 Borough President Vito Fossella was joined by Amalgamated Transit Union Local 726 President Daniel Cassella and local business owners to issue a call for the MTA to remedy the recent surge in congestion surrounding their bus depots.
The call comes amid reports that traffic surrounding the Castleton Bus Depot has increased significantly over the last several months because of the closure of the Meredith Avenue Depot in Chelsea in January. Once the Meredith Avenue Depot closed, it offloaded its 54 buses which served nine routes to the Castleton, Yukon, and Charleston depots. At the time, Borough President Fossella warned that closing the Meredith Avenue Depot would result in increased congestion at the remaining three depots, leading to poorer overall service for commuters. He said the solution is for the MTA to find a new location to re-open a fourth depot. “There are at any point in time, more than 30 buses lined up here,” said Borough Fossella at a press conference on Tuesday at Castleton Avenue and Rector Street. “To give you an idea of what that means in distance, it’s almost a third-of-a mile of buses lined up back to back to back. As you can see in real time, cars are trying to circumvent buses, they’re going around buses -- these are accidents waiting to happen. We’re here to say this is a problem and we’re urging the MTA to help us address this problem.” The increased congestion has also reduced the ability of Richmond County Ambulance to respond to emergencies, forcing them to forward high-risk calls to 911. Daniel Casella, the union president, said the buses are blocking street parking for customers who need the spots to enter businesses in the area. “The autobody shops that are here can’t even get a customer through their door because the buses have it blocked all the way down to Richmond Terrace,” he said. “This is something that I said would happen, that it would take a little while, and it is happening -- and it’s not just happening here at the Castleton Depot, it’s happening in the other depots also. I really implore the MTA to open another location because this is not going to go away and its only going to get worse.” Comments are closed.
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