Two local electeds are asking Westchester County to BEE helpful and create two new Bronx bus stops.
Congressman Joe Crowley and Councilman Jimmy Vacca are calling for two new stops on the Bee-Line bus that connects communities in the Bronx with their neighbors to the north.
The two legislators wrote to Westchester County Public Works & Transportation Commissioner Jay Pisco asking that two stops be placed at Bruckner Blvd. and East Tremont Avenue, and at Pelham Parkway and White Plains Road.
“Currently, residents of Pelham Parkway-Morris Park and Throggs Neck must take a bus to Pelham Bay station to use the Bee-Line Bus System,” the letter stated. “Increasingly, residents in our district commute to Westchester County to work each day, while others attend school, shop, or have doctors in lower Westchester County.”
Too many transfers
Vacca said residents who live in more outlying areas of lower Throggs Neck (Silver Beach, Edgewater Park, Throgs Neck Houses) in some cases have to take two MTA buses to connect to the Bee-Line #45 bus, which runs between Pelham Bay Station to Eastchester in Westchester, with stops in New Rochelle.
Vacca noted that while he chaired the transporation committee. it did an analysis of Bronx traffic patterns, “and more and more people who live in the Bronx are going to work every day in job centers that are north of the city.”
“When you add that to how many students we have from the Bronx going to college there, it becomes clear that there should be better mass transit links between this community and lower Westchester County.”
The bus line now bypasses the Pelham Parkway community, he said. The lack of service, he noted, means more cars on the road.
Business opportunity
The Bee-Line is run on behalf of the county by two private bus companies, and Vacca said it could be an opportunity for both companies “and also offer better bus service for my constituents.”
Crowley agreed with Vacca.
“Expanding the Bee-Line Bus System to accommodate residents of Morris Park and Throggs Neck will help meet the needs of areas that have long been underserved by transportation options,” he said.
Vacca said there now are no free transfers between the two bus services, but that would be a separate issue.
“It is something under review; we received the proposal last week,” responded Ned McCormack, spokesman for Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino. “Like anything, we would have to do our due diligence and look at factors such as cost, jurisdiction and legal ramifications.”
