Brooklyn at a Glance

Brooklyn’s population has grown 5.2% since 2010. Since 2009, private sector job growth in the borough as a whole has outpaced the rest of New York City, New York State, and the country, with the number of businesses growing 32 percent and private sector employment growing 39 percent. Growth has occurred in nearly every sector.

Brooklyn’s ongoing population and employment growth is expected to continue, though some neighborhoods are expected to grow faster than others. While the Brooklyn Bus Network covers nearly the entire borough, it has not changed much in the past decades to support this growth.

Currently 31 of the 170 subway stations in Brooklyn are accessible according to standards established by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The network redesign will be particularly important for those customers whose transit options are currently more limited.

According to Census data, about 55 percent of Brooklyn households do not own a vehicle. About 62 percent of Brooklyn commuters travel via transit. About 53 percent of Brooklyn commuters identified rail modes as their primary means of transportation, while 9 percent identified bus as their primary means. About 23 percent of commuters drive to work.

The Brooklyn Bus Network, comprised of 72 routes, carries over 650,000 riders on an average weekday. In general, bus boardings are more prevalent in the eastern half of the borough, particularly in the neighborhoods east of Prospect Park.

Most Brooklyn bus customers transfer as part of their journey; 37% transfer to another bus and 35% transfer to the subway.

Limitations of the Existing Network

Much of the network is a grid, though in some neighborhoods, circuitous routes slow down travel to key destinations and transfer points.

Bus routes sometimes operate on nearby parallel streets, splitting the available resources.

Bus priority is generally limited to SBS corridors and does not benefit most Brooklyn bus riders.

Bus stops spaced close together slow down bus travel, as the bus needs to frequently decelerate to a stop and then wait to re-enter the flow of traffic.

Narrow streets and difficult turns, particularly left turns, hamper bus speeds and reliability.

Even with bus routes covering much of the borough, there are opportunities to improve connectivity and provide easier access to places in Brooklyn and beyond where customers want to go.

Customer Priorities:

Decreased wait time and increased frequency

Customers want more frequent bus service to shorten waits at bus stops. In the existing network, Brooklyn customers wait longer for the bus than they expect to, about two minutes on average for each trip.

Decreased travel time through faster buses

Customers want faster travel on buses to get to their destinations more quickly. Average bus speeds in Brooklyn are the second-lowest of the five boroughs, at 7.0 miles per hour (MPH) in May 2019, and have slowed 5% since 2014.

A more reliable network

Customers want buses to be more reliable and less bunched. Once on the bus, Brooklyn customers spend more time traveling to their destination than the schedule would indicate, about one minute on average for each trip. About one-third of the time, it takes customers five minutes longer than expected to complete their trip.

Improved connections to more places

Customers want access to more of the city than they have now, both within and between Brooklyn neighborhoods and onward to other boroughs.

Network simplification to increase ease of use

Customers want the bus network to be easier to use.