Of all the bus complaints Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz’s office receives, the ire is usually directed at the oft unreliable Bx10, which snakes virtually around Dinowitz’s 80th Assembly District, ending and beginning in Norwood.

The Norwood Assemblyman hears the usual about the beleaguered bus route: there are long waits, it’s overcrowded, and the idea of “bus bunching,” where two Bx10 buses arrive simultaneously, is the norm.

“It’s such a long, convoluted route that has to be looked at,” said Dinowitz, joining advocates from the Riders Alliance, a transit advocacy group, in calling for greater resources to the bus route.

Their calls are part of a broader plan by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to see a completely redesigned bus network, which hasn’t seen a major overhaul for decades. The MTA’s recently released report outlined the current state of the bus network in the Bronx, finding it’s the second slowest in the city.

“All the routes in the city, and in the Bronx, haven’t been evaluated in decades,” said Stephanie Butgos-Veras. “They’re not getting riders to where they need to be.”

Ahead of several public workshops asking the public to weigh in on their report, the Riders Alliance had some suggestions of their own, based on interviews with Bronx riders. Some of their findings include faster, reliable bus service, crosstown buses, and added bus lanes to improve speed and reliability. There were also calls from members for a dedicated bus from the Bronx to the city’s airports, substantially cutting down travel times. Such a move was planned by the MTA in 2013, at least for commuters heading to LaGuardia Airport, but nothing’s taken off.

A bus ride from the Bronx to JFK International Airport would be ideal for David McKenzie, a Baychester resident and Riders Alliance member who recently took his family more than three hours via train to bus to arrive at the southeastern Queens terminal.

“There’s a saying in New York: “If you’re in the traffic, you’re in the traffic,’” said McKenzie, who recalled feeling resigned to his traffic nightmare.

For the Bx10 bus, Dinowitz, who once chaired the Assembly’s Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions Committee, thinks splitting the bus route in half—a route exclusive from Riverdale to Kingsbridge Heights, and another from Kingsbridge Heights to Norwood—can serve as a reasonable solution.

“By doing that there’s a smaller likely to bus bunching because the longer the route is the more chance there is that they’ll bunch,” said Dinowitz.

A public open house where riders can weigh in on the draft plan is slated for release in June. A final plan will be drafted over the summer, slated to be released sometime in September or October.

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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.