The Last Run Near For Culver Shuttle

The New York Daily News
Wednesday, April 9, 1975

By FRANK MAZZA

The Culver Line shuttle in Brooklyn, last remaining section of one of the oldest mass transit lines in the city, will shut down as of May 11, a letter to the Board of Estimate from the Transit Authority revealed yesterday. More than 200,000 persons ride the line each year.

David L. Yunich, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the city's mass transit lines, said the halt in service is necessary because of declining number of riders and the need to rehabilitate the line at an estimated cost of $1 million. "We have no alternative, but to suspend service," he said yesterday.

No public announcement was made by the MTA.

Leone to Question Move

A spokesman for Brooklyn Borough President Sebastian Leone said Leone will call on the MTA to "to question the arbitrary action."

Erected in 1918 as the last segment in the Prospect Park-Coney Island Railroad begun before the turn of the century, the Culver Line was reduced to a shuttle service between Ninth Ave. and 39th St. to Ditmas Ave. and McDonald Ave in 1954. One four-car train shuttles back and forth over the 1.1 miles of single track. The shuttle offers passengers a free transfer from the BMT B-line train to the IND-line train.

Free Bus Transfers

Yunich said that former Culver Line shuttle riders will be offered free transfers on buses which parallel the present elevated route.

In a written statement issued late in the day, Yunich said the action to discontinue service on the Culver Shuttle was part of a "continuing MTA drive to effect meaningful economies." He said the action will save about $847,000 in operating expenses.

Most of the savings, amounting to $487,000 will be in salaries. The crews which normally run the Culver Shuttle will be transferred to lines within the Transit Authority, thereby resulting in additional saving on overtime, an authority spokesman added.

No transit employes will lose their jobs as a result of the halt in service, he said.