b61, b62 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crosstown Line Park Slope−Red Hook−Downtown Brooklyn−Long Island City−Astoria | ||||||
  A 2011 C40LF (433) on the B61 at Smith-9th Streets and a 2024 XE40 (5011) on the Astoria-bound B62 | ||||||
| Overview | ||||||
| System | MTA Regional Bus Operations | |||||
| Operator | New York City Transit Authority | |||||
| Garage | Jackie Gleason Depot (B61) Grand Avenue Depot (B62) | |||||
| Vehicle | New FlyerC40LF CNG New FlyerXcelsior XN40 (B61 only)[1] New FlyerXcelsior XD40 New FlyerXcelsior XDE40 New FlyerXcelsior XE40 (B62 only)[2] | |||||
| Began service | January 28, 1951 (B61 Red Hook−Greenpoint service)[3] January 2010 (B62 Downtown Brooklyn−Long Island City service)[4] | |||||
| Predecessors | B61 (Long Island City–Downtown Brooklyn), B75, B77 | |||||
| Route | ||||||
| Locale | Brooklyn andQueens, New York, U.S. | |||||
| Communities served | Downtown Brooklyn,Boerum Hill,Cobble Hill,Red Hook,Gowanus,Park Slope,Windsor Terrace (B61) Astoria,Long Island City,Greenpoint,Williamsburg,Clinton Hill,Fort Greene,Brooklyn Navy Yard,Vinegar Hill,Downtown Brooklyn (B62) | |||||
| Start | Downtown Brooklyn –Fulton Mall/Jay Street–MetroTech station
| |||||
| End | B61:Park Slope/Windsor Terrace – 20th Street andProspect Park West/Green-Wood CemeteryB62:Astoria, Queens –Astoria Houses | |||||
| Length | 5.6 miles (9.0 km)[5] (B61) 9.7 miles (15.6 km)[6] (B62) | |||||
| Other routes | Crosstown Line,Q69 and Q100 buses | |||||
| Service | ||||||
| Operates | 24 hours[7][8] | |||||
| Annual patronage | 1,883,769 (B61, 2024); 1,643,933 (B62, 2024)[9] | |||||
| Transfers | Yes | |||||
| Timetable | B61 B62 | |||||
| ||||||
TheCrosstown Line is a public transit line inBrooklyn,New York City, running along Van Brunt Street andManhattan Avenue betweenRed Hook andLong Island City,Queens. Originally astreetcar line, it is now theB61 and theB62 bus routes. The northern section, the B62, is operated byMTA New York City Bus'Grand Avenue Depot inMaspeth, Queens, and the southern section is the B61, operated byMTA New York City Bus'Jackie Gleason Depot inSunset Park. The entire route was a single line, the B61, until January 3, 2010;[4] the B62 was previously a separate, parallel route between Downtown Brooklyn andGreenpoint,[10] now part of theB43 route. The streetcar line, B61 and the original B62 previously operated from the now-closedCrosstown Depot in Greenpoint.[11]
The original Crosstown Line began at the Richards Street at the foot of Erie Basin, the portion of theUpper New York Bay immediately south ofRed Hook. It ran north on Richards Street to Woodhull Street (now the site of theBrooklyn–Battery Tunnel toll plaza), then north onColumbia Street toAtlantic Avenue at Brooklyn'sSouth Ferry landing. The line then ran east along Atlantic Avenue intoDowntown Brooklyn, turning north at Court Street and east at Joralemon Street, then east along Willoughby Street, then north on Raymond Street (now Ashland Place). It proceeded east along Park Avenue (occupied today by theBrooklyn–Queens Expressway at this location), then north along Washington Avenue through theBrooklyn Navy Yard and north on Kent Avenue toBroadway Ferry. The route ran east a short distance alongBroadway, then ran north along Driggs Avenue (southbound trolleys usedBedford Avenue) through northernWilliamsburg, and finally north onManhattan Avenue to Box Street near the foot ofNewtown Creek inGreenpoint.