b15
Marcus Garvey Boulevard / New Lots Avenue Line
A 2022 XD40 (7890) on the Lefferts Boulevard-bound B15 at Ralph Avenue/Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn in September 2022, due to construction at JFK Airport.
Overview
System	MTA Regional Bus Operations
Operator	New York City Transit Authority
Garage	East New York Depot
Vehicle	New FlyerXcelsior XD40 New FlyerXcelsior XDE40 New FlyerXcelsior XE40 Orion VII NG HEV
Route
Locale	Brooklyn andQueens, New York, U.S.
Communities served	Bedford–Stuyvesant,Crown Heights,Ocean Hill,Brownsville,East New York,Lindenwood
Landmarks served	John F. Kennedy International Airport
Start	Bedford–Stuyvesant –Woodhull Medical Center
Via	Marcus Garvey Blvd (southbound) / Lewis Avenue (northbound), East 98th Street, New Lots Avenue,Linden Boulevard,Conduit Avenue[1]
End	John F. Kennedy International Airport –Lefferts Boulevard AirTrain station – or East New York –Linden Boulevard / Drew Street
Length	9.5 miles (15.3 km)[2] (eastbound)
Service
Operates	All times[1]
Annual patronage	2,379,182 (2024)[3]
Transfers	Yes
Timetable	B15
Route map Bedford–Stuyvesant –Woodhull Hospital B15  ​ Intermittent stops Park Avenue Broadway Myrtle Avenue Intermittent stops Willoughby Avenue Pulaski Street DeKalb Avenue Intermittent stops Lafayette Avenue Green Avenue Gates Avenue Intermittent stops Madison Street Jefferson Avenue Halsey Street MacDonough Street Fulton Street Atlantic Avenue Dean Street Intermittent stops Troy Avenue Schenectady Avenue Utica Avenue Intermittent stops Rochester Avenue St. Marks Avenue Buffalo Avenue Intermittent stops Prospect Place Park Place St. Johns Place / Buffalo Avenue St. Johns Place / Ralph Avenue Eastern Parkway East New York Avenue Sutter Avenue Blake Avenue Dumont Avenue Kings Highway Riverdale Avenue–Lenox Road Legion Street Willmohr Street Lott–Church Avenues Hegeman Avenue Intermittent stops Boyland Street Bristol–Chester Streets Rockaway–Thatford Avenues Intermittent stops Osborn–Watkins Streets Gaston Boulevard–Christopher Avenue Sackman–Powell Streets Van Sinderen Avenue Hinsdale Street–Williams Avenue Alabama Avenue Georgia–Sheffield Avenues Pennsylvania Avenue Intermittent stops Vermont–Wyona Streets Bradford Street–Miller Avenue Van Siclen Avenue–Hendrix Street Scheneck Avenue–Barbey Street Jerome Street Ashford Street Intermittent stops Elton–Linwood Streets Essex Street Berriman Street Montauk Avenue–Milford Street Dumont Avenue / Fountain Avenue Hegeman Avenue / Fountain Avenue Linden Boulevard / Fountain Avenue Intermittent stops Euclid Avenue Crescent Avenue Autumn Avenue Lincoln Avenue Eldert Lane Loring Avenue Drew Street /Linden Boulevard B15  Emerald Street 78th–79th Streets Nonstop viaConduit Avenue Lefferts Boulevard AirTrain Station Bergen Road JFK Stop 22 JFK Airport stops West Hanger Road JFK Stop 20A Cargo Service Road JFK Stop 17 East Hanger Road JFK Stop 18 Building 122 JFK Stop 15 Buildings 14/21 JFK Stops 14/13 Buildings 23 JFK Stops 12/11 Building 90 JFK Airport – Terminal 5 B15  Legend Two-way stop One-way stop  B15  Terminal  B15  Part-time terminal Subway connection ← B14  {{{system_nav}}}  B16 →

TheSumner Avenue Line andNew Lots Avenue Line were twostreetcar lines inBrooklyn,New York City, running mainly along Marcus Garvey Boulevard (formerly Sumner Avenue), East 98th Street, and New Lots Avenue between northernBedford–Stuyvesant andNew Lots. Originallystreetcar lines, the two lines were combined as abus route in 1947. That bus route became the presentB15 Marcus Garvey Boulevard / New Lots Avenue service, operated byMTA New York City Bus'East New York Depot inEast New York. The B15 continues east from New Lots toJohn F. Kennedy International Airport inQueens.

The B15 bus route runs between theWoodhull Medical and Mental Health Center andFlushing Avenue (J and ​M) subway station inBedford–Stuyvesant, andJohn F. Kennedy International Airport's Terminal 5 inQueens. Alternate buses during rush hours and weekends short turn at Drew Street/Elderts Lane onLinden Boulevard inSpring Creek, at the border withLindenwood, Queens.^[1][4][5]

The B15 bus route heads south throughBedford–Stuyvesant along Marcus Garvey Boulevard (southbound) and Lewis Avenue (northbound). After crossingFulton Street, buses use a number of streets throughCrown Heights andOcean Hill, eventually turning south on Ralph Avenue and southeast on East 98th Street. InBrownsville andEast New York, buses head east on Hegeman Avenue and New Lots Avenue, then south toLinden Boulevard and merging ontoConduit Avenue after enteringQueens. B15 buses then terminate at theAirTrain JFK's Lefferts Boulevard station, within the grounds ofJohn F. Kennedy International Airport.^[1][4]

