SOUTH BRONX — Select Bus Service on the popular and crowded Bx6 line could arrive as soon as this fall, according to the MTA.
The existing Bx6 route goes between Riverside Drive in Washington Heights and the Hunts Point Cooperative Market in the South Bronx, and it takes buses an average of 56 minutes to complete the roughly 4.8-mile trip, the MTA said.
The bus is moving for less than half of that time, and more than 25 percent of the trips are spent boarding passengers.
It serves roughly 25,000 riders each day and connects to 20 bus routes, eight subway lines and Metro-North, and 76 percent of households within a quarter-mile from the route do not own a vehicle, according to the MTA.
The local Bx6 route makes more than 30 stops between Washington Heights and Hunts Point, but the Select Bus Service line would cut down on this drastically.
It would operate along the same route but make just three stops in Manhattan and 17 in The Bronx, including near major hubs like Yankee Stadium, the courthouses and the Hunts Point Cooperative Market.
Officials hope to finalize the street design and service plan for the Bx6 Select Bus Service in the summer and fall and be ready to launch the service by this fall or next spring.
There are currently nine Select Bus Service routes operating across the five boroughs, and they have led to a roughly 10 percent increase in ridership and a roughly 23 percent increase in speed, according to the MTA.
The service offers benefits ranging from more reliable service to more attractive bus stops to shorter and clearer pedestrian crossings, the MTA said.
Maria Torres, chair of the economic and municipal services committee at Bronx Community Board 2, where part of the Bx6 runs through, said that adding Select Bus Service to the important Bx6 route would be a great idea.
"Everything seems to be moving towards cutting down that bus ride and getting people on and off the bus faster," she said, "so that’s always a positive."
