Friday, April 17, 2009

MTA/DOT keep on keepin on

We've received a few emails this past week referencing these new bus shelters on lines that are on the chopping block. As most of you know, the B23 has been scheduled for termination with extreme prejudice, but that has not stopped the MTA from building shiny new structures for people to wait for soon-to-be-deceased busses in.

From The Times:

Two bus shelters on Cortelyou Road in Brooklyn — one at Ocean Parkway, the other at East Fifth Street — were replaced this week with shiny new steel-and-glass structures that can keep passengers on the B23 bus line dry on rainy days and unmussed on windy ones.

But the B23 is one of six bus lines in Brooklyn that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority says it will eliminate unless it gets a financial lifeline from the State Legislature.

Asked why new shelters were being installed along a line that could soon disappear, Seth Solomonow, a spokesman for the Transportation Department, noted that the proposed service changes were not definite. “But we will postpone any further installations on affected routes until the situation is clarified,” he said. (read more)
It seems a shame to waste that time and money on something that will soon be as useless as a bucket under a bull. Any proposals for what can be done with the shelters once the routes get the axe? I don't think we could fit a craps table in there.