The Brooklyn Subway Desert has been waiting for answers on when MTA's Utica Avenue Transit Improvements Study would finish for far too long!

Since 2015 (under the Bill de Blasio administration), $5,000,000 has been allocated toward the study of the Utica Avenue corridor in Brooklyn, including the extension of the NYC subway into a predominantly Black, immigrant portion of Brooklyn with ZERO subway lines. In 2019, another $5,000,000 was allocated to the MTA's 5-year 2020-2024 Capital Program plan. As of March 2022, that combined $10 million dollar investment has only resulted in a single page on the MTA website detailing the study goals and a map of the already existing Utica Avenue bus line. This is unacceptable.

Black Mind, a NYC-based organization, is demanding increased transparency from the MTA on its progress with the Utica Avenue Transit Improvements Study. Currently, zero information on the project leader, team members, progress, or evaluation method for the project has been released. The MTA's record of abysmally low transparency has gone on for too long. The residents of Southeast Brooklyn (neighborhoods of East Flatbush, Canarsie, Flatlands, Marine Park, etc.) deserve to have their transportation needs taken seriously be MTA officials.

Located in the Brooklyn Subway Desert, Utica Avenue hosts the busiest bus route in Brooklyn, New York City with 44,000 daily riders as of 2020 and several forms of informal transportation (dollar vans and cabs). Since the early 1900s, the MTA has recognized a need for an extension of the NYC subway down this corridor to serve southeast Brooklyn, yet no substantive actions or statements in support of the program from state politicians have happened in over 100 years!

As Brooklyn Borough President, current Mayor Eric Adams put together a task force to study the corridor, however, this was quickly abandoned. When MTA officials do visit Community Board 17 (representing one of the main areas to be served by the potential line) meetings, they provide subpar answers to community concerns on the progress of the study. In a recent meeting on Tuesday, March 8th, 2022, an MTA representative's official update was that the MTA had no conclusive information on when the study would happen but that it would happen soon. This is unacceptable.

We are demanding that the MTA RELEASE THE STUDY. Instead of fulfilling its promises to a neighborhood of taxpayers who receive none of the local and direct benefits of the MTA subway, the MTA has stalled the inclusion of the neighborhoods they claim to serve. As a community, we need to be informed of who is performing the study, how the process will be conducted beforehand, how we can reach out to the study team, and when this study will be released. We need to be ensured that the evaluation is comprehensive with formal AND informal traffic flow (dollar van riders - a popular informal method of transportation along Utica Avenue - make up a substantial amount of traffic yet is consistently ignored from the MTA's count of daily commuters on Utica Ave) being considered when determining if the proposed subway line is necessary.

We demand action from local politicians to hold the MTA accountable for its lack of transparency and de facto exclusion of community input. As residents of New York City (and NYC's most populous borough), we deserve access to subway stations. Instead, we are left facing crowded buses, increased transportation costs, and false promises. Enough is enough.

Help us demand that the MTA release the study and move forward on the Utica Avenue extension. #ReleaseTheStudy