MTA Cutting Williamsburg Link Buses On Account Of No One Linking Them

RIP

The MTA is giving up on its free and frequent shuttle bus service for stranded L train riders, after almost no one took advantage of the offering in its first month of operation.

The new B91 and B92 Williamsburg Link routes—initially billed as a "best bet" for L train commuters during nights and weekend repairs—will transition to a shorter route, with service severely curtailed.

The change was made in response to weeks of nearly empty buses—"only two or three customers per trip, on average," according to the MTA's L Project newsletter. Beginning on Saturday, the current B91 and B92 routes will be folded into the B91A, which will run every eight minutes at its busiest, compared to the previous schedule of three minutes on weekends and five minutes on weekday evenings.

Since April, the two clockwise and counter-clockwise routes have connected Bedford and Lorimer L stops with the Marcy and Hewes J/M stops. But ridership was particularly lousy at the Lorimer and Hewes, so those stops are being cut. The authority will instead focus on bolstering the somewhat more popular connection between Bedford and Marcy, adding two stops along Grand Street at Driggs and Roebling.

The MTA notes that customers can also take the B24 for a direct connection between Lorimer and Marcy Avenue, or get the Q59 to the new B91A at Grand Street.

Despite the lack of enthusiasm for the new bus route, the MTA says their other alternate service plans are working. Ridership on the J and the M lines has increased 60 percent compared to similar weekends last year. The brunt of that shift has happened at the Marcy Avenue and Hewes Street stations, which have seen 85 and 95 percent increases respectively, according to the MTA.

The transit authority also announced on Monday that they're phasing out service changes—the term, not the concept. Real-time service status information will now be provided in more specific categories: part-suspended, trains rerouted, local to express, express to local, stations skipped, slow speeds, and multiple impacts. More info can be found here.

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