De Blasio “Placard Crackdown” Update: Placard Holders Monopolize Livingston Street Bus Lane

Nine months after Mayor de Blasio announced his big placard crackdown, it has yet to reach Livingston Street in Downtown Brooklyn, where bus riders stew in traffic while placard-holding government employees illegally park in the bus lane.

Streetsblog reader JarekFA took this footage at 11:30 this morning. The bus lane, on Livingston between Smith Street and Boerum Place, is supposed to be car-free from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

This corridor, which got transit priority about seven years ago, sees more than 40 buses per hour during peak hours. The B41, B45, B67, and B103 all use this bus lane.

But as you can see, the lane — in front of a courthouse and Department of Education building — is useless to bus riders because it has been taken over by placard-bearing government workers who know there’s little to no chance they will ever get a ticket.

Watch as JarekFA counts placard after placard:

Some incredible level of @placardabuse rendering this @NYCTBus lane completely useless. This is in the @NYPD84Pct. Bus lanes are for buses, right @patkiernan? cc @errollouis @JamieStelter. 7am to 7pm active bus lane which cars may enter for right turns only. Such disrespect. pic.twitter.com/sWnZLEl2CW

— JarekFA (@JarekFA) February 16, 2018

Years of Google images suggest a bus lane occupied by parked cars is the normal state of affairs.

De Blasio is allowing public employees to torpedo city efforts to improve bus service in Downtown Brooklyn — further evidence that New Yorkers who rely on buses just don’t matter that much to the mayor.