Transit advocates rally in Jamaica
The Riders Alliance is asking the city to finish installing the bus lanes on Jamaica Avenue and Merrick Blvd in Queens before the weather
turns too cold to lay down the paint. The lanes were supposed to be completed before the end of fall. Photos by Todd Maisel
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | OCT. 30-NOV. 5, 2020 11
BY TODD MAISEL
Bus riders and advocates
rallied in Jamaica Thursday,
Oct. 22, to convince the city to
complete bus lanes that aim
to speed up transportation for
straphangers.
Members of the Rider Alliance
massed at Jamaica Avenue
and Sutphin Boulevard
in Jamaica, where they urged
the city’s Department of Transportation
to paint the bus lanes
and install signage for 1.9 miles
of Jamaica Avenue and the six
miles of Merrick Boulevard.
The intersection is near the
community’s transit hub, just
three blocks from the Jamaica
Long Island Rail Road and Air-
Train station and the Sutphin
Boulevard-Archer Avenue stop
on the E and J/Z trains.
South and east of Jamaica,
however, lies a relative transportation
desert where, for many,
buses are the only public transit
option to get around. Advocates
say the bus lane and new signage
would improve commuting
times along the often crowded
bus routes used by thousands
of riders. The funds for the new
bus lanes have already been allocated
in the capital budget for
this past year, officials said.
The bus lane project, dubbed
the Restart Better Buses program,
is part of a total of 20
miles of bus lanes that are slated
for Queens. The bus lanes have
been completed in most other
boroughs.
Advocates say Mayor Bill de
Blasio promised back in June
that he would order the DOT to
create bus lanes along Jamaica
Avenue from Sutphin Boulevard
to 186th Street, and on Merrick
Boulevard from Hillside
Avenue to Springfield Blvd. The
new bus lanes would speed up
commuting by 25 percent, advocates
say. But the lanes have yet
to be started and advocates say
that if cold weather hits, expected
by November, the bus lanes
will not be even started until the
spring. Lanes cannot be painted
in the colder weather.
“We know that 50 percent of
essential workers are bus riders
and 75 percent are working
class low income people, so this
is a social justice issue,” said
Jolyse Race, a senior organizer
for Riders Alliance. “By improving
bus commutes, you are then
improving the lives of minorities.
This is going to help working
class families in south-east
Queens, and they are getting to
their jobs by the bus.”
Members of the Riders Alliance
gave out flyers and distributed
letters for commuters to
fill out and send to the mayor’s
office asking for the lanes to be
completed.
Karen Hamilton of Rosedale
and a bus rider on Jamaica Avenue,
said it was important to
have the bus lanes completed.
She was a regular bus rider before
the pandemic and was starting
to use the buses more often.
“Life is coming back to
downtown Jamaica, and I think
it’s important to improve bus
service – I walked faster than
the buses coming from Parsons
to Sutphin Boulevards,” Hamilton
said. “As I walked along I
saw double parking and triple
parking, streets being closed
on side-streets, and commercial
parking using the lanes, so I
think the bus lane is crucial for
the rejuvenation of downtown
for its continued existence.
Transit riders need to be assured
that transit times along
Jamaica Avenue and connections
are improved.”
Riders Alliance, along with
members of NYPIRG Straphangers
Campaign, Tri-State
Transportation Campaign,
TransitCenter, and Transportation
Alternatives, will continue
to urge the city to move ahead
with the bus lane installations.
Repeated calls and emails
to DOT officials on this matter
went unanswered.
The Riders Alliance is asking the city to finish installing the bus lanes on Jamaica Avenue and Merrick
Boulevard in Queens before the weather turns too cold to lay down the paint. Here, they urge riders
to sign letters to the mayor.
/QNS.COM
