Riders Upset About Changes Due To Select Bus Service
Those who know me know I like to read neighborhood newspapers or websites as you never know what you might come across. I’m glad that I am this way as I came across a very interesting story in the Norwood News. The story discussed how some Bronx riders were upset at the Select Bus Service on the Bx12. Their anger stems from the fact that the new service caused them to lose local service into Manhattan as well as their local bus stop. Stephen Baron of the Norwood News filed this report:
Hundreds of west Bronx bus riders are calling for the city to make traveling from Fordham Road to Manhattan easier by restoring local service to Manhattan and restoring a bus stop that was eliminated with the debut of the new, supposedly faster Select Bus Service.
Angry residents say the changes are seriously inconveniencing riders and that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) did not get community input before eliminating both the Bx12 local service into Manhattan and the Sedgwick Avenue stop on the new Select Bus Service (SBS) route (which used to be part of the old Bx12 Limited route).
“People didn’t discover the changes until the bus map was mailed to their homes or boarded the buses,” said Desiree Pilgrim-Hunter, the board president of the Fordham Hill Owner’s Association and a member of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition.
Click here for the complete report.
I would love to see the figures the MTA used in saying this stop did not get much ridership. The Bx12 is one of the busiest routes in the entire borough. A quick drive by any of the route’s bus stops will show loads of people boarding & exiting a bus at a given time. I find it hard to believe this stop was any different from the others along the route. As far as the stops being too close together, give me a break. How many countless bus routes could be accused of having a similar setup. I’ve never ridden a bus route that at some point did not have stops as close together as these are.
While some may think the senior excuse is a tired one, it is quite valid in this case. Lets face it seniors mostly ride the buses to get from “Point A” to “Point B” especially in the outer boroughs. Why would the MTA think it would be wise to make it tougher for seniors to access their bus stop? The MTA should have discussed this publicly with the community before making such changes out of nowhere. This is nothing but another case of the MTA showing how they are out of touch with their ridership.
xoxo Transit Blogger
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
I’m on a select bus now, which I waited 15 minutes for. Huge improvement! The mta is the most incompetent dump of an agency in NY, and its employees are idiots. The bus is standing room only. The governor and moneybags mayor both deserve a prison sentence.