The unlicensed network of dollar vans that hustle up and down Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn is on a collision course with Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s push to speed up bus service.
The vans are faster and cheaper than the city’s official buses. And unlike the MTA’s buses, they take cash — a flat $2 fare.
But they’re also illegal and peel business away from the transit agency. MTA Chair Janno Lieber has for years called for the city to kick them off the road.
He may finally get his wish as Mamdani pursues his plan announced earlier this month to implement “bus rapid transit” on Flatbush Avenue from downtown Brooklyn to Kings Plaza, which would add “dedicated bus lanes,” more frequent service and “techniques that give [buses] a head start at intersections.”
The first stage of the Flatbush redesign stretching from Grand Army Plaza to Livingston Street has already changed dollar van operations. Several drivers said they now avoid driving north of Grand Army Plaza to avoid traffic caused by ongoing construction of protected lanes and concrete islands for bus riders.
“It's a hell down there,” said dollar van operator John Williams, as he tried to navigate the gridlock. “I can't take the traffic, you're burning gas, burning AC.”
Other drivers like Hunte Maitland, 61, said the city’s bus plan won’t stop him from weaving in and out of traffic, picking up passengers whenever he’s flagged down.
“I'm not paying them no attention. I could always find my way around,” he said. “ I know how to cut off and come back in and everything, so it's not gonna affect me.”
Many of New York City's dollar vans used to serve other purposes.
When Mamdani announced his citywide plan to speed up bus service, he said he’d deploy more traffic enforcement police officers to keep bus lanes clear. Lieber has said he wants those agents to target the dollar vans.
“ This DOT and this TLC, I think, are going to do something about illegal dollar vans,” Lieber said in April. “Getting traffic enforcement agents to break through the bottlenecks, the choke points, that's gonna make a difference.”
Dollar vans are a familiar part of life in neighborhoods near Flatbush Avenue with large populations of Caribbean immigrants. The minibus services grew in popularity during the 1980 transit strike and continued to operate in areas across the city — largely in areas that lack subway service.
The industry earned a reputation for reckless driving. But repeated efforts to regulate it have failed.
The Taxi and Limousine Commission reported that there are only 63 licensed commuter vans in the city, and that any van without a TLC base number and license number is likely illegal. The vans are also prohibited from picking up people who hail them on the street, something only medallion taxis are allowed to do.
Angela Yvonne said dollar vans are "part of the culture" in Brooklyn.
TLC spokesperson James Parziale said illegal commuter vans are a safety risk to the public because they are unlicensed, don’t have insurance, can lack proper seat belts and have safety defects like faulty emergency exits.
Still, dollar vans are a regular presence on Flatbush and have many devoted customers.
”I like using the dollar van because it's hilarious. Sometimes it's very lively,” Angela Yvonne, from Flatbush, said. “ Depending on which one you get, you'll possibly get one with a TV screen inside, and then you'll have all the different lively conversations.”
Yvonne said she likes to take a dollar van when she’s shopping because they drop her off anywhere she asks.
“It's part of the culture,” she said. “They do away with the dollar vans. It's almost like saying, like we're doing away with the culture.”
But many commuters like Crown Heights resident Shirley Thomas, 60, said she wouldn’t step foot in a dollar van.
“A lot of them are not insured, registered, and they're just not safe,” Thomas said. “ That's why I just say MTA.”
City transportation department spokesperson Vin Barone said the department doesn’t enforce traffic laws, but helps run a program that automatically tickets cars that block bus lanes. He said the city aims to attract more riders to buses by speeding up service.