Between the 1990s and September 2013, the short-turn B15 Spring Creek terminus was a separate branch, directly serving theBrooklyn General Mail Facility via a turnaround loop at the north end of the facility south of Linden Boulevard. The JFK and Postal Facility branches were combined during midday and overnight hours.^[5][6] The loop is still served by terminatingB14 andB20 buses, and throughB13 service toWyckoff Heights Medical Center inBushwick or theGateway Center in the southern portion of Spring Creek.^[4][5]

Originally named after abolitionistCharles Sumner, Sumner Avenue was renamed Marcus Garvey Avenue in 1987, and later Marcus Garvey Boulevard afterPan-Africanism proponentMarcus Garvey.^[7][8][9]

TheYates Avenue and Flatbush Railroad was organized in 1881 to build a branch of theBroadway Railroad, beginning at Broadway and Yates Avenue (present-day Marcus Garvey Boulevard) inBedford–Stuyvesant, continuing south on Yates toFulton Street, then east on Fulton, where it ran over theBrooklyn City Rail Road'sFulton Street Line to Troy Avenue, and continued south on Troy to end at Bergen Street.^[10] The Broadway Railroad leased the line on December 31, 1881.^[11] TheBrooklyn, Queens County and Suburban Railroad, owned by theLong Island Traction Company (later theBrooklyn Rapid Transit Company or BRT), leased the Broadway Railroad in early 1894, and the line waselectrified in late October.^[12] The BRT would become theBrooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) in 1923.^[13]

Beginning in the 1920s manystreetcar lines in Brooklyn and the rest of the city began to be replaced by buses, particularly after theunification of the city's three primary transit companies (including the BMT) under municipal operations in June 1940.^[14][15] The New Lots Avenue Line was converted to buses in mid-1941, running from theCanarsie Depot at Rockaway Avenue and Hegeman Avenue continuing east along Hegeman Avenue andLinden Boulevard to Atkins Avenue/Berriman Street inEast New York.^[14][16][17] The service was assigned theB10 designation.^[14][16][18] On July 8, 1947, the B10 was extended to replace Sumner Avenue trolley service. The Sumner route was cut back fromWilliamsburg Bridge Plaza to its current terminal at Broadway and Sumner Avenue with direct Bedford–Stuyvesant-Red Hook service unreplaced.^[16][19] Sumner trolley service was fully eliminated in 1949.^[16]

On September 29, 1963, several Brooklyn streets including Sumner Avenue were turned into one-way streets; Sumner Avenue would become southbound only. Northbound B10 buses were rerouted onto Lewis Avenue at this time.^[20] By this time, the B10 had been extended east alongLinden Boulevard to Drew Street/Elderts Lane inNew Lots/Spring Creek, near the Brooklyn-Queens border.^[18][20] This extension had been proposed around 1960 to serve the Cypress Hills and Louis Heaton Pink public housing complexes in New Lots.^[21] The bus would serve Brooklyn General Mail Facility in Spring Creek when it opened in 1991.^[22][23] In 1993, the route was extended to its current terminal atJohn F. Kennedy International Airport's Terminal 4 inJamaica, Queens. When the route was extended to Kennedy Airport it was redesignated as theB15 (the previous designation for a route between City Hall andDowntown Brooklyn)^[18][24] to avoid confusion with theQ10, an existing route serving the airport, at the time operated byGreen Bus Lines (now part ofMTA Bus Company).

On April 11, 2004, 24-hour service was added to the B15 between Brooklyn and JFK Airport. At the same time, service to all JFK terminals except Terminal 4 was replaced by a free transfer to theAirTrain JFK.^[25][26] On October 12, 2009, buses on the B15 were equipped with luggage racks, as part of a ten-bus pilot program on airport bus services to improve passenger flow.^[27][28][29] On May 30, 2012, due to construction at Terminal 4, the B15 started terminating at a new stop at Terminal 5, near the formerTerminal 6.^[26][30] On September 8, 2013, B15 buses stopped directly serving the Brooklyn General Mail Facility loop due to low ridership.^[5][6]

In February 2022, the MTA announced that the B15 branch to JFK would be truncated to theAirTrain JFK's Lefferts Boulevard station the next month on March 27 to accommodate long-term construction at JFK Airport. The changes would remain in effect until at least 2026, when JFK's new Central Terminal Area was completed. The discontinued portion of the B15 would be served by an extension of theQ3 service.^[31]

On December 1, 2022, the MTA released a draft redesign of the Brooklyn bus network.^[32][33] As part of the redesign, the B15's eastern terminus would be truncated to the Brooklyn General Mail Facility, while the western terminus would be extended to theMontrose Avenue station at Bushwick Avenue and Montrose Avenue inEast Williamsburg. Northbound service in Bedford-Stuyvesant would be rerouted to Kingston and Throop Avenues. Closely-spaced stops would also be removed.^[34] The B15's JFK Airport branch, as well as theB35 Limited bus, would be replaced by theB55, a newSelect Bus Service route running fromKensington to JFK Airport via Church Avenue, New Lots Avenue, Linden Boulevard, and North and South Conduit Avenue.^[35]

• Media related toB15 (New York City bus) at Wikimedia Commons

• Streetcar lines in Brooklyn
• MTA Regional Bus routes
• Bus routes in Brooklyn
• John F. Kennedy International Airport

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