The Nostrand Avenue Line is a public transit line in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, running mostly along Nostrand Avenue, as well as northbound on New York Avenue and Bedford Avenue (as part of a one-way pair), between Sheepshead Bay and Williamsburg. Originally a streetcar line, it is now the B44 bus route, operated by the New York City Transit Authority.
The Williamsburgh and Flatbush Railroad was chartered in 1868,[1] and opened in 1870 from the Broadway Ferry in Williamsburg south over the Brooklyn City Rail Road's Greenpoint Line on Kent Avenue and Classon Avenue, east on its Flushing Avenue Line on Flushing Avenue, and south on Nostrand Avenue to Flatbush. The charter allowed them to use Lee Avenue instead from Williamsburg, but residents along that street opposed its use.[2] Tracks were however placed in Lee Avenue in early 1873,[3] and opened soon after, running from the Broadway Ferry east over the Broadway Railroad's Broadway Line on Broadway and south on Driggs Avenue and Lee Avenue.
An extension from Empire Boulevard south to the Flatbush Avenue Line opened on July 15, 1895, after some delay, and the Holy Cross Cemetery Line was moved to a branch of the line along Tilden Avenue.[4][5][6] The line eventually reached Avenue U.
Effective 5 am, December 5, 1948, the line was cut back from Essex Street on the Manhattan side of the Williamsburg Bridge to the Williamsburg Bridge Plaza in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Service across the bridge was replaced with a transfer to the new B39 bus route, which is now discontinued.[7][8][9] Buses were substituted for streetcars on April 1, 1951; the B44 bus now continues south past Avenue U into Sheepshead Bay, some B44 buses now go as far as Emmons Avenue.
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