Last month’s MTA service reductions seemed to have a silver lining for Park Slopers, as two bus lines were poised to service busy Seventh Avenue — but it turns out that the buses are running consecutively rather than on a staggered schedule.
As a result, riders can wait as long as 10 minutes between buses during rush hour — only to have both the B69 and the B67 show up at exactly the same time.
“You would think that with two buses running on Seventh Avenue now, it would be faster,” said Park Slope resident Philip Maier, who was waiting for either bus at 13th Street at 9 am on Tuesday. “But it hasn’t made it faster at all.”
Before the changes, the B67 ran every 15 minutes on Seventh Avenue after rush hour ended. But under the MTA’s new schedule, it now comes every half-hour. Most riders figured that the addition of the B69 — rerouted from Eighth Avenue — would make up for the reduced service, but that hasn’t been the case because buses are running together rather than staggered.
“I just missed both buses — they went by at the same time,” said Park Slope resident Griselda Vega, who was waiting at the corner of 11th Street and Seventh Avenue on Tuesday at 8:30 am. “The MTA defeated the purpose of putting both buses on the same street.”
MTA spokeswoman Deirdre Parker said that the agency wants service spread out evenly, but admitted that there have been “scheduling snags” during the morning rush and during the middle of the afternoon. Parker also blamed traffic.
But angry Park Slopers are fed up with the transit agency’s excuses.
“It’s really screwed up; somebody is not doing their job,” said Phil Maoek, who waited a whopping 45 minutes at Carroll and Seventh Avenue for a southbound bus.
