Hundreds of residents in the Bronx turned out at a town hall meeting in Riverdale to let MTA representatives, led by Craig Cipriano, acting president for the MTA Bus Company, know that service cuts to express bus service to Manhattan is unacceptable. 

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz moderated the Nov. 18 meeting with Councilman Andrew Cohen, both of whom represent Norwood, to discuss prospective cuts to Express bus service that include the BxM4 that goes to Manhattan. In the MTA’s final bus network redesign report, the BxM4, among four other lines, is included on the list of “least financially efficient,” and is proposed to have its service cut on weekends. The bus will also run every half hour, but end service at 7:30 p.m. instead of 10:30 p.m. 

Edgar Ramos, chair of Community Board 7’s Traffic &Transportation Committee who was present at the meeting, sees the reduction of Express bus service as having a spill-over effect into subway service that is already overcrowded.

“Early in the morning—that 4 train, that D train—you don’t have seats as it is and [the MTA] is trying to eliminate options for people trying to get down to the city which I don’t think is going to be helpful to the community,” Ramos said. 

Ramos also announced to the crowd that they could make their voices heard again on Nov. 26 when CB7 holds a meeting at the Bronx Library Center with MTA officials present to hear from residents. There’s also a meeting scheduled for Nov. 25 from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. in Norwood’s Mosholu Parkway station. 

The MTA has also identified the BxM2, which traverses the entire Riverdale neighborhood north to south into Manhattan, as a least efficient route in the borough.  According to the MTA’s final bus redesign report, the BxM2 has a fare box recovery ratio of “30 percent or less, indicating that they are highly subsidized and costly to operate.”  That means the MTA has to find other sources of revenue beyond fare collection as a means to maintain a route. The agency is now peeling back service, ending it at 3 p.m. 

One person speaking at the meeting directed her comments to the MTA representatives and described the cuts as “draconian.”  “We moved into Riverdale because we were promised to have good transportation in and out of Manhattan. To cut off southbound at three o’clock is cruel and totally unacceptable,” she said.

The meeting was part of a public outreach effort by the MTA shortly after its release of the final redesign report. The state-operated agency looks to vote on a plan before changes are implemented in mid-2020. More outreach events are scheduled.

MTA representatives reminded the crowd there’s more time to voice concerns and that they are still receptive to feedback from local communities impacted by these proposals. 

When Dinowitz pointed out the strong turnout on a rainy evening he reminded the MTA, “People in our community care, they show up, they come out, and we want to make sure that the right outcome takes place.”

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.