By Ryan Schwach
Around three years after the MTA decided to ditch their first attempt at redesigning Queens’ complex bus map after it was almost universally panned, their latest attempt, which they shared with riders at Queens Borough Hall on Wednesday night, hasn’t necessarily won everyone over.
At the hearing on Wednesday, around 140 Queens residents and officials weighed in on the MTA’s final draft proposal for the Queens Bus Network Redesign – a full redrawing of the borough’ bus lines. Many who spoke had critiques of the plan, which the transportation agency was hoping to finalize in the coming weeks.
The final draft plan, which was initially rolled out in December, was the second full draft of the redesign – the MTA’s first attempt was completely scrapped after the start of the pandemic due to strong push back from both the community and elected officials.
While several speakers this week acknowledged the new plan is an improvement when compared to the original draft, locals and electeds had specific gripes on specific lines and stops, and larger critiques on the overall express bus system in the borough. Residents also said they had issues with the planned elimination of some stops on bus lines in exchange for speedier travel times.
The proposed draft discussed on Wednesday has no changes from the December plan the Eagle reported on at the time.
Overall, the draft includes 15 new route labels – some that are just renamed and others that create new service altogether – 10 retired routes and a number of routes that will be redrawn, shortened or lengthened based on local feedback. It also includes a new express bus route – the QM65, which would go from Southeast Queens into Midtown Manhattan – and eight new 24-hour routes.
Before the hearing began, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards set expectations for what was about to come during the discussion over the “perfectly imperfect” plan.
“We still have more work to do,” the BP said. “No one is going to get everything they want in this plan.”
“We know we could do 1,000 of these hearings, and it wouldn’t be enough,” he added.
Demetrius Crichlow, the interim president of New York City Transit, didn’t push back on Richards’ assertion, but expressed that the plan is far from final.
“The more times that we come here, it shows our dedication to listening,” said Crichlow. “We want to get it right.”
However, almost as soon as the hearing got started in the massive glass-ceiling atrium at Borough Hall, the MTA began receiving complaints before compliments.
It began with elected officials, including State Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas, Southeast Queens Councilmember Selvena Brooks-Powers, who chairs the council’s Transportation Committee, and State Senator John Liu, who penned a letter earlier in the week to the MTA with notes on the plan.
Brooks-Powers called the plan a “start” and was pleased with the new QM65 express bus route, but said it doesn’t go far enough.
“I'm extremely pleased that we have added an express route on the mainland, which is the QM65,” said Brooks-Powers. “I only asked that it would be able to service Rosedale, Brookville and Springfield Gardens.”
Brooks-Powers also advocated for another express route bus to Downtown Manhattan for Rockaway residents, and more options for getting to JFK Airport.
“It's extremely important that we have a bus that can bring neighboring communities directly into the airport,” she said. “Right now, it often takes multiple buses to travel just a few miles to JFK.”
Liu had similar support for the new QM65, arguing that every other express bus line in the borough would be cut under the plan, making it more difficult for Queens commuters.
“We need more bus service, express bus service, as well as local bus service everywhere,” said Liu. “There are also examples I have cited in my letter to the MTA where bus services are being made faster, but because these certain lines are bypassing heavily traveled areas, commercial corridors, senior centers and religious facilities. Obviously, if you bypass these busy areas, the buses will move quicker, but it misses the point of making people able to get to their destinations.”
González-Rojas said seniors would be hurt by the plan to speed up buses in her district, pointing to the plan to eliminate a stop at 34th Avenue and 84th Street on the Q49 line.
The public hearing, which had around 140 speakers signed up to give testimony, ran through most of the evening and saw locals mostly comment on specific routes, stops and neighborhoods and how the plan could better help their commutes. Testimonies given by residents throughout the meeting centered around the lack of quality express buses to Manhattan, and the axing of stops and lines that riders are accustomed to using.
“We're concerned that stops will be spaced further apart,” said Douglaston Civic Association member Barbera Linton, specifically referring to the changing of stops in the Q36 line in her community. “The concern here is the impact on the elderly and disabled in particular…It would be difficult to negotiate those stretches of Northern Boulevard on foot in both directions.”
Many of those who testified came from Eastern and Southern Queens neighborhoods where access to the subway is scarce, and where locals rely heavily on bus service.
“The Queen's Bus Network [Redesign] is in actuality a service reduction plan in Bay Terrace,” said Warren Schreiber, also the president of the Queens Civic Congress.
Schreiber said the transit-desert community of Bay Terrace only has a few bus routes, all of which go to Flushing, making it difficult to get to and from other parts of the borough. He said the issue isn’t addressed in the new plan.
Schrieber also advocated for a new express bus to lower Manhattan.
“I prefer to travel using public transportation, but the bus network redesign makes that inconvenient and inefficient.”
The MTA intends to take the notes from the Wednesday hearing and incorporate them into a final plan that will be voted on by the MTA Board by the end of this year. The exact timeline of when that will happen has yet to be determined by the MTA, but the agency says it will take at least a few months.
