The final, Bronx bus network redesign plan, initiated in 2019 by New York City Transit (NYCT), is now available for review and comment by residents, and it may mean the removal of 18 percent of Bronx bus stops in order to speed up service times and improve efficiency.

Last month, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) announced an ambitious plan to improve New York City’s bus network.

At the time, acting MTA chair and CEO, Janno Lieber, said, “We carry more people on our buses than the next four largest systems in America combined, and for entire neighborhoods across the city, including many disadvantaged communities and communities of color, our buses are the only mass transit option to get to work, to get to school, and to access all the opportunities New York has to offer.”

Lieber added, “Our goal today and every day is to provide bus service for our customers that is faster, more reliable and more accessible. This package of initiatives, including more bus lanes, more busways, better bus lane enforcement, and better accessibility at bus stops, delivers on that promise.”

MTA news conference 08/16/2021, announcing improvements to New York City’s bus network. Video courtesy of the MTA.

Meanwhile, NYCT interim president, Craig Cipriano, said the new plan marked the beginning of an even closer collaboration between the City and the [state-run] MTA toward their shared goal of delivering a bus system worthy of the world class city that is New York. “This new plan utilizes everything in our toolbox to speed up travel times, giving New Yorkers a clear incentive to choose the bus as their mode of choice,” Cipriano said.

Following an 18-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NYCT, an MTA agency, has finalized the Bronx bus redesign plan and is now seeking input on it from the community. This is in preparation for a vote by the MTA Board of Directors in December 2021, followed by the implementation of the plan, if approved, in June 2022.

Assembly Member Jeffrey Dinowitz (A.D. 81) recently highlighted the following key elements of the 323-page plan for Northwest Bronx constituents:

1. Proposed changes to the express bus system are still postponed, pending evaluation of ridership figures. They are, therefore, not part of the current redesign plan that will be implemented in June 2022.

2. NYCT has said that planned changes to the Bx28 and Bx34 buses will not be incorporated into the implemented plan in June 2022 either. The agency has removed these planned changes in response to community feedback, specifically citing feedback from residents at Tracey Towers and Serviam Gardens.

3. There are approximately 400 local bus stops which have been proposed for removal across the Bronx (18 percent of total stops) which, if implemented, would save approximately 20 seconds per stop. Dinowitz recommends that residents study these routes carefully on MTA’s website.

The assemblyman lists below the stops which have been proposed for removal in the Northwest Bronx, sorted by bus line:

• Bx1 Northbound: Grand Concourse and East Mosholu Parkway South & Albany Crescent and Bailey Avenue
• Bx1 Southbound: Heath Avenue and Albany Crescent
• Bx2 Northbound: Grand Concourse and East Mosholu Parkway South
• Bx2 Southbound: Heath Avenue and Albany Crescent
• Bx3 Northbound: Sedgwick Avenue and West 195th Street & Sedgwick Avenue and West 229th Street
• Bx3 Southbound: Sedgwick Avenue and West 229th Street & Sedgwick Avenue and West 195th Street
• Bx7 Northbound: None in the Bronx
• Bx7 Southbound: None in the Bronx
• Bx9 Northbound: Broadway and Tim Hendrick Place aka West 236th Street
• Bx9 Southbound: Broadway and West 236th Street
• Bx10 Northbound: Van Cortlandt Avenue and Rochambeau Avenue
• Bx10 Southbound: Henry Hudson Parkway West at 2735 Henry Hudson Parkway (mid-block)
• Bx16 Eastbound: Van Cortlandt Avenue East and Rochambeau Avenue, East 233rd Street and Van Cortlandt Park East, & East 233rd Street and Oneida Avenue
• Bx16 Westbound: East 233rd Street and Oneida Avenue
• Bx20 Northbound: None in the Bronx
• Bx20 Southbound: Henry Hudson Parkway West at 2735 Henry Hudson Parkway (mid-block)
• Bx28 Eastbound: Bainbridge Avenue and East 204th Street and East Gun Hill Road and Putnam Place
• Bx28 Westbound: East Gun Hill Road and Hull Avenue, Bainbridge Avenue and East 204th Street
• Bx31 Northbound: Proposed changes are elsewhere in the Bronx
• Bx31 Southbound: Proposed changes are elsewhere in the Bronx
• Bx34 Northbound: East 233rd Street and Van Cortlandt Park East & East 233rd Street and Oneida Avenue
• Bx34 Southbound: East 233rd Street and Oneida Avenue
• Bx38 Eastbound: East Gun Hill Road and Putnam Place
• Bx38 Westbound: East Gun Hill Road and Hull Avenue
• Bx39 Northbound: White Plains Road and East 231st Street & White Plains Road and East 237th Street
• Bx39 Southbound: White Plains Road and East 240th Street, White Plains Road and East 237th Street, & White Plains Road and East 231st Street
• Bx41 Northbound: Proposed changes are elsewhere in the Bronx
• Bx41 Southbound: Proposed changes are elsewhere in the Bronx
• Bx41 SBS Both Directions: No changes proposed

According to the latest redesign plan, bus stop removals and adjustments, known as bus stop balancing, are especially important to achieve the goals of both speeding up bus services, and increasing reliability.

NYCT officials said that, currently, New York City has the shortest distances between its bus stops of any major city, with an average of 805 feet between stops. In the Bronx, that average is slightly higher, at 882 feet, but both distances are shorter than those between stops in international peer transit systems around the world, which typically ranges from 1,000 to 1,680 feet.

Design experts say that while it may be super convenient to have a bus stop right outside a resident’s door, the availability of numerous bus stops, situated too close together, dramatically slows down bus services and worsens reliability. Each time a bus stops, it must exit traffic, load and unload passengers, and wait to reenter traffic, resulting in decreased speed and increased travel time.

The waiting time for a bus to re-enter traffic can range from 20 seconds during off-peak travel times to more than one minute during peak rush hour. NYCT officials have analyzed the existing Bronx bus stops, and are proposing to eliminate some where there is another bus stop within a short walk of the stop being removed.

They say that by removing closely-spaced and underutilized stops, buses can be kept moving with the flow of traffic and can get riders where they need to go more quickly.

However, Dinowitz said when it comes to potentially removing bus stops, there are some factors which NYCT officials may not have taken into account during their analysis, such as topography e.g. hills or key landmarks. Where residents believe that one or more of the impacted stops which NYCT plans to remove should not actually be removed, the assemblyman suggests that they provide feedback to NYCT via the following link: https://mta nyc.custhelp.com/app/comments_bronxbus.

The Bronx bus redesign plan can be read in full here: https://new.mta.info/bronxbusredesign.

In the meantime, a petition has been circulated by residents to oppose the MTA proposal to remove the bus stops.

https://www.change.org/p/mta-oppose-the-mta-s-plan-to-eliminate-bus-stops/u/29664069

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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.