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Bronx pols demanding more MTA money for bus service


Via Garibaldi 8

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Bronx pols demanding more MTA money for bus service

By CLAYTON GUSE

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |

AUG 13, 2019 | 5:00 AM

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The BX10 bus. (Richard harbus/Richard Harbus for News)

Bronx politicians are up in arms over an MTA plan to rearrange the borough’s bus routes.

A group of 17 Bronx elected officials on Tuesday plan to send a letter to MTA Chairman Pat Foye and Gov. Cuomo calling for them to put more money into their constituents’ bus service.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials are working reconfigure bus routes in all five boroughs to make service more efficient — but transit officials do not expect the changes to cost more money.

“We are concerned the ‘cost neutral’ redesign will not make a substantial difference in the lives of bus riders and maintain the status quo,” the letter states. “We ask that you do not continue operating under a cost-neutral plan and invest additional funds in the Bronx bus network redesign.”

A draft of the MTA’s Bronx bus redesign plan released in May proposed expanding some routes and shortening others.

Assemblyman Marcos Crespo (D-Bronx), who signed the letter, said some of the cuts were a bad idea given that the borough’s population growth. Bronx bus service has "been inadequate for too long,” said Crespo. 

MTA officials said they are trying their best to improve bus service in the Bronx with a shoestring budget. “Our planners are tasked with putting resources where they’re needed," said MTA spokesman Tim Minton.

A collection of transit advocacy groups including Riders Alliance, Straphangers Campaign, TransitCenter and the Tri-State Transportation Campaign plan to hold a rally in the South Bronx on Tuesday to protest the proposed bus service changes.

Source: https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-bronx-letter-mta-bus-redesign-20190813-h7hbuspbvzd2tjmrs7k3tjnxga-story.html?fbclid=IwAR3MgVxVQDgJFNT3sVNUeHKv9Fy1YpRbB_xTfOzgArpDzUlu5dvgfg6osws

I will say that this is a start. I spoke with someone last week about the planned rally. 

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i don't know why, but when I saw the headline, i automatically thought way to get ahead of the storm, so to speak. don't let what happened to Staten Island reoccur in the Bx. innately, I'd assume they (transit) know they have to get this right, but a quality rally should remind them that people are paying full attention 

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19 minutes ago, EastFlatbushLarry said:

i don't know why, but when I saw the headline, i automatically thought way to get ahead of the storm, so to speak. don't let what happened to Staten Island reoccur in the Bx. innately, I'd assume they (transit) know they have to get this right, but a quality rally should remind them that people are paying full attention 

What's troubling is that they are publicly admitting that they are facing a budget crunch yet again, and they just raised the fare a few months ago. This has to stop.  I will likely speak at an upcoming board meeting because I find this completely unacceptable. They are set to get more money from congestion pricing and some of that funding must go to more service.

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41 minutes ago, EastFlatbushLarry said:

i don't know why, but when I saw the headline, i automatically thought way to get ahead of the storm, so to speak. don't let what happened to Staten Island reoccur in the Bx. innately, I'd assume they (transit) know they have to get this right, but a quality rally should remind them that people are paying full attention 

I smell trouble brewing for The Bronx. Yes, most areas are vocal while others. You just gotta pray. If transit didn’t get right in Staten Island what makes we all think they will get it right with The Bronx. 

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4 hours ago, Future ENY OP said:

I smell trouble brewing for The Bronx. Yes, most areas are vocal while others. You just gotta pray. If transit didn’t get right in Staten Island what makes we all think they will get it right with The Bronx. 

Strange way to spell New York City....

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On 8/14/2019 at 11:19 AM, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

What's troubling is that they are publicly admitting that they are facing a budget crunch yet again, and they just raised the fare a few months ago. This has to stop.  I will likely speak at an upcoming board meeting because I find this completely unacceptable. They are set to get more money from congestion pricing and some of that funding must go to more service.

 

The NY State Legislature passed a "bailout" law in 2009 that requires the MTA to raise fares and tolls every two years, yet the same State Legislators who passed that law complain every time the MTA complies with it.

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On 8/14/2019 at 5:29 AM, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

“We are concerned the ‘cost neutral’ redesign will not make a substantial difference in the lives of bus riders and maintain the status quo,” the letter states. “We ask that you do not continue operating under a cost-neutral plan and invest additional funds in the Bronx bus network redesign.”

A draft of the MTA’s Bronx bus redesign plan released in May proposed expanding some routes and shortening others.

 

So... If they don't want the MTA to cut some service on Bronx routes to pay for added service on other Bronx routes, then which other borough(s) should the "additional funds" for the Bronx come from?

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6 minutes ago, Gotham Bus Co. said:

 

So... If they don't want the MTA to cut some service on Bronx routes to pay for added service on other Bronx routes, then which other borough(s) should the "additional funds" for the Bronx come from?

The Outer Borough Transportation Fund

 

https://qns.com/story/2018/04/03/cuomo-announces-50m-annual-funding-transit-improvements-queens-outer-boros/

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On 8/14/2019 at 5:29 AM, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials are working reconfigure bus routes in all five boroughs to make service more efficient — but transit officials do not expect the changes to cost more money.

“We are concerned the ‘cost neutral’ redesign will not make a substantial difference in the lives of bus riders and maintain the status quo,” the letter states. “We ask that you do not continue operating under a cost-neutral plan and invest additional funds in the Bronx bus network redesign.”

This cost neutrality crap is exactly why they were super stingy regarding the new service on Staten Island Express, and causing it to fail. They expected riders to adjust to THEIR preferred way to run the routes.

They wonder why people give up on bus service, look at Queens. They cut service on the Q46 to run more Q77 to make it cost neutral. I think thats enough said...

I applaud Bronx politicans to see exactly what they are up to

 

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19 hours ago, Mtatransit said:

This cost neutrality crap is exactly why they were super stingy regarding the new service on Staten Island Express, and causing it to fail. They expected riders to adjust to THEIR preferred way to run the routes.

They wonder why people give up on bus service, look at Queens. They cut service on the Q46 to run more Q77 to make it cost neutral. I think thats enough said...

I applaud Bronx politicans to see exactly what they are up to

 

They added money to the budget for the SIM redesign. As a matter of fact, part of the extra money is because they unnecessarily combined/lengthened routes, making them cost more to operate.

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