Dekalb Avenue Bus Stops Will Change With New, Longer Buses

FORT GREENE, BROOKLYN — One Fort Greene bus stop will be eliminated and several others will get longer when new, bigger buses are added to the B38 route next month.

The MTA told Community Board 2 this week that 64-foot articulated buses are going to replace the regular fleet of 40-foot buses along the bus route, which runs from Queens to Downtown Brooklyn, starting as early as Labor Day.

To make room for the new buses, which the MTA has said will make the route more efficient by carrying more people, 14 bus stops will become longer, including the Carlton Avenue stop in Fort Greene. Four more bus stops that are too short for the new buses will be eliminated, including Ashland Place.

(MTA)

The articulated buses are the latest in a series of changes made to more than two dozen bus lines across the city this fall.

Those changes include increased wait times at three Brooklyn bus routes, including the B38. B38 riders will wait three minutes more during the morning and evening rush hours for the bus, which currently holds a D rating for its speed and reliability.

The B54, which runs along nearby Myrtle Avenue, will also see wait times go up. Riders on that route have already been protesting the changes, which they say will make it difficult for riders who already have limited transit options to get around.

B54 riders will wait 12 instead of nine minutes during midday and evening hours and eight instead of seven minutes in the morning.

The third Brooklyn bus to see changes will be the B15, which runs to John F. Kennedy Airport. That route will see wait times go up only a minute during midday weekday hours.

The new, articulated buses will come as early as Labor Day, but the timing is still tentative, CB2 said.

Ashland Place was the stop chosen to be cut because its curb space is too short for the 64-foot bus and because it is close to the Fort Greene Place and Flatbush Avenue stops.

Riders traveling to The Brooklyn Hospital Center are advised to exit at Fort Greene Place when the new service begins, the CB said.