Bronx residents rely upon some of the most unreliable and slow buses in the city to get around.
Though some bus lines have average speeds that make tortoises look fast, tens of thousands of residents across the borough each day have no choice but to rely upon them to travel from east to west, or vice versa.
The commuters include people who keep the Hunts Point Terminal Market, the bread basket of the city, operating 24 hours a day to stock restaurant and grocery store shelves citywide. They are also healthcare workers, college students, doormen, security guards and retirees out shopping, going to the doctor’s office, or visiting loved ones.
What is it like for the average Bronx bus rider to get around? The Bronx Times sought to answer that question by traveling on some local bus lines and speaking with commuters about their experiences. What follows is a summary of what they told us.
Migdalia, age 61
Migdalia got on the Bx19 at the corner of East 149th and Exterior Streets, heading for East 149th Street and Bergen Avenue. The trip took about 20 minutes during our visit. She was on her way to visit her mother.
Disabled and walking with a cane, Migdalia told the Bronx Times that she appreciates the convenience of living close to a Bx19 bus stop, but laments the experience of riding it at times.
The bus often moves slowly, she believes, because of overcrowding in the community.
“Too many schools” and traffic contribute to the problem, she believes. “This over here, it feels to overpopulated.”
The bus is often crowded and slow on weekdays because of students traveling to and from class.
Lucas Rodriguez Jr., age 59
Rodriguez Jr., who lives in Hunts Point, said he’s usually too impatient to ride the bus. “If a train takes me half an hour, [the bus] takes me an hour and 25 minutes, because it’s just stop after stop after stop.”
But midday on Feb. 28, he rode the bus to deliver a special gift to family members: a portrait that he turned into a puzzle and framed of a cousin who passed away.
On the way up to the end of the BX19 line, Rodriguez told the Bronx Times he couldn’t comprehend how bus service could be made better in such a crowded city.
Residents might have to adjust to more bus lanes, Rodriguez said. “If it’s convenient for people, so be it. Anything to make it better. We gotta be okay with that.”
Before leaving, Rodriguez said he expected the trip from Hunts Point to East 189th Street/Fordham Road to take an hour, but it was less than 30 minutes. “That wasn’t too bad!”
Anonymous, age 67
Rider of the Bx19 (Harlem to New York Botanical Garden)
A 67-year-old man waiting for the bus at East 149th and Exterior Street, who did not want to share his name with the Bronx Times, is one rare New Yorker who had no complaints about bus service — at least not on his most-used route.
He told the Bronx Times he commutes on the BX19 six days per week for his warehouse job at East 149th and Southern Blvd. He said service is reliable and wait times aren’t bad. “I’ve never had problems” getting to work on time, he said. He added that, in his experience, the BX1 and BX2 are much more unreliable and slower than the BX19.
The man did say he worries about people getting busted for fare evasion. He said he qualifies for half-price rides but sees many people who just hop on the bus — and end up paying a steep price.
Mauricio, age 20
Mauricio had just left class at Bronx Community College and was waiting for either the Bx40 or the Bx42 — whichever arrived first. Getting home to East 180th Street isn’t the hardest part of his commute, he said. Getting to school in the morning is a gamble.
The unreliability of the Bx40 and Bx42 can add as much as an hour to his morning commute. Buses that are scheduled to arrive minutes apart often don’t show up at all.
His worst commute, he said, was the first day of the semester during Winter Storm Fern.
“I had to wait 30 minutes for the bus. And it took, I want to say, an hour and 20 minutes to get to the stop,” he told the Bronx Times.
The experience has pushed him to work toward getting his driver’s license — and once he does, he plans to drive to school instead.
Shay, 26
Shay, a social work intern, has been riding the Bx12 Select Bus Service since she was 16.
She prefers the Select Bus because it runs farther west into Inwood, while the local ends at Sedgwick Avenue. But she plans her trips carefully. Shay intentionally avoids rush hour, opting to travel around 10 a.m. or later at night around 9 p.m.
“I absolutely avoid it when it’s really packed,” she said. “It’s really hard to get on the bus.”
“When it’s packed, it’s uncomfortable,” she added. “There is usually a lot of traffic too, so you’re on for longer and there’s no space to sit.”
During Winter Storm Fern in January, she was waiting for the bus at Broadway and 207th Street when the bus never arrived. Instead, she walked across the University Heights Bridge into the Bronx. The bridge had not yet been salted, and she said she was worried about slipping.
Despite the snow, she said anger fueled her walk — and she made it home faster than she expected.
She said she stopped paying the fare because she believes the service is too unreliable.
