The MTA is finalizing its Queens Bus Network Redesign to eliminate over 1,300 bus stops in Queens after already eliminating 400 in the Bronx. Today they released the Brooklyn Bus Network Redesign which eliminates over another 1,000 bus stops. That’s nearly 3,000 bus stops so far not counting the stops to be eliminated in Manhattan and Staten Island.

They are now ignoring accepted US standards, instead deciding to follow international standards for further spaced bus stops. This is not Europe. 

Using flawed logic of removing lightly utilized bus stops which does not save buses time because most buses skip those stops anyway, they will increase your travel time. They say buses will save 20 seconds at each stop removed. If a bus skips the stop because no one is getting on or off, no time is saved. There are bus stops where 90 percent of the buses skip those stops every day.  It makes zero sense to eliminate them. 

You will walk further at both ends of your trip and will likely miss the bus you would have caught if the bus stop were maintained adding at least ten more minutes to your trip, not counting the extra walk time. Perhaps five percent of the bus stops need to be eliminated, not 35 to 50 percent. Your trip time matters more than the bus’s trip time.

Bus shelters were provided at highly utilized bus stops, but these stops are also being removed. Passengers will have to walk to the next stop increasing the dwell time for buses there. The MTA also is not considering that. Buses will not save an average of 20 seconds at each stop removed as the MTA claims.

Fewer bus stops will result in fewer bus passengers and eventually in reduced service and higher fares because people will not want to walk a half mile at each end of the trip, just to ride a half mile. They will find other ways or just not make the trip at all. 

The only reason bus stops are being eliminated, disguised as “bus stop balancing” or “right-sizing bus stops”, is to reduce operating expenses, not to help the passenger.

We have nearly 2,500 signatures from people such as yourself who agree. We must spread the word and show the MTA and elected officials that the MTA is on the wrong path. That is the only way we can stop them. Thank you for your support and please help spread the word on all social media you use.