Each week almost 100 inbound Metro North trains from Connecticut on the New Haven line stop at Fordham but only to discharge commuters.
Passengers are forbidden to board trains at Fordham that originate in Connecticut heading into Manhattan.
But after over a century of ridiculousness and literal segregation, all will change on Sunday, April 14th of this year as Metro North ends this exclusionary practice.
Now Bronx residents will be able to board an extra 94 trains to Manhattan at Fordham during the week with an extra 67 on Saturdays and 65 on Sundays.
But this is a small victory because before we can celebrate we need to continue to push for lowering fares for Bronx residents heading downtown so that they match that of the subway system.
Without lowering the fare for trips within the city, the rail system will continue to be exclusionary.
Metro reports:
“For more than a century, New Haven line trains have utterly neglected Bronx and Harlem residents — allowing riders from Connecticut and Westchester suburbs to disembark in the city, but refusing service to local New Yorkers,” Stringer said in a statement following the Metro-North news.
Stringer commended the MTA, Metro-North and Connecticut DOT for the change, saying that it marks “an important first step towards addressing and reversing these discriminatory practices,” but he’s still demanding more in terms of transit equity for Bronx residents.
“The Harlem-125th, Melrose, Tremont, Botanical Garden, Williams Bridge, and Woodlawn stations continue to be bypassed by New Haven line trains—leaving Bronx and Manhattan residents with inadequate service,” he said. “For real transit equity, we need to lower in-city Metro-North and LIRR fares to the $2.75 price of a MetroCard swipe and establish free subway and bus transfers so that New Yorkers aren’t effectively locked out of the 41 commuter rail stations within the five boroughs.”
Read the full story at Metro US.
