Brooklyn City Council candidates call for electric buses during L train shutdown
Days before the primary election, City Council candidates spoke at a public forum in Brooklyn about their ideas for alternate transportation when the L train shuts down in 2019. Candidates said they want energy efficient buses, not diesel buses, to carry commuters across the Williamsburg Bridge.
In April, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) bought 200 diesel buses to provide additional transportation during the shutdown. All eight speakers in Thursday night’s forum said electric buses are preferable. But the MTA has said it will not use electric buses during the shutdown because its test run of those buses will not yet be complete.
“I love the bus, and I think anything that our elected officials can do to strengthen bus service is fantastic,” said Bushwick resident Zoë Beery, 27, who attended the forum.
The L train is scheduled to shut down during the upcoming term of representatives elected to the City Council in November. That timing makes the transportation of displaced riders an important election issue for candidates whose districts overlap with the L train. There are 400,000 daily riders on the L train, according to the MTA.
District 33 Councilman Stephen T. Levin said there were bigger concerns for L-train riders.
“If we make the buses an issue, we’re handling one percent of the problem,” Levin said.
Up to 85 percent of L train riders will move to other subway lines, rather than buses, during the shutdown, according to the MTA.
Beginning in April 2019, the L train is scheduled to shut down between 14th Street/8th Avenue and Bedford Avenue. That includes the Canarsie Tunnel connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn. The 15-month shutdown will allow the MTA to repair damage to the line from Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, which flooded the tunnel.
Nina Stoller-Lindsey, 28, who takes the L train daily to and from work, said she has yet to see city politicians present a comprehensive plan for alternate transportation during the shutdown.
“I think a lot of people just feel really ignored,” Stoller-Lindsey said.
Incumbent District 34 Councilman Antonio Reynoso, City Council District 33 candidate Victoria Cambranes and Levin were the candidates at the forum. The other five speakers were local community activists.
Homer Hill, executive director of an economic development nonprofit called Grand Street Business Improvement District, was one of those activists. He said it is important to be cautious when making plans to address the L train shutdown.
“Even the perfect plan is not implemented by a perfect agency,” Hill said at the forum.
The MTA and DOT will present their finalized plan for addressing the shutdown in winter of this year, according to the MTA.
