabout neighborhood and the eponymous Navy Yard Basin, will launch a free shuttle that will run every 10 minutes. The shuttle will have two routes or loops from the Yard to 13 of the nearest subway lines.

The Dumbo Loop will carry passengers from four Navy Yard stops to the F train at York Street and the High Street A and C train station as well as other stops. The total round trip time is expected to take 24 minutes. On the second route, the Clinton/Washington Avenue Loop, passengers will intersect with the subway system at the 2, 3, 4, 5, B, D, N, Q, R and LIRR Atlantic Avenue/Barclay’s Center station.

The announcement comes at a time of explosive growth for the Yard. Currently hosting 7,000 workers, it’s expected to support 16,000 by 2020.

“With our workforce set to double in the next five years, one of the Yard’s top priorities is connecting where our employees live with where they work,” Brooklyn Navy Yard CEO David Ehrenberg commented in a prepared statement.

The new two-loop shuttle will provide an additional form of transit for the small city of Navy Yard workers who currently rely on a part-day shuttle service. The current buses run from local subway stations to the Yard’s entry gates only at select times, spaced out by 15 minutes to more than an hour throughout the day, with a huge gap between 9:45 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. As well, the complex is accessible by bike, car, foot, various city buses and, technically, the subway, but the nearest stations all require an additional bus trip or significant walking.

While most of the Yard is not currently accessible to the public, its in-the-works food hall will be. And of course, the public will need a way to reach it.

[Source: Curbed]

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