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b1
86th Street Line (Brooklyn)
New Flyer XD60 bus on the B1 in Bensonhurst.
Overview
System MTA New York City Bus
Operator New York City Transit Authority
Garage Ulmer Park Depot
Vehicle New Flyer Xcelsior XD60
New Flyer Xcelsior XD40 (supplemental service)
Began service1894 (Streetcar Line 31)
April 1919 (B1)
Ended serviceAugust 12, 1948 (Streetcar Line 31)
Route
Locale Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Communities served Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, Gravesend, Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach
Start Bay Ridge - 86th Street & 4th Avenue
Via86th Street, Ocean Parkway, Brighton Beach Avenue
End Manhattan Beach – Kingsborough Community College
Length6.8 miles (10.9 km)
Service
Operates24 hours
Annual patronage3,755,811 (2022) [1]
TransfersYes
Timetable B1
←  S98 ( Staten Island)  {{{system_nav}}}  B2 →

The 86th Street Line is a public transit line in Brooklyn, New York, running mostly along 86th Street. Originally a streetcar line, it is now the B1 86th Street bus route operated by the New York City Transit Authority.

Description

The B1 begins at 4th Avenue and 87th Street in Bay Ridge and then turns right onto 86th Street. It then goes down 86th Street until McDonald Avenue, where it turns onto Avenue X. The B1 then turns right onto Ocean Parkway and continues until turning left onto Brighton Beach Avenue, sharing the street with the B68. It continues until turning right at Corbin Place and left onto Oriental Blvd. The route then continues until it ends at Kingsborough Community College.

History

Streetcar line

1906 atlas of Gravesend showing the 86th Street Line's main storage depot

The 86th Street streetcar line or Streetcar Line #31 was built by the Nassau Electric Railroad in 1894 to make more profits for the company. The company was later leased by the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation. In 1929 the company made a subsidiary company, the Brooklyn and Queens Transit Corporation, to run multiple Streetcar lines one of which was the 86th Streetcar Line. The line ran entirely on surface level except for the northern terminal where it went onto an island platform. The 86th Streetcar Line had connections to multiple lines including the Bay Ridge Line, West End Line and the Fifth Avenue Line. In 1930, new tracks were made that split from the West End Line at 24th Avenue and went onto a right of way path used by trolleys to get to the Unionville Depot and onto Crospey Avenue. The 86th Street line would then later merge back with the West End Line at the intersection of Crospey and Stillwell Avenues.


The 86th Street streetcar line closed on August 12, 1948, was replaced with bus service and demolished some time later.

Pre-1930 Stations list

Neighborhood Station Type Tracks Services Opened Transfers and notes
Bay Ridge
65th Street Terminal Station local all 86th Street Line 1894 Demolished 1948
Ramp down from elevated station [2]
67th Street local all 86th Street Line 1894 Demolished 1948
Bay Ridge Avenue local all 86th Street Line 1894 Transfer to Bay Ridge Avenue line
4th Avenue local all 86th Street Line 1894 Demolished 1948
5th Avenue local all 86th Street Line 1894 Demolished 1948
72nd Street local all 86th Street Line 1894 Demolished 1948
Bay Ridge Parkway local all 86th Street Line 1894 Demolished 1948
77th Street local all 86th Street Line 1894 Demolished 1948
80th Street local all 86th Street Line 1894 Demolished 1948
83rd Street local all 86th Street Line 1894 Demolished 1948
Fifth Avenue local all 86th Street Line 1894 Demolished 1948
Fort Hamilton Parkway local all 86th Street Line 1894 Demolished 1948
Dyker Heights
7th Avenue local all 86th Street Line 1894 Demolished 1948
12th Avenue local all 86th Street Line 1894 Demolished 1948
14th Avenue-86th Street local all 86th Street Line 1894 Demolished 1948
Benson Avenue local all 86th Street Line 1894 Demolished 1948
14th Avenue local all 86th Street Line 1894 Demolished 1948
Bath Beach
15th Avenue local all 86th Street Line 1894 Demolished 1948
16th Avenue local all 86th Street Line 1894 Demolished 1948
17th Avenue local all 86th Street Line 1894 Demolished 1948
Tracks Merge at Bay 19th Street with the West End Line [3]
Bay 18th Street local all 86th Street Line 1894 Connections to the West End Line surface [4]
20th Avenue local all 86th Street Line 1894 Connections to the West End Line surface [4]
21st Avenue local all 86th Street Line 1894 Connections to the West End Line surface [4]
Bay Parkway local all 86th Street Line 1894 Connections to the West End Line surface [4]
23rd Avenue local all 86th Street Line 1894 Connections to the West End Line surface [4]
24th Avenue local all 86th Street Line 1894 Connections to the West End Line surface [4]
25th Avenue local all 86th Street Line 1894 Connections to the West End Line surface [4]
Track Splits to Unionville Depot
Bay 41st Street local all 86th Street Line 1894 Connections to the West End Line surface [4]
Bay 44th Street local all 86th Street Line 1894 Connections to the West End Line surface [4]
Gravesend
28th Avenue local all 86th Street Line 1894 Connections to the West End Line surface [4]
Harway Avenue local all 86th Street Line 1894 Demolished 1948
Avenue Z local all 86th Street Line 1894 Demolished 1948
Coney Island
Neptune Avenue local all 86th Street Line 1894 Demolished 1948
Stillwell Avenue local all 86th Street Line 1894 Connections to the West End Line surface, Sea Gate, Norton's Point and Sea Beach Line (As of 1948)

Bus line

Bus service in the Sheepshead Bay area was started in April 1919 by Plum Beach Auto Stage. Trolley service had not reached the area, due to its sparse population. It was one of the first bus routes in Brooklyn. Initially, the routes were lettered A, B, and C. They were feeder routes for elevated trains.

Between 1936 and around 1940, a branch of the B1 was extended from Brighton Beach Avenue and Ocean Avenue to Coney Island Hospital. Another branch of the B1 that operated from Bragg Street and Emmons Avenue and making a loop between Avenues X and Y between Coney Island Avenue and Ocean Avenue was rerouted and extended south to Coney Island Hospital.

When the B2 (later renumbered the B32) started from Avenue U to the foot of Flatbush Avenue, The prefix 1 was added to routes A, B, and C.

In 1946, the B1A and B1B branches were combined to form the B21 making a U-shaped route. The 86th Street portion and Bay Ridge Avenue portion of the B1 (west of 25th Avenue) were B34 until 1978. Service via Brighton Beach was the B21 bus until 1978. Service originally ran via the Sheepshead Bay (BMT Brighton Line) station. Service was rerouted via Brighton Beach and Coney Island Hospital in 1978, absorbing the B21 and B34. The current routing was originally proposed in the 1970s as the B86.

The western end (13th Avenue and 86th Street) was swapped with the B64 in 2010.

On December 1, 2022, the MTA released a draft redesign of the Brooklyn bus network. As part of the redesign, the B1 would retain its route, but closely spaced stops would be eliminated.

References

  1. ^ "Subway and bus ridership for 2022". mta.info. August 3, 2023. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  2. ^ "Home".
  3. ^ "OldNYC". OldNYC. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "21 Jul 1916, 2 - Times Union at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
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