A portion of the transformed Westchester Avenue near the Pelham Bay station. Image Credit: NYC DOT.

On January 23, 2023, NYC Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez joined MTA President Richard Davey, elected officials and transportation advocates to celebrate the completion of transit improvements around the Pelham Bay Park station in the Bronx. The Pelham Bay Park station is the terminal stop for the 6 train in the northeast Bronx. Outside the station, commuters can transfer to the Bx12 Select Bus, and five other transit lines. The area serves as an important transfer point for residents in Co-Op City, City Island, and Pelham Bay. The bus routes around the station served 64,000 riders prior to the pandemic. (more…)

The E-Scooter Pilot Program will expand across all of the East Bronx later this year. Image Credit: NYC DOT.

Over 480,000 trips have been taken since the program launched last August. On March 24, 2022, the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that the E-Scooter pilot program which brought e-scooters to parts of the East Bronx last year will expand the pilot program to more neighborhoods across the East Bronx. Through the program, e-scooters from Lime, Bird and Veo are available to rent as an alternative form of transportation. (more…)

Map of the pilot areas for the e-scooter program across the East Bronx. Image Credit: DOT

Over two years, the program will serve an area of over 500,000 residents in the East Bronx. On August 17, 2021, the Department of Transportation’s E-Scooter Pilot program will launch in the East Bronx. Through the program, E-Scooter companies Bird, Lime, and Veo will bring 3,000 e-scooters in the first phase of the program, with an additional 3,000 scooters to be rolled out in Phase 2 of the program next year.  (more…)

Image Credit: New York City Department of Transportation

Bronx Park East will be getting new bike racks in addition to pedestrian and cyclist improvements. On March 5, 2021, the Department of Transportation began the installation of bike racks along Bronx Park East in the Pelham Parkway section of the Bronx. This begins the Commissioner of the Department of Transportation’s, Hank Gutman, goal to install 10,000 new bike racks by the end of 2022. (more…)

Pelham Bay and Westchester Square residents concerned that developers would move in after adjacent neighborhood was down-zoned. After the City down-zoned Throgs Neck in September 2004, 1 CityLand 4 (Oct. 15, 2004), residents of Pelham Bay and Westchester Square complained that the new limits on development in Throgs Neck would send developers north and westward into their communities, spurring over-development. While both communities are predominately developed with detached housing, the current zoning permits large apartment buildings, with up to 12 stories in some cases. To eliminate this disparity, the Planning Department initiated down-zonings of both neighborhoods.

The Pelham Bay proposal calls for the rezoning of approximately 45 blocks. The majority of the area would be rezoned from R5, R6, or R7-1 to the newly created R5A district, limiting new construction to one- and two-family detached homes and setting a 35-foot height limit. The proposal also calls for reducing the depth of commercial overlays, from 150 to 100 feet, along Westchester, Crosby and portions of Buhre Avenues. (more…)