Dumbo Residents Outraged by 'Dangerous' B25 Bus Route

A couple days ago the Brooklyn Paper ran a story about how Dumbo residents are extremely unhappy with how the B25 bus is routed through their neighborhood on Main Street, causing traffic jams and delays as “one or more buses get stuck between…delivery trucks and cars — creating a din of perpetual honking and screeching tires.” On top of that, folks who live in the neighborhood say the perpetual pileups make for dangerous pedestrian conditions. On the jump, we’re printing a series of letters that Dumbo residents have sent to elected officials and the MTA asking them to reroute the bus. Many express frustration with state Sen. Daniel Squadron’s lack of action on the issue. One of the letters, from Ethan Goldman, says the following, in part: “Main Street is simply not big enough to service this sort of constant, never-ending daily bus traffic, and there is no reason that it should be used as a ‘turn-around’ by the MTA. It is extremely dangerous, and it is a terrible and unsustainable traffic-flow situation. I have seen fist-fights and incidences of road rage.” Goldman also has the following to say about some possible MTA perfidy that’s in the works:

“The other part of this story is that DOT is planning major changes over at Old Fulton Street (without getting any Dumbo input) which is going to make this situation much worse (see attached). The bus used to run split between Old Fulton as a turnaround, and Main St. as a turnaround (it was terrible even then). But now that they are creating an unnecessary ‘plaza’ (right outside where Pete’s used to be and stretching all the way up to Front Street), they are making it so the bus can never use Old Fulton again. That means 150 buses a day (with no passengers) will no other access options and will permanently have to come into Dumbo. We have been trying to get MTA, DOT and Senator Squadron to help re-route the bus for a very long time with no luck.”

Update: A rep from Squadron’s office says that following a town hall meeting that the state senator organized with the MTA and DOT at the end of October the MTA committed to looking at three additional routes for the B25. However, the authority wants some sort of consensus between the many neighborhoods that would be affected by the bus being rerouted, since it also serves neighborhoods such as Fulton Ferry, Fort Greene and Brooklyn Heights. Squadron’s office is trying to organize another meeting to try to gain consensus between the various neighborhood groups that would be impacted by the rerouting.

Click through to read the letters from Dumbo residents about how they’re fighting to get the B25 rerouted.
Dna Letters Rev