Photo by Eleanor Decker-Gavin
The Bx34 stop on the corner of Bainbridge Avenue and East 198th Street in Bedford Park is a crucial stop for residents of Serviam Gardens, a local senior affordable housing community. The bus stop touches the gate of the residence, making it extremely easy for elderly riders to get to and from where they need to go.
But the MTA’s Bronx Bus Network Redesign–a plan that would cut 400 stops along routes to make bus lines more efficient for drivers and commuters by the fall of 2020–looks to upend that route as a way of streamlining the route by moving the stop to Webster Avenue and East 197th Street, a good six-minute walk at a consistent pace in an isolated area that’s poorly lit at night.
Such a change could pose challenges for the hundreds of seniors that call Serviam Gardens home. Advocates for these residents say that this change could have a bad impact on residents’ quality of life, as the move would put a large hill between Serviam and the stop on Webster Avenue, making the walk to the stop much longer and harder to reach.
John Garcia, executive director of the Fordham Bedford Housing Services, which manages Serviam Gardens, says that the response to the changes has been overwhelmingly negative.
“Collectively, over 500 seniors live right by this bus stop that can take them to places like the hospital and local shops,” Garcia says.
Image courtesy Google Maps
A petition against the bus reroute garnered over 300 signatures before it was presented to MTA officials involved with the reroute plan, but it is unclear whether this petition will shift the changes. For some, it’s the first such significant change for their bus.
“Even if they are about to walk downhill to the bus stop, they would have to walk up the hill from Webster to get home,” says Garcia, also mentioning that it’s surely not just seniors who are concerned about the reroute, as many other neighborhood residents rely on Bx34.
One commuter, Margret Grimes was on her way home from work at Montefiore Health System recently when she expressed her feelings about the change in walking distance. “This is my only form of transport at the end of the day,” she says.
Garcia, and it seems the community at large, hope the MTA will be responsive to the outcry that has resulted from their proposed plan, but it seems that the reroute plans are final despite hearings scheduled following the release of the MTA’s plan.
Advocates, however, have long thought the final plan doesn’t go far enough. “The changes in the Bronx bus redesign are important to over 600,000 daily riders who have suffered too long with slow and unreliable service,” Stephanie Burgos-Veras, a campaign manager for Riders Alliance, speaking on behalf of the Bus Turnaround Coalition, says. “The MTA’s redesign of the bus network presented an unprecedented opportunity to improve service for the riders who depend on it most.”
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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.
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How do we sign the petition to keep the 34 bus route the same?
Unless this hits the tv news broadcasts at 11pm on CBS, NBC, ABC it’s likely the MTA will do as it pleases. Make it public, and a good photo op then Mayor DeBoobio will show up and public opinion will shine the light.
The main problem plaguing the Bx34 (formerly Bx4) on Bainbridge & Valentine Avenue is all of the unforeseen DOUBLE PARKING on these two streets which hurts this Bx34’s performance really badly, unless they enforce & ticket traffic, and parking violators, nothing will change. It they really enforce these rules, then the present route can remain. However, if this double parking problem continues, then it may be time to reroute the Bx34 bus line over to Webster Avenue, since it is a much wider street that formerly carried the 3rd Avenue elevated line before 1974.
I can understand folks wanting to keep the current routing of the Bx34 in such a densely populated area. Sure, they have options to the west on the Grand Concourse and east on Webster, but again… I know that the Bx34’s current route along Bainbridge/Valentine aves works well for many. Personally,I think they’re simply far too many cars in NYC, and to move the Bx34 to Webster Ave is conceding Valentine/Bainbridge Avs to those motorists who feel they have the right to double-park. I’d like to see the current routing remain, but with something I know would cause a huge uproar which would be to eliminate parking on one side of both Valentine and Bainbridge south of Bedford Park Blvd. Either this or seriously enforce double-parking by immediatley towing violators.
Am interessted ina ll tht happens in Norwood. Lived There from 1945–1957
ould like all news about Norword, my former Bronx neighborhood.
Rerouting the Bx34 would be a tragedy for this community. Anyone who thinks otherwise does not live here. It is a long walk up a huge hill from Webster Ave through deserted streets to Marion, Bainbridge and Valentine. I myself collected 140 signatures against this rerouting, which I mailed to the MTA, but I have not heard anything back from them. The people do not want this change to take place. The fact that there are double parked cars is irrelevant, this route has been operating for as long as I can remember despite that issue, and if you live here you see that people move their cars immediately, also parking laws can be enforced by police, it is not the huge problem that it is made out to be.
Grand Concourse is also a short few blocks up, and it could be quicker to take the Bx1 rather than walk 6 minutes to Webster Avenue. This would be a good alternative to the Bx34. The Bx34 could then better serve its actual purpose, which is linking Woodlawn residents to Fordham Plaza.
Webster Avenue is not your only alternative. Grand Concourse is closer to Valentine and Bainbridge Avenues, so for the folks at 198th Street, they can take the Bx1 as an alternative. For Fordham Plaza, they can transfer to the Bx12, and for Norwood and Montefiore, they can transfer to the Bx10.