By Harold Egeln
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BAY RIDGE – Drivers who are down in the dumps over rising gas prices may be adding to the steady rise in weekday bus ridership, which has jumped 26 percent in the last decade in Brooklyn, according to a new study.

Bus lines experiencing the highest increases in Brooklyn include the B77 (Park Slope-Red Hook), which increased 114 percent, although service decreased nine percent; the B70 (Fort Hamilton-Sunset Park), which increased 108 percent, the B46 (Kings Plaza-Williamsburg), which increased 83 percent, and the B17 (Canarsie-Crown Heights), which increased 76 percent.

A combination of MetroCard use since 1997 and, in the last few years, the climbing gas prices, have caused the increase in bus-rider numbers, stated a report by the Straphangers Campaign, a non-profit transit advocacy group that used an MTA New York City Transit study for its documentation. Bus service has fallen far short of keeping pace, it said, with only an 8 percent rise between 1997 and 2007 in Brooklyn.

“In Brooklyn, the gap [between ridership and service] has more than tripled, with ridership increasing 26 percent since 1997, but service by only 8 percent,� said Gene Russianoff, senior attorney for the Straphangers Campaign. That is triple the overall gap in the entire city, where ridership is up 22 percent with a 15 percent increase in service.

In other words, Brooklyn has the worst disparity between increased ridership and not enough service increases to handle the riders’ surge.

“Bus ridership has increased since the start of free transfers between subways and buses in July 1997, with periods in which bus ridership dropped or stagnated after fare increases,� Russianoff said.

He added that riders are noticing their buses are more crowded. “It’s not your imagination. Transit officials have never caught up to the waves of new bus riders,� he said.

Disputing this contention was MTA New York City Transit itself. Service increased citywide throughout the decade, MTA officials insisted. However, the Straphangers Campaign said the MTA included weekend service in their figures, while the Straphangers used data from weekday service and ridership.

More Ridership Increases

In addition to the aforementioned lines that saw the highest increases, the B61 (Red Hook-Queens Plaza through Downtown Brooklyn) saw a 74 percent increase and a service increase of 7 percent; the B24 (Greenpoint-Williamsburg through Sunnyside in Queens) had a 60 percent increase with a 6 percent decline in service; the B6 (Bensonhurst-East New York) saw a 53 percent increase, and the B20 (Lindenwood-Ridgewood) had a 51 percent increase.

Since last month, the B61 and B77 lines, which terminate in Red Hook, have experienced dramatic increases in riders after their routes were extended to the new IKEA. However, those figures are unavailable.

In Bay Ridge, served by seven local bus lines, ridership is up on fives lines: the B1 by 31 percent; the B9, by 36 percent, the B16, by 20 percent; the B64, by 27 percent; and the B70, by 108 percent. The B1 goes to Manhattan Beach, and the B9 goes to Kings Plaza.

And it’s down on two routes -- the B4, which travels to Sheepshead Bay, by 4 percent; and the B37, the Third Avenue bus to Borough Hall, by 34 percent.

Where Ridership Declined

In some cases, ridership is down, matching the decrease in service. On the aforementioned B37 bus route between Bay Ridge and Brooklyn Heights, for example, the average weekday ridership dropped 34 percent, from 6,087 to 3,991 riders.

Just a few years ago, the TA considered the possibility of eliminating the line, which travels along Third Avenue, but community and elected officials’ protests prevented any action. The line parallels the R subway line at Fourth Avenue and the B63 bus line on Fifth Avenue.

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