Major Bronx institutions and business officials are fighting a plan to improve bus service down busy Fordham Road.
The proposal would create just one lane of regular traffic or create a car-free busway in one or both directions of travel on Fordham Road.
The city Department of Transportation is weighing three different plans to improve bus service in the area — including two options that would form a full or partial busway restricting car traffic on the road between Morris Avenue and Webster Avenue.
They’ve gotten pushback from the Belmont and Fordham Road Business Improvement Districts, the Bronx Zoo, New York Botanical Garden, Fordham University, SBH Health System and Monroe College, which said in a letter to Mayor Adams that the options would have “unintended consequences.”
They argued the plan would create more traffic, harm their businesses and increase carbon emissions and smog.
The DOT’s goal is to reduce congestion and improve bus speed and reliability on the busiest bus route in the Boogie Down.
Asked for comment about the letter, DOT spokesman Scott Gastel said, “We are committed to improving bus service and supporting businesses across the Bronx, and we’re working closely with the community to accomplish those goals.”
On average, about 85,000 people ride the bus on Fordham Road’s five bus routes. According to DOT data, 62% of households on the corridor don’t have a car, and more than 70% commute to work on public transit or by walking or biking.
Over recent years, bus speeds have declined to as slow as 4 mph, according to the DOT. The proposal is a shot at making commutes faster and easier.
But business owners and iconic institutions in the area say the plan could decimate their businesses.
“It’s a hundred-year-old neighborhood that’s been through two pandemics, two world wars, the Great Depression, the recession of 2008, the blackout of ‘77 — we survived it all. This one, I’m not so sure, because 85% of our customers come by car,” said Peter Madonia, chairman of the Belmont BID.
“We’re telling you as institutions, if you do what you’re doing, you’re going to really disrupt this,” Madonia added. “The unintended consequences will be, I believe, dramatic.”
Business owners in the area say they rely heavily on day-trippers whose access would be limited under the plan.
“We think it’s a terrible idea,” said Ralph Martucci, owner of Enzo’s of Arthur Avenue. “We have a lot of customers that come from Westchester county, Jersey, Long Island and 80% or more of our customers travel in by car.”
Nearby colleges say they’re worried about spillover traffic into neighboring streets.
“Fordham University is concerned about potential increases in traffic being diverted into the Belmont neighborhood, where large concentrations of our students live, both from a traffic safety point of view and increased emissions from idling vehicles,” Bob Howe, a spokesperson for Fordham University said in an email.
In one design, the DOT would move the existing bus lanes into travel lanes for buses one lane away from the curb, resulting in a one-car travel lane.
“[This plan] will significantly impact crucial traffic flow on these main arteries and cause more traffic than already exists,” the letter from the Bronx business leaders reads.
The other two plans would restrict eastbound traffic on Fordham Road, either with a car-free busway in one or both directions. These plans would require through traffic, except for trucks and buses, to exit the route by making the first available right turn off the corridor.
The letter argues this plan would burden residents and commercial side streets that would then bear the brunt of the traffic.
Part of the problem, according the local BIDs and City Council Member Oswald Feliz, is the disrepair of the existing bike lane on Fordham Road.
The red paint for the bus lanes has worn off in parts and there is little enforcement, so people, street vendors, trucks unloading and double-parked cars often block the lane, they say.
“DOT has completely abandoned the bus lanes on Fordham Road and that has caused the issues we’re seeing,” Feliz, who signed the letter, told the Us.Mistertruth. “We must ensure buses are moving and we can address that by fixing the bus lanes we have.”
The letter called for fixed cameras to be installed along the bus route and for the bus lane to be repainted.
“[We] we request that other proposals be halted until we measure the effectiveness of these two steps – other proposals disregard the plain reasons for the slow-moving buses and have caused great concern in the entire community,” reads the letter.