The Brooklyn routes seemed to us to be such an unsound addition that we prepared a counter proposal, and took it to all the community planning boards in the borough. Most of the community leaders were astonished to learn that the M.T.A. was actually going to build lines which had been rumored for more than fifty years. They listened carefully to our explanations that changing population patterns had made these router ineffective, and, in general, they agreed. They did not think much of our counter proposal, however. It became clear that most of the communities affected affected did not want new transit lines at all: they wanted better bus service and free transfers at existing rapid transit stations.