MTA riders hit with constant fare hikes are finally getting something back.
The agency is making good on a promise to restore and add $17.8 million in service to more than a dozen bus lines, many of which saw routes slashed two years ago.The buses will start to roll this weekend.
Seventeen routes — two in The Bronx, seven in Brooklyn, three in Manhattan and five in Queens — will begin operating under beefed-up or new schedules beginning Sunday.
That includes the restoration of weekend service on the M21, B69 and B24, which have all been operating only on weekdays since 2010. The routes of other slashed lines, such as the M1, B64 and B48, will be fully restored.
And for the first time in two years, riders will be able to take a city bus from Brooklyn to Manhattan. The MTA is bringing back daytime service on the B39 between Williamsburg and the Lower East Side.
That helps elderly and wheelchair-using riders, said William Henderson, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee.
“It’s another option for an area that doesn’t have a lot of wheelchair-accessible stations,” said Henderson.
Another four bus lines — two in Staten Island and two express buses — will get additional service on Jan. 20.
Former MTA chairman Joseph Lhota — who recently quit to mull a run for mayor — announced the additional bus service in July as part of a $29 million, agency-wide enhancement package that included Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North restorations.