What’s up with Flatbush Avenue?

Okay, so baseline assertion we’re going to work backwards from: Flatbush Avenue is in need of a radical change and, in its current state, does not work for anyone. Driving on Flatbush sucks. Taking the bus on Flatbush sucks. Cycling on Flatbush is indicative of a death wish (and it sucks).

But why is this the case? What are the actual conditions that make using this major thoroughfare such a slow, frustrating, dangerous slog? Who are the people that stand to lose the most if nothing changes? And, where the real meat of this conversation is, what tools are at our disposal to do something about it?

Well, lucky for us, Flatbush Avenue has been identified as a priority corridor in multiple citywide initiatives like the NYC Streets Plan, Mayor Adams and MTA’s joint Transit Improvement Summit, and Vision Zero. Each seeks to improve the speed and reliability of NYC’s buses and eliminate traffic deaths. So NYCDOT has taken a particular interest in answering some of these questions and has begun studying the corridor to identify the problem(s) with Flatbush Avenue and explore ways to make it suck less.

The Current State of Flatbush Avenue:

Let’s start with a closer look at the current state of Flatbush Avenue and the two primary factors behind why it’s been identified as a corridor ripe for improvement:

• The buses are slow: According to MTA Metrics, from September 2022 to September 2023 the B41 bus averaged a speed of 6.8MPH, 17% slower than the (less than ideal) 8.2MPH citywide average over the same period.

• People are being maimed: 164 people have been killed or seriously injured on Flatbush Avenue from 2016 to 2020, including 52 pedestrians, 98 people in motor vehicles, and 14 cyclists.

Who Loses with a Broken Flatbush Avenue?:

While bus speeds and traffic casualties allow us to understand what’s wrong on Flatbush, these metrics only tell half the story. The real consequences of a fundamentally broken streetscape and the true price of inaction can’t be appreciated without first understanding who all is riding these slow buses on perpetually congested, unsafe streets. For example, in Brooklyn:

• 67% of bus riders are women

• 78% of bus riders are people of color

• Bus riders earn $43K on average, half the income of the average driver

And, of the nearly 1 million residents living in the Community Boards surrounding Flatbush:

• 59% have zero access to a vehicle

• 76% commute to work via transit, walking, or biking

These facts, along with other demographic insights like nursing and teaching being the the most common occupation among bus riders in Brooklyn, not only justify a sense of urgency in addressing the current state of Flatbush Avenue, but also lay bare the implications of inaction or, worse yet, active opposition to implementing solutions, whatever they may be.

Tools for a New Flatbush Fastbus(!) Avenue:

So, here’s where we are right now. The city has made a longstanding commitment to speed up buses and eliminate traffic deaths. In that initiative, Flatbush Avenue has been identified as an area in need of major improvements to fulfill those commitments. We understand that the majority of people living near and commuting along Flatbush Avenue are doing so through means other than driving. So, what do we do? Well, we don’t actually have the answers, but we do know there are numerous tools at our disposal that will be transformative in creating a Flatbush Avenue that works for everyone.

NYCDOT started the initial planning phase for Flatbush Avenue in June 2022, and as we anticipate news of the next steps in their community engagement process we can do so much more than lay idle. It is up to us as a community to define our desired outcomes now—do we want faster buses? Safer streets? Thriving businesses? Better EMS response times? More value out of our $2.90?—and be prepared to stand together in supporting and ushering in the radical change that will be necessary to see those outcomes through.

Do you ride the bus on Flatbush Avenue? Would you if it offered a better, faster, more reliable experience? Tell us all about it and join a community of riders dreaming of a better Flatbush Ave!