Reliable service, faster travel, better connections and simplified service.
Those were the requests of Queens bus riders and what guided the MTA in its now final Queens Bus Network Redesign, which was five years in the making.
What You Need To Know
- The MTA received over 3,000 comments from nearly 70 outreach events and, based on feedback, added an additional four routes while keeping some other routes the same like the Q10
- The final redesign includes increased service on 20 routes, 25 rush routes that provide faster service to train and subway stations by removing stops, though 84% of riders will have the same stop they currently use
- The MTA will hold a virtual town hall before the board votes to approve the plan some time this winter, which will be followed by a public education campaign ahead of implementation mid-year
“Eight hundred thousand daily riders they deserve a bus system that gets them where they want to go, where they’re trying to go,” MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said. “Rather than on routes design based on where jobs and schools and retail were back in 1950.”
The final plan has a total of 124 routes, 20 with additional frequency and/or hours of operation. Riders who use buses along the corridors getting that increase are pleased.
“That would be good, especially during the winter,” Kew Gardens resident Frank Sullivan said.
He mentioned that he sometimes waits 15 minutes for a bus.
“So, yeah, I’m happy about that. I just wish they would lower the fare again, but they won’t,” Sullivan said.
“I’ve taken the bus here really late before like, 11, 12 at night and it barely comes once an hour, even,” Richmond Hill resident Gabe Agoado said. “So it would be really nice if they have it come more often.”
Seventeen new routes are added — four more than in the original proposal. Fifty-eight existing routes stay the same, including the Q10, which received the second most comments on the proposal to eliminate a loop it made in South Ozone Park.
NY1 covered residents opposed to the plan because they’d have to instead take three buses to get to shopping on Liberty Avenue.
“The Q10 was personal. It was the one that kept me up at 3 a.m.,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said. “Most importantly, we got to keep our business districts bustling: Liberty Avenue, Jamaica Avenue. We didn’t want to make it extremely hard for these individuals from the neighborhood, my neighborhood. I come from the neighborhood.”
In addition, there will be 25 rush-routes: buses with increased stop spacing that connect to rail hubs for better connections.
The final plan comes a year after the final draft proposal, and after more than 3,000 comments from nearly 70 outreach events.
“So after much time and effort, I think we’ve got it nailed down,” New York City Transit President Demetrius Crichlow said. “I think we reached a sweet spot.”
There will be a town hall before a board vote sometime this winter. Then there will be a large public education campaign.
Officials hope to implement the new plan in two phases by the middle of next year.