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BRONX TIMES REPORTER, MARCH 25-31, 2022 BXR
BY JASON COHEN
The Metropolitan Transportation
Authority released
a request for proposals on Friday
for the Bronx’s first electric
bus charging facility on
Gun Hill Road in the Baychester
neighborhood, the Bronx
Times has learned.
The plan is part of the MTA’s
larger mission to transform its
5,800 buses to a zero-emissions
fleet by 2040. The request for
proposals (RFP) seeks to develop
the 550,000-square-foot
MTA-owned industrial land adjacent
to the existing Gun Hill
Road Bus Depot at 1910 Bartow
Ave. The completed depot
will be the first of its kind in
the Bronx. The selected developer
will fund the construction
of the facility and pay rent towards
MTA capital needs, supported
by revenue that will
be generated by the redevelopment
of the under-utilized
land, according to the RFP.
There had originally been
plans in the works to develop
the parcel into a 400,000-squarefoot
shopping center and housing
complex called Baychester
Square in early 2017, however
that project was nixed by the
City Council.
“This RFP is good for the
residents of the Bronx, for New
Yorkers, and for the MTA,” said
MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber.
“This two-part strategy
will leverage private developer
funds and project management
to deliver a new, modernized
electric bus charging facility.
Public Private Partnerships of
this kind deliver smart planning
solutions and save taxpayer
money.”
The new electric bus charging
facility will allow the MTA
to accelerate the conversion of
other MTA bus depots in the
Bronx to zero-emissions. The
MTA, which runs the city’s
buses, currently has 15 all-electric
buses, and plans to spend
$1.1 billion to buy another 500
electric buses and retrofit
eight bus depots with charging
equipment as it moves to
a zero-emissions bus fleet by
2040. The program enables the
MTA to acquire only electric
buses beginning in 2029.
In NYC, approximately 75%
of MTA bus depots are located
in low- to moderate-income
communities, and transit bus
routes run disproportionately
through these neighborhoods.
“It’s very difficult to find
a property of this size that
meets this purpose,” an MTA
source told the Bronx Times.
The source said the depot will
hold up to 220 buses and the
construction should take about
three years.
The MTA removes 17 million
metric tons of carbon emissions
from the air per year by providing
public transit services
as an alternative to personal
vehicle use, and a zero-emissions
bus fleet would further
reduce New Yorkers’ carbon
A request for proposals seeks to develop MTA-owned industrial land adjacent to the existing
Gun Hill Road Bus Depot at 1910 Bartow Ave. Photo | Pablo D. Castillo Jr.
footprint. Zero-emissions propulsion
technology also results
in quieter operations in addition
to the benefits of zero tailpipe
emissions, which make it
ideal for operating vehicles in
densely populated areas such
as New York City.
The full Gun Hill Road MTA
property, which overlooks I-95,
was acquired in the mid-1980s
by condemnation, for the purpose
of constructing a large
bus depot serving the residents
of the Bronx. A smaller bus depot
was constructed, and the
remaining property was leased
as a golf driving range, as an
interim use, and to a nonprofit
operating little league fields.
In 2012, the city Economic Development
Corporation led an
RFP of the site to generate capital
funds and economic development,
resulting in the closure
of the golf driving range.
The contract to sell the property
proved unsuccessful and
expired in 2019.
During this period, MTA
began developing a strategy
to convert its bus operations
from diesel to electric power.
A new RFP was developed
whereby the selected site developer
would fund the construction
of an electric bus
charging facility.
MTA issues RFP for borough’s
first electric bus depot
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