Bronx, New York – Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-Bronx) continued his mission for better bus service this week, this time focusing on the disjointed and inconvenient Bx20 route. Dinowitz requested from the Acting President of New York City Transit an expansion of service in both the morning and evening rush hour segments, in order to accommodate the needs of Northwest Bronx commuters into Manhattan.

“Mass transit is the lifeblood of New York City, and buses are a particularly important piece of that picture – especially for people who live in the outer boroughs. To have the first scheduled bus leaving Riverdale at 7:26am is preposterous. Many people have to get to work before 9am and, as it stands now, those people are forced to either make two bus transfers and pay an extra fare or make an additional subway transfer at the non-ADA compliant West 168th Street 1 platform,” said Dinowitz. “Beyond the two fares, an additional transfer results in significantly longer commutes from having to wait for an extra bus or an extra train. The Bx20 should never have been reduced in the first place, and I urge NYCT to use their common sense to adjust the schedule to suit commuters’ needs.”

Assemblyman Dinowitz has long pushed for the creation of an additional transfer for pay-per-ride MetroCard users, and has passed both houses of the legislature in 2015 and 2017. The bill was vetoed in 2015, and has not yet been delivered to the Governor in 2017. While the West 231st Street station has an elevator, the West 168th Street 1 train platform requires passengers to use dozens of stairs in order to access the mezzanine. The southbound Bx20 is scheduled to leave Riverdale in the morning first at 7:26am and last at 8:58am, while the northbound Bx20 is scheduled to begin at 3:24pm and only runs until 7:10pm.