MTA New York City Transit head Andy Byford came to Co-op City this evening to meet with local Council Member Andy King, Senator Jamaal Bailey, Assembly member Michael Benedetto, members of the Riverbay Cooperative Board and community leaders, as well as to address hundreds of local residents in the Co-op City community at a rally in opposition to current efforts by the Metropolitan Transit Authority [MTA] to radically change bus routes that go through the Co-op City community, the largest co-operative housing community in the world and the largest "Naturally Occurring Retirement Community" [NORC] in the nation.
Byford, after explaining it was a draft and a willingness to compromise, joked that residents who didn't want addition bus transfers would ensure he saw a transfer if an amended plan were not made a reality
King, who has represented Co-op City in the Council since 2012, stressed that the current plan was unacceptable, but offered he felt Byford was genuine in expressing openness to the community's suggestions to amened the draft plan.
The rally rook place outisde in a courtyard next to a public community engagement meeting at the Bartow Community Center.
The MTA has stated that the draft proposal seeks to update the bus routes, "which have largely remained unchanged since they were converted from trolley lines nearly a century ago, within the Bronx’s existing grid system. These recommendations take into consideration the service performance of each route, the speed, ridership and reliability on key corridors, and how individual routes contribute to the larger network. Recommendations were developed in collaboration with NYCDOT, with focus given to identifying key corridors where roadway treatments and traffic signal improvements can be implemented to expand bus priority and better support sustainable, all-day bus service. The details of NYCDOT’s proposed bus priority plan for the Bronx are included in the draft plan for the Bronx Bus Network Redesign." - MTA Bus Design press release<http://www.mta.info/
Information about the Bronx Bus Network Redesign can be found at https://new.mta.info/
