NYC Council Member Mark Gjonaj
invites you to receive
Citizenship
Application
Assistance FREE
Saturday, June 8, 2019, 11 am-2 pm
For an appointment, call 646-664-9400
Herbert H. Lehman
Educational Campus
3000 E. Tremont Ave.
Bronx, NY 10461
For directions, call the MTA:
718-330-1234
Let our experienced lawyers and immigration
professionals help you with your application.
Minimum requirements to apply:
1. You are 18 years of age or older
2. You have lived in the United States as a green card holder
(permanent resident) for fi ve years (or three years if married
to and living with the same U.S. citizen)
What to bring:
1. Green card and all passports used in the last fi ve years
2. Home/school/employment history for the last fi ve years
(or three years if married to a U.S. citizen)
3. Children’s information (date of birth, A#, addresses)
4. Marital history (information about your past spouses)
5. If you have ever been arrested, cited or given a ticket,
you must bring your certifi cate of disposition/MTA letter
for each incident
Applicants must pay a $725 fi ling fee to USCIS unless they
qualify for a fee waiver. Please do not bring cash or money
orders to the event.
For a detailed list of what to bring, call 646-664-9400.
More information at cuny.edu/citizenshipnow
BRONX TIMES R 18 EPORTER, MAY 24-30, 2019 BTR
Assemblyman Dinowitz (c) joins transportation activists in calling for improved bus service
in the Bronx. Courtesy Jorge Muniz/Riders Alliance
Dinowitz, transit
advocates, steer
MTA bus service fi x
BY ALEX MITCHELL
With an anticipated redesign of
the borough’s bus service coming in
September, one Bronx elected offi cial,
along with a dozen transit advocates,
are calling on the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority to steer improvements
in the right direction.
Assemblyman Jeffery Dinowitz
joined advocates outside of the General
Post Offi ce building on East 149th
Street to announce a list of demands
the MTA should meet for its planned
Bronx bus network redesign on Thursday,
May 16.
“The fi rst priority is better bus service,”
Dinowitz said following the transit
rally. “Buses are one of the only ways
to travel east and west in the Bronx so it
is very important for the service quality
to be improved,” the Assemblyman
mentioned.
The need for the MTA’s examination
of Bronx bus routes stems in part from
the 6.2 percent population increase
in the borough since 2010, the agency
said.
Since that time, there are now an estimated
675,000 Bronx bus riders every
day waiting patiently for public transportation
that has been plagued with
lengthy delays on every one of its 57
Bronx routes, which the MTA faults on
vehicular congestion.
With these Bronx buses moving at
an average speed of 6.58 miles per hour,
it’s almost pays to walk, rather than endure
what the MTA confi rmed as the
second slowest moving bus service in
the entire city. “Making sure that bus
lanes aren’t being blocked by cars is
a big part of it as is making improvements
to curbs,” Dinowitz said.
He continued that better bus service
could come in the form of shorter, connecting
lines in lieu of the current system
of lengthy single line trips.
One route that Dinowitz specifi -
cally had in mind to be split is the Bx10
bus, which runs from Riverdale to Norwood.
“Even though riders would have
to transfer, there could be a reduction
in wait time with a connecting line on
that route,” he said.
Other initiatives that the assemblyman
and activists are pushing for include:
more direct routes to Manhattan
and Queens from the Bronx, increasing
frequent service for riders with nontraditional
work hours, plus better accommodations
and renovations at bus
stops.
The MTA intends to release a draft
plan of the redesign this month, aiming
to increase bus speeds by 25 percent
while also adding an additional 10 to 15
miles of bus lanes.
Following that release, the agency
will be holding public scoping sessions
in June to hear what Bronxites call for
from the proposed new system of busses.
“More Bronx riders board the buses
per hour than in any other borough, yet
its buses are some of the most unreliable
in the system,” said TransitCenter
advocacy associate Ashley Pryce following
the rally.
She looks forward to the proposed
redesign, saying that it could become
the “ambitious, large scale changes that
will bring the faster, frequent, more reliable
service that riders deserve.”
Dinowitz is also confi dent that the
redesign will be a success.
/citizenshipnow