Politics & Government

Lander Pushing For Alternative Service During F/G Shut Down

The councilmember called for enhanced bus or shuttle service to make up for suspended subway service.

After residents decried service changes to the F and G subway lines that will partially shut down some South Brooklyn subway stations and alter service on others, Councilmember Brad Lander has raised concerns about the way the MTA has handled the issue.

"This is part of a necessary project to rehabilitate the F/G line. But the MTA did not do enough outreach to provide advance notice and has not offered adequate alternative service," said Lander in a statement.

In order to facilitate a $275.5 million engineering and construction project to rehabilitate the elevated steel and concrete Culver Viaduct structure, there will be no Manhattan-bound service at the Smith-9th Streets station starting Monday. Both Manhattan and Queens-bound service from 15th Street-Prospect Park and Fort Hamilton Parkway will be completely suspended from Monday, January 10 through May 2011, forcing commuters to head to Church Avenue and then double back to catch Manhattan or Queens-bound trains. There will also be frequent station skipping and other changes to both the F and the G lines between Jay Street-MetroTech and Church Avenue through 2012.

Find out what's happening in Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hillwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Lander's office has received many complaints, particularly about the suspensions of service at the Fort Hamilton Parkway and 15th Street stations over the next five months. The councilmember said he is working to push the MTA to provide better service alternatives throughout the duration of the project, such as providing a shuttle bus to operating stations, rather than forcing commuters to either double back or trek to either Seventh or Church avenues.

"While this project is necessary, the fact that an alternative form of transportation is not being provided is an unacceptable hardship on people in Kensington and Windsor Terrace," Lander said in the statement.

Find out what's happening in Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hillwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The reason for the complete service suspensions at 15th Street and Fort Hamilton Parkway stations are a need to divert the F to express tracks, which do not stop at either station.

Late night service on the B61 bus to 15th Street will be expanded, according to the MTA, but no other bus or shuttle service enhancements are currently planned.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill