By Jeremy Walsh
A group of Woodside parents were up in arms after the city announced it would cut bus service from the Big Six Towers and require students there to walk to PS 229.
Before the school year ends, more than 50 students in grades 3 through 6 living in the apartment buildings at 60−10 47th Ave. will be expected to walk slightly less than a mile and cross a busy intersection underneath the Brooklyn−Queens Expressway to reach the school, City Councilman Eric Gioia (D−Sunnyside) and parents said. Younger students, however, will still receive bus service.
“The safer route would be the one the bus takes along Queens Boulevard,” said parent Michelle Kates, 39, noting the city did not select that walking route because it is longer than a mile, the minimum distance required for school bus service. Budget cuts are a ridiculous reason to put children in danger.”
Instead, the city called for children to cross Laurel Hill Boulevard at 61st Street, where parents said on−ramps and off−ramps to the BQE bring a steady stream of commercial trucks and commuters trying to beat the congestion en route to Manhattan by taking the access road.
“It’s like you have to race before the light changes and there’s not enough time,” said PS 229 student Cassidy Cravotta, 11, who said she has walked the route once or twice.
“This is too dangerous an intersection for them to cross,” Gioia said. “The decision seems to have been made without coming out here to see the facts on the ground.”
The children can get waivers for bus service if the walking route involves passing through hazardous traffic conditions, but parents’ attempts to designate the intersection as hazardous have been rejected by the city Pupil Transportation Office, Gioia said.
He called on the city to restore the bus route.
State Assemblywoman Margaret Markey (D−Sunnyside) also joined the calls to bring back the bus route.
“This area has been the scene of 16 documented accidents in the past year alone,” she said in a statement. “The decision to limit eligibility for bus transportation … may have been made by the Department of Education with the best intentions, but the consequences for these children are severe.”
Reach reporter Jeremy Walsh by e−mail at jwalsh@timesledger.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 154.