[12] The streetcar line operated out of theCrosstown Depot at its northern terminus, which would later become a bus depot for the B61 and other routes.[11][12][13]
The current B61 bus route begins at 20th Street and Prospect Park West at the north end ofGreen-Wood Cemetery and adjacent to the defunctBishop Ford Central Catholic High School, straddling thePark Slope,South Slope, andWindsor Terrace neighborhoods. Northbound, the route turns west at 9th Street nearNew York Methodist Hospital, continuing west throughGowanus andRed Hook via 9th Street, Lorraine Street, and Beard Street (eastbound) or Van Dyke Street (westbound). Much of this routing in Gowanus and Red Hook between Smith Street and theRed Hook IKEA Terminal is shared with theB57, the only other bus line that travels to and from Red Hook. The B61 then parallels the Crosstown streetcar line, running north on Van Brunt Street (one block west of Richards Street) to Carroll Street near theRed Hook Container Terminal and theBrooklyn Battery Tunnel, then north along Columbia Street and east alongAtlantic Avenue intoDowntown Brooklyn. The route terminates just south of theFulton Mall and theJay Street–MetroTech subway station at Smith Street and Livingston Street, in front of the headquarters of theNew York City Transit Authority. Southbound buses reenter service via Boerum Place one block west.[7][14]
Prior to 2008, the B61 comprised the entire Crosstown surface route, running betweenLong Island City, Queens and the south end of Van Brunt Street in Red Hook.[4][10][15][16][17] In 2008, the route's southern terminus was extended two blocks east to Otsego Street and Beard Street to serve the then-newly opened IKEA terminal in Red Hook.[17][18][19][20] In January 2010 the route split into the current B61 and B62 routes to improve reliability. Six months later, the new B61 was extended to Prospect Park West to replace theB75’s Park Slope section and the wholeB77 route.[4][21][22]
Initially based out of the Crosstown Depot,[11] then theJackie Gleason Depot,[23] the B61 was moved to theGrand Avenue Depot in Queens upon the depot's opening in January 2008.[23][24][25] It was moved back to the Jackie Gleason Depot following the creation of the current B62.[21]
The B62 bus route operates between Schermerhorn Street and Boerum Place in front of theNew York City Transit Headquarters (370 Jay Street) in Downtown Brooklyn, and Hallets Point inAstoria, Queens, at all times. It runs via Park Avenue and Manhattan Avenue in Brooklyn[8][14] and via 21st Street in Queens, using thePulaski Bridge to travel between the two boroughs.[8][26] This bus replaced the northern leg of the B61 route on January 3, 2010.[4] The B62 is currently based out of theGrand Avenue Depot inMaspeth, Queens.
