and sound off they do -- everyone in the bx is very excited!
New Yorkers sound off about $1.6B Metro-North expansion to East Bronx
Residents, transit advocates, and politicians gave their two cents about the proposal to expand Metro-North Railroad service into the transit-starved parts of the Bronx at a Tuesday virtual hearing.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s so-called Penn Station Access project would add four new stations along a repurposed Amtrak line, allowing eastern Bronxites a direct ride to the west side of Manhattan, according to one state legislator.
“I believe that will be transformative, particularly in for the eastern half of the Bronx. It will make an enormous difference in people’s ability to get to work much more quickly,” said Bronx Assembly Member Jeffrey Dinowitz at an MTA public hearing on June 15.
The $1.58 billion scheme would repurpose Amtrak’s Hell Gate Line and add four new wheelchair-accessible stations to Metro-North’s New Haven Line at Co-Op City, Morris Park, Parkchester/Van Nest, and Hunts Point.
The project would add four new Metro-North stations in the East Bronx.
The line would continue non-stop through western Queens and into Penn Station and could shave around 50 minutes off commute times for East Bronx passengers, which would be “life-changing” for riders, according Lisa Daglian, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA.
“Commuter rail will finally be in the reach of East Bronx riders, many of whom don’t live anywhere near a subway,” Daglian said.
The transit advocate called on MTA to also consider adding a stop in Queens and implement a so-called Freedom Ticket to give riders a reduced fare and free transfer onto subways and buses. MTA has implemented a similar pilot program known as the Atlantic Ticket for Long Island Rail Road passengers from Jamaica to Atlantic Terminal.
more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/penn-st...ess-mta-bronx/
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