210 Average weekday ridership on the S60 — the lowest in the entire bus system. An average bus carries 12,540 passengers.
210 Average weekday ridership on the S60 — the lowest in the entire bus system. An average bus carries 12,540 passengers.
When the MTA cuts the S60 bus, perhaps it can replace it with a ski lift.
The S60 — one of 16 bus routes put on the chopping block by the cash-strapped MTA — runs up steep Grymes Hill, where the sidewalk (in the parts where there is one) is covered in snow and ice. When it’s gone, senior citizens and students (Wagner College and St. John’s University are on top of the hill) face a 25-minute trek up to their homes and dorms.
“Oh my god, what am I going to do?” asked Sherri Sherwood, 52.
Connie L. — she declined to give her last name — said she’d have a 2.5-mile walk without the bus.
She’s 67.
“I’m going to be stranded,” she said. “I don’t have a car. I moved up there because we have the bus.”
In parts, there’s no sidewalk, forcing pedestrians onto the road. A lot of the riders are students at a nearby high school.
“I can walk up the hill, but my mom can’t,” said Justin Branch, 13. “The senior citizens really need it. They might slip and fall.”
The route has been on thin ice for years.
“In the mornings it’s packed with kids, but they ride free,” said bus driver Chuck Frizziola, 27. “In the afternoons, sometimes I’ll have one passenger a trip. It’s not a money-maker.”
The MTA said the S60 costs $12.98 per passenger to operate.