TheNassau Railroad was incorporated in 1865 with the power to build from theHunters Point Ferry throughWilliamsburg toFlatbush, with a branch to theSouth Ferry.[27][28] TheGreenpoint and Williamsburgh Railroad and Nassau Railroad merged in 1868 to form the Brooklyn City, Hunter's Point and Prospect Park Railroad, with the right to build from theHunters Point Ferry to theSouth Ferry with a branch toProspect Park.[29]
On January 28, 1951, the line was replaced with bus service, designated "B-61",[3][30] between Greenpoint and Red Hook (the later terminal labeled as "Erie Basin").[3][31] In February 1960, the Transit Authority rerouted the bus route betweenClinton Hill and Downtown Brooklyn, from Myrtle Avenue onto Park Avenue, due to traffic congestion. The change was reversed on August 1 of that year after complaints from riders and local businesses.[32] By 1963, the route had been extended across thePulaski Bridge into Queens,[33] terminating at Jackson Avenue and 49th Avenue inHunters Point.[10][15] On September 8, 1963, the line was split in northern Williamsburg, traveling on Bedford Avenue northbound and Driggs Avenue southbound, after the streets were turned into one-way avenues.[34] In fall 1964, the northbound B61 was rerouted in Williamsburg from Kent Avenue to Bedford Avenue farther inland between theBrooklyn Navy Yard and Division Avenue, to improve passenger safety.[35]
The route was extended to Queens Plaza in 1994 as part of theMetropolitan Transportation Authority's Fare Deal program.[36] In January 2008, the B61 was moved to the newly opened Grand Avenue Depot, with 22 buses allotted to route.[24] Also that month, the B61 andB77 were rerouted to serve the IKEA Red Hook terminal,[17][18][19][20] which opened on June 18, 2008.[20][37]
For many years through the 2000s, the B61 had been considered an unreliable route, due to the route's length, infrequent and off-schedule service, and traffic congestion in Downtown Brooklyn.[4][20][21][38][39] To remedy the situation, on January 3, 2010, the B61 was split into the B61 (Red Hook−Downtown Brooklyn) and a new B62 (Downtown Brooklyn−Long Island City).[4][21][39] In addition, the B62 was rerouted to serve theWilliamsburg Bridge Plaza Bus Terminal to provide convenient connections to bus and subway routes there. The change had been discussed by the MTA and local politicians since 2007.[20][23][38][40] On June 27, 2010, the new B61 was merged with the discontinuedB75 andB77 routes during the 2010 MTA budget crisis. The B61 was extended east of Red Hook into Park Slope, replacing the entire B77 route and the eastern/southern leg of the B75.[21][22][39] In November 2011, a report on B61 service was released byNew York City Council memberBrad Lander.[21] In April 2012, additional buses were added to the B61 route.[41] Later that year,MTA Bus Time was installed on B61 buses.[42]
In December 2019, the MTA released a draft redesign of the Queens bus network.[43][44] The redesign included a "high density" route called the QT1, which would have run fromAstoria, Queens, to Downtown Brooklyn.[45] The redesign was delayed due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in New York City in 2020,[46] and the original draft plan was dropped due to negative feedback.[47] A revised plan was released in March 2022.[48] As part of the new plan, the B62 bus would be extended northward in Queens along 21st Street, terminating at 27th Avenue/2nd Street in Astoria, and would no longer serve Queensboro or Queens Plazas.[49]
On December 1, 2022, the MTA released a draft redesign of the Brooklyn bus network.[50][51] As part of the plan, the B61 would be truncated to 15th Street and Prospect Park West at its southern end, and service south of 15th Street would be provided by a new bus route, the B81. In addition, the northbound B61 would no longer directly serve theIKEA store in Red Hook; the southbound B61, as well as the new B27 and B81 routes, would continue to stop in front of the IKEA store.[52] The B62 was already planned to be extended to Astoria and converted into a limited-stop route as part of the Queens redesign. Under the Brooklyn redesign, the B62 would use Flushing Avenue in the vicinity of theBrooklyn Navy Yard. Within Williamsburg, northbound buses would useBedford Avenue, while southbound buses would use Driggs and Lee Avenues; the route would no longer use Broadway or Division, Kent, or Wythe Avenues. North of Nassau and Driggs Avenues, the B62 would useMcGuinness Boulevard instead of Manhattan Avenue. Late-night service would still run on York Street.[53] On both routes, closely-spaced stops would be removed.[50][51]
No changes to the B62's Queens segment were made in the Proposed Final Plan for Queens in December 2023.[54][55] On December 17, 2024, addendums to the final plan were released,[56][57] including a few stop adjustments for the B62 and reverting it back to a "Local" route.[58] On January 29, 2025, the current plan was approved by the MTA Board,[59] and the Queens Bus Redesign went into effect in two different phases during Summer 2025.[60] The B62 is part of Phase II, which began on August 31, 2025.[61]
Media related toB61 (New York City bus) at Wikimedia Commons Media related toB62 (New York City bus) at Wikimedia Commons| Current local routes |  | |
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