MTA proposes curtailing service on Bx20 bus line

By Aliza Appelbaum

If the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has its way, it will soon be a lot harder for residents of Spuyten Duyvil to get to the subway.

The beleaguered agency is proposing drastic reductions in service for the Bx20, a bus line which connects Riverdale and Spuyten Duyvil to the No. 1 train in Kingsbridge and connects the northwest Bronx to Inwood and the A train at West 207th Street.

After hearing from residents in all five boroughs last month, the MTA included the 20 line in its latest proposal for service cuts. It will no longer run on Saturdays or off-peak hours on weekdays. Peak hours are 6 to 9 a.m., and 2 to 7 p.m., according to the MTA. The bus doesn’t run on Sundays.

“I am one of the victims of cuts to the 20 bus,” said Mark Sawyer, a Spuyten Duyvil resident who said he rides the Bx20 bus daily, often during off-peak hours. “We have always been underserved by public transportation.”

According to MTA materials, the cuts to the Bx20 will affect approximately 600 weekday offpeak customers and 1,030 Saturday customers, who “would use the Bx7 or Bx10 instead and may have to transfer to complete their trip.”

Due to those changes, “a typical customer’s trip would increase by approximately five minutes,” according to MTA materials.

Annual savings from Bx20 cuts would total $600,000 for the MTA.

But that transfer is not always easy. Without the Bx20, it will be difficult for Bronxites to get to the A train without paying double fares, Mr. Sawyer said. Not all transfers are covered by a single MetroCard fare.

“The people in the Bronx who need access to the A train, those people are bus victims and … a lot of them will be stranded,” he said. If the MTA goes ahead with the cuts, Mr. Sawyer said he wants the MTA to provide the free paper transfers to riders who need them.

And for people who rely on the Bx20 bus, the savings aren’t worth the cut.

“This is a bad decision,” said Alicia Padro, a Riverdale resident who said she uses the Bx20 to connect to the No. 1 train or to go shopping in Kingsbridge. She was waiting at the bus stop on West 231st Street and Broadway on a recent April morning, holding several shopping bags.

“There are already such long lines for the 20 bus,” she said. “If they cut service it’s going to be really bad.”

Ms. Padro said she would have to “walk more,” but added that walking was probably not an option for everyone.

Johnny Thomas, a Morrisania resident who relies on the Bx20 to come Kingsbridge to see a doctor, said without the Bx20, he will have to take the Bx10 bus.

“But it’s always so crowded,” said Mr. Thomas, 72, adding it isn’t as convenient for him, either.

“They always make things more difficult,” Mr. Thomas said. “It’s crazy what they do.”

Rather than cutting more services, Mr. Thomas said he and other commuters would welcome a fare reduction.

“Well I guess now they’ll never cut the fare,” he said.