The MTA is rolling out an extra roundtrip bus on the overly congested Bx10 line, following commuter complaints addressed to its local Assemblyman.

Its southbound route starts at Riverdale, making 51 stops before reaching Norwood’s 206th Street and Rochambeau Avenue. Commuters were vocal over the line’s constant congestion, which slowed service down.

The complaints went to the MTA and to Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, whose district covers Norwood and Riverdale. In a statement, Dinowitz called the bus route a “lifeline for Bronx commuters with limited public transit options.” Bus service stands as the primary public transportation the further north Bronx commuters travel.

At the bus stop at the corner of East 206th Street and Rochambeau Avenue, Jasmin Leonardo, 18, and her twin sister Janells, cheered the changes. “We won’t have to worry about waiting for a bus mad long and everything,” Jasmin, who routinely takes the bus to visit her grandmother, said.

Hector Colon, 30, an employee at the Van Cortlandt Golf Course, called the Bx10 too slow, calling news of the increased bus service “great.”

Meantime, Maria Mihaylova, who just finished leaving her physical therapy appointment, called the increase the right thing to do considering the rising MTA fare costs. “[T]he money they pay, I think it’s pretty reasonable to increase the service,” Mihaylova, who had a roll of quarters handy for the bus fare.

By the summer, the MTA plans to monitor whether more buses should be added in the fall. The extra bus will start running on April 18.

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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.