
Photo by Allan Rosen
THE COMMUTE: Last Wednesday, I rode the B4 bus to obtain some signatures for the petition started by the Sheepshead Bay-Plumb Beach Civic Association to restore service to Plumb Beach on mid-days, evenings and weekends. I boarded the first bus of the afternoon that was due to arrive at Avenue Z and East 16th Street at 1:52 p.m. because it would, presumably, have more passengers than the following buses. There were between 15 and 20 on board and not enough time for me to ask everyone to sign the petition. Most were very eager to sign; a few declined. On my two round trips I collected about 30 signatures.
It gave me the opportunity to speak to the passengers as well as the bus drivers. What was most surprising was that about five riders on the first trip had no idea that they were on the first bus since 9:00 a.m. That tells me that, after two years, there still are people waiting for the bus all day long, eventually giving up after waiting 30 minutes or an hour when they finally decide to check the bus schedule.
One of the passengers who did not know she was on the first bus, asked the driver when we were approaching Knapp Street, and where to get off for the fishing boats. I told her we already passed them because you cannot see them from the Belt Parkway service road and she should wait until the last stop and ride back. It was her first time in Sheepshead Bay and she made the trip just to see the bay because she heard it was such a nice place to visit.
Now the MTA believes everyone who rides a bus does it because they have to get somewhere and have no other choice. They don’t believe anyone makes discretionary trips, just because a service exists. There are many other things the MTA does not know about its passengers, like those who are forced to take car service during times the B4 does not operate. If they had sent a representative to last week’s Transit Town Hall, they would have known that.













