The largest housing development in the nation holds 55,000 people and 13,750 are on one bus. The residents of Co-Op City are limited to four buses because of MTA recent budget cuts. Service time, bus routes and bus numbers have all been reduced.
âÂÂI can no longer travel when I feel, I find myself going according to new bus schedules,â said Betty Thomas, a 63-year-old resident who formerly used the Bx28, but has been forced to switch to the Bx38.
Before the recent cuts, neighborhood buses ran every five to seven minutes. Now due to drastic system-wide changes, residents have a 30 minute wait between buses. That is an increase of nearly 330 percent.
âÂÂI have received 1,082 complaints re-guarding the recent bus services and 378 of them came from senior citizens,” said Janneen Willson community board manger of Riverbay Corporation, the organization that manages Co-Op City.
Not everyone feels the MTA is doing a bad job. Louise Wells, an 87-year-old MTA customer described a day on the bus going to attend a doctor appointment. She waited for the Bx26 bus for 33 minutes but she still received the courtesy of having the step lowered and being offered a seat on a crowded bus.
On the other hand Wells mentioned that when she takes the Bx26 bus she now finds herself paying an extra fare because riders cannot transfer from bus to bus. When taking the Bx26 before bus cuts it was one ride. Now riders must get off the Bx26 to catch Bx14. And because some riders are finding bus-to-bus free transfers inconsistent, they must dole out another $2.25.
âÂÂI work my hardest not to earn money, but to keep my job,âÂÂâ said Angelo Davis, Gun Hill Road bus depot manger. This shows the intensity that recent cuts have caused in the MTA work environment.
The Gun Hill bus depot services the Co-op City area so his clerk Monica Towns receives the complaints from that area of the North East Bronx. âÂÂI can report these complaints to the headquarters but I donâÂÂt expect a response because things are so hectic with the MTA right now the last thing they care about is complaints,âÂÂâ said Angelo Davis.
Co-op City residents are unsure whether they will receive any changes or adjustments to bus service or just have to adapt to these new conditions but residents elderly and youths are affected by cuts.
Mark Green the representative for the president of the MTA Jay Kaufman declined to comment on the issue.
âÂÂI can not answer any of your question because my job will be in jeopardy,” he said.