Not so fast on the “rapid bus routes!”
Bronx politicians blasted Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s news $800 million plan to speed up city bus routes on Thursday — saying it could make the affected streets more dangerous for pedestrians.
The elected officials groaned that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has already torn out bus stops along the Grand Concourse in 2022 and said the new routes will mean even fewer stops and seniors crossing busy thoroughfares to make their bus.
“I want the MTA to stop making everything about them and money,” said Yvonne Miller, a longtime resident in her 60s who joined officials at a news conference. “I want the MTA to actually care about the people in this community — the handicapped, the elderly and the pedestrians.”
Miller urged other neighborhoods facing bus stop removals — as Mamdani and the MTA move to deliver on half of his campaign promise of free and fast buses — to speak up now.
“The MTA is always looking for more and giving less,” Miller said. “The only thing the MTA is concerned about is keeping their schedule up to date. If that means they got to remove a bus stop — they don’t care.”
Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled the plan that would expand MTA fast lines with special bus only turn signals and increased camera enforcements. It’s part of an overall redesign that has already stripped stops from the Bx40 and Bx42 routes at Burnside Avenue and Grand Concourse, forcing seniors to cross 10 lanes of traffic to catch a bus.
Council Member Pierina Sanchez said the MTA points to a 3-minute average time savings on the Bx40/42 to justify the removals, but that figure leaves out the added walking time riders now face getting to the next stop — making the overall trip longer for many.
“The mayor and the government and the governor made an excellent announcement that they’re going to be improving bus service across the city,” Sanchez said at the press conference, which was held at Devanney Triangle.
“I hope that along with this great news comes a compromise and a promise for you to listen to the communities that are telling you what we need and how to keep us safe.”
Sanchez said she first wrote the MTA in 2022 when the stops disappeared, and has followed up in 2023 and 2024, but the agency has refused to budge.
“Our community is upset with the MTA,” she said.
An MTA spokesperson defended the stop removals, pointing to faster service since the MTA’s Bronx Bus Network Redesign took effect.
“Since the Bronx Bus Network Redesign was implemented, eastbound bus speeds at this location have improved by 19% and westbound by 17%, with faster buses saving time for thousands of riders every day on those routes,” the spokesperson said, adding that restoring the stops would compromise those speed improvements.
But a bus expert told The Post Wednesday that losing your bus stop can wipe out any time gained from faster buses.
The MTA spokesperson also said replacing the old stops would force the removal of another stop that would then sit too close and require tearing out trees planted where the former stop used to be.
Assemblywoman Yudelka Tapia said the stops should still be replaced since the stretch sits near senior housing, assisted living facilities and schools.
“We know that Grand Concourse is already a dangerous street for pedestrians,” Tapia said at the press conference. “We have heard from dozens of residents about this intersection, from seniors trying to get to the doctor to families taking their children to school.”
The corridor has logged more than 7,000 crashes and 700 pedestrian injuries, including 138 crashes in a four-block radius over the past decade, according to a resolution passed by Bronx Community Board 5 demanding the MTA replace the stops.
Sally Smith, who is in her 80s, has attended every community board meeting since the bus stops were removed to advocate for their replacement and called the closures “unacceptable.”
“I would rather be any other place this afternoon,” Smith said. “People with wheelchairs and seniors, we can’t walk across the Grand Concourse. It’s a risk.”
She remembers fighting to get the bus stop added in the 1970s.
“Give us back the bus stop. We’re not asking you for nothing new. We’re asking you to give what you took away,” she pleaded.
