The MTA is moving to speed up closure of a South Bronx bus depot in order to make the property available to The New York Post, which wants the land for construction of a new color printing plant. The Walnut Depot, which handles 220 buses, was originally to have closed in two years, upon the completion of a new depot elsewhere in the Bronx. Plans to close the depot ahead of schedule are the result of an effort to keep the newspaper's 500 printing jobs in the city. The land will be sold to the State and leased to the Galesi Group, the leaseholder of the Harlem River Rail Yard. The property will be developed and rented to the The Post, which likes the location due to its proximity to area highways.

Critics have questioned the wisdom of closing a depot at a time when ridership has been climbing. The South Bronx has already suffered a 24% cut in overall bus service in the last decade. While the MTA plans to purchase hundreds of new buses to match ridership increases expected in July, when monthly transit passes debut, area depots will be at capacity. Two hundred of the 220 buses to be transferred from Walnut will be moved to depots in northern Manhattan. This places buses further from their routes, which transit workers fear will increase waiting times for Bronx bus riders, tempting them to use shuttle vans. Harlem environmental advocates have objected to the inevitable increase in air pollution that will come with 200 displaced buses making their home in the neighborhood.

The full MTA board is expected to vote on the depot closure next week. An analysis on potential service implications, both immediate and in July, and a study of the local impact of truck traffic generated by the printing plant seem warranted.