Say goodbye to Bx20 bus?

THE MTA has proposed cutting the Bx20 line to plug its budget shortfalls. Photo by Karsten Moran

MTA proposes service cuts, hikes in fares and tolls

By Marie Villani-York

Abandoned bus routes. Subway and Metro-North rail service cuts. Higher tolls and fares. That’s what the Metropolitan Transportation Authority expects Riverdalians to endure unless the city or state offers the agency an infusion of cash to cover its budget shortfall.

Standing under a Kappock Street bus shelter on a rainy Tuesday morning, Brenda Levy had five words to describe MTA’s proposal to cut the Bx20 line as a cost-saving measure in these times of financial woes. The first and last are unprintable in a family newspaper. The middle three are “pain,” “in” and “the.”

Jonathan Weber couldn’t agree more. Waiting for the bus at the stop on the Henry Hudson Parkway just north of West 236th Street, he said the loss of the line would “totally force me to rethink my commute downtown.” For him and Ms. Levy, who both take the bus to the A train in Inwood, the cut would mean an extra bus transfer.

Farther up the line, at West 246th Street, Mariela Dreyfus and her 7- year-old son Martin Ochoa-Dreyfus were on their way to school at PS 24. The pair takes the southbound bus several blocks each morning. While they can also hop on the Bx10, Ms. Dreyfus said that since West 246th Street is the first stop on the Bx20, they enjoy a quiet ride and are often able to grab a seat.

Just over 1,900 commuters used the line each week over the last year — less than two-thirds of the system average weekday ridership — and the Bx10 duplicates much of its route, so the MTA thinks eliminating the Bx20 seems like a plausible option to save money.

But for several thousand Riverdale commuters the loss of the Bx20 — which runs along the Henry Hudson Parkway service road down Kappock Street and across the Broadway Bridge into Inwood — would be a significant inconvenience.

Arguably more damaging to Riverdale and Kingsbridge commuters are the proposed jumps in fares on express buses and Access-a-Ride, a service used by many of the area’s senior and disabled population.

In order to plug an anticipated $1.2 billion deficit in its budget next year, the MTA has proposed increasing toll and fare revenue by 23 percent. Commuters will be asked to shoulder much more of the burden, with subway riders expected to pay 83 percent of the cost of operating the system — up from 69 percent this year — and bus riders shelling out 48 percent of operating costs, a jump from 39 percent this year.

Higher fares

In next year’s proposed budget, express bus service would rise from $5 a ride to $7.50, while a trip on an Access-a-Ride bus would more than double from its current price tag of $2. Two subway lines would also be cut, others shortened, and there would be fewer cars and buses on the road coming at greater intervals.

The agency has released no specifics about Metro-North rail fares from its three stations in the Northwest Bronx to Grand Central, but it plans to cut 88 positions at Metro-North, shorten trains, increase loading guidelines and cut restoration, cleaning and maintenance at the terminal.

The proposed cuts have local leaders like Tony Cassino, chairman of Community Board 8’s traffic and transportation committee, scratching their heads.

“Usually when you get a fare hike, you get more service,” he said. “Here you get a fare hike and you get less service.”

“There’s gotta be a trade-off,” he added.

Cutting lines like the Bx20, he said, will simply mean even more cramped conditions on subway cars and buses.

Mr. Cassino said riders can’t be asked to bear the brunt of the deficit; it’s just not feasible.

“If you can’t make up the numbers now with the kind of ridership you have, something is wrong,” he said. “There has to be a point where you say, ‘How are we managing our finances here?’”

Mr. Dinowitz said the draconian cuts are a cry for help.

Pressure for funding

“What they are really doing is trying to pressure the state and the city to give them more funding,” he explained.

Hoping to allay local commuters’ fears, he pointed out, that this isn’t the first time the Bx20 line has been on the chopping block.

Like Mr. Cassino, Mr. Dinowitz said the city should look at other ways to raise revenues other than through the fare boxes. He proposed reinstating the suburban commuter tax to make up the shortfall.

Several commuters pointed out that the cuts and fare hikes are counterintuitive to the city’s drive to become greener.

“If you want to continue to pollute our environment, then raise fares,” Ms. Levy said.

Myra Gordon, who was waiting for a bus at West 246th Street and the Henry Hudson Parkway on Tuesday, said, “They want more people to use mass transit. They want more people to stop using their cars and polluting the environment, so it makes no sense.”

“Give us a chance to clean the air,” she added.

The cuts won’t be finalized until the end of the year, when the authority’s board has to adopt a budget. The MTA is hoping the governor or legislature intervenes and infuses money into the cash-strapped agency before then. Fares and tolls would rise in June.

This is part of the November 27, 2008 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

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