City buses continue to disturb downtown apartment tenants in Rochester
Chandler Jackson V KAALTV
Newbridge apartment resident contacted
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(ABC 6 News) – Months after ABC 6 reported on an apartment building in downtown Rochester, residents say city buses are still parking just outside the building, blocking much needed space and creating noise all day long.
Many residents living at the Newbridge Apartments have some kind of disability, and they say nothing has changed.
Ever since construction started on 2 Ave. for the Discovery Walk project, the city’s buses haven’t been able to park in their usual spot for their breaks.
“Even though they’re on ground level, our first floor is a good 16 feet off the ground, and our residents can’t open their windows and enjoy fresh air cause exhaust fumes come right in,” said Tristan Soll, a tenant of Newbridge.
Soll was one of the tenants we spoke to a few months ago, and he says after our previous reporting he did see fewer buses parking outside the building.
However, he says the biggest concern now is the locations buses are idling at could cause safety and health hazards.
“If the bus is parked wrong, this blocks our garbage man’s ease of access,” said Soll, “and then that makes him take our medical waster up and down the the sidewalks.”
“The sidewalks aren’t like the streets,” he continued. “They don’t get cleaned every three days.”
Soll says he and other tenants of Newbridge have contacted the city multiple times, but have struggled to get a response or solution to the issue.
One resident was able to get a response from the city’s transit and parking director, Ia Xiong, who wrote in an email:
“We’ve received previous complaints when we used to park along 1st Ave SW. Because of previous complaints from residents, we do try to avoid parking in that area in general, however, there is a lack of parking options in the downtown area for busses to pull over and take their breaks. There are even fewer parking places for busses downtown that are close to bathrooms for our drivers to use during their breaks. We will do our best to avoid areas near building intakes and try to turn off the bus when possible – but this may be a situation where it’s challenging anywhere in downtown. If this continues to be an issue, we may want to look into bus specific parking spaces for our drivers to use. “
When ABC 6 reached out to the city, officials said:
“At any given time, Rochester Public Transit can have as many as 45 buses on the street operating 25 routes. To keep the system running smoothly and to provide breaks for our drivers that include access to bathrooms, our vehicles do need to park and idle in the downtown area. We try to limit the dwell time and the number of buses that congregate in a small area—especially around residential buildings or air intake areas of commercial buildings. We regret to hear about the experience of some residents of Newbridge Apartments. We do appreciate hearing from the community when it comes to all aspects of our service and we will continue to work to limit the amount of idling at this particular intersection.”
This statement is very similar to the statement ABC 6 had previously received a few months ago.
For tenants like Soll, he says this isn’t good enough.