Bus Countdown Clocks Arrive In Park Slope, Cobble Hill

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — Countdown clocks have gone live at six bus stops in Park Slope and Cobble Hill, and installation is underway at six other stops in the neighborhood.

City Councilman Brad Lander showed them off Monday morning at a meeting with reporters and community advocates underneath a new clock at Seventh Avenue and Ninth Street on the northbound side of the busy thoroughfare.

"It makes an enormous difference when you know when that next bus is coming. You can make all kinds of different decisions," said Lander, who represents Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace and Kensington.

"Knowing you can go get a cup of coffee or you’ve got an errand to run. You’re going to buy that bottle of wine or gift you need for dinner tonight. Whatever the thing is, you can do instead. It just makes all the different in the world that you don’t have to wait out here by yourself without knowing when the next bus is coming."

The clock Lander stood under showed how close — or far away — the B69 and B67 busses were to that intersection. At some points, though, the time didn't show at all, usually right after a bus had come and the next one was still far away, as you can see in the photo below:

These first 12 countdown clocks, placed at some of the busiest stops in his district, were funded by Lander's office back in 2014. (Scroll down to see the full list of stops.)

More clocks are planned through participatory budgeting and Department of Transportation money. Lander's office has asked for those in Windsor Terrace and Kensington.

"This is a huge quality of life improvement for people in the neighborhood," said Kedin Kilgore, a co-president of the Park Slope Civic Council.

"This is a great example of citizen engagement and our elected officials and city listening to the issues and requirements of all of us."

Lander had another idea to improve information for bus riders: adding the bus arrival information to LinkNYC kiosks, which provide Wi-Fi, tablet services and charging ports free to the public.

The bus time information could be cycled through on the kiosks' display boards, which show a mix of community information and display ads to fund their operation, Lander said.

"If we do that, together with the deployment of bus clocks at key intersections and places that aren't too close to a Link, we could achieve a very rapid expansion of bus time information in a very affordable way," Lander said.

Park Slope currently has about a dozen LinkNYC kiosks on Fifth Avenue that are live. There are none in Carroll Gardens, but a handful are either live or planned along Smith and Court Streets between Union Street and Atlantic Avenue in Cobble Hill. There are none in the Windsor Terrace or Kensington area.

You can view a map of all LinkNYC kiosks here.

In a statement sent to Patch, Ruth Fasoldt, the community affairs manager for LinkNYC, said the kiosks can't be installed near bus stops.

"Links currently provide transit information and updates on the tablet via access to MTA.info," Fasoldt said. "We are actively working to add relevant transit updates to the local information already provided on the large displays, such as the weather forecast, community board meeting notices, street fairs and cultural events."

Lander told Patch the information would still be useful for people at Link kiosks that are close to bus stations.

"Many places the Links are currently are nearby or on the same block or in a location that's on the way -- that's very convenient to bus riders," he said. "Surely, when the next bus is coming is as valuable to New Yorkers as when the next community board meeting is. I hope Link will work with New York City to make this happen."

According to Lander's office, bus countdown clocks are available at these stops:

• 7th Ave & 9th St (Northbound B69, B67)
• 7th Ave & 9th St (Southbound B69, B67)
• Columbia St. & Carroll St (Northbound/Eastbound B61)
• Atlantic Ave. & Court St (Eastbound/Southbound B63, B61)
• 5th Ave & 7th St (Southbound B67)
• 7th Ave & Flatbush Ave (Southbound B69, B67)

And installation is underway for clocks at these locations:

• 7th Ave & 6th St (Northbound B69, B67)
• 5th Ave & 9th St (Northbound/Westbound B63)
• 5th Ave & 9th Street (Southbound B63)
• Flatbush Ave & Grand Army Plaza (Southbound B41 LTD, B41)
• 5th Ave & Dean St (Southbound B63)
• 7th Ave & 11th Street (Northbound B69, B67)

Images via Marc Torrence, Patch Staff