B15 (New York City bus)
The Sumner Avenue Line and New Lots Avenue Line were two streetcar lines in Brooklyn, New York City], running mainly along Marcus Garvey Boulevard (formerly Sumner Avenue), East 98th Street, and New Lots Avenue between northern Bedford-Stuyvesant and New Lots. Originally streetcar lines, the two lines were combined as a bus route in 1947. That bus route is the B15 Marcus Garvey Boulevard/New Lots Avenue, operated by the New York City Transit Authority. The B15 continues east from New Lots to JFK Airport in Queens. The Brooklyn General Mail Facility in Spring Creek is also served by the route with buses going through there at night and select buses from Bedford-Stuyvesant using it as a terminal during the day.
B15 bus
The B15 bus route begins at the Myrtle Avenue (BMT Jamaica Line) subway station, and heads south through Bedford-Stuyvesant along Marcus Garvey Boulevard (southbound) and Lewis Avenue (northbound). After crossing Fulton Street, buses use a number of streets through Crown Heights and Ocean Hill, eventually turning south on Ralph Avenue and southeast on East 98th Street. In Brownsville and East New York, buses head east on Hegeman Avenue and New Lots Avenue, jogging south to Linden Boulevard. From there, JFK Airport buses continue to Conduit Avenue after entering Queens. The JFK buses then serve several areas of JFK Airport and end at Terminal 4. Along the way, transfers can be made to the subway at Kingston-Throop Avenues (IND Fulton Street Line), Sutter Avenue-Rutland Road (IRT New Lots Line), New Lots Avenue (BMT Canarsie Line), and New Lots Avenue (IRT New Lots Line). Outside of JFK Airport property, B15 buses run non-stop in Queens.
History of the Sumner Avenue Line
The Yates Avenue and Flatbush Railroad was organized in 1881 to build a branch of the Broadway Railroad, beginning at Broadway and Yates Avenue (now Marcus Garvey Boulevard), and running south on Yates, east on Fulton Street (over the Brooklyn City Rail Road's Fulton Street Line), and south on Troy Avenue to East New York Avenue in Flatbush.[1] The Broadway Railroad leased the line on December 31, 1881.[2] The line never reached East New York Avenue, but did reach the South Brooklyn Central Railroad (Bergen Street Line) at Bergen Street.[citation needed] The Brooklyn, Queens County and Suburban Railroad, owned by the Long Island Traction Company (later the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company), leased the Broadway Railroad (and thus the Sumner Avenue Line) in early 1894, and the line was electrified in late October.[3] After the Nassau Electric Railroad, which owned the Bergen Street Line, was leased to the Brooklyn Heights Railroad (another BRT property) in 1899, Sumner Avenue cars were extended both east along the Bergen Street Line, St. Johns Avenue Line, and Ralph Avenue Line to Brownsville and west along the Bergen Street Line to Hamilton Ferry in Red Hook.[citation needed]
Buses were substituted for streetcars on July 20, 1947.[citation needed]
History of the New Lots Avenue Line
History of the combined bus route
When the New Lots Avenue Line was converted to buses in 1941,[citation needed] it was assigned the B10 designation, running from Canarsie Depot at Rockaway and Hegeman Avenues east to Atkins Avenue. Buses replaced Sumner Avenue Line trolleys in 1947, and the route was cut back from the Williamsburg Bridge Plaza to its current terminal at Sumner Avenue and Hopkins Street, and became part of the B10.[4] It was later extended to JFK Airport and renumbered the B15.
References
- ^ Brooklyn Daily Eagle, A New Street Railroad, March 13, 1881, page 4
- ^ Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Railroad Bills, March 8, 1883, page 4
- ^ Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Real Estate Market, October 24, 1894, page 14
- ^ New York Board of Transportation, Report for the Three and One-half Years Ending June 30, 1949
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