WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 3
R’wood merchants still at war over bus lane
BY MARK HALLUM
MHALLUM@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
Property owners in Ridgewood
are banding together to take on
City Hall in court aft er the Department
of Transportation installed
southbound bus lanes on Fresh Pond
Road they claim is impacting business
on the busy corridor.
The Fresh Pond Coalition has fi led
an Article 78 proceeding in Queens
Supreme Court that claims the city
DOT’s decision to implement the bus
lanes on the gridlocked section of road
was based on insuffi cient evidence
such as polls and fi gures that do not
add up to locals.
As well as having doubts about the
accuracy of the data gathered by DOT,
including a fi gure that said 30,000 bus
riders travel down Fresh Pond a day or
that they polled 45 businesses, Ridgewood
Property Owners Association
President Geoff rey Elkind even criticized
the benefi ts of the bus lane.
“This isn’t about privileged car owners
or equity for bus riders. But if you
want to talk about equity for bus riders,
is 25 percent of a three mile an hour improvement
really equity?” Elkind said.
“Andy Byford, President of New York
City Transit, in his Better Bus Action
Plan, identifi ed traffi c congestion as the
primary cause of slow bus speeds in
New York City, and we agree. Congestion
is the real problem and the real
scourge on Fresh Pond Road.”
The seven-block corridor acts as one
of the few major north-south routes
between Ridgewood and Middle Village,
but average speeds of buses and
likely all other vehicles on the road has
a recorded average of about 3 mph.
Elkind argued that if the city was
really committed to thinning out auto
traffi c, they would consider curbing
for-hire vehicles that add to more cars
on the road than every before. The two
biggest contributors, however, as the
activists see it, are 18-wheelers offl oading
goods at two of the supermarkets
north of the M train and the bus depot
below the elevated track serving lines
from both Brooklyn and Queens.
Stephanie Burgos-Veras, campaign
manager with the Riders Alliance,
responded to the lawsuit claiming it
ignored the needs of black and brown
people who consist of the highest demographic
of bus riders, who on average
make $28,000, she claimed.
“The lawsuit fi led to stop the bus lane
on Fresh Pond Road is frivolous. It’s unfortunate
that a small group of people
are trying to block something that
would benefi t tens of thousands of riders.
More than 28,000 people depend
on buses that crawl at just 3 mph along
Fresh Pond Road — and are benefi ting
from the bus lane,” Burgos-Veras said.
“When you block bus lanes, you block
access to economic opportunity to bus
riders who, on average, make $28K a
year and are 86 percent people of color.
Bus riders should have priority on New
York City streets. This lawsuit should
be dropped.”
DOT’s press team did not respond
to a request for comment before
press time.
“The traffi c lights are still not synchronized,
I drive down here and every
two blocks I hit a red light,” Holden said
at the Wednesday press conference.
“They’re not really serious about moving
traffi c.”
Tony DiPiazza, from the Federazione Italo-Americana di Brooklyn and
Queens, spoke out in support of a lawsuit challenging the Fresh Pond
Road bus lanes on Sept. 18. Photo: Mark Hallum/QNS
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