It’s slower than molasses on a blustery day and Dyker Heights Civic Association members let a New York City Transit official know it at their recent meeting.
The cause of the unrest was complaints about the B4 bus, which is the only public transit line that goes through the tight-knit neighborhood wedged between Bensonhurst and Bay Ridge.
The line starts in Sheepshead Bay and then winds its way through Brighton Beach, Gravesend and Bensonhurst before going through Dyker Heights and ending in Bay Ridge.
On weekdays, the B4 is scheduled to run either once or twice an hour except for the morning rush hours of 7 and 8 a.m. and evening rush hours of 4 and 5 p.m., when it runs every 15 minutes.
“There’s only a couple of windows early in the morning when it comes regularly. To me it’s the worst bus line,” said DHCA President Fran Vella-Marrone.
“Everyone complains about it. You can wait forever and when it does come there’s two or three together. It’s also a long line. Maybe they need to split it up or something,” she added.
Vella-Marrone said others at the meeting complained about there not being enough express bus service to the city.
There is only one express line on 86th Street — the X28 — and residents from Dyker Heights want another one as they currently have to walk several blocks to have to catch the X28.
“We need more express bus service so people have another way to get into the city to get to work,” said Vella-Marrone.
Vella-Marrone said it was suggested at the meeting that a new express bus run along 75th Street.
Residents also expressed interest in getting several run-down subway stops in the area renovated.
The closest subway stops to Dyker Heights are along the R and N line that runs into Bay Ridge and the D and M line that runs along New Utrecht Avenue.
Vella-Marrone said she is aware that outgoing Rep. Vito Fossella and State Senator Marty Golden had gotten allocations to partially fix the R line at 86th Street and Fourth Avenue, but said that other stations in the area needed renovations as well.
NYC Transit representative Melissa Farley responded that several stations along the R and N line are slated for renovation in the current 10-year plan that extends to 2012, but the D and M lines are currently not slated for renovation.
Farley said she would look into problems with the B4 line.
