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MTA
Co-op City Times / June 8, 2019 (Continued from page 1)
Map for BX29
resources more efficiently and effectively elsewhere, including increased frequency on the Bx28 and Bx23.” Q50 LTD – No longer servicing the Co-op City community. Service between Co-op City to Pelham Bay Park will be provided by enhanced Bx23 bus. BxM7 – No proposal changes affecting route aside from adding stops at 3 Av/ 96 St and 5 Av/96. Riverbay Board second vice president and chair of the Legislative Committee, Rod Saunders, has led the community in requesting better service from the MTA, helping to facilitate the bus redesign workshops with shareholders. He said Map for Q50 this week: “I know how long and hard we’ve worked to rally the community for our bus service. We sought the support of our NY State representatives, Assemblyman Michael Benedetto and State Senator Jamaal Bailey. Together, we have asked the MTA to return the Bx26, Bx28, and the Q50Ltd. (formerly the QBx1) back to their original routes. The proposed plan that I am presently viewing appears to have completely ignored our cooperators’ overwhelming request at the MTA’s Fast Forward: Bronx Bus Network Redesign Workshop held back on October 9, 2018. To say that I am disappointed would be a serious understatement.” In October 2018, MTA workshop facilitators held their first “Fast Forward” Bronx Bus Network Redesign Workshop in Co-op City’s Bartow Center where they met with shareholders and neighboring Bronx residents who offered feedback in hopes of influencing change in current and future service updates. The community workshops were an effort by the MTA to improve the city’s buses, subways, and paratransit services. According to the MTA’s website at that time, they were collecting information from residents on their thoughts of the current Bronx bus service, and what changes they would like to see. During the interactive workshop, the MTA received insight from participants on where they live, where they work, and how they get to/from home. Facilita-
tors also asked about residents’ key priorities when it came to bus service and about “trade-offs;” indicating which two out of the three scenarios they preferred (i.e., coverage or frequency; simple, direct routes or complicated, indirect routes; and more stops or fewer stops). Residents documented their daily routes on maps that were collected by facilitators at the end of the workshop. After initial meetings with the public, the MTA continued to gather additional (market and service analysis) data used to assist with redesign planning. According to their Draft Plan Report, following their public outreach at the workshops, they found that when customers identified their top priorities for bus service improvements, they asked for: • More frequent service • Real-time information at bus stops • More bus priority • Customers were provided with a set of trade-off questions and asked to choose what was most important to them: • 55 percent of customers prefer more frequent service, and 45 percent prefer preserving service coverage • 70 percent of customers prefer simple, direct routes and 30 percent prefer complex, indirect routes • 63 percent of customers prefer fewer bus stops, and 37 percent prefer more bus stops • Customers also shared the regular issues they encounter when taking the bus: • East-West crosstown connections are hard to make • Buses are not reliable because they move at slow speeds and sit in congestion • There is a need for greater bus lane enforcement as vehicles are regularly double parked and block buses • Three-legged transfers are not allowed Although the draft plan isn’t final, if this draft proposal is implemented, Section 5 residents will severely feel the changes, having to solely rely on the Bx23 compared to the current several bus options to take to the section or even last stop. Those cooperators who now ride the Bx26, 28, and 30 directly to other sections of the Bronx, will have to take the Bx23 from Section 5 to the previously mentioned important transfer points – Asch Loop or Dreiser Loop to transfer. Residents in Sections 1-4 will need to take the Bx23 and then transfer to other buses to leave/enter Co-op City. It’s also very likely that riders who are coming from both (Continued on page 5)