Over 1000 Straphangers Petition to Extend B68 Service

The people have spoken.

Today Councilmember Brad Lander hit the MTA with a petition urging the agency to extend service of the B68 bus to Seventh Avenue, and ease commuting pains while the Fort Hamilton Parkway and 15th Street-Prospect Park F and G stations are partially closed for the MTA’s .

The petition was signed by 1,238 Brooklyn straphangers, who signed the petition both online and in person when Lander and a team of volunteers canvassed subway platforms looking for support.

“Thousands rely on the subway, offering a decent alternative would make a difference to a lot of people,” Lander told Patch as he collected signatures at the 15th Street station.

Earlier this month, Lander, Borough President Marty Markowitz, Senator Eric Adams and Assemblyman Jim Brennan sent a letter to the agency detailing the extreme inconvenience of commuters at the Fort Hamilton Parkway and 15th Street F and G stations.

Due to rehabilitation work on the Culver Viaduct, northbound train service at both stations is suspended until May, along with other .

The extension would give stranded straphangers at both 15th Street and Fort Hamilton Parkway an alternative to walking or heading southbound first in order to doubleback and catch northbound trains.

According to Lander, the B68 extension is an affordable alternative that would cost less than one-tenth of one percent of the $275.5 million Culver reconstruction project. He cited similar extensions made by the MTA in the past, such as recently setting up a special B3K bus to run to the open Avenue U station during rush hours when the Kings Highway Q train station was closed.

“Together with over 1,000 community residents, I implore NYC Transit to extend the B68 bus until the Ft. Hamilton and 15th Street Stations are permanently reopened,” said Lander in a statement. “It would add less than one-tenth of one percent to the cost of this project, but make life much easier for the Windsor Terrace and Kensington straphangers who are severely inconvenienced by the station closures.”