B45 (New York City bus)

{{short description|Bus route in Brooklyn, New York}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2017}} {{Infobox bus line | logo =  | logo_width =  | logo_alt =  | number = {{NYC bus infobox header|title=b45|color=local}} | bgcolor =  | titlecolor =  | box_width =  | subheader = St. Johns Place Line | image = MTA New Flyer XDE40 9512.jpg | image_width = 300px | image_alt =  | caption = A 2021 New Flyer XDE40 (9512) on the B45 in Downtown Brooklyn | system = MTA Regional Bus Operations | operator = New York City Transit Authority | garage = East New York Depot | vehicle = New Flyer Xcelsior XD40<br>New Flyer Xcelsior XDE40<br>New Flyer Xcelsior XE40<br/> OBI Orion VII NG HEV | open = 1877 (streetcar)<br>1947 (bus) | close =  | routetype =  | locale = Brooklyn, New York, U.S. | communities = Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, Fort Greene, Boerum Hill, Downtown Brooklyn | landmarks = Brooklyn Borough Hall, Atlantic Terminal, Barclays Center | termini =  | start = Downtown Brooklyn – Court Street | via = St. Johns Place<ref name=B45>{{cite NYC bus|B45}}</ref> | end = Crown Heights – Ralph Avenue | length = {{convert|4.8|mi|km}} | stations =  | stops =  | otherroutes = B65 Bergen/Dean Streets | compete = | ibus = | level = | level1 = | frequency = | alt_frequency = | time = | day = All times, except late nights | zone = | annualpatronage = 836,165 (2024)<ref name=ridership>{{cite web | title=Subway and bus ridership for 2024 | website=mta.info | date=June 10, 2025| url=https://new.mta.info/agency/new-york-city-transit/subway-bus-ridership-2024| access-date=June 11, 2025}}</ref> | transfers = Yes | timetable_link = [https://new.mta.info/document/7086 B45] | map_link =  | map =  | map_state =  | map_name =  | previous_line = {{font color|white|#00CCFF|B44 SBS}} | system_nav =  | next_line = {{font color|white|#00CCFF|B46 SBS}} | notes =  }}

The '''B45''' is a bus route that constitutes a public transit line operating in Brooklyn, New York City, mainly along Atlantic Avenue, Washington Avenue, Sterling Place, and St. Johns Place between Downtown Brooklyn and Crown Heights. It is operated by the MTA New York City Transit Authority. Its precursor was a streetcar line that began operation in 1877, and was known as the '''St. Johns Place Line'''. The route became a bus line in 1947.

==Route== The westbound B45 begins at St. Johns Place and Ralph Avenue and runs down St. Johns Place until Rogers Avenue, where it makes a right turn on Rogers Avenue and then a left turn onto Sterling Place. It runs down Sterling Place until Washington Avenue, where it makes a right turn onto Washington Avenue. It runs down Washington Avenue until Atlantic Avenue, where it makes a left turn. It runs down Atlantic Avenue until Flatbush Avenue, where it makes a right turn. It runs down Flatbush Avenue until Livingston Street, where it makes a left turn. It then runs down Livingston Street until Boerum Place, where it makes a right turn onto Boerum Place, a left turn onto Joralemon Street, a left turn onto Court Street and one last left turn back onto Livingston Street, where it terminates.<ref name="B45"/>

The eastbound B45 begins at Livingston Street and Court Street and runs down Livingston Street until Flatbush Avenue, where it makes a right turn onto Flatbush. Because of left turns from Flatbush Avenue to Atlantic Avenue being banned, the B45 takes a slight detour via Fourth and Atlantic Avenues. It runs down Atlantic Avenue until Washington Avenue, where it makes a right turn. It runs down Washington Avenue until St. Johns Place, where it makes a left turn. It runs down St. Johns Place until Buffalo Avenue, where it makes a left turn. It makes a right turn onto St Marks Avenue and makes another right turn onto Ralph Avenue. It then runs down Ralph Avenue until St. Johns Place, where it shares its eastern terminus with the B65.<ref name="B45"/>

==History==

thumb| A 2007 Orion VII OG HEV (6801) on the Downtown Brooklyn-bound B45 near Atlantic Terminal in March 2019

In 1877, the Atlantic Avenue Railroad leased its main line east of Fifth Avenue (just east of Flatbush Avenue) to the Long Island Rail Road as a branch of their system to downtown Brooklyn.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.arrts-arrchives.com/atlaverr1.html|title=Lease|website=Arrts Archives|accessdate=June 6, 2018}}</ref> However, the Atlantic Avenue Railroad still wanted to serve the area east of downtown, and it opened a new track on the south side of Atlantic Avenue from Fifth Avenue to Washington Avenue, and then a line along Washington Avenue and Sterling Place (then Butler Street) to Nostrand Avenue, on June 11, 1883.<ref>{{cite news|work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|title=Mr. Richardson's New Cars.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74865306//|date=June 13, 1881|page=2}}</ref>

The rest of the line was built by the Nassau Electric Railroad, which had the right to build from Hamilton Ferry to City Line along Union Street, St. Johns Place (then Douglass Street), East New York Avenue, and Liberty Avenue.<ref>{{cite news|work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74865414//|title=Nassau Road on Union Street|date=September 5, 1895|page=14}}</ref> The Nassau Electric leased the Atlantic Avenue on April 5, 1896,<ref>{{cite news|work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|title=Run by the Nassau Now|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74865194//|date=April 5, 1896|page=9}}</ref> and never built the portion between the end of the Union Street Line at Grand Army Plaza and the crossing of their Ocean Avenue Line at Rogers Avenue, one block west of Nostrand Avenue. Instead, the Atlantic Avenue Railroad's Butler Street Line was truncated to Rogers Avenue and extended via St. Johns Place and East New York Avenue, and, once the lease was consummated, cars were operated from Fulton Ferry to Sheepshead Bay (leaving the line at Rogers Avenue) and to City Line,<ref>{{cite news|work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|title=New Railroad Conveniences|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74865439//|date=April 3, 1896|page=1}}</ref> where they soon connected with the Long Island Electric Railway and New York and Long Island Traction Company.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

Buses were substituted for streetcars on August 24, 1947,<ref>{{Cite web |date=1947 |title=Public Notice St. Johns Place Line |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/unionturnpike/53472752868/in/album-72157709433583407/ |access-date=February 14, 2024 |website=Flickr.com |publisher=New York City Board of Transportation}}</ref> and replaced by trolley buses on September 16, 1948,<ref name="NYTimes-BergenDepot-Sep1948">{{cite news|title=Transit Depot to Open: Trolley Coaches Will Operate on Line in Brooklyn|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1948/09/15/84017127.pdf|accessdate=September 1, 2016|work=The New York Times|date=September 15, 1948}}</ref><ref name="BklynEagle-BergenDepot-Sep1948">{{cite news|title=Bergen St. Trolley-Coach Depot Starts Operations Tomorrow|url=http://fultonhistory.com/highlighter/viewer/?file=http%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FNewspaper%25205%2FBrooklyn%2520NY%2520Daily%2520Eagle%2FBrooklyn%2520NY%2520Daily%2520Eagle%25201948%2520Grayscale%2FBrooklyn%2520NY%2520Daily%2520Eagle%25201948%2520Grayscale%2520-%25203438.pdf&highlightsFile=http%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2Fhighlighter%2Fhits%2Ff81a485bcc2badaa554b59f33dcad9e8#page=1|accessdate=September 1, 2016|work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|agency=Fultonhistory.com|date=September 15, 1948|page=17}}</ref> only for buses to be gradually restored between 1954 and 1959.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bus.nycsubway.org/trackless.html|title=Brooklyn Trackless Trolleys (NYCBus.org)|website=nycsubway.org|access-date=February 20, 2016|archive-date=March 10, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310014005/http://bus.nycsubway.org/trackless.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The bus route was truncated to the intersection with the Bergen Street Line and Ralph Avenue Line by 1969.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nycsubway.org/maps/busmaps.html|title=1969 Brooklyn and Staten Island bus map|date=1969|website=nycsubway.org}}</ref>

On December 1, 2022, the MTA released a draft redesign of the Brooklyn bus network.<ref name="Brachfeld 202212">{{cite web | last=Brachfeld | first=Ben | title=Draft plan for new Brooklyn bus network aims to finally end decades of slow, unreliable service | website=amNewYork | date=December 1, 2022 | url=https://www.amny.com/new-york/brooklyn/mta-draft-redesign-brooklyn-bus-network/ | access-date=December 2, 2022}}</ref><ref name="Crain's New York Business 202212">{{cite web | title=Brooklyn bus riders could finally get faster service under MTA redesign | website=Crain's New York Business | date=December 1, 2022 | last=Spivack | first=Caroline | url=https://www.crainsnewyork.com/transportation/brooklyn-bus-riders-could-finally-get-faster-service-under-mta-redesign | access-date=December 2, 2022}}</ref> As part of the redesign, the B45 would be extended east to the Ralph Avenue station. Westbound service between New York Avenue and Rogers Avenue would be rerouted to Sterling Place to avoid a narrow two-way section of St. Johns Place.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Draft Plan: B45 Local|url=https://new.mta.info/project/brooklyn-bus-network-redesign/routes/b45-local|access-date=December 5, 2022|website=MTA|language=en}}</ref> Closely spaced stops would also be eliminated.<ref name="Brachfeld 202212"/><ref name="Crain's New York Business 202212"/>

== Incidents == On September 21, 2018, an eastbound B45 bus with no passengers skidded on a right turn to Ralph Avenue, crashing into a building. No one was seriously hurt, but the driver was suffering from trauma.<ref>{{cite web|title=MTA driver crashes bus into building in Brooklyn|url=https://abc7ny.com/amp/post/6-hurt-when-mta-bus-slams-into-building-in-brooklyn/4303063/|author=Stephanie Pagones, Danielle Furfaro|publisher=New York Post|date=21 September 2018|access-date=21 April 2026}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}} {{-}} {{B&QT streetcar lines}} {{Brooklyn bus routes}}

Category:Streetcar lines in Brooklyn B045 B045