Seniors Say Don’t Cut Our B25
Since last November, many elected officials, transit advocates & riders have echoed the same sentiment about not cutting service. So it came as no surprised earlier this month when Brooklyn seniors urged the MTA not to cut the B25 which they see as their transportation lifeline. Erin Durkin of the New York Daily News has more in this report:
Plans to ax a key bus line in East New York would leave thousands of elderly residents stranded – and scrambling for a way to get to doctors’ appointments, shopping, church or the bank.
The B25, which runs from downtown Brooklyn to Broadway Junction, is one of six borough bus lines set to be eliminated unless the MTA gets a massive infusion of funds from the state.
Elderly riders rely on the bus to get downtown because there’s no escalator leading to the A train at the Broadway Junction subway station.
“I’m old and arthritic,” said Edith Stanley, 77, who takes the B25 to church every Sunday and to go shopping downtown. “I can’t go up or down those steps with these legs. Leave the buses alone. We really need them.”
Chris Banks, executive director of East New York United Concerned Citizens, estimated 2,000 to 3,000 seniors in Brownsville and East New York depend on the B25.
“We don’t want the MTA to balance the budget on the backs of the less fortunate or the elderly,” he said.
Click here for the complete report.
I will start this by saying the B25 clearly has a decent senior ridership. However in the grand scheme of things, the line is covered end to end by multiple subway lines. If push came to shove, would it really be a wise decision for the MTA to continue to run this route? Don’t get me wrong, the last thing I want are the “draconian” service cuts becoming a reality. However each line’s usefulness & ridership patterns have to closely be looked at if we indeed have to face the “doomsday scenario.”
I can understand the riders fear of losing the B25 as they use it to get to their destinations. However they as most others are focusing their anger & frustration towards the wrong people. The people they should really speak out against are the elected officials who continue to snub mass transit of the funding it so desperately needs & deserves.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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