Windsor Terrace residents oppose B103 route change
On February 26, the B103 express bus heading westbound to Downtown Brooklyn from Canarsie, Midwood and Flatbush was rerouted to operate non-stop from the Prospect Expressway via Seventh Avenue, Ninth Street and Fifth Avenue away from its previous route along Third Avenue, which had increasingly heavy traffic delays according to a service change bulletin issued by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in February.
However, the new route also included 18th Street between Eighth and Seventh Avenues a residential block that homeowners and parents argue is too narrow, too full of children and too close to schools for a city bus to pass through safely, dozens of times a day.
The MTA quadrupled traffic with the B103 [coming] every two minutes at peak times on 18th Street, said Mark Madden, a resident who appealed for support from Community Board 7 in March. Imagine an eight-and-a-half-foot wide bus going down a 20-foot wide street 11 feet of travel lane at the narrowest point. Theres a blind curve. Its a high probability of serious injury and death.