Transportation Barriers Hinder New Asylum Seekers in NYC 

By Caryalyn Jean*

October 16, 2024

In September 2023, the City of New York finalized a leasewith the United States Department of the Interior National Park Service to house asylum seekers in tents within the Floyd Bennett Field, located in Marine Park, Brooklyn as part of New York’s Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers. Floyd Bennett Field is a part of Gateway National Recreation Area and is known for being New York’s first municipal airport and for its use by the Navy during World War II. Despite growing up about 15 minutes from the airfield, I never gave the space much thought and neither did my neighbors as it was left abandoned serving as a desolate area. With the renewal of the lease, I reflect on the transportation issue migrants have faced for the last year.  

Despite the lack of direct subway access, growing up on the cusp of Marine Park, Mill Basin, and Flatlands in southeast Brooklyn always felt accessible due to the multitude of bus routes that ran through these neighborhoods.

Bus routes such as the B100, B41, and B46 gave me access to not only other neighborhoods in Brooklyn but also an easy way to transfer to the B, Q, 2, and 5 trains to enter Manhattan. Another bus I frequently rode was the Q35. Despite only 9 of its 29 stops being in Brooklyn, the Q35 serves as a convenient alternative for Brooklyn residents looking to access connections to Kings Highway, Brooklyn College, and the 2 and 5 trains going to Manhattan.  Although the Floyd Bennett Field is also located in the seemingly accessible Marine Park area, the Q35 is the only bus route that directly connects migrants living at the site to the rest of the transportation system.

Since the arrival of asylum seekers in November of 2023, I have noticed many changes to the experience of riding the Q35. One observation was the change in the bus model used for the route. Since the 2010s, the Q35 used the Orion VII bus model. According to the NREL Fleet Test & Evaluation Team, this model has seats for between 38 and 44 passengers and has a width of 8.5 feet. During the spring of 2024, I slowly noticed these models were being phased out and replaced with the Nova LFSd bus model. This model also seats around 40 passengers and has the same width. Despite the similarity in the number of seats and bus width, the arrangement of seating created less space for standing passengers, making accessibility for passengers with strollers and shopping carts more difficult. This is an extreme disadvantage to migrant passengers riding the bus since many of them are parents with young children.  

One attempt to address the lack of transportation options to and from Floyd Bennett is riding shuttle buses provided by Accord through the Department of Education. These shuttle buses provide those living in the Floyd Bennett shelters access to the rest of Brooklyn so that teenagers and parents with younger children can get to and from school. As of November 2023, it cost the Department of Education $625,000 to run this transportation program. The December 2023 City Limits article by Daniel Parra, highlights the transportation issues faced by migrants residing at the Floyd Bennett Field shelters. The article states, “Families who spoke with City Limits reported delays at the end of November with the buses that were supposed to take children to school first thing in the morning.” Parra also noted that shuttle buses should run every 90 minutes, but “…during City Limits’ visit…buses took an average of two hours to complete the route.”  As of December 2023, there is no published available information about whether the city has made any attempts to improve the shuttle system or additional firsthand accounts from migrants. However, from my observation, this seems to be an ongoing issue.  

The unreliability of shuttle buses and changes in bus models have made transportation difficult for migrants living in this isolated area. These issues are affecting parents’ ability to find work and children’s ability to attend school consistently, causing them to miss crucial learning time. The city must take real steps to improve public transportation for Floyd Bennett residents to ensure they have the opportunity to thrive. With the recent renewal of the Floyd Bennett lease, it is my hope that the city works towards better transportation accessibility that creates an environment where the new bus riders are not othered by the surrounding community by impacting their ability to access job and educational opportunities that would provide stability. Comprehensive public transportation accessibility is at the core of navigating New York City, and everyone deserves to experience it.

Caryalyn Jean is a Research Assistant at the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies and the Immigration Lab. She is in the Master’s program in Sociology, Research, and Practice at American University.

Edited by Erica Criollo, Research and Data Coordinator at the Immigration Lab.