The NY State Assembly convened a hearing at Brooklyn Borough Hall last week to address the borough’s mass transit needs. Richard Brodsky, State Assembly’s Corporations Committee chair, pressed witnesses to make specific recommendations for short- and long-term improvements. Key testimony was provided by Carolyn Konheim of Community Consulting Services, co-author of "Better Transit for Brooklyn," a comprehensive report released in 2001 (see MTR #421). The paper has essentially set the agenda for transit investment needs in Brooklyn.

Katherine Lapp, MTA Executive Director, and Lawrence Reuter, NYC Transit president, mainly discussed budget constraints and benefits to Brooklyn from existing capital projects and recent initiatives such as TransitChek promotion and CityTicket, which will enable city transit riders to use commuter rail service within the city cheaply on weekends.

Probably the easiest of the CCS recommendations is instituting street transfers between nearby, non-intersecting stations without payment of a new fare (such as the G-7 transfer in Long Island City). Improving several subway lines and providing additional bus service would provide needed support to Downtown Brooklyn economic development initiatives. A longer-term priority is to reevaluate existing bus routes with extensive community input. Longer-term strategies are new station escalators, physical connections between formerly competing subway lines and real-time bus and train arrival information. Brooklyn’s elected officials have about a year to put these issues on the radar screen before the MTA adopts a new five-year capital program.

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