Brooklynites demand return of long-shuttered Crown Heights-Red Hook bus route
As MTA employees in the basement of the Park Slope Library prepared for an open house on the Brooklyn bus network redesign Tuesday night, local residents rallied outside to continue a demand they’ve been shouting for years: Bring back the B71.
Budget cuts for the MTA slashed the bus route that connected Red Hook to Crown Heights in 2010. With the transportation agency in the midst of outreach to devise a plan to redesign the Brooklyn bus network, advocates are taking the opportunity to continue a fight they’ve been at for roughly nine years.
“When the B71 was eliminated, about 10 years ago now, a vital connection was cut for people in Brooklyn,” said Councilmember Brad Lander, who represents a district covered by the former route. “So when we found that the MTA was organizing these Brooklyn bus network redesign workshops, we thought, what a great opportunity to make clear a top priority for that redesign … restore the B71.