B18 (New York City bus)

The **B18** was a public transit line in Brooklyn, New York, that ran primarily on Metropolitan Avenue, Morgan Avenue, Wyckoff Avenue, Cypress Avenue, between Williamsburg and Cypress Hills. It was based at the Fresh Pond Depot, and previously the Crosstown Depot.

The B18 began service in 1931, by Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit. The route west of Myrtle Avenue would be merged into the B13 bus route, while east of it would be discontinued.

## Route description

The B18 began at Graham Avenue and Metropolitan Avenue, and used Metropolitan Avenue to access Morgan Avenue, while buses accessing the terminus used Grand Street and Graham Avenue. It then continued on Morgan Avenue until it turned to Johnson Avenue, while northbound buses used Knickerbocker Avenue to access Morgan Avenue. It then continued on Johnson Avenue until it turned to Porter Avenue, and then continued on the avenue as well until it headed eastbound to Flushing Avenue, while northbound buses used Thames Street to access Porter Avenue. It then continued on Flushing Avenue until it turned to Wyckoff Avenue. It then mostly went on the avenue for a length until southbound buses used Linden Street to access Cypress Avenue, while northbound buses used Gates Avenue to access Wyckoff Avenue. It then continued mostly on Cypress Avenue until it went on Cypress Hills Street, and turned to Jamaica Avenue. Buses heading to the terminus then used Jamaica Avenue, Hemlock Street, Etna Street, and Crescent Street, while northbound buses turned right on Jamaica Avenue.

## History

The B18 began service on November 30, 1931, by Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit. Originally, buses used Humboldt Street and Devoe Street to access the Williamsburg terminus, but afterwards, the route used Grand Street to access the terminus.

The B18 was based at the Crosstown Depot until November 7, 1981, when it was relocated to the Fresh pond Depot, along with the bus routes at the former depot.

### Discontinuation

In 2001, transit officials, faced with declining ridership on a bus route through Ridgewood, have proposed ending a portion of the route and merging it with another one nearby, although local activists have reservations about the proposal. Officials presented the plan for the first time before Community Board 5’s Transportation Services Committee on Tuesday. Transit spokesman Joseph Raskin said the blending of the B13 and B18 bus routes, both of which travel through Ridgewood, is in the early stages of a review process that will climax in a Metropolitan Transportation Authority hearing months from now. At the time, the B18 carried about 900 riders on weekdays, less than 500 on Saturday and less than 400 on Sunday. It lost 9 percent of its ridership in 2000, despite an overall 5 percent gain for all Brooklyn routes in the same year, and had the second lowest ridership in Brooklyn. Additionally, ridership was extremely low on a segment of the route that traveled on a 1.7-mile segment along Cypress Avenue in Ridgewood. Officials proposed ending this segment of the route.

The route was originally developed to serve the light industrial companies near Porter and Morgan Avenues in Williamsburg, but over the last 50 years, many of these businesses have closed or moved away. Transit officials say they’ve tried to boost ridership on the route, but despite MetroCard discounts and other enticements, ridership has not picked up, contrary to the majority of other routes in Queens. The route, as it travels along Cypress Avenue, is parallel to Wyckoff Avenue one block away, where the L train ran and riders could connect with at least two stations: Halsey Street and Myrtle-Wyckoff. Both the B18 and B13 provided redundant service to cemeteries that served as a border between Queens and Brooklyn.

The new proposal called for ending the B18’s Cypress Avenue portion and lengthening the B13 to operate in an area previously served by the B18, but taking the route further north to Fresh Pond Road. The B13, which would serve a new movie complex, the Elderts Lane mail depot and the new housing in Spring Creek, would also travel on Bushwick Avenue, instead of Morgan Avenue, north of Flushing Avenue in Williamsburg to serve riders in the Williamsburg and Bushwick houses and Eastern District High School students.

In Ridgewood, the B13 would travel from Crescent Street, along Cypress Hills Street to Cooper Avenue, zigzag west to 62nd Street and north to Fresh Pond Road, veer west again along Putnam Avenue to Forest Avenue, then south along Gates Avenue to Wyckoff Avenue, where it will head toward Flushing Avenue in Bushwick. The B13 would then become the main bus route along the Ridgewood corridor and transit officials claimed there will be no reduction of service. Raskin said the Transit Authority might run more buses along the route to maintain a 20-minute headway.

On September 8, 2002, the B18 was merged with the B13, with the B13 being extended to the route's terminus, while the route east of it being discontinued. On June 2010, due to a budget crisis, the B13 would be then truncated to DeKalb Avenue.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Toomey, Paul (February 1, 2001). New B13 And B18 Bus Routes Planned For Ridgewood Riders. *Queens Chronicle*. Retrieved on June 28, 2022.