Photograph: Sandra Okshteyn

Q Even before Ikea arrived in Red Hook, the MTA seemed to be making accommodations for it: The B61 and B77 bus routes both go to the store now, the bus-stop maps were reprinted, and the buses’ electronic windshield signs say ikea terminal. Did Ikea pay for all of that?—Francis Elliot, Red Hook, Brooklyn

A Joseph Roth, Ikea’s director of public affairs, says, “All of that was part of the plan approved by the city, and we worked closely with the MTA and DOT to insure that the changes could and would be made.” Ikea did have to dig into its own coffers to make some of those alterations, though. “We had to create the curb cuts [where buses stop on the Ikea property] and pay for the signage,” says Roth. But the money, he adds, didn’t go directly to the MTA and DOT. “They specify what the guidelines are for the signs and who the vendor is, and then our construction firm coordinates it.” And as for those windshield displays, Roth says it wasn’t part of some greedy corporate advertising scheme: “We don’t view digital readouts at the top of the bus as advertisement.”

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