Bus Station Renovations Expected to Improve Service

Pelham Bay Station Plan Hailed

BRONX - NYC Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez and MTA New York City Transit (NYCT)  President Richard Davey cut the ribbon on major transit improvements at the Pelham Bay Park subway station, the terminus of the 6 line.  

The improvements at this major subway-bus transfer point were completed earlier this month -- and include an enhanced bus stop area outside Pelham Bay Park Station as well as a new bus lane along Westchester Avenue that has removed a time-consuming loop at the station that had slowed commute times. The average commuter on the Bx12 SBS, the busiest bus route in the Bronx, can expect time savings of as much as 2.5 minutes/day. 

Five other bus routes also serve the Pelham Bay Park station, which is the major transfer point for bus access to Co-op City and City Island; together, the routes serving the station had a total pre-pandemic ridership of 64,000.    

 

“When we all look at and judge the impact of bus projects, we sometimes mistakenly put the quantity of miles over quality of the project itself,” said DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. “DOT’s work at Pelham Bay Park, done in conjunction with our partners at the MTA, may be only one-tenth of a mile, but the impact for thousands of riders will be gigantic.

  

“Easing bus-subway transfers like this make bus riding faster and more seamless -- one of the ways that we can and will deliver on the equity improvements that Mayor Adams has charged us to deliver for the everyday New Yorkers who rely on buses,” Rodriguez said. 

 

 

“Adding bus lanes helps thousands of customers every day and this new lane at Pelham Parkway station demonstrates that bus lanes don't have to be miles long to deliver a huge impact to the community; every stretch of road counts,” said NYCT President Richard Davey. “Ensuring connections between subways and bus routes are efficient and seamless is key to delivering the reliable service New York City Transit customers continue calling for. I’m thrilled to be here with NYC DOT to see the improvements this Bronx community will utilize every day.”

 

 

The Pelham Bay Park project delivers on the DOT’s Better Buses plan to increase bus speeds and service reliability. 

The creation of an eastbound contraflow bus-only lane (with 6,800 sq. ft. of red paint) on Westchester Avenue and a new bus lane on Wilkinson Avenue were the main treatments in terms of improving reliability. Bx12 SBS Co-op City bound buses were forced, due to existing road design, to take a southbound to northbound circuitous loop along Amendola Place and then Bruckner Boulevard just to eventually head east.  

In addition to creating additional travel time this also resulted in bus stops in both directions of the Bx12 SBS/Local being on the same side of the street, which confused riders. The project moved the eastbound stop to the southside of Westchester Avenue.

 

The project also better organizes westbound vehicular movements on Westchester Avenue approaching Burr Avenue.  Additional improvements include:

 

• Expanded sidewalk space at the new eastbound Bx12 SBS stop, adding 1,285 sq. ft. of concrete.
• New crosswalks around Westchester and Burr Avenues, where they did not previously exist.
• New stop signs at Westchester Avenue and Bruckner Boulevard North.
• The retention of existing and creation of new MTA bus layover space.

 

MTA/NYCT played an important role in the project by rerouting its buses and relocating SBS fare machines.  The Pelham Bay Park Station serves not only the Bronx’s busiest bus line in the BX12 SBS/Local, but also the Bx5, Bx23, Bx24, Bx29 and Q50.