Homeowners say noisy school buses from NY are ruining peace & calm in neighborhood
Homeowners along Martis Place say 18 to 20 buses per day are using their street as a turnaround.
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Homeowners in Mahwah can't understand why noisy school buses from across the border in New York are using their quiet street as a turnaround.
Neighbors living along Martis Place and Reid Court have documented 18 to 20 school buses per day. Both of the streets are within feet of the New York border. They say the buses will often sit idle in front of homes, with children on board, until drivers are ready to continue their routes.
The buses serve students from yeshivas in nearby Suffern, New York, so they’re not picking up in the Mahwah neighborhood.
Neighbors can’t stand the noise and worry about the children playing near fast-moving buses that also use the cul-de-sac on Reid Court to back up near driveways.
"[At 6:50 a.m.] every single morning they wake me up and I’m retired. When you get woke up by the beep beep, that’s scary, I’d jump and run to the window until I got used to what it was," said Sylvia Boddy.
Boddy and other neighbors have asked the Suffern School District and the Chestnut Ridge Transportation Company to change the route, but both have refused.
"This was a quiet block, now it has become a bus depot. It seems very odd and we don’t understand why it’s necessary for these buses to be coming up these two quiet streets. It’s probably cost-efficient for them to make a U-turn here, then to go a different direction," said Donna Davino, another resident along Martis Place.
Homeowners along Martis Place recently pushed the Mahwah Council to draft an ordinance to stop the buses. But the New Jersey Department of Transportation shot it down.
“We asked for no U-turns on these streets. We do not know why they declined it," said Davino.
News 12 New Jersey reached out to Chestnut Ridge Transportation, but they refused to offer a comment on the route.
These neighbors are getting a visit this week from the mayor of Mahwah in the hope that he can help.
News 12 reached out to the mayor's office for comment and is waiting to hear back.